A few fathoms of altitude here make a surprising difference. The little valleys with their chalet-like huts reminded me of the Maroro and Kisanga basins, in the sister formation, the East African Ghats, but now we have a hill-climate without ague and fever. Our parallel is that of Yorukan Abokuta, where the people are anti-oeci, both being about 6° distant from the Line,-- those north, these south. There the bush is fetid, and the clammy air gives a sense of deadly depression; here the atmosphere is pure, the land is open, and there is enjoyment in the mere sense of life. The effete matter in the blood and the fatty degeneration of the muscles, the results of inactivity, imperfect respiration, and F. Po, were soon consumed by the pure oxygen of the highland air. I can attribute this superiority of the Congo region only to the labours of an old civilization now obsolete; none but a thick and energetic population could have cleared off the forest, which at one time must have covered their mountains. The Banza consists of about fifty cottages, which are being new- thatched before the rains, and the population may number 300. Our host assigned to us one of his own huts; it fronted west, and was a facsimile of that which we had just left. The old fox, determined not to be "taken alive," has provided his earth with three holes, opening to the north, to the east, and to the west. We often detected him in the "ben," the matrimonial sanctum, listening to private conversations which he could not understand. Gidi Mavunga is decidedly a "serious person." The three walls round the standing bedstead are hung with charms and amulets, like the sacred pictures in country parts of Europe; and at the head is his "Mavunga," of which Tuckey says (p. 180), "Each village has a grand kissey (nkisi), or presiding divinity, named Mevonga:" it is an anthropoid log, about three feet high, red, white, and black, the former colour predominating. Two bits of looking-glass represent the eyes, the nose is patulous, as though offended by evil savour; the upper lip is drawn up in disdain, the under overlaps the chin; and a little mirror is inserted into the umbilical region. Mavunga's dress is represented by an English billy-cock hat; while all kinds of "medicines," calabashes, and a coarse knife depend from his neck to his shoulders. The figures at the door are generally called "Ngolowándá." It is said, I believe, of the Englishwoman- "If she will, she will, you may depend on't; If she won't, she won't, and there's an end on't."