It was a little after ten o'clock on the following morning when Piet and
I, mounted as usual, and riding about a mile ahead of the wagon, emerged
from a narrow, winding gorge, hemmed in on either hand by stupendous,
almost vertical, cliffs, drawn so closely together that, riding though
we were beside the margin of the river, there was little more than bare
room for us to travel abreast. It was not until we rounded a bend in
the gorge that we knew how near we were to the end of it; and the sight
which then greeted our eyes caused me to utter a shout of delight: for
before us, at a distance of a short quarter of a mile, was the extremity
of the gorge, a mere narrow slit between two mighty walls of overhanging
sandstone, through which we caught a glimpse of an open, grassy,
sun-bathed plain, the long rich grass billowing to the sweep of a fresh
breeze, and its wide stretches of level surface darkened here and there
with the rich purple shadows of slow-moving clouds, promising a welcome
change from the close, suffocating, enervating, insect-haunted
atmosphere of the gorge. And as a background to this breezy, sunlit
scene, there towered high into the air, at a distance of some ten miles,
a magnificent sweep of lofty mountains, rugged and broken of outline,
tree-clad to their summits, and gleaming like emeralds in the strong
blaze of the morning sun.
With another shout of delight I pressed my heels to Prince's ribs, and
three minutes later Piet and I trotted gaily out through the mouth of
the gorge into the sunlit plain--to find ourselves confronted by a troop
of some fifty of the most extraordinary-looking warriors I had ever
seen, who had evidently been lying _perdu_ in waiting for us behind the
screen of towering rocks that formed the gateway, as it were, of the
gorge.
They were little fellows, about the height of a well-grown English boy
of ten years of age, but that they were full-grown men was evidenced by
the luxuriant beards and moustaches which they all wore; indeed, one of
them, their leader, appeared to be well advanced in years, for his hair
and beard were dashed here and there with grey. It was a little
difficult to judge what their natural complexion might be, for they were
all deeply tanned by the sun, but I imagined it could be very little
darker than my own, for I was as deeply bronzed as any of them, as I
could see by a glance at my own sunburnt hands. They were clad in a
uniform consisting of a sleeveless shirt that looked as though made of
white thick silk, over which was worn a kind of tunic of fine scale
armour, which gleamed and flashed in the sun as though made of gold--as
indeed it afterwards proved to be. On their heads they wore plumed
helmets of the same precious metal; their legs were bare, save for a
kind of buskin made of leather, coloured white, reaching to just below
the knee; they were armed with a short, broad-bladed sword, and a round
target or shield, finely embossed, also made of gold; and they were
mounted on zebras, the trappings of which were thickly studded with
small gold bosses, the saddles consisting of thickly rolled blankets of
some soft material strapped over big saddle cloths of crimson silk,
edged with stout gold cord and adorned at the corners with tassels of
gold bullion. There was a standard-bearer with them whose trappings
were even richer and more ornate than those of the rank and file, and
who bore aloft upon a slender lance a small standard of crimson silk,
deeply edged with gold fringe, and beautifully emblazoned in gold thread
with a device which seemed to be a hieroglyphic of some sort, of which I
could make nothing.
Upon finding ourselves thus suddenly confronted with this extraordinary
array, we promptly reined our horses back upon their haunches, while I
with equal promptitude unslung my rifle and brought it to the "present",
more by instinct than anything else, for of course the idea of
successfully resisting fifty of even such little fellows as these, if
they were evilly disposed toward us and were possessed of only ordinary
courage, was absurd. But their chief, or leader, quickly set our minds
at rest, for without moving from his place in the front of his troop he
threw up his right hand and exclaimed, in a rather high-pitched voice,
and in the Bantu dialect with which I happened to be acquainted:
"Nay, mighty and noble lord, slay us not with thy lightnings, I pray
thee, for we mean naught but good to thee and thine! I, Pousa, captain
of the queen's bodyguard, have been dispatched by Bimbane, the Deathless
One, the Possessor of all Knowledge, the Reader of all Secrets, the High
and Mighty Queen of the Bandokolo, to bid thee welcome to her country
and to conduct thee in all honour to her gracious presence."
