ith beads and colored percale,
and Nell distributed between ten and twenty looking-glasses inherited
from Linde, immense joy reigned in the whole village; and around the
tent, in which the little travelers sought shelter, shouts, happy and
full of enthusiasm, continually resounded. After that, the warriors
performed a war-dance in honor of the guests and fought a sham battle,
and finally they proceeded to form a blood brotherhood between Kali and
M'Rua.

Owing to the absence of Kamba, who for this ceremony was usually
indispensable, his place was taken by an old negro sufficiently
conversant with the adjuration. The latter, having killed a kid and
extracted its liver, divided it into fair-sized morsels; after which he
began to turn a kind of spinning-wheel with his hand and foot and,
gazing now at Kali and then at M'Rua, addressed them in a solemn voice:

"Kali, son of Fumba, do you desire to eat a piece of M'Rua, the son of
M'Kuli, and you, M'Rua, son of M'Kuli, do you desire to eat a piece of
Kali, the son of Fumba?"

"We do," announced the future brethren.

"Do you desire that the heart of Kali should be the heart of M'Rua and
the heart of M'Rua the heart of Kali?"

"We do."

"And the hands and the spears and the cows?"

"And the cows!"

"And everything which each one possesses and will possess?"

"And what he possesses and will possess."

"And that there should not be between you falsehood, nor treachery, nor
hatred?"

"Nor hatred!"

"And that one shall not pilfer from the other?"

"Never!"

"And that you shall be brethren?"

"Yes!"

The wheel turned more and more rapidly. The warriors, gathered around,
watched its revolutions with ever-increasing interest.

"Ao!" exclaimed the aged negro, "if one of you deceives the other by
lies, if he betrays him, if he steals from him, if he poisons him, may
he be accursed!"

"May he be accursed!" repeated all the warriors.

"And if he is a liar and is plotting treason, let him not swallow the
blood of his brother, and let him spit it out before our eyes."

"Oh, before our eyes!"

"And let him die!"

"Let him die!"

"Let him be torn to pieces by a wobo!"

"Wobo!"

"Or a lion!"

"Or a lion!"

"May he be trampled upon by an elephant and a rhinoceros and a buffalo!"

"Oh--and a buffalo!" repeated the chorus.

"May he be bit by a snake!"

"Snake!"

"And may his tongue become black!"

"Black!"

"And his eyes sink to the back of his hea