The Lame And Blind
Are Called The King's Poor, Because They Are Charitably Maintained By
Him; And When Any Of These Travel, The Towns Through Which They Pass Are
Obliged To Maintain Them And Furnish Them With Guides From Place To
Place, An Excellent Example For Christians.
The months are divided into
three weeks of ten days each, and have several festivals.
The first day
of each month is the festival of the new moon; and the fourth and fifth
day of every week are kept as festivals. On these days all the natives
dress in their best apparel, and the king gives public audience to all
who present themselves, on which occasion he holds a truncheon about
three quarters of a yard long in each hand, using them to lean upon.
Those who speak to him prostrate themselves on the ground, and his
audience lasts from morning till evening. When the king is indisposed,
the Ningomoaxa, or governor of the kingdom, stands in his place. No
one must speak to the king, or even go to the palace, on the eighth day
of the moon, as that day is reckoned unlucky. On the day of the new
moon, the king runs about the palace with two javelins in his hand, as
if fighting, all the great men being present at this pastime. When this
is ended, a pot full of maize, boiled whole, is brought in, which the
king scatters about, desiring the nobles to eat, and every one strives
to gather most to please him, and eat it greedily as if it were the most
savoury dainty.
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