He Carried A Large Umbrella To Shade His Complexion; A
Pair Of Handsome Silver-Mounted Pistols Were Arranged Upon His
Saddle, And A Silver-Hilted Curved Sword, Of The Peculiar
Abyssinian Form, Hung By His Side.
This grand personage was
followed by an attendant, also mounted upon a mule, while several
men on foot accompanied them, one of whom carried his lance and
shield.
Upon a near approach, he immediately dismounted, and
advanced towards us, bowing in a most foppish manner, while his
attendant followed him on foot with an enormous violin, which he
immediately handed to him. This fiddle was very peculiar in
shape, being a square, with an exceedingly long neck extending
from one corner; upon this was stretched a solitary string, and
the bow was very short and much bent. This was an Abyssinian
Paganini. He was a professional minstrel of the highest grade,
who had been sent by Mek Nimmur to welcome us on our arrival.
These musicians are very similar to the minstrels of ancient
times; they attend at public rejoicings, and at births, deaths,
and marriages of great personages, upon which occasions they
extemporize their songs according to circumstances. My hunting in
the Base country formed his theme, and for at least an hour he
sang of my deeds, in an extremely loud and disagreeable voice,
while he accompanied himself upon his fiddle, which he held
downwards like a violoncello: during the whole of his song he
continued in movement, marching with a sliding step to the front,
and gliding to the right and left in a manner that, if intended
to be graceful, was extremely comic. The substance of this
minstrelsy was explained to me by Taher Noor, who listened
eagerly to the words, which he translated with evident
satisfaction. Of course, like all minstrels, he was an absurd
flatterer, and, having gathered a few facts for his theme, he
wandered slightly from the truth in his poetical description of
my deeds.
He sang of me as though I had been Richard Coeur de Lion, and
recounted, before an admiring throng of listeners, how "I had
wandered with a young wife from my own distant country to fight
the terrible Base; how I had slain them in single combat; and how
elephants and lions were struck down like lambs and kids by my
hands; that during my absence in the hunt, my wife had been
carried off by the Base; that I had, on my return to my pillaged
camp, galloped off in chase, and, overtaking the enemy, hundreds
had fallen by my rifle and sword, and I had liberated and
recovered the lady, who now had arrived safe with her lord in the
country of the great Mek Nimmur," &c. &c. &c.
This was all very pretty, no doubt, and as true as most poetical
and musical descriptions, but I felt certain that there must be
something to pay for this flattering entertainment; if you are
considered to be a great man, a present is invariably expected in
proportion to your importance.
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