up his mind to remain among these reputed cannibals until the early rains compelled his return:

The only use made of ivory by the Neam Nam was for ornaments, such as bracelets and necklaces; some were ingeniously cut in imitation of cowry shells; and neatly cut thin flakes, like the scales of a fish, were curiously attached to a band like a piece of ribbon, and worn by the females round the neck. Both men and women wore their hair plaited in thick masses, covering the neck to the shoulders. This they combed out with long ivory pins, from six inches to upwards of a foot in length-one extremity pointed, the other increasing in thickness like a cone, three or four inches of which were carved into pretty patterns, and dyed black with the decoction of a root. When the hair had been arranged, two of the largest of these pins were stuck horizontally through it at the back of the head; between these smaller ones were inserted, forming a semicircle similar to a Spanish lady's comb.

A thick texture of a dark-brown colour, woven from the bark fibres, was worn by both sexes: by the females round the loins, but the men, generally possessing larger pieces, slung them around the body, leaving the arms in freedom. Leather sandals were universally worn; and the cleanliness of their persons and huts excited our admiration. They were great smokers of tobacco, of their own growth, mixed with the rind of the banana, also indigenous to the country.

The plain beneath the village was extensively cultivated into fields and gardens-cotton, vegetables, melons, gourds, and pepper, being grown in the latter; whilst the former were confined to the growth of various kinds of maize and beans. Their cultivation was well attended to, the labour being performed by slaves, of which the members of this tribe owned considerable numbers-some individuals owning them by hundreds; and, in case of emergency, they accompanied their masters to battle:

As everywhere else in the interior of Africa, within my knowledge, they were treated affectionately, and, generally speaking, both master and slave were proud of each other: in negro families I have often observed more attention paid to the slave than to their children. But I was assured by both free and slave negroes that a runaway slave belonging to the Neam Nam, if captured, was made an example of, by being slain and devoured. I was also informed by the Neam Nam, who seemed to glory in their reputation of cannibalism, that their aged, and indeed all when supposed to be at the point of death, were given up to be murdered and eaten.

Their arms consist of smooth and barbed lances, and a large oblong shield, formed of closely-woven matting, composed of several patterns, and dyed with many colours. In the centre of the interior is a wooden handle, to which are attached two or three singularly-formed iron projectiles, resembling a boomerang of rather a circular form, bearing on their peripheries several sharp projections. Attached to the girdle, a strong leather sheath containing a knife, hilt downwards, is worn by every Neam Nam. Small whistles, or calls, of ivory or antelope's horns, attached by a string, are suspended to the neck, and some of the men carry horns made of large elephant tusks.

Whilst living in this country, Mr. Petherick's chief amusement was shooting; and the destruction of giraffes, antelopes, and wild boar, he says, added considerably to his prestige. Panthers of several descriptions were sometimes met with, a few of which fell; also snakes of immense size; but lions, he observed, were much rarer than amongst the more northern tribes, where herds of cattle were an easier prey than wary antelopes:

The sky had for some days been overcast, and on the 13th of February, after a slight thunderstorm, we were delighted with the first fall of rain, the duration of which was but about five minutes, and great was the rejoicing of the natives on the occasion. Tom-toms were sounded, dancing and unusual potations

marked the event-not only indicative of a productive season, but also of the arrival of elephants, whose tusks, for the first time, were to prove a source of wealth to them.

Successive showers followed, and after a fortnight's sojourn a herd of eighteen elephants was announced, by beat of tom-tom, as being in the vicinity. Old men, hags, warriors, women, and children, collected with the most sanguine expectations; and, anxious to witness the scene, I accompanied the hunters: a finer body of well-grown and active men I never beheld. The slaves, many of them from the Baer, but most of them appertaining to unknown tribes from the west, were all but black, and followed their more noble-looking and olivecoloured masters. Two hours' march-the first part through cultivated ground, and the latter through magnificent bush-brought us to the open plain, covered hip-deep with dry grass; and there were the elephants marching leisurely towards us. The negroes, about five hundred, swift as antelopes, formed a vast circle around them, and by their yells brought the huge game to a stand-still. As if by magic, the plain was on fire, and the elephants, in the midst of the roar and crackling of the flames, were obscured from our view by the smoke. Where I stood, and along the line as far as I could see, the grass was beaten down to prevent the outside of the circle from being seized in the conflagration; and in a short time-not more than half an hour-the fire having exhausted itself, the cloud of smoke gradually rising, again displayed the group of elephants to our view, standing as if petrified. As soon as the burning embers had become sufficiently extinct, the negroes with a whoop closed from all sides upon their prey. The fire and smoke had blinded them; and, unable to defend themselves, they successively fell by the lances of their assailants. The sight was grand; and although their tusks proved a rich prize, I was touched at the massacre.

The villagers, acquainted with our success, hurried to the scene, when women and children took an active part in carrying to their homes huge pieces of the carcases cut off by their husbands and brothers, whilst others cleverly detached the tusks with their axes. The work lasted two days, and the sight was animated in the extreme. The skeletons only remained on the ground.

