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Mansolah towards this end , that of seeing him as a king , which would shortly be the case , was repeatedly urged with much warmth . ' You behold me now only as a poor man / observed his Majesty , * but by and bye I shall be a king indeed . * The African princes , * ' continues our author , " have all a womanish
foudness for dress and admiration , and Mansolah was the only one who was ashamed of it . " The subjects of Mansolah had a peculiarity of taste on this head , which is worthy of notice : " they preferred a ruler with a smart and gorgeous exterior , even if he happened to be the most odious tyrant on the face of the earth , to a prince meanly dressed ,
although he were endowed with every amiable quality . " Such was Monsolah's account of the matter , and he assured the Europeans that it was purely to gratify the taste of his subjects that he accepted the trinkets with which they presented him . Shortly after they had taken
leave of this friendly monarch , Mr . Lander became suddenly worse , and being exceedingly desirous of rejoining Captain Clappertou , who had proceeded towards Bornou , he ordered a couch to be prepared for him on the back of a camel , and thus continued his journey . The kindness he met whilst in this state is
remarkable . On one occasion the path through which he travelled being narrow , and lined on each side with a prickly thoru , one of the natives perceiviug that the sharp points annoyed him by tearing the covering from his bed , and exposing his body to the heat of the sun , rode on before , and lopped off the overhanging branches . On his arrival at
Koolofie , the chief himself came out to meet him , and lifted him from the camel's back . " Placing me on a mat , " says the author , " he took a goora nut from his pocket , and holding it between his finger and thumb , entreated me to chew one end of it , in order that he might have the honour of eating with a white man and a Christian ; this I succeeded in doing after some difficulty , when he immediately ate the remainder
with much apparent satisfaction . His great men , who surrounded me , reproved the chief sharply for doing this ; but quickly answering them in a pleasant and firm tone , he said that he believed the * Little Christian' was as good a man as himself , or any of them ; which effectually silenced their remarks . " —Vol . I . p . 241 . As a general rule , the Mahometans were less hospitable than their Heathen brethren , but the author had no
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great reason to complain of eithei * . The ignorance and superstition of the Mahometan negroes he describes as extreme ; and he who can utter such a sentence as La ill ah el Allah rasoul allahi , ( there is but one God , and Mohammed is his prophet , ) is styled mallam , or learned . " Even after the committal of a capital offence , should the criminal be almost imf
mediately executed , and Allah !* is heard to tremble on his closing lips , the multitude firmly believe that his soul will inevitably he conveyed to the third heaven , and be happy for evermore ! I" Such is the faith in fetishes , and charms of various kinds , that Mr . Lander was often requested by a negro to n \ re a pistol at him , to prove
that he was invulnerable . " I want from you , " said the king of Wow-Wow to his Christian acquaintance , " six charms /' " The charms , " said the learned Moslem , " will be worn round my waist , and are to possess the following virtues : First charm—If my enemies think of
making war ou me , it shall cause them to forget to carry such an intention into effect ; secondly , If my adversaries be on their way to Wow-Wow for the purpose of warring , it shall cause them to be dismayed and turn back ; thirdly , If they discharge arrows , the province of the charm shall he to make them to rebound
in their own faces ; let the fourth prevent my guns from bursting ; and the fifth hinder the persons that hold them from receiving an injury , should they by any accident break when loaded ; the sixth and last charm is to make me the happiest and most successful of men . " Mr .
Lander accommodated his Majesty with a few scraps of English poetry , and the prince was so pleased with his civility , that he paid him a thousand compliments , and left him in the best humour in the world . Superstition , however , is not always so harmless ; she has charnel houses and graves , as well as gris-gris , and " the Little Christian" narrowly
escaped ending his life in the fetish hut at Tanagra , where thousands of human beings had been slaughtered before him . On getting into the open air , after the prison ordeal , he found his slaves waitiug in tears to catch a last glimpse of their master , and they had no sooner certified
that he was alive and well , than they leaped and danced for joy , and set up a . most astounding shout . The interest which was taken in Captain Clappeiton ' s fate was universal amongst those w 1 k > hud seen him , and the five hundred wives ( we Khould rather say five hundred of the wives ) of King Munsolah ( for he had
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192 Critical Notwes . — Miscellaneou $ .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1830, page 192, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2582/page/48/
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