"It is well, O Pousa, and I thank you," answered I, as I lowered my
rifle. "But tell me, I pray you, how came Bimbane to know that it is my
purpose to visit her, and how came you to know where you would find me?"
"The queen knows all things; there is no secret hidden from her,"
answered Pousa simply. "She has long known of thy coming and the reason
for it, and at first she was minded to destroy thee and thy following
and seize all thy belongings. Then she changed her mind and determined
to forbid thine entrance into her country. And now, quite recently, she
has again changed her mind, and has decided to receive thee in peace,
with all honour. She it was who directed me how and when to come and
where to lie in wait for thee. Ay, she even knows that Siluce, the
outlawed rebel, went out upon the Dark Path from thine arms."
"The dickens she does!" exclaimed I in English, in the height of my
astonishment. "Nay, but how can that be, seeing that no one has passed
from me to her to tell her so?" I continued in Bantu.
"It matters not, she knows," answered Pousa; adding, with just a touch
of impatience: "Do I not tell thee that she knows all things?"
"Yes," I answered, "you certainly tell me so, but--"
I checked myself abruptly, realising that I was on the point of saying
something that might easily be construed as offensive. "It will give me
great pleasure to make the acquaintance of your queen," I continued;
"for a woman who possesses such an extraordinary gift of knowledge must
be very well worth knowing. There are one or two matters upon which I
am badly in need of reliable information. Perhaps she may be induced to
give me that information?"
"She will, without doubt--if it so pleases her," answered Pousa. "But,"
he continued, "where is thy house that travels, being drawn of oxen, and
where are the rest of thy followers? The queen told me that there were
with thee four black ones, and that--"
"My wagon--which you call a house that travels--and the remaining three
of my followers are behind," I answered. "They will doubtless be with
us in the course of a few minutes. I shall outspan here, so that my
oxen may rest in the shade of the gorge. Will you not direct your men
to dismount and rest their zebras? We shall not resume our march for
about three hours."
Pousa regarded me for a moment, a little doubtfully I thought; then as I
calmly dismounted and turned Prince over to Piet to be off-saddled, the
little soldier gave a few crisp orders, in a tongue of which I was
ignorant, and his troopers at once dismounted, stripped their zebras of
their trappings, hobbled them, and turned them loose to graze; then the
men, arranging themselves in small parties, proceeded to open their
ration sacks and refresh themselves with a meal consisting, as I
noticed, of sun-dried meat and small cakes. Pousa very politely invited
me to share his ration with him; but as I just then caught the sounds of
Jan's shrieks to his oxen, and the cracking of his long whip, I as
politely declined, inviting him in return to defer his meal for a time
and join me at luncheon, which invitation he eagerly accepted, somewhat
to my surprise, I confess, seeing that the little chap could not
possibly guess what kind of food he would be offered, or whether he
would like it when it was placed before him.
A few minutes later the wagon arrived and was outspanned, its appearance
exciting the utmost curiosity and admiration of the Bandokolo, who, I
now learned, had never before seen a wheeled vehicle, and were
profoundly interested when I endeavoured to explain the principle of the
wheel to them. But they were infinitely more interested and amazed when
'Mfuni, having collected a quantity of dry leaves and sticks with which
to build a fire, came to me, and, receiving from me the burning-glass
which I habitually carried in my pocket, calmly proceeded to kindle the
fire with its aid as usual, it being our regular practice to economise
our flint and steel as much as possible by never using it when a
burning-glass could be made to serve the same purpose. The Bandokolo,
it appeared, used fire for a number of purposes, but possessed no
knowledge of how to produce it, and were therefore obliged to conserve
it by keeping lamps perpetually burning; and I could readily understand
that, as Pousa explained, there were occasions when, as in times of
violent storm and heavy rain, they were put to the gravest inconvenience
through their inability to convey a lighted lamp from one place to
another.
