e new
divinity and the white master, that it sufficed most fully to make them
desert him and load him with contempt. So they commenced anew to
"yancig" with even greater humility and haste. But as they were angry
at themselves because they had allowed Kamba to cheat them for so many
years, they wanted, by all means, to kill him. M'Rua himself begged
Stas to allow him to bind and keep him until he could devise a
sufficiently cruel death. Nell, however, was determined to spare his
life, and as Kali had announced that wherever the "Good Mzimu" sojourns
human blood cannot be shed, Stas consented only to the expulsion of the
hapless fetish-man from the village.

Kamba, who expected that he would die in the most ingeniously devised
tortures, fell on his face before the "Good Mzimu" and, blubbering,
thanked her for saving his life. From beyond the stockade women and
children poured, for the news of the arrival of the extraordinary
guests had already spread over the whole village, and the desire to see
the white Mzimu overcame their terror. Stas and Nell for the first time
saw a settlement of real savages, which even the Arabs had not
succeeded in reaching. The dress of these negroes consisted only of
heath or skins tied around their hips; all were tattooed. Men as well
as women had perforated ears, and in the opening, chunks of wood or
bone so big that the expanded lobes reached the shoulders. In the lower
lips they carried "peleles," that is, wooden or bony rings as large as
saucers. The more distinguished warriors and their wives had around
their throats collars of iron or brass wire so high and stiff that they
could barely move their heads.

They apparently belonged to the Shilluk tribe, which extends far into
the east, for Kali and Mea understood their speech excellently and Stas
partly. They did not have, however, limbs as long as their kindred
living on the overflowing banks of the Nile; they were broader in the
shoulders, not so tall, and generally less like wading birds. The
children looked like fleas and, not being yet disfigured by "peleles,"
were, without comparison, better looking than the older people.

The women, having first from a distance sated their eyes with looking
at the "Good Mzimu," began to vie with the warriors in bringing gifts
to her, consisting of kids, chickens, eggs, black beans, and beer
brewed of millet. This continued until Stas stopped the afflux of
supplies; as he paid for them liberally w