It looked like a white house; however the king had not yet seen any of their houses when he built them. He himself had imagined the way to build it. The terracing was high. It was built with bricks, the ceiling was covered with earth and on this ceiling another room was built. The roof was of mats. This dwelling was named Nkue-yam. The ladder that allowed access to the upper room was so well made that you didn't feel like you were climbing a ladder when going to the upper floor. An outside staircase gave access to the first room and from this one went to the upper floor. The floor on the ground floor was so well done that you would have thought it was not made of earth. It was in the upper room that the king spent the night. It was beautifully decorated. The walls were covered with fabrics, the floor was covered with mats; the hearth was coated with a kind of varnish, the veranda which surrounded this room was also covered with mats. Two metal pipes connected the first floor and the ground floor, one was for the water, the other for the wine; a long string ran from top to bottom. Every morning water was poured into one of these pipes and the servants who spent the night on the ground floor came there to take the water necessary for their toilet. When the king wanted to give wine to the servants, he had it poured into the other pipe, and they came to fill their ndut (drinking vessel) without seeing the one doing the service." In 1916, the French had taken control of German Cameroon, and the Kingdom of Bamun lost its partial autonomy. Since Njoya resided in Foumban until 1931, despite his formal abolition by France, he had, in a de facto sense, still had assumed the role as the king. Also in 1931, he was sent to Yaoundé, where he died two years later in 1933 at the age of 66. His successor was Seidou Njimoluh Njoya. Innovations Njoya came to power in a tumultuous time. His father Mfon Nsangu had recently been assassinated in a war with the Nso and his mother Njapdunke served as a regent until he was prepared for the position of mfon. During his early days as a ruler he had encountered many neighboring African