The Request Of An African Prince, In His
Own Dominions, Particularly When Made To A Stranger, Comes Little
Short Of A Command.
It is only a way of obtaining by gentle means
what he can, if he pleases, take by force;
And as it was against my
interest to offend him by a refusal, I very quietly took off my
coat, the only good one in my possession, and laid it at his feet.
In return for my compliance, he presented me with great plenty of
provisions, and desired to see me again in the morning. I
accordingly attended, and found in sitting upon his bed. He told me
he was sick, and wished to have a little blood taken from him; but I
had no sooner, tied up his arm and displayed the lancet, than his
courage failed, and he begged me to postpone the operation till the
afternoon, as he felt himself, he said, much better than he had
been, and thanked me kindly for my readiness to serve him. He then
observed that his women were very desirous to see me, and requested
that I would favour them with a visit. An attendant was ordered to
conduct me; and I had no sooner entered the court appropriated to
the ladies, than the whole seraglio surrounded me - some begging for
physic, some for amber, and all of them desirous of trying that
great African specific, BLOOD-LETTING. They were ten or twelve in
number, most of them young and handsome, and wearing on their heads
ornaments of gold, and beads of amber.
They rallied me with a good deal of gaiety on different subjects,
particularly upon the whiteness of my skin and the prominency of my
nose. They insisted that both were artificial. The first, they
said, was produced when I was an infant, by dipping me in milk; and
they insisted that my nose had been pinched every day, till it had
acquired its present unsightly and unnatural conformation. On my
part, without disputing my own deformity, I paid them many
compliments on African beauty. I praised the glossy jet of their
skins, and the lovely depression of their noses; but they said that
flattery, or, as they emphatically termed it, honey-mouth, was not
esteemed in Bondou. In return, however, for my company or my
compliments (to which, by the way, they seemed not so insensible as
they affected to be) they presented me with a jar of honey and some
fish, which were sent to my lodging; and I was desired to come again
to the king a little before sunset.
I carried with me some beads and writing-paper, it being usual to
present some small offering on taking leave, in return for which the
king gave me five drachms of gold, observing that it was but a
trifle, and given out of pure friendship, but would be of use to me
in travelling, for the purchase of provisions. He seconded this act
of kindness by one still greater, politely telling me that, though
it was customary to examine the baggage of every traveller passing
through his country, yet, in the present instance, he would dispense
without ceremony, adding, I was at liberty to depart when I pleased.
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