en scenery.

Quendende's head was a good specimen of the greater crop of wool with
which the negroes of Londa are furnished. The front was parted in the
middle, and plaited into two thick rolls, which, falling down behind the
ears, reached the shoulders; the rest was collected into a large knot,
which lay on the nape of the neck. As he was an intelligent man, we had
much conversation together: he had just come from attending the funeral
of one of his people, and I found that the great amount of drum-beating
which takes place on these occasions was with the idea that the Barimo,
or spirits, could be drummed to sleep. There is a drum in every village,
and we often hear it going from sunset to sunrise. They seem to look
upon the departed as vindictive beings, and, I suspect, are more
influenced by fear than by love. In beginning to speak on religious
subjects with those who have never heard of Christianity, the great
fact of the Son of God having come down from heaven to die for us is the
prominent theme. No fact more striking can be mentioned. "He actually
came to men. He himself told us about his Father, and the dwelling-place
whither he has gone. We have his words in this book, and he really
endured punishment in our stead from pure love," etc. If this fails to
interest them, nothing else will succeed.

We here met with some people just arrived from the town of Matiamvo
(Muata yanvo), who had been sent to announce the death of the late
chieftain of that name. Matiamvo is the hereditary title, muata meaning
lord or chief. The late Matiamvo seems, from the report of these men, to
have become insane, for he is said to have sometimes indulged the whim
of running a muck in the town and beheading whomsoever he met, until
he had quite a heap of human heads. Matiamvo explained this conduct by
saying that his people were too many, and he wanted to diminish them.
He had absolute power of life and death. On inquiring whether human
sacrifices were still made, as in the time of Pereira, at Cazembe's, we
were informed that these had never been so common as was represented
to Pereira, but that it occasionally happened, when certain charms were
needed by the chief, that a man was slaughtered for the sake of some
part of his body. He added that he hoped the present chief would not
act like his (mad) predecessor, but kill only those who were guilty of
witchcraft or theft. These men were very much astonished at the liberty
enjoyed by the