The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1878-11-06
MAMA, MAMA, WHAT A PEOPLE" -"
An African Emperor's PaGe Joins the Ex.
plorer Stanley In Paris, and Is Aston.
ished ut Whnt He Sees. %

An African Emperor's Page Joins the Ex-
pIorer Stanley In Paris, and Is Aston
ished at Whnt He Sees. ....
a young savage has arrived in Paris
from Africa, to join Mr.. Stanley, writes
Edward King in the Boston Journal,
and / have had the pleasure Of presenta-
ton to the swarthy youth, who is no.
BILE in far Uganda, whence he came.
Kadu was page of the Emperor Mtesa,
and was allowed to accompany MIR.
Stanley on his ADVENTUROUS journey across
Africa. Mtesa consented with much
alacrity to the request that Kadu might
20, because he understood that the lad
would be a kind Of diplomatic agent,
who could tell him what; this strange
white man was up to. The African is
thoroughly devoted to Stanley, and any
one who doubts the explorers knowl-
edge of the language in use in Uganda
should hear him conversing with Kadu
for hours together.A The language is
soft, musical, filled with vowels. When
Master Kadu is excited in conversation
he opens a wide mouth, which is filled
with beautiful white teeth, and let's the
words flow out as if it were impossible
for him to check them. he is more in
telligent than Kalulu, the boy whom
Stanley rescued from slave drover and
brought to England and America with
him some years since. Kadu has been
a month coming from Zanzibar to Lon
don by steamer, and during that time he
has learned a great deal of English.
The sailors and cabin-boys pronounced
the words for him, and he wrote them
down phonetically in Arabic, which he
knows how to write. It isinexrressibly
comical to hear him trying to bring out
these words and re.establish their cor
rect pronunciation from his phonetic
notes. He does it in time, and should
he remain some. time in Europe, will
prove an apt scholar. We were COM
PEELED to laugh when we found that he
had taken down such words as "high,"
"horse" and chair, without their pre-
liminary aspirate, because he had
learned their sound from sailors who
disdain the "h." Kadu is, I believe,
the first native of Uganda who has ever
set foot upon European soil. oval
lab |" he said the other night to Mr..
Stanley, "Wallah master, but these
white people are always preparing for
war;" Then he described the fortifca.
tions of "Moo-alta," as he calls Malta.
He assured Stanley, after he had caught
a glimpse of London and had been in
Paris for day, that he considered the
white men gods and not men. "At
least, master" he said, "they must be
spirits. The young man has singularly
pleasant features. BE is not in any
sense repnlsiye type, hut, on the con.
trary, one would imagine that he had
been for long time in contact with
civilization unless he were assured OF
the contrary, His eyes are astonishingly
soft and expressive, and his face lights
up so that it is quite delightful to OBJ
serve when he is pleased. He is black
as black can be. Kadu is Mussulman,
having become one during his travels,
and is quite enthusiastic over his new
found religion. Stanley asked him
quietly the other day what he would do
if Emperor Mtesa, who is not Musgul-
man, should ask him to give up his re-
Ggion. He answered that he could not
do it. ".Wel, but suppose Mates
should kill :you7" ." Bash," enough,
answered Kadu, meaning, let him kill,
then. There is no danger that Mtesa
will do any such thing, luckily. Kadu
will take back to Uganda tale which
will make the African emperor open his
eyes wider than ever before. When the
youth saw the balloon lowering above
the TuilIeries day after his arrival, he
refused to believe that there were men
in it. He was assured Of the fact that
forty or fifty persons were then in the
balloon basket, when he broke out with
his usual exclamation Of surprise, "Ma-
ma, mama, what people! |" The thing
which chiefly confounded Kadu was
Stanley's answer when he asked him,
"Is this your country, then?" "No,"
was the response "my country is still
far away, across another great sea-"
"Mama! Mamal" said Kadu again,
with certain accent of despair.