While we were partaking of luncheon--for which, by the way, Pousa
displayed great relish, after regarding the roast deer flesh for a
moment or two rather dubiously--I endeavoured to pump my guest with
regard to the character and disposition of Her Majesty Queen Bimbane;
but I found the old fellow rather inclined to be reticent upon the
subject, and uneasy when I began to question him, the reason being--as
he presently informed me furtively in a whisper--that, as likely as not,
the queen would be with us in spirit, listening to our conversation, and
that he had no wish to offend the lady by affording information that she
would perhaps prefer should be withheld. Despite his disinclination to
talk, however, I contrived to extract a little information from him,
learning, among other things, that I was not the first white man who had
been permitted to enter the Bandokolo country, one other having arrived
when Pousa was quite a young man, and died somewhat mysteriously soon
afterward. I was also given to understand that the Bandokolo generally
strongly objected to strangers visiting them, and were indeed in the
habit of resorting to the most drastic measures for preventing such
visits, or, at all events, for preventing the departure of unwelcome
visitors from their country alive. As for Bimbane, what little I could
induce him to say about her only went to confirm the astounding account
of her that Siluce had given; and I confess that once or twice during
the progress of that conversation I very seriously asked myself whether,
after all, it would not be wiser on my part to turn back there and then,
instead of pushing on any farther into so extraordinary a country, and
placing myself in the power of so extraordinary a woman. But I do not
like to be beaten, and could not bring myself to abandon my purpose
ignominiously after having come so far; therefore about two o'clock in
the afternoon I gave the order to inspan, and we resumed our journey.
Still closely following the course of the river across the open plain,
Pousa and I rode side by side at the head of the cavalcade, with the
wagon bringing up the rear; and I soon found that, apart from anything
relating to Queen Bimbane, my companion was quite willing to be
communicative, telling me many things of an exceedingly interesting
nature with regard to his extraordinary country. I was naturally
anxious to know whether gold and "shining stones" were as plentiful as I
had been led to believe, and I was gratified to learn that they were,
gold indeed being so abundant that it was used for every purpose where
metal was needed, the Bandokolo having learned to harden and temper it
in such a manner that it afforded a very fair substitute for steel, in
proof of which he showed me his sword. I took the weapon in my hands,
examined it, and found that it was made entirely of hardened gold, and
that it had been treated in such a manner as not only to possess a
certain elasticity but also to be capable of receiving a fairly sharp
edge. The scales of their armour, I was told, were also treated in the
same way, and were so hard that it was impossible to pierce them either
with sword or spear. Then I exhibited my hunting knife, which excited
Pousa's highest admiration, and also a certain amount of apprehension
when, of set purpose, I casually mentioned my conviction that I could
drive the blade through the best scale armour that the Bandokolo could
produce. "Shining stones", also, it seemed, were fairly abundant, but
they had no particular use for these excepting as adornments, the stones
being admired because of the extreme brilliancy with which they
reflected light and colour.
We had been trekking a little more than an hour when, suddenly, without
the least warning, an enormous two-horned rhinoceros hove himself up out
of the long grass about a hundred and fifty yards in front of us, and
stood regarding us doubtfully, with his little eyes gleaming and his
tail switching angrily. At this unexpected apparition we all drew
bridle, as with one accord, to await developments, while I quickly
unslung my rifle and prepared for action. I could not help noticing
that Pousa viewed the creature with considerable trepidation, while as
for the troopers in our rear, with one accord they wheeled their zebras,
with the evident intention of making a bolt if necessary. And that it
would be necessary soon became evident, for rhino, instead of being
alarmed at our imposing display of force, and making himself scarce, was
clearly annoyed at our presumption in daring to disturb him; and
presently he lowered his head and, with loud squeals of rage, came
charging straight down upon us, whereupon our escort incontinently dug
their heels into the ribs of their frightened zebras and dashed off,
scattering in all directions, to my intense amusement. But the wagon
was not very far in our rear, and if rhino were allowed to get past us,
and should choose to attack it, he might easily play havoc with my
diminished team of oxen; therefore, hastily dismounting, lest Prince,
despite his training, should flinch and swerve at the critical moment
and so spoil my aim, I raised my rifle to my shoulder, and, waiting
until the now thoroughly exasperated beast was within ten yards of me,
fired and sent a bullet through his right eye into the brain, bowling
him over like a rabbit. Then, quickly reloading my rifle, I quietly
waited for Pousa to rejoin me, which he presently did, after re-forming
his scattered command, without seeming to be in the slightest degree
abashed at his desertion of me.
