Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1864-02-11

has just been published in England. The fol-
lowing are few extracts from the same:
AN AFRICAN BEAUTY.
In the afternoon, as | heard from Musa that
the wives of the King and princes were fat
tened to such an extent that they could not
stand upright, paid my respects to Wazezem,
the Kings eldest brother-who; having been
born before his father assembled his throne.
did not come in the line of succession-with
the hope OF being able to see for myself the
truth Of the story. There was no mistake
about. On entering the hut, found the old
man and his chief wife sitting side by side, on
Il bench OF earth strewed with grass, and par
titioned like stalls for sleeping apartments,
whilst III front OF them were placed numerous
wooden pots OF milk, and hanging from the
poles that supported the beehive-shaped hut,
large collection of bows six feet in length,
whilst below them were tied an even larger
collection OF spears, intermixed with q good
ly assortment ofheavy headed assages. | was
struck with no small surprise at the way he
received me, as well as with the extraordina-
ry dimensions, yet pleasing beauty, of the i'm
moderately fat fair one, his wife She could
not rise, and SO large were her arms that, be-
tween the joints the flesh hung down like large
loose-stuffed buildings. Then in came their
children, all models of the Abyssinian type of
beauty, and as polite in their manners as
thoroughbred gentlemen. They had heard of
my picture books from the King, and all wish
ed to see them; which they no sooner did, to
their infinite delight, especially when they
recognized any Of the animals, then the sub
Ject was turned by my inquiring what they
did with so many milkpots. This was easily
explained by Wazezem himself, who, point
ing to his wife, said That is all the product
OF those pots; from early youth upward we
keep those pots to their mouths, as it is the
fashion at court to have very fat wives"
BASHFUL VIRGIN.
After Il long and amusing conversation
with Rumanika in the morning, | called on
one OF his sisters-in law, married to an elder
brother who was born before Dagara ascend
ed to the throne. She was another of those
wonders of obesity, unable to stand except
ing on all tours. | was DESTROYS to obtain a
good view of her, and actually to measure
her, and induced her to give me facilities for
dong SO, by offering in return to show her
bit of my naked legs and arms The bait
took as l wished it, and, after getting her to
sldle and wriggle into the middle of the hut.
did as promised, and then took her dimen-
0iolio dc hotcu. hOuilu Inc arm one loot
eleven inches; chest, four feet four inches;
thigh, two feet seven inches calf, one foot
seven inches; height, five feet eight inches.
All OF these are exact except the height, and
believe | could have got this more accurate
ly if [ could have her laid on the floor Not
knowing what difficulties [ should have to
contend with in such piece of engineering,
| tried to get her height by raising her up.
This, after infinite exertions on the part of us
both, was accomplished, when she sank down
again, fainting, for her blood had rushed into
her head. Meanwhile the daughter, lass of
sixteers sat stark-naked before us, sucking at
a mllk-pot, on which the father kept her at
work By holding a rod in his hand, for as fat
tening is the first duty of fashionable female
life, 1t must be duly enforced by the rod, if
necessary. | got up bit of Irritation with
missy, and induced her to rise and shake
hands with me. Her features were lovely,
but her body was as round as ball.
HOW CAPT. sPEKE GOT soNE WIVES.
The company now became jovial, when the
Queen improved it by making a significant
gesture, and with roars of laughter asking me
II L would like to be her son-in-law, for she
had some beautiful daughters, either of the
W ahuma or Waganda breed. Rather stag
gered at first by this awful proposal, consul
ted Bombay what | should do with one if I
got her. He, looking more to number one
than my convenience, said: "By all means
accept the offer, for if you don't like her, we
should, and it would be good means of get
ting her out of this land of death, for all
black people love Zanzibar" The rest need
not be told; as a matter of course had to
appear very much gratifed, and as the bowl
went round all became uproarous. I must
wait day or two, however, that a proper Sc
lection might be made; and when the mar
riage came off, was to chain the fair one
two or three days, until she became used to
me, else, from mere fright, she might run
away.
HIS NEXT VISIT TO THE QUEEN.
The Queen stood laughing till the Wahuma
girls she had promised me, one of twelve and
the other little older, were brought i'll and
made to squat in front Of US. The elder, who
was in the prime of youth and beauty, very
large of limb dark III color, cried considera-
bly,, whilst the younger one, though very fair
had snubby nose and averted lips, and
laughed as if she thought the change in her
destiny very good fun. | had now to make
my selection, and took the smaller one, prom
Using her to bombay, as soon as we arrived
on the coast where, he said, she would be
considered Hubshi or Abyssinian. But when
the Rueen saw what had done, she gave me
the other as WELL saying the little one was
too young to go alone, and if separated, she
would take fright and run away. Then, with
a gracious bow, | walked off with my two fine
specimens of natural history, though would
rather have had a princes, that l might have
taken them home to be instructed in Eng
land; but the Queen as soon as we had clear
ed the palace, sent word to say she must have
another parting look at her son with his
wives. Still laughing she said "That will
10 ; you look beautiful now go away home :"
md off we trotted, the elder sobbing bitterly,
,he younger laughing. As soon as we reach
I'd home, my first inquiries was concerning
heir histories, of which they appeared to |
know but very little. The elder, whom I |
named Meri, (plantains), was obtained by |
Sunna, the late King, as a wife, from Nkole |
md though she was a mere kahala, or girl !
when the old King died, he was so attached |
o her that he gave her twenty COWS, in order |
hat she might fatten upon milk, after her |
native fashion; but on Sunna's death, when |
he establishment of women was divided Meri |
ell to N'yamasore's (the Queen's) lot. The |
esser one, who still retained the name of |
lahala, says she was seized in the Unyoro by |
he Waganda, who took her to N'yamasore, |
,ut what became of her father and mother |
he could not say 1t was now dinner time, |
nd as the usual sweet potatoes and goats |
lesh was put upon my box table, [ asked |
hem to dine with me, and we became great
riends, for they were assured they would |
nally get wood houses and gardens at Fan |
ibar; but nothing would induce either of |
hem to touch food that had been cooked |
With butter. A dish of plantains and goats
esh was then prepared; but though Kahala |
Wished to eat it, Meri rejected the goats |
esh, and would not allow Kahala to taste it |
ither; and thus began series of domestic |
difficulties. On inquiry how l could best |
eal with my difficult charge, l was told the
Y ahuma pride was so GREAT and their temner |