Travels Of Richard And John Lander Into The Interior Of Africa For The Discovery Of The Course And Termination Of The Niger By Robert Huish
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His Majesty Hinted That One
Journey Was Well And Fully Employed In Seeing The Kingdom Of Youriba,
And Paying The Required Homage To Its Potent Monarch.
It is curious how etiquette forms a part of every court, from a
latitude of 52 deg.
North, to one almost immediately under the equator,
and it must be admitted that if a school of instruction were
established at the former one, wherein the debutants might perfect
themselves in their various gestures and attitudes, we should not
behold such a number of awkward louts, and johnny raw's, as exhibit
themselves at the levee room of the king of the Guelphs. In the
capital of Eyeo, it is the custom of the court, for the monarch to
hold a levee twice a day, at six in the morning, and two in the
afternoon; rather hot work for the courtiers, perspiring in a
temperature of about 120 deg.. The son of a Highland clansman, or of an
Irish bogtrotter, is ushered into the presence of his sovereign with
very little preliminary instruction; not so however with the more
refined and polished court of Katunga. There, before the legitimate
or illegitimate sons of royalty and nobility, or even of the
plebeians are introduced to the king, they are required to wait upon
the chief eunuch, a kind of African lord chamberlain, and before whom
they are required to practise their prostrations and genuflexions, so
as not to commit themselves in the presence of their august monarch.
The finished courtier at the court of the Guelphs, is known by the
grace with which he seizes the hand of royalty, to imprint upon it a
slobbering kiss; and the caboceer at the court of Katunga, is known
by the grace with which he covers himself with dust, and the
intensity of his homage is estimated according to the quantity of the
article which he throws over himself.
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