HISTORY. 
249 
was right, he confirmed his impression. " Now/' said the King, 
" I know you have a good head/' Agay was then made a Linguist, 
and presented with a house, wives, slaves, and gold. Sometime 
afterwards, the King confessing a prejudice against a wealthy 
captain, his linguists, always inclined to support him, said, " If 
you wish to take his stool from him, we will make the palaver f 
but Agay sprung up, exclaiming, " No, King ! that is not good ; 
that man never did you any wrong, you know all the gold of your 
subjects is your's at their death, but if you get all now, strangers 
will go away and say, only the King has gold, and that will not be 
good, but let them say the King has gold, all his captains have 
gold, and all his people have gold, then your country will look 
handsome, and the bush people fear you/' For this the King 
made him second linguist, and much increased his property. 
"When Amanqua had the command of the army against Cudjo 
Cooma, the King asked him which linguist he would take, he 
repHed, Adoosee or Otee ; the King said, no! I will give you this 
boy, he has -the best head for hard palavers. Amanqua urged 
that he was too young, the King told him he was a fool to say so. 
He then made Amanqua take fetish with him to report the merits 
of Agay faithfully, who distinguished himself so much, that he is 
always employed in difficult foreign palavers. 
The manners of the higher orders of captains, always dignified, 
are courteous and hospitable in private, though haughty and 
abrupt in pubHc. I believe them to be jealous rather than tenaci- 
ous of their honour, and their sophistry is as ingenious as their 
maxims are prepossessing. They consider that war alone affords 
an exertion or display of ability, and they esteem the ambition 
of their King as his greatest virtue. They have no idea of the 
aggrandisement of a state by civil pohcy alone. They are candid 
in acknowledging their defeats, and just to the prowess of their 
K k 