The barter of the tusks was the next great event-the entire population assisting, and the scene resembled a fair. In the centre of a large circle composed of the elders of the tribe, the chief interpreter and myself were seated; and in front of an immense number of people stood the men bearing the tusks. The tusks were singly bartered for by the chief; and notwithstanding the earnest desire on both sides to conclude the bargain, so much haggling took place that two days were consumed ere the sale was effected.

The small stock of beads I had brought with me had now become exhausted; and with faithful promises to return the following season, I made preparations for my departure, the chief affording me every facility for the conveyance of my merchandise.

When Mr. Petherick at length took his way back from Mundo, his party were accompanied a considerable distance by crowds of the natives; and Dimu, on taking leave of him, grasped his hand, and exacted another promise to return, and, stating that he should be proud to receive him into his family, offered him his daughter as a bride, whom he would keep for him until his return.

At Umbolea, Mr. Petherick finding a party of his men, he was induced to make a détour to the eastwards of the Dur country, as far as Kangambu, another, and a considerable village of the Niyam-Nams, governed by Urumbo (Urumbu), as were also several villages in the immediate neighbourhood:

Ürumbo, as soon as we had understood each other, informed me that his brother Djungee, and father Hookooa, were chiefs of considerable settlements at half a day's journey distant to the east and south-east of him.

From this it will appear that the Neam Nam recognised no superior chief; but, like the Dôr, the tribe is divided into numerous chieftainships. They are

all large slave-owners, and the respectability and importance of the chiefs depend on the number of slaves in their possession. These are held to add to their importance as retainers and labourers; and being kidnapped from their neighbours for their own especial use, are not bartered either amongst themselves or adjoining tribes. A slave-merchant, therefore, is not known in the country.

After a few days' sojourn, carrying on a brisk trade, I turned to the northwest; and, proceeding through Madiboo, we again arrived on the confines of the Neam Nam territory at Baranj. Bashima, the chief, a young man, some four or five and twenty, stated that his brother Basia, his father Gorea, and grandfather Harquati, were each of them chiefs more powerful than himself, towards

the north.

Two days' journey were occupied in traversing a gravelly soil and thin scattered bush, supplied with occasional tanks of water; but at Djamaga, belonging to the Dôr, the country was more fertile, and was extensively cultivated. Rejoining thence my station at Lungo, I promised Abderahman a fresh supply of merchandise and necessaries from our head-quarters at the Djour, and recommended him to proceed therewith to the Neam Nam at Mundo, and there establish himself. I now took charge of the proceeds of the campaign, and with one hundred negro porters commenced my homeward journey.

Thus it is, and ever will be, that the false glitter of fable will disappear before the broad day of observation, just as prejudices do in the presence of intercourse and intercommunication. The caudate race of Africa kept always receding as travel advanced, till the fable is now expelled from the country of the Niyam-Nams, its last stronghold. The men with four eyes, those with eyes under their armpits, the dwarfs with ears reaching to the ground, the

Men whose heads

Do grow beneath their shoulders,

all reminding one of the strange fantasies of antiquity, and of some rare men of later times, as the Maunde villes and the Monboddos, will one after another be expunged from our minds as our knowledge of interior Africa extends. Already, it may be observed, Mr. Petherick's utmost south comes almost close upon Captain Speke's farthest north, at the latter traveller's Mountains of the Moon; and if a kind Providence will spare the gallant captain and his companion, Grant, from the twofold evils of climate and savages, there can be little doubt that the interval will soon be crossed, and then Eastern Africa will be known, at all events in a general way, from Alexandria to the Cape of Good Hope.

NOTE. Since writing the above, we perceive that M. Guillaume Lejean, at present travelling on the Nile, claims to have discovered the origin of the fable of the Niyam-Nams having tails. He says that, like the Choktaw Indians, they wear (or, at least, some of them wear) leathern ornaments behind, which have a resemblance to a tail. It is the fan-shaped tail of M. d'Escayrac. M. Lejean obtained one from the body of a Niyam-Nam, in which the leathern work was strengthened by little bits of iron. M. Lejean, who has not penetrated into the country of the Niyam-Nam, calls them Niyam-Niyams, as others have done before Mr. Petherick's time; and he also notices the Nyam-Bari-an important point, as it will tend to show that this remarkable copper-coloured and transition race occupies the greater part of the territory at the head waters of the Nile, from the ShuaBari and head affluents of the Sobat to those of the Tu-Bari and head affluents of the White Nile, and farther to the Niyam-lah, or great western tributary of the Gazelle Lake, upon which Mr. Petherick first reached these curious people. The love of gain will sometimes do as much as the spirit of adventure for the progress of geographical knowledge. We perceive, by the last number of the Bulletin de la Société de Géographie, that the French (especially M. Poncet fils and M. Ambroise) have already founded establishments (établissements pour le commerce de l'ivoire), of which the chief appears to be at Fatil, on one of the many Nile tributaries, in the heart of the country so recently opened to us by Mr. Petherick.

