The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1893-05-28
THE QUEEN OF THE POOL.
BY HENRY NJ. STANLEY.
Author OF e~ Found Livingstone. u. D.ss., Af-lsa ETC.
Copyright, 1898. by Henry M. stanley.l

Kassim was a sturdy lad from the
Basoko country. As yet he had never re-
lated to US legend, though he loved to
sit near the fire and listen to the tales of
the days of old. This silence on his part
was remarked, and one night he was
urged by all of us to speak, becauseit was
unfair that those who frequented our
open-air club should be always ready TO
receive amusement and yet refuse to con-
tribute his share to the entertainment.
This kind of argument pushed home
brought him at last to admit that he
owed the party debt in kind, and said:
'tWeu, friends, each man according to
his nature, though there are go many
men in the world they differ from one
another as much as stones, no two of
which are exactly alike. Here is Baruh
who never seems to tire of speech,
while / find more pleasure in watching
his lips move up and down, and his
tongue pop out and in, than in using my
own. / cannot remember any legend
that is the truth; but ] know of some
thing that occurred in our country relat-
ing to Izoka-a woman originally of
Umane, the big town above Basoko-
which is not fiction. Izoka, the queen of
the pool, as we cali her, is alive now, and
should you ever pass by Umane again you
may ask any of the natives If my words
are true, and you viii find that they will
certify to them.
"Izoka is the daughter of chief of
Umane whose name was Uyimba, and her
mother was Twekay. One of the young
warriors called Kolzu lifted his eyes to-
wards her, and as he had house of his
own which was empty, he thought Izoka
ought to be the one to keep the hearth
warm and keep him company while he
went fishing. The idea became fixed in
his mind and he applied to her father, and
the dowry was demanded; and, though it
was heavy. it was paid to ease his longing
after her.
'sNow, Izoka was in every way fit to be
q chiefs wife. She was tall, slender,
comely of person, her skin like down to
the touch, her kindly eyes trimming
over with pleasantness, her teeth like
white beads, and her ready laugh was
such that all who heard it compared 1t to
the sweet sounds of flute which the per-
feet player loves to make before he begins
a tune, and mems moods became merry
when she passed them IN the village.
Well. she became Koku's wife. and she
LETT her father's house to live with her
husband.
stAt first it seemed that they were born
for one another. Though Koku was no
mean fisherman, his wife eXcelled him IN
every way. Where one fish came into
his net, ten entered into that OF lZoka,
and this great success brought him abund-
ance. His canoe returned daily loaded
with fish, and on reaching home they had
as much work to clean and cure the fish
as they could manage. Their daily catch
would have supported quite village Of
people from starving. They, therefore,
disposed of their surplus stock by barter
ing the fish for slaves, and goats, and
fowls, hoes, carved paddles, and swords,
and Koku became the wealthiest among
the chiefs of Umane, through the good
fortune that TENDED lzoka in whatever
she did.
''Most men would have considered
themselves highly favoured in having
such fortunate wives, but 1t was not so
with Koku. He became 8 changed man.
Prosperity proved his bane. He went no
more with IZolza 10 fish; he seldom Wis
tied the market in her company, nor the
fields where the slaves were at work,
planting manioc or wedding the plantaln
rows, or clearing the jungle. He might
HiWaNS De seen VIII Ills long pipe, DOOL-
ing. with Wretched idlers, on the plan
tain vine purchased with his wife's in
dustry: and when he came home 1t was to
storm at his wife in ouch a manner that
she could only bow to it in silence.
'tWhen Koku was most filed with
malice, he had an irritating way OF dis
guising his spitefulness with wicked
smile, while his tongue expressed all sorts
OF contrary fancies. He would take de-
light in saying that her smooth skin was
as rough as the leaf with which we polish
our spear shafts; that she was dumpy and
dwarfish; that her mouth reminded him
OF a crocodile's, and her ears of an apes;
her legs were crooked and her feet were
hoofs, and she was scorned for even her
nails which were worn to the quick with
household toll; and he continued in this
stvle to vex her until he became persuaded
that it was she who tormented him. Then
lie accused her of Witchcraft. He said
that il was by her witch Is medicines that
she caught so many fish, and he knew
that some day she would poison him.
Now, in our country, this is very seri-
Gus accusation. However, she never
crossed her husbands humor, but re-
ceiyed the bitterness with closed lips,
This silent habit OF hers made matters
worse. The more patience she showed
the louder his accusations became and the
worse she appeared in his eyes. And, in
deed, IL is no WONDER. II you make up
your mind that you viii see naught in
wife but faults, you become blind to
everything else.
Her cooking was vile-there was
either too much palm oil or too little in
the herb-mess, there was sand in the
meat of the fish, the fowls were nothing
but bones, she was said to empty the
chili-pot in the stew, the house was not
clean. there were snakes in his bed-and
so on and so on. Then she threatened,
when her tough patience quite broke
down, that she would tell her father If he
did not desist, which so enraged him that
he took a thick stick and beat her SO