14 THE king's fool. 



ing it with a stick in his right hand. Stones or 

 something of that nature were inside the drum, 

 and imparted a sort of hoarse, buzzing noise. He 

 accompanied his music with all kinds of antics 

 and grimaces, and continued uttering in a shrill 

 voice, " Baturee suffee, baturee sufFee, baturee suf- 

 fee ; baturee yazakei, baturee yazakei, — yazakei, 

 yazakei :" which, when interpreted, we found 

 meant, " White men go, white men go, white men 

 go ; white men come, white men come, — they are 

 come, they are come." We were completely con- 

 vulsed with laughter at this man's drolleries, and 

 in truth he would have proved a very danger- 

 ous rival to any merry-andrew at Bartholomew 

 Fair. His expression of countenance was ex- 

 tremely ridiculous. His mouth extended from 

 ear to ear, his lips were much thicker than those 

 of any other native I had seen, and his eyes 

 appeared to be of unequal size ; while his nose 

 resembled a bridge, stretching from one cheek- 

 bone to the other. An automaton soldier was 

 suddenly shown to him in the midst of his mer- 

 riment ; and had a thunderbolt fallen at his feet, 

 he could not have been more terrified. When 

 the arms and legs of the figure were put in mo- 

 tion, he fell prostrate on the deck ; sweeping it 



