The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1864-02-05
KEOKUK:

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3.
THE FAT WOMEN OF AFRICA.
Anew Extracts frea Captain Dpsksss
Journal 81 Ms visit 60 the Ssarce
Of the Nile.
The history of the discovery Of the
source Of the Nile. by Captain John Han
ming Spoke, has just been published in
England. The following are q few ex-
tracts;
AN AFRICAN BEAUTY.
In the afternoon, ~ heard from Musa
that the wives of the king and princes
were fattened to such IN extent that they
could not stand upright, paid my res
poets to WaseEem, the king eldest BROTH
er-who, having been born before his
father ascended 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
abou, it. On entering the hut, I found
the old man and his chief wife sitting side
by side, on q bench of earth strewed over
with grass, and partitioned like stalls for
sleeping spartmsnts, whilst in front Of
them we're placed numerous wooden pots
Of milk, and hanging from the poles that
supported the beehive shaped hot,
large collection of bows ak feet in length,
whilst below them were tied IN even
larger collection ofspearL intermixed with
a goodly assortment of heavy headed as
sages. l was struck with no small sur
prise at the way he received me. as we'll
as with the extraordinary dimensions, yet
pleasing beauty, Of the immoderately fat
fair one, his wife. She could not rise,
and SO large we're her arms that, between
the joints the flesh hung down like large,
loose stuffed buildings. Then in came
their children, all models of the Abyssin-
ian type Of beauty, and as polite in their
manners as thoroughbred gentlemen
They had heard of my picture books from
the king, and all wished to see them
which they no sooner did than, to their
infinite delight, especially when they re-
cognized any of the animals. than the sub
ject was turned BY my inquiring what
they did with SO many milk pots. This
was easily explained by Wazezem him
self, who, pointing to his wife, said:
"This 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 a long and amusing conversation
with Rumanika in the morning. called
Oh one of his sisters-in-law, married to
an elder brother who was born before
Dagara assembled the throne. She was
another Of those wonders of obesity, un-
able TO stand excepting on all fours. l
was DESTROYS to obtain good view of her,
and actually to measure her, and induced
her to give me facilities for doing so, by
Offering n return to show her bit of my
naked legs and arms. The bait took rs |
wished it, and, after getting her to slide
and wriggle into the middle of the hut, |
did as | promised, and then took her d.
mansions as noted: Round the arm one
foot eleven inches; chest, four feet four
inches; thigh, two feet seven inches
calf, one foot eight inches height, FIVE
feet eight inches. All of these are exact
except the height, and l believe | could
have got this more accurately if | could
have laid her on the floor. Not knowing
what difficulties | should have to contend
with in such piece of engineering, l
tried TO get her height by raising her up
This, after Infinite exertions on the part
OF US both, We accomplished, when che
sank down again, fainting, for her blood
had rushed into her head. Meanwhile
the daughter, lass of sixteen, sat stark
naked before US, sucking at a milk-pot,
on which the father kept her at work BY
holding rod in his hand, for as fatten
Ing is the FIRST duty of fashionable female
HE. 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 round as . ball.
now CAPT. sPEKE GOT SOME WIVES.
The company now became joviai, when
the Queen improved it by making a sig
nihcant gesture, and with roars Of laugh
ter asking me if would like to be her
son-in-law, for she had some beautiful
daughters, either of the WAhuma or Wa.
ganda breed. Rather staggered at this
awful proposal, consulted Bombay what
should do with one ii l got her. He,
looking more to number one than nv con-
venience, said: by all means accept
the offer, for if you don't like her, we
should, and it would be good means Of
getting her out of this land of death, for
all black people love ZANZIBAR" The rest
need not be told as . matter of course
had to appear very much grati6ed, and
as the bowl went round all became up
roarlous. l must wait day or two, how.
ever, that proper selection might be
made; and when the marriage came of.
| 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 Wa.
huma girls she had promised me. one Of
twelve and the other little older. we're
Drought in and made to squat in front of
US. The elder. who ~as n .ho