into an empty room, which each chief always kept for his visitors, so that they might not cast covetous eyes on his belongings. One chief possessed a stool, and one of his serfs happened to sit on it. He was promptly beheaded by his chief, who said that any one sufficiently assuming to sit on his stool would not be long before he was usurping his position altogether, and was much better out of the way.
Some idea of the state of society in the king’s palace may be gathered from the fact that the king’s mother (the Namasole) had to be removed entirely from the palace, and made to live in a separate house some two miles away. Her character was of such a nature, and she drank so immoderately, that her influence was too bad for her young son. He was in charge of an old nurse, but lately all women servants have been expelled from the enclosure, only men and boys being allowed to serve the king. His education
