about four
o'clock
At Anuti 's urgent request I resumed occupation of the apartments which I had lived in during my stay in Masakisale ; and as I did not wish to be further mixed up in the political situation , and was moreover somewhat fatigued , I at once retired to them and was soon sound asleep . The following day was scarcely less strenuous than that which had preceded it , though in a different way ; for it had been arranged that the obsequies of the dead queen should take place at sunset , and all day long the several Court officials concerned were busily engaged in making the necessary preparations . The funeral pyre was erected in the centre of a spacious basin among the hills at the head of the valley , some six miles from the palace , and early in the afternoon the inhabitants began to gather in front of the palace , to witness and take part in the spectacle . Then , about four o'clock , the royal bodyguard , with their regimental banners twisted into a knot and bound to the staves with broad white ribbons in token of mourning , paraded before the palace , and the trumpeters sounded seven blasts ; whereupon the funeral cortege made its appearance , issuing from the main entrance to the palace . First stalked the royal standard-bearer , carrying the royal standard , knotted and bound to its staff with white ribbon ; then came the royal bier , which consisted of a platform borne by twelve men attired wholly in white -- the mourning colour -- and draped with white silk , heavily fringed with gold bullion , which swept the ground . Upon this platform was placed the royal throne of ivory heavily mounted in gold ; and upon the throne , and securely fastened to it , was seated the body of Bimbane , fully attired in her robes of state , and crowned with a gold coronet set with uncut diamonds and ornamented with the crimson wings of the orilu , which only a monarch might wear . Then came Anuti , alone , in his full uniform , closely followed by the nobles and chiefs of the nation -- among whom the new king had insisted that I should take my place .