234 NATIVE SMOKING. 



respecting the Queen and Salie Selasse, that the 

 best thing she could do was to marry Lohitu ; and 

 the English, and the Dankalli would then be one 

 people. I smiled at the honour so seriously in- 

 tended, but I laughed outright, when Ohmed 

 Medina, pointing to the slave-boy, to whom Ebin 

 Izaak as a mark of favour had given the two bones, 

 asked me if my lady Queen smoked like that. 

 Only imagine a thin bushy-headed black, whose 

 entire dress consisted of a narrow strip of dirty 

 cloth thrown across the shoulders, sitting apart, 

 that he might not be importuned to share with 

 others, the luxury he was indulging in. His pipe, 

 the long shank bone of a leg of mutton, having 

 the smaller end broken off with a stone, whilst 

 the broader extremity was bruised into a concavity, 

 that admitted a small portion of tobacco to be 

 lodged in its cellular structure. Through this 

 novel meerschaum was the fragrant weed being 

 inhaled, and to the appearance of this party I was 

 referred in order to understand fully the question, 

 " Does your Queen smoke like that]" said in a 

 manner, too, that intimated such an accomplish- 

 ment on her part would be a great recommendation 

 to the Dankalli, in case of the wedding. I 

 was obliged to say she did not, and looked as if 

 I thought the country, hardly worth the trouble of 

 learning to smoke out of a sheepshank, on purpose 

 to obtain possession of it. Observing, or suspecting 

 this, Ohmed Medina rather sharply closed the 