Approaching me with considerable circumspection, as I stood over the
fallen brute, with Prince beside me, he raised his right hand and
saluted, as he exclaimed:
"Truly, white lord, thou art well named Smiter with Lightning, for I
beheld the flash wherewith thou didst slay this fierce and terrible
beast, before whose anger not even the bravest warrior of the Bandokolo
may stand! Thou art as mighty a wizard as the Deathless One, for thou
canst slay without fighting, even as she can."
"It is true, Pousa, I can," answered I, willing to avail myself to the
utmost of the opportunity that had been afforded me to display my power.
"But," I continued, "who told thee that I was named Smiter with
Lightning?"
"Who but the Wise One, even Bimbane, the queen?" retorted Pousa, in
tones which seemed to suggest: "Who else do you suppose it can possibly
have been?"
"Not only did she tell me how thou wert called, but she described thee
to me, told me of thy huge stature and immense strength, how thou wert
clothed, the wonderful weapon from which thou dost discharge thy
lightnings, and even the great black beast which thou dost bestride!"
I fell into a rather uneasy reverie. Could this man be by any
possibility telling the truth? The story was so astounding, so utterly
incredible--and yet it was told so simply, and with such an utter lack
of all straining after effect: the man made no attempt to impress me
with the marvel of it all; his tone and manner were those of one who
told of the most matter-of-fact, everyday occurrences. Besides, if he
were not telling the truth, how could he possibly have come to know the
name which had been given me by Lomalindela, the King of the Mashona?--
for I was perfectly certain that he had had no opportunity to learn it
from either of my own "boys."
But if this and the other things that he had told me concerning Bimbane
were indeed true, she must be a most extraordinary woman, endowed with
strange and wonderful powers, and it might be that I should find her
rather more than I could manage before I had done with her. To admit
the possibility that she might indeed possess such uncanny powers led
inevitably toward several very unpleasantly suggestive reflections; but
with an effort I threw them off, for I had already determined to go
through with the adventure, and would not allow myself to be diverted
from my purpose by the thought of any possibilities, however unpleasant.
Therefore I roused myself and continued my conversation with Pousa by
describing the fight between the men-monkeys and its awful conclusion,
and asked him to tell me what he could about both the beasts and the
trees. He could not tell me much about either, but what he did tell was
grim enough; for, with regard to the monkeys, he informed me that they
were well known as the most ferocious beasts to be found in Bandokolo,
and that a certain number were captured by means of pitfalls, in which
they were permitted to remain until they were all but dead from
starvation, when they were removed to Masakisale (the capital city), and
carefully tended until they were restored to a condition of normal
health and strength. Then they were used to test the guilt or otherwise
of persons charged with offences of exceptional enormity; the test being
made by setting the accused to fight with one or more of the brutes,
when, if he conquered, it was presumed that he was innocent.
I naturally enquired whether anyone had ever thus succeeded in
demonstrating his innocence, and was not surprised to be answered in the
negative. Then I asked why, if Bimbane really knew all things, it was
necessary to subject a suspect to such a test in order to determine his
guilt or innocence, to which Pousa replied that, of course, the test was
quite unnecessary, for the queen could always tell whether or not a man
was guilty, and to sentence a prisoner to such an ordeal was equivalent
to pronouncing him guilty and ordering his execution; but the form of
trial was retained since it was one of the institutions of the country
which had existed from time immemorial.
