They Were Wonderfully Friendly, And Insisted Upon A Personal
Introduction To Both Myself And Mrs. Baker.
We were thus compelled to
hold a levee - not the passive and cold ceremony of Europe, but a most
Active undertaking, as each native that was introduced performed the
salaam of his country by seizing both my hands and raising my arms three
times to their full stretch above my head. After about one hundred
Fatikos had been thus gratified by our submission to this infliction,
and our arms had been subjected to at least three hundred stretches
each, I gave the order to saddle the oxen immediately, and we escaped a
further proof of Fatiko affection that was already preparing, as masses
of natives were streaming down the rocks hurrying to be introduced.
Notwithstanding the fatigue of the ceremony, I took a great fancy to
these poor people. They had prepared a quantity of merissa and a sheep
for our lunch, which they begged us to remain and enjoy before we
started; but the pumping action of half a village not yet gratified by a
presentation was too much, and mounting our oxen with aching shoulders
we bade adieu to Fatiko.
On the following day our guide lost the road; a large herd of elephants
had obscured it by trampling hundreds of paths in all directions. The
wind was strong from the north, and I proposed to clear the country to
the south by firing the prairies. There were numerous deep swamps in the
bottoms between the undulations, and upon arrival at one of these green
dells we fired the grass on the opposite side.
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