THE WORLD'S WONDERS. 559 



breast, all bedizened with copper rings, chains, and other strange 

 devices, and with a great copper crescent at the top of his head, 

 the potentate gleamed with a skimmer that was to our ideas 

 unworthy of royalty, but savored far too much of the magazines 

 of civic opulence, reminding one almost unavoidably of a well- 

 kept kitchen ! His appearance, however, was decidedly marked 

 with his nationality, for every adornment that he had about him 

 belonged exclusely to Central Africa, as none but the fabrications 

 of his native land are deemed worthy of adorning the person of 

 a king of the Monbuttoo. 



" Agreeably to the national fashion, a plumed hat rested on 

 the top of his chignon, and soared a foot and a half above his 

 head ; this hat was a narrow cylinder of closely-plaited reeds ; it 

 was ornamented with three layers of red parrots' feathers, and 

 crowned with a plume of the same ; there was no brim, but the 

 copper crescent projected from the front like the vizor of a Nor- 

 man helmet. The muscles of Munza's ears were pierced, and 

 copper bars a? thick as the finger inserted in the cavities. The 

 entire body was smeared with the native unguent of powdered 

 cam-wood, which converted the original bright brown tint of his 

 skin into the color that is so conspicuous in ancient Pompeian 

 halls. His single garment consisted of a large piece of fig-bark 

 impregnated with the same dye that served as his cosmetic, and 

 this, falling in graceful folds about his body, formed breeches 

 and waistcoat all in one. Around the king's neck hung a copper 

 ornament made in little points which radiated like beams over his 

 chest ; on his bare arms were strange-looking pendants which in 

 shape could only be compared to drumsticks with rings at the 

 end. Halfway up the lower part of the arms and just below the 

 knee were three bright, horny-looking circlets cut out of hippo- 

 potamus-hide, likewise tipped with copper. As a symbol of his 

 dignity, Munza wielded in his right hand the sickle-shaped Mon- 

 buttoo scimitar, in this case only an ornamental weapon, and 

 made of pure copper." 