As to the tree, into the foliage of which the victorious monkey had
flung his antagonist, I was told that it, like the monkeys, was
indigenous to Bandokolo, and that one of its most gruesome peculiarities
was the ghoulish avidity with which it enveloped any unfortunate
individual or animal in its tentacle-like leaves and forthwith proceeded
to absorb its victim into itself. These trees, Pousa added, were
sometimes employed instead of the monkeys as a means for the disposal of
criminals. "A truly charming country and people," thought I,
"apparently abounding in the most delightful characteristics!"
About half an hour before sunset we reached the foot of the mountains
toward which we had been trekking all through the afternoon, and
outspanned on the veld at the entrance to a pass which had revealed
itself about an hour earlier.
The scenery in this pass, when we entered it on the following morning,
proved to be very similar in character to that of the gorge through
which we had passed on the previous day, before encountering Pousa and
his troopers, but, if anything, even more wild, gloomy, and sombre; and
I was not sorry when, about eleven o'clock, we emerged from it into a
kind of basin, hemmed in on all sides by hills. Through the centre of
this basin a narrow road ran, bordering a tiny rivulet which had its
rise somewhere among the adjacent hills; and on either hand the ground
was cultivated, maize, sugar cane, cassava, and fruit of various kinds
being among its products, while the far end of the basin consisted of
pasture land, upon which a herd of quite a thousand cattle were grazing.
There were a few people at work in the field and orchards, pygmies,
like Pousa and his band, but at sight of us they hastily retired, having
been previously ordered--as I subsequently learned--to keep well out of
our way and not intrude their presence upon us. There was no sign of
buildings of any description, but when I questioned Pousa on the subject
he drew my attention to a large number of almost invisible openings in
the rocky sides of the encircling hills, which he told me were the
entrances to the cave dwellings of this extraordinary people; and when I
examined them through my telescope I discovered that the reason why
these openings were so difficult to detect was because they were each
choked with people staring intently out at us as we wound our way
through the valley far below them. My telescope enabled me to discover
that almost every opening, however small, was decorated with more or
less carving, executed in the living rock; and beneath each I also
noticed the little heap of debris which had been thrown out by the owner
when he took possession of his cave and proceeded to enlarge its
interior according to his wants.
We outspanned at the far end of the valley, where the pasture had been
reserved, and spent the night there, having made a sort of forced march
through the valley in order to reach grass for the cattle--that forced
march, by the way, costing me one of my rapidly diminishing team of
oxen.
On the following day we passed another of the extraordinary Bandokolo
villages, and, on the day following that, two more, each being
considerably larger than the preceding one, while the distance between
them steadily decreased, so that on the tenth day after Pousa found us
we passed through no less than five villages, the last two being within
three miles of each other, and of such extent that I estimated each of
them to contain at least four thousand inhabitants, if not more. And
now, as every mile brought us appreciably nearer to Masakisale, the
capital and the abode of the mysterious and redoubtable Queen Bimbane,
it was no longer possible to keep the people at a distance, and I had
abundant opportunity to study their appearance, manners, dress, and
customs generally.
I feel bound to say that, taking into consideration all that I had heard
about them, my first impression was distinctly favourable. For, pygmies
though they were, they were as a rule perfectly formed; their colour was
so light that it soon became scarcely noticeable; their expression was
intelligent, and by no means unamiable, at least in the case of the
women, while as for the latter, though real beauty might be rare it was
certainly not entirely absent, and many of the younger ones were quite
good-looking, if not actually pretty. In the matter of attire, the
dress generally worn was admirably adapted to the tropical climate in
which the wearers lived, that of the men consisting simply of a pair of
tight-fitting drawers reaching to just above the knee, over which was
worn a sleeveless shirt of thick silk, confined at the waist by a belt;
while that of the women appeared to be a single garment of thick silk,
generally white, but occasionally dyed, the favourite colours being a
rich crimson, a sea green, and a very pale blue. But, apart from the
soldiers, neither sex wore any head covering, their thick hair seeming
to afford them all the protection needed from the fierce rays of the
vertical sun; but both sexes wore a kind of buskin of soft leather
reaching to just below the knee, the sole consisting of a shaped piece
of thick hide stitched on to the under part of the buskin.
