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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Accordingly,
Notwithstanding The Uproar Occasioned By The Women's Tongues, Which,
Whether In Africa Or Elsewhere, Is A Very Serious Matter,
The mother
with her spurious offspring, and the ladies who came to aid and abet
her imposition, were turned out
Of the yard without any ceremony, to
the great relief of Pascoe, and his present wife, who felt rather
uncomfortable, whilst the palaver was carrying on.
The fetish priest of the town came dancing into the hut, shortly
after the ladies had retired, looking exceedingly wild, and roaring
as if possessed by an evil spirit. They paid little attention to the
fellow's fooleries, who, not liking his reception, left the hut,
after he had received the accustomed fee of a few kowries. The person
and dress of the man, together with his whimsical ornaments, were
admirably adapted to impose on the credulity and superstition of the
inhabitants; although many people of the town, influenced perhaps by
the spreading doctrines of Mahomet, spoke their minds pretty freely,
calling him a scoundrel and a devil. There was something peculiar in
this priest's countenance, which could not be defined. On his
shoulders he bore a large club, carved at one end with the figure of
a man's head. A vast number of strings of kowries were suspended on
this weapon, which were intermixed with shells, broken combs, small
pieces of wood with rude imitations of men's faces cut on them, large
sea-shells, bits of iron and brass, nut shells, &c. &c. Perhaps, the
number of kosries on his person did not fall far short of twenty
thousand, and the weight of his various ornaments almost pressed him
to the ground.
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