STANDING blowing in the wind at the turning of the road were Miss Carlyle and Lady Isabel Vane. The latter, confused and perplexed, was picking up the remnant of her damaged spectacles: the former, little less perplexed, gazed at the face which struck upon her memory as being so familiar. Her attention, however, was called off the face to the apparition of Sir Francis Levison.

He was close upon them, Mr. Drake and the other comrade being with him, and some tag-rag in attendance, as usual. It was the first time he and Miss Carlyle had met, face to face. She bent her condemning brow, haughty in its bitter scorn, full upon him: for it was not in the nature of Miss Carlyle to conceal her sentiments, especially when they were rather of the strongest. Sir Francis, when he arrived opposite, raised his hat to her. Whether it was done in courtesy, in confused unconsciousness, or in mockery, cannot be told: Miss Carlyle assumed it to have been the latter; and her lips, in their anger, grew almost as pale as those of the unhappy woman who was cowering behind her.

aid.

"Did you intend that insult for me, Francis Levison ?"

"As you please to take it," returned he, calling up insolence to his

"You dare to lift off your hat to me? Have you forgotten that I am Miss Carlyle?"

"It would be difficult for you to be forgotten, once seen."

Now this answer was given in mockery; his tone and manner were redolent of it, insolently so. The two gentlemen looked on in discomfort, wondering what it meant; Lady Isabel hid her face as she best could, terrified to death lest his eyes should fall on it; while the spectators, several of whom had collected now, listened with interest, especially some farm labourers of Squire Pinner's, who had happened to be passing.

"You contemptible worm!" ejaculated Miss Carlyle. "Do you think you can outrage me with impunity, as you, by your presence in it, are outraging West Lynne? Out upon you, for a bold, bad man!"

Now Miss Corny, in so speaking, had certainly no thought of present and immediate punishment for the gentleman; but, it appeared that the mob, around, had. The motion was commenced by those stoutshouldered labourers. Whether excited thereto by the words of Miss Carlyle-who, whatever may have been her faults of manner, held the respect of the neighbourhood, and was looked up to only in a less degree than her brother; whether Squire Pinner, their master, had let drop, in their hearing, a word of the ducking he had hinted at, when at East Lynne; or whether their own feelings alone spurred them on, was best May-VOL. CXXII. NO. CCCCLXXXV.

D

known to the men themselves.

Certain it is, that the ominous sound of "Duck him," was breathed forth by a voice, and it was caught up and echoed around.

"Duck him! Duck him! The pond be close at hand. Let's give him a taste of his deservings! What do he, the scum, turn himself up at West Lynne for, bearding Mr. Carlyle? What have he done with Lady Isabel? Him put up for us others at West Lynne! West Lynne's respectable it don't want him: it have got a better man: it won't have a villain. Now, lads!"

His face turned white, and he trembled in his shoes: worthless men are frequently cowards. Lady Isabel trembled in hers: and well she might, hearing that one allusion. They set upon him, twenty pairs of hands at least, strong, rough, determined hands; not to speak of the tag-rag's help, who went in with cuffs, and kicks, and pokes, and taunts, and cheers, and a demoniac dance.

They dragged him through a gap in the hedge, a gap that no baby could have got through in a cool moment, but we most of us know the difference between coolness and excitement. The hedge was extensively damaged, but Justice Hare, to whom it belonged, would forgive that. Mr. Drake and the lawyer-for the other was a lawyer-were utterly powerless to stop the catastrophe. "If they didn't mind their own business and keep theirselves clear, they'd get served the same," was the promise held out in reply to their remonstrances; and the lawyer, who was short and fat, and could not have knocked a man down, had it been to save his life, backed out of the mêlée, and contented himself with issuing forth confused threatenings of the terrors of the law. Miss Carlyle stood her ground majestically, and looked on with a grim countenance. Had she interfered for his protection, she could not have been heard: and, if she could have been, there's no knowing whether she would have done it.

On, to the brink of the pond: a green, dank, dark, slimy, sour, stinking pond. His coat tails were gone by this time, and sundry rents and damages appeared in-in another useful garment. One pulled him, another pushed him, a third shook him by the collar, half a dozen buffeted him, and all abused him.

"In with him, boys!"

"Mercy! mercy!" shrieked the victim, his knees bending and his teeth chattering, "a little mercy, for the love of Heaven!"

"Heaven! Much he knows of Heaven!"

A souse, a splash, a wild cry, a gurgle, and Sir Francis Levison was floundering in the water, its green poison, not to mention its adders and toads and frogs, going down his throat by bucketfuls. A hoarse, derisive laugh, and a hip, hip, hurrah! broke from the actors; while the juvenile tag-rag, in wild delight, joined hands round the pool, and danced the demon's dance, like so many red Indians. They had never had such a play acted for them before.

Out of the pea-soup before he was quite dead, quite senseless. Of all drowned rats, he looked the worst, as he stood there with his white, rueful face, his shivery limbs, and his dilapidated garments, shaking the wet off him. The labourers, their duty done, walked coolly away; the tag-rag withdrew to a safe distance, waiting for what might come next; and Miss Carlyle moved away also. Not more shivery, was that wretched