84 THE WORLD'S WONDERS. 



either by word or deed, she is condemned to execution on the 

 spot, bound by the pages and dragged out. Notwithstanding the 

 stringent laws for the preservation of decorum by all male attend- 

 ants, stark-naked full-grown women are the valets. 



On the fir<t appearance of the new moon every month, the 

 king shuts himself up, contemplating and arranging his magic 

 horns the horns of wild animals stuffed with charm powder 

 for two or three days. These may be counted his Sundays 

 or church festivals, which he dedicates to devotion. On other 

 days he takes his women, some hundreds, to bathe or sport in 

 ponds ; or, when tired of that, takes long walks, his women 

 running after him, when all the musicians fall in, take precedence 

 of the party, followed by the officers and pages, with the king in 

 the centre of the procession, separating the male company from 

 the fair sex. On these excursions no common man dare look 

 upon the royal procession. Should anybody by chance happen 

 to be seen, he is at once hunted down by the pages, robbed 

 of everything he possesses, and may count himself very lucky if 

 nothing worse happens. Pilgrimages are not uncommon, and 

 sometimes the king spends a fortnight yachting ; but whatever 

 he does, or wherever he goes, the same ceremonies prevail his 

 musicians, officers, pages, and the wives take part in all. His 

 sorcerers are important personages, who are always upon 

 attendance, especially on all journeys which a young king, who is 

 not yet crowned, takes, when by signs of certain trees and 

 plants, they determine what destiny awaits the king. According 

 to the prognostics, they report that he will either have to live a 

 life of peace, or, after coronation, take the field at the head of an 

 army to fight east, west or both ways, when usually the march is 

 first on Kittara or the second on Usogo. These preliminaries 

 being completed, the actual coronation takes place, when the 

 king ceases to hold any communion with his mother. The 

 brothers are burnt to death, and the king, we shall suppose, 

 takes the field at the head of his army. 



A SPORT-LOVING BOY KING SHOOTS A MAN FOR FUN. 



MTESA, though now more nearly civilized than any other of the 



