All Being Arranged, I Had A Large Persian
Carpet Spread Upon The Ground, And Received The Chief Of Latooka In
State.
He was introduced by Ibrahim, and I had the advantage of his
interpreter.
I commenced the conversation by ordering a present to be
laid on the carpet of several necklaces of valuable beads, copper bars,
and colored cotton handkerchiefs. It was most amusing to witness his
delight at a string of fifty little "berrets" (opal beads the size of
marbles) which I had brought into the country for the first time, and
which were accordingly extremely valuable. No sooner had he surveyed
them with undisguised delight than he requested me to give him another
string of opals for his wife, or she would be in a bad humor;
accordingly a present for the lady was added to the already large pile
of beads that lay heaped upon the carpet before him. After surveying his
treasures with pride, he heaved a deep sigh, and turning to the
interpreter he said, "What a row there will be in the family when my
other wives see Bokke (his head wife) dressed up with this finery. Tell
the 'Mattat' that unless he gives necklaces for each of my other wives
they will fight!" Accordingly I asked him the number of ladies that made
him anxious. He deliberately began to count upon his fingers, and having
exhausted the digits of one hand I compromised immediately, begging him
not to go through the whole of his establishment, and presented him with
about three pounds of various beads to be divided among them. He
appeared highly delighted, and declared his intention of sending all his
wives to pay Mrs. Baker a visit. This would be an awful visitation, as
each wife would expect a present for herself, and would assuredly leave
either a child or a friend for whom she would beg an addition. I
therefore told him that the heat was so great that we could not bear too
many in the tent, but that if *Bokke*, his favorite, would appear, we
should be glad to see her. Accordingly he departed, and shortly we were
honored by a visit.
*Bokke* and her daughter were announced, and a pair of prettier savages
I never saw. They were very clean; their hair was worn short, like that
of all the women of the country, and plastered with red ochre and fat so
as to look like vermilion; their faces were slightly tattooed on the
cheeks and temples, and they sat down on the many-colored carpet with
great surprise, and stared at the first white man and woman they had
ever seen. We gave them both a number of necklaces of red and blue
beads, and I secured Bokke's portrait in my sketch- book, obtaining a
very correct likeness. She told us that Mahommed Her's men were very bad
people; that they had burned and plundered one of her villages; and that
one of the Latookas who had been wounded in the fight by a bullet had
just died, and they were to dance for him to-morrow; if we would like to
we could attend.
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