It was a tolerably large hut, constructed of bamboos and palm-leaves, very neatly.

Several women were seated before it, busily employed in making the short petticoats of reeds which they all wore.
Their hair was very carefully braided in tufts on the crown of the head; none were good-looking, except two daughters of the king, about ten and twelve years old, who, though very dark, were graceful: these, no doubt, he intended for wives for my Francis.

We disembarked about a hundred yards from the hut.

The women came to meet us, carrying a branch of the mimosa in each hand; they then performed a singular kind of dance, entwining their arms and shaking their feet, but never moving from the spot; this they accompanied with a wild chant, which was anything but musical.

The king seemed pleased with it; and, calling his wives and daughters, he showed them his _tayo, Bara_ and _Ourou_, calling himself Fritz-Ernest; he then joined in the dance, dragging my sons with him, who managed it pretty well.