A THICK WITH A TIGER-SKIN. 107
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glance at the terrible figure, with an unity of move- 1883.
ment fled shrieking and yelling from the river bank. Yambinga..
When we discovered what had caused this extraordinary
flight of the aborigines, their yells were
immediately followed by roars of laughter from the
crews of the boats, which the flying natives heard,
and then halted, reassured more effectively by the
merriment than by hours of bell ringing on the part
of the criers. It brought them back, too, to see a
tall young fellow laughing immoderately, while a
collapsed tiger-skin lay at his feet in a harmless heap.
The laughter became contagious, and one might see
an entire population slapping their thighs, staggering
convulsively about, and grasping one another for
support as they reeled under the spasms which
agitated them.
An hour and a half above Bumba is an equally
populous town named Yambinga. It is on the same
hank. As we approached, the lower portion of the
town appeared to be disposed to reject u s ; but we
persevered in bawling out for Mukuku, the chief of
Yambinga, whose name we had slyly obtained from
Sungo-Maji of Bumba. In about fifteen minutes
Mukuku deigned to come out into view on the river
bank, a veritable dark Robinson Crusoe, in headdress
and accoutrements. Over his curly head he
wore an antelope-skin cap, adorned with a mighty
crest of cock’s feathers, while a broad shoulder-belt
of leopard-skin, attached to which was a miscellaneous
assortment of the tags and tassels of fetish mysteries,