The abundance of gold in the country was amply testified by the fact
that all adorned themselves more or less with ornaments, such as belts,
bracelets, armlets, or necklaces, made of the metal, many of the women
wearing, in addition, small plaques or bosses of hammered gold stitched
to the hems of their dresses, while others wore a kind of coronet,
formed of hammered or chiselled gold, in their hair. A rather sinister
feature which quickly attracted my attention was that, with scarcely a
solitary exception, the men went armed, each with a heavy,
murderous-looking knife of hardened gold thrust into his belt. Diamonds
also now came in evidence, a few of the women wearing the rough, uncut
stones set in gold, as necklaces, in their belts, or as adjuncts to
their coronets. And now, too, for the first time, I had an opportunity
to see the kind of vehicle in general use among the Bandokolo, this
consisting of a rough kind of sleigh, usually drawn by a single
elephant, although I encountered, here and there, sleighs big enough to
need, when fully loaded, two elephants to draw them. The horse was a
hitherto unknown beast among them, and it was amusing to note the wonder
and admiration which my animals excited among the people as we passed.
But they had contrived completely to domesticate the zebra, which seemed
to be quite common among them, although it was used exclusively as a
saddle animal.
Up to the present I had been afforded no opportunity to view the
interior of the rock dwellings of this extraordinary people; but as we
drew ever nearer to the capital I could not help feeling impressed by
the increasing elaboration of the decoration of the entrances, and the
high degree of artistic taste displayed. Some of the dwellings, indeed,
seemed to be wholly artificial, that is to say, the owner appeared to
have chosen a particular spot on the face of the living rock, and,
attacking it, had begun work by hewing out first the entrance--which was
usually rectangular in shape, ornamented with columns supporting a
sculptured pediment--and thence proceeding to excavate inward as many
apartments as were needed for the accommodation of his family. Such a
structure would, if executed by the members of the family alone, require
many years of continuous labour to complete; but Pousa informed me that
the usual practice was for a young man to start his house as soon as he
attained the age of two hundred and thirty-four moons (eighteen years),
leaving the exterior ornamentation quite rough, to be completed at his
leisure, and, hewing out a central passage, to employ others to help him
in excavating the interior apartments, adding to their number from time
to time as the need for them arose.
About mid-afternoon on the eleventh day after Pousa and his detachment
had taken charge of us, we reached the city of Masakisale, the capital
of Bandokolo; and after what has already been said with regard to this
remarkable people, the reader will not be surprised to learn that it was
far and away the most extraordinary city that I had ever seen or heard
of. It was situated in a kind of basin about eight miles wide by about
twenty-two miles long, hemmed in on every side by precipitous mountains,
and approached through one of the weirdest, wildest, and most
forbiddingly picturesque gorges that it is possible for the mind of man
to imagine. A mountain torrent foamed and raged over a rocky bed
through this gorge into the basin, and finally discharged itself into a
gloomy tarn, about two miles wide by three and a half miles long, which
occupied the whole of the lower or northern end of the valley. A wide,
straight road ran lengthwise through the valley from end to end, and was
intersected, at intervals of about a mile, by cross roads, between which
the whole of the valley was under cultivation, except for a patch of
about five miles long adjoining the tarn, one-third of which was pasture
land, while the remainder was devoted to the raising of hay, four crops
of which were cut every year. A road, with which the intersecting roads
communicated, ran right round the valley, at the base of the precipitous
mountain slopes which formed the sides of the basin, and from it other
roads zigzagged up the slopes to the very summit.
These zigzag roads gave access to the rock dwellings honeycombing the
mountains, the sculptured entrances to which were clearly discernible
through the variegated colours that splashed the slopes, these
variegated colours being due to the fact that the mountain slopes had
been terraced from base to summit, filled with earth where required, and
converted into gardens and fruit orchards.
