78 THE WORLD'S WONDERS. 



one of its inmates, when they would call him out, and firing an 

 arrow into his heart, disappear again in the same way as they 

 came. But, more formidable even than these little men, there 

 were monsters who could not converse with men, and never 

 showed themselves unless they saw women pass by ; then, in 

 voluptuous excitement, they squeezed them to death. 



After a long and amusing conversation with the king in the 

 morning, Speke called on one of his sisters-in-law, married to an 

 elder brother who was born before Dagara ascended the throne. 

 She was another of those wonders of obesity, unable to stand 

 excepting on all fours. He was eager to obtain a good view of 

 her, and actually to measure her, and induced her to give him 

 facilities for doing so by offering in return to show her a bit of 

 his naked legs and arms. The bait took as he wished it, and 

 after getting her to sidle and wriggle into the middle of the hut, 

 he took her dimensions, which were as follows : Round the arm, 

 1 foot 4 inches ; chest 52 inches ; thigh 31 inches ; calf 20 

 inches ; height 5 feet 8 inches. All of these are exact except the 

 height, which Speke believed he could have obtained more ac- 

 curately if he could have had her laid on the floor. Not knowing 

 what difficulties he should have to contend with in such a piece of 

 engineering, he tried to get her height by raising her up. This, 

 after infinite exertions, was accomplished, when she sank down 

 again, fainting, for her blood had rushed into her head. Mean- 

 while, the daughter, a lass of sixteen, sat stark-naked before 

 them, sucking at a milk-pot, on which the father kept her at 

 work by holding a rod in his hand ; for, as fattening is the first 

 duty of fashionable female life, it must be duly enforced by the 

 rod if necessary. Speke got up a bit of flirtation with missy, 

 and induced her to rise and shake hands with him. Her features 

 were lovely, but her body was as round as a ball. 



SAVAGE ROYALTY IN A SAVAGE LAND. 



THE next stoppage was in the land of the Wahuma, the most 

 interesting district of Africa, and one which has an extended 

 importance now on account of the commercial aid rendered 

 England and France by its present King, Mtese. The country 



