CHAPTER V. AT COURT IN AFRICA.—COSTUMES OF THE COURT.—AN AFRICAN HOUSEHOLD.—A FALSE ALARM. In the midst of the great forest, far from the sea, stands a village of Mbondemo. Before I entered it the gate had to be opened in order to let me in. The village was composed only of a single street, each end was barricaded with stout sticks or palisades, and, as there was war, the doors or gates of the village were finally closed, and persons approaching, if they could not explain their intentions, were remorselessly speared and killed. On the ends of the sticks making the palisades were skulls of wild boars, of gorillas and of chimpanzees. At the gate I entered there was a large wooden idol, and close by the idol was a very large elephant’s skull. If I had come alone I should probably never have entered the village, but I had with me one of the King’s numerous sons-in-law belonging to a far town, and he had sent word that I was coming with him and some of his people. I had hardly entered when all sorts of wild shouts were heard from one end of the village to the other; the women ran away; the children hid in their huts; and the men kept at a distance, so the way to the palaver-house was free. [Sidenote: _A ROYAL RECEPTION._] These men were all armed to the teeth and were ready for fight. They were continually in hot water with their neighbors, and never knew when they were to be attacked. They are a quarrelsome people. [Illustration: APPEARANCE OF THE KING AND HIS COURT.] The palaver-house was a large shed built in the middle of the street, and there we seated ourselves. A few men braver than the rest came to look at what they thought the strange being, “the Spirit,” that had come among them.