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Updated: June 9, 2025
"It is here that he ought to die!" added Alvez. "Where you please, Alvez," replied Moini Loungga; "but a drop of fire-water for a drop of blood!" "Yes," replied the trader, "fire-water, and you will see that it well merits that name! We shall make it blaze, this water! Jose-Antonio Alvez will offer a punch to the King Moini Loungga." The drunkard shook his friend Alvez's hands.
He had on his breast a quantity of tattooing which bore witness to the ancient nobility of the king; and, to believe him, the genealogy of Moini Loungga was lost in the night of time. On the ankles, wrists and arms of his majesty, bracelets of leather were rolled, and he wore a pair of domestic shoes with yellow tops, which Alvez had presented him with about twenty years before.
A single man in all Kazounde might, perhaps, lose by the death of Moini Loungga. This was the contractor, Jose-Antonio Alvez, who agreed very well with the drunkard, whose authority was recognized by the whole province. If the accession of his first wife, Queen Moini, should be contested, the States of Moini Loungga might be invaded by a neighboring competitor, one of the kings of Oukonson.
One would say that this vat of brandy fascinated him, and that he was going to throw himself into it. Alvez generously held him back and put a lighted match into his hand. "Fire!" cried he with a cunning grimace of satisfaction. "Fire!" replied Moini Loungga lashing the liquid with the end of the match. What a flare and what an effect, when the bluish flames played on the surface of the basin.
Alvez, furnished with an enormous metal spoon, stirred the liquid, which threw a great white glare over those delirious monkeys. Moini Loungga advanced. He seized the spoon from the trader's hands, plunged it into the basin, then, drawing it out full of punch in flames, he brought it to his lips. What a cry the King of Kazounde then gave! An act of spontaneous combustion had just taken place.
Both conversed in the native language, if, however, that word "converse" can be used of a conversation in which Moini Loungga only took part by monosyllables that hardly found a passage through his drunken lips. And still, did he not ask his friend, Alvez, to renew his supply of brandy just exhausted by large libations? "King Loungga is welcome to the market of Kazounde," said the trader.
In bodies so thoroughly alcoholized, combustion only produces a light and bluish flame, that water cannot extinguish. Even stifled outside, it would still continue to burn inwardly. When liquor has penetrated all the tissues, there exists no means of arresting the combustion. A few minutes after, Moini Loungga and his minister had succumbed, but they still burned.
Some daubed themselves with mud, and gave signs of the greatest servility to this hideous majesty. Moini Loungga hardly looked at all these people, and walked, keeping his limbs apart, as if the ground were rolling and pitching.
The traders disputed over the lots with an ardor of which the London Exchange would give but an imperfect idea, even on a day when stocks were rising. All business was stopped, and the criers took their breath as soon as the discordant concert commenced. The King of Kazounde, Moini Loungga, had come to honor the great "lakoni" with a visit.
"I am thirsty," replied the monarch. "He will take his part in the business of the great 'lakoni," added Alvez. "Drink!" replied Moini Loungga. "My friend Negoro is happy to see the King of Kazounde again, after such a long absence." "Drink!" repeated the drunkard, whose whole person gave forth a disgusting odor of alcohol.
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