THE WORLD S WONDERS. lf)l 



stupid step, and screaming a wild and most inharmonious chant, 

 while a long string of young girls and small children, their heads 

 and necks rubbed with red ochre and grease, and prettily orna- 

 mented with strings of beads around their loins, kept a very 

 good line, beating the time with their feet, and jinslinw the 

 numerous iron rings which adorned their ankles, to keep time 

 with the drums. One woman attended upon the men, runnino- 

 through the crowd with a gourd full of wood-ashes, handfuls of 

 which she showered over their heads, powdering them like 

 millers ; the object of the operation Baker could not understand. 

 The "premiere danseuse" was immensely fat ; she had passed 

 the bloom of youth, but despite her unwieldy state, she kept up 

 the pace to the last, quite unconscious of her general appearance, 

 and absorbed with the excitement of the dance. 



AN AFRICAN PRINCE'S IDEA OF THE HEREAFTER. 



When the funeral services were over, Baker, anxious to learn 

 something of the origin of the ceremonies he had just witnessed, 

 and hoping to find in them some analogy to Christian rights and 

 beliefs, sent for Commoro (the "Lion"), brother of Moy, the 

 chief, and entered into conversation with him on the resurrection 

 of the body. He declares that Commoro was one of the most 

 clever and common-sense savages any white man ever met with, 

 and reports the conversation, which was interpreted, as follows: 



"Have you no belief in existence after death?" asked Baker. 



"Existence after death!" exclaimed the savage. "Can a 

 dead man get out of his grave unless we dig him out?" 



" Do you think man is like a beast, that dies and is ended?" 



"Certainly ; an ox is stronger than a man, but he dies and his 

 bones last longer; they are bigger. A man's bones break 

 quickly he is weak." 



"Is not a man superior in sense to an ox ; has he not a mind 

 to direct his actions ! " 



" Some men are not so clever as an ox< Men must sow corn 

 to obtain food, but the ex and wild animals can procure it without 

 sowing." 

 11 



