Page:Dick Sands the Boy Captain.djvu/377

 KAZONNDÉ. 349 José Antonio Alvez. It was hîs largest dépôt, although he had another at Bihé, and a third at Cassangé, where Cameron subsequently met him. It consisted of one long Street, on each side of which were groups of flat-roofed houses called iembés, built of rough earth, and provided with square yards forcattle. The end of it opencd intothe chitoka^ which was surrounded by the barracks. Above the houses some fine banyan-trecs waved theîr branches, surmounted hère and there by the crests of graceful palms. There was at least a score of birds of prey that hovered about the streets, and came down to perform the office of public scavengers. At no great distance flowed the Loohi, a river not yet explored, but which is supposed to be an affluent or sub-affluent of the Congo. Adjoining the commercial quarter was the royal résidence, nothing more nor less than a collection of dirty huts, extend- iiig over an area of nearly a square mile. Some of thèse huts were unenclosed ; others were sur- rounded by a palisade of reeds, or by a hedge of bushy figs. In an enclosure within a papyrus fence were about thirty huts appropriated to the king's slaves, another group for his wives, and in the middle, almost hidden by a plantation of manioc, a Umbé larger and loftier than the rest, the abode of the monarch himself. He had sorely declined from the dîgnity and importance of hîs predecessors, and his army, which by the early Portuguese traders had been estimated at 20,000, now numbered less than 4000 men ; no longer could he aiford, as in the good old time, to order a sacrifice of twenty-five or thirty slaves at one offering. His name was Moené Loonga. Little over fifty, he was prematurely aged by drink and debauchery, and scarcely better than a maniac. His subjects, officers, and ministers, were ail liable to be mutilated at his pleasurc, and noscs and ears, feet and hands, were eut ofTunsparingly whenevcr his caprice so willcd it His death would hâve been a cause of regret to no one, with the exception, perhaps, of Alvez, who was on very good terms with him. Alvez, moreover, feared that in the event of the présent king's