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
- Page 695 of 1124 - First - Home
Here They Were Met By A
Number Of Fellows With Horns, Who Blew On Them With The Accustomed
Energy Of
The natives; these men preceded them over a bridge, which
was thrown across a moat that surrounds Jenna into the
Centre of the
town, where they again alighted, and waited the chief's pleasure in
an open shed. They had not been seated many seconds before an immense
crowd of people pressed in upon them on every side, subjecting them
to the accustomed inconvenience of want of air, strong unwholesome
smells, and a confused hubbub, that defies description. Never were
the people more eager to behold a white man; the little ones formed
themselves into a ring close to the shed, then followed those of
maturer age, after them came a still older class, and the last circle
consisted of people as tall as steeples; most of whom held infants in
their arms. Altogether a large amphitheatre was formed of black
woolly heads, and white teeth set in jetty faces, and although the
Landers felt rather amazed at their innocent curiosity, and were
obliged to wait a considerable time for the new chief, they could
not help being highly diverted with the spectacle around them; at
length, to their great relief and joy, intelligence was brought that
the chief was ready to receive them. It appears that the principles
of etiquette at the royal courts, whether of Europe or of Africa, are
not definitively settled, for that which at the court of a William
the fourth, would be considered as the extreme of rudeness and
disrespect, is at the African courts construed into the most decisive
testimony of good breeding and politeness.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 695 of 1124
Words from 190381 to 190661
of 309561