The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-05-24

American king, by one who knows him
intimately. may prove of interest. Ar
thur +. Sandman, a well-known civil
engineer and mahogany trader of Rox-
bury, Mass. has recently returned from
q soiourn of wears on the Mosquito
coast. In speaking Of King George, he
says: Il know the old king well. He
was born in Al, and is a really intelli-
gent old chap. The Indian and the ne
gro are about equally strong in him
while there is just a family discernible
leaven of white. His palace lay just out
OF Bluefelds but at present he lives in
Jamaica, on $3.50 a day from Great
Britain.
The king resided when at home with
his wife. mother and grandmother. The
center hut was reserved for George
Frederick Albert and his dusky con-
sort. The cares of state (Which in
prime minister. an American named
CUthbert. but in all cases of litigation
among his subjects the monarch acted
as supreme judge and jury. When
holding court he reclines in a ham
mock under the trees and smokes
cigarettes. His wife, Queen Elizabeth
Victoria, is addicted to the use of clay
pipes.
The kings costume is. except on
airy 4 pair of white duck pantaloons,
and a webwork shirt form his everyday
dress. On grand occasions he dons a
somewhat faded. but still gorgeous uni
form, once worn by eX-prime minister
Patrick Walker. when color sergeant
of the royal Kilkenny militia, and be-
queathed TO King George as token OF
affection.
The king is not q drunkard. like his
81 toll
but he likes rum and does not abhoI
whisky. His favorite tipple is English
pale ale: casks of which are struggled
10 him from British Honduras. As
was anxious to secure mahogany con-
cessions, and willing to pay for them
the king and Premier Cuthbert We're
quite friendly with me, and l was a
guest at a dinner of honor. 1 wrote
out the menu of that dinner in exact
order, that same evening. 1t ran as
follows:
Pale Ale.
Chicken with Herbs.
Fricassee of Young Monkey.
RIVE Whisky.
Green Turtle with Broth
Brandy and Soda.
OYSTERS.
Pale Ale.
TT will be seen that the ingenious
chef on this occasion inverted the usual
order of menu Notwithstanding
with the roast and ending with the oys-
ters.
After dinner we sat and enjoyed a
smoke under the trees while two SER
wants kept off the insects with long
palm branches.
The Moravians and Catholics have
missions in the kings territory. but
they cannot be said to have made
much progress against paganism. The
old Indian rites and superstitions rule
among the Mosquitoes. mixed with a
little Voodoo from their negro forbears
Children are betrothed at 10 or IL years
and married at 10 or II. I witnessed a
Mosquito funeral, with its curious at
tendant ceremonies. The dead man
was Prince William Henry George
Handy, a cousin of his majesty. He
was inferred in almost indecent haste
and all his live stock-dogs, cattle and
ponies, were killed over his grave. II
is the national creed that the deceased
will need all his earthly belongings in
the next world. After the slaughter a
cotton thread was fixed to a wand in
the grave. and stretched thence. de-
spite every obstacle, to the dead mans
hut. No person was permitted TO touch
that string during three days and
nights, that time being. it was believed
the space allowed to the ghost OF
Prince William to do his last earthly
visiting The string was intended tC
guide the spirit toward his earthly
habitation. On the fourth day the
string was cut down, and on the fifth
the supposedly disconsolate widow be-
brother, according to a Mosquito law