justice
in the event of the mate's death: but the Duke made great difficulties
concerning the practicability of securing this man, and offered many
excuses to escape the acknowledgment of any responsibility in the
matter. It was clear enough that he wished to protect the assassin, as
indeed it was his policy to shield the slavers, whose trade was more
lucrative to him, than that of any other class of persons. Finding
himself somewhat embarrassed in the conversation, he made an apology for
leaving the vessel, saying he would go on shore and see what could be
done, inviting us at the same time to finish the palaver at his house.
Accordingly we all went on shore, after breakfast, attended by two
marines. A second palaver took place, which was merely a repetition of
the first, and when it terminated, he presented us with some excellent
Champagne, and then exhibited a quantity of fine clothes, with a variety
of other articles, all of which he said he had received as presents. The
only dress His Majesty wore, when he came on board, was a cotton cloth
round his middle, and a fine white beaver hat, bound with broad gold
lace. Captain Cumings, at our request, asked permission of the Duke to
allow us to see his wives, who live in a square formed of mud huts, with
a communication from the back part of his house. The Duke very
courteously complied with our wishes, and sent persons to attend us.
There were about sixty Queens, besides little Princes and Princesses,
with a number of slave-girls to wait upon them. His favourite Queen, the
handsomest of the royal party, was so large that she could scarcely
walk, or even move, indeed they were all prodigiously large, their
beauty consisting more in the mass of physique, than in the delicacy or
symmetry of features or figure. This uniform tendancy to _en bon point_,
on an unusual scale, was accounted for, by the singular fact, that the
female upon whom His Majesty fixes his regards, is regularly fattened up
to a certain standard, previously to the nuptial ceremony, it appearing
to be essential to the Queenly dignity that the lady should be
enormously fat. We saw a very fine young woman undergoing this ordeal.
She was sitting at a table, with a large bowl of farinaceous food; which
she was swallowing as fast as she could pass the spoon to, and from, the
bowl, and her mouth; and she was evidently taking no inconsiderable
trouble to qualify herself for that happy state, which Pope tell us is