My large tent was pitched beneath an immense
banian-tree, close to which was the new government house. This
grand-sounding name was given to a very solid construction of a most
simple character. The divan was a building containing only one room
twenty-eight feet long by fourteen wide, and about twenty feet high. It
was carefully thatched with overhanging eaves, which formed a narrow
verandah, and it was entered by a commodious porch; this was arched in
the native fashion, and was so large that it formed a lobby, in which we
sometimes dined. The inside walls of the divan were neatly made with
canes closely lashed together.
There was a back door to this public room which communicated with a
separate house by a covered way.
This was our private residence, which also consisted of only one room;
but I had arranged it with extreme neatness, in order to excite the
admiration of Kabba Rega and his chiefs, who would, I hoped, imitate the
manners and customs of civilized life, and thus improve trade.
The room was twenty-four feet long by thirteen wide. The walls were as
usual made of canes, but these were carefully hung with scarlet
blankets, sewn together and stretched to the ground, so as to form an
even surface.