The industrial portion of the city was situated at the northern end of
the valley, the prevailing wind here being from the south; thus the
smoke of the factory furnaces was carried away out of the valley at its
northern end, which obviated all nuisance. The population of Masakisale
numbered fully twenty thousand, according to Pousa; and I afterward had
reason to believe that he was very far within the mark, for I roughly
estimated that there must be nearly that number of dwellings in the
valley, and they would accommodate, on an average, at least four persons
each. There appeared to be nearly or quite five thousand people at work
in the fields when we entered the valley, assisted by some forty or
fifty elephants, which seemed to be employed here and there in ploughing
up the land and preparing it for a new crop. There was also a
considerable amount of traffic, pedestrian and vehicular, on the various
roads; and when the news of our arrival spread through the valley--which
it appeared to do with marvellous celerity--this traffic increased a
hundredfold at least, so that within an hour of our arrival it seemed as
though every man, woman, and child in the valley had turned out to stare
at us. And I confess that I was by no means favourably impressed with
the manner in which the men at least of Masakisale regarded my
appearance among them, for if I correctly interpreted the expression of
their countenances it was made up, in about equal proportions, of hatred
and fear; while that of the women, on the other hand, seemed chiefly to
indicate wonder, probably at my stature, for, compared with their
fifty-four inches, my seventy-four must have appeared gigantic.
There was no difficulty at all in identifying the royal palace; for
whereas most of the other dwellings in the valley were indicated merely
by a more or less elaborately sculptured doorway hewn out of the living
rock, the abode of Queen Bimbane measured--judging by the eye alone--at
least five hundred feet long by sixty feet high, the whole surface of
which was sculptured into the form of a house front, consisting of a
doorway with window openings on either side of it, and, above that, two
other tiers of window openings giving upon wide projecting balconies,
the whole very elaborately decorated with mouldings, balusters,
architraves, pediments, columns, entablatures, and other architectural
features, in a style quite strange to me, yet very handsome and
impressive, and representing, I should say, the life's work of several
hundred masons. Moreover, there was a banner flying over the centre of
the building, consisting of a replica, upon a very much larger scale, of
that borne by the standard-bearer who accompanied my escort.
This remarkable building--if indeed it may so be called--was situated
about three miles down the valley, on its western side and consequently
facing east, so that for the greater part of the day it was in shadow,
while every one of its window openings was shaded from the morning sun
by awnings of some material (which I afterward found was silk) arranged
in alternate stripes of green and white. I sighted and identified it at
a distance of more than a mile away; and when we arrived opposite it I
found that, as of course might be expected, one of the intersecting
roads crossing the main road led up to it. But there was this
difference between that particular road and all the others, that whereas
the others had cultivated fields on either side of them, this road was
bordered on either hand by beautiful smooth grassy lawns, kept cut quite
close, interspersed at frequent intervals with great, fancifully shaped
beds of flowers, while here and there enormous shade trees had been
left, beneath which quite a large number of handsomely attired men and
women were lounging. These were, of course, the palace gardens; and
when I enquired, Pousa informed me that the loungers belonged to the
queen's retinue, the general public being rigorously excluded from them.
Upon our arrival at the point where the road leading to the palace
branched off from the main road, Pousa informed me that I must now bid a
temporary adieu to the wagon and my followers, these being destined to
the lower end of the valley, where the pasture was situated, while, by
command of the queen, I was to be lodged in the palace; therefore if I
would indicate such of my personal belongings as I wished to have taken
to my new quarters, he would see that they were duly conveyed thither.
I rather demurred at this, not caring to be separated from Piet and
'Mfuni; but upon learning that the arrangement had been ordered by the
queen, and could not now be altered, I yielded, with the best grace I
could muster, and gave instructions that all my spare guns and a
plentiful supply of ammunition should be conveyed to my destined
quarters with the utmost circumspection, and there deposited.