388 
ROYAL ATTENDANTS. 
title of Ibii aud Nufi kings) as also Attali of tlie 
Eggaralis to have been so derived. This appears the 
more probable, when we discover existing among these 
somewhat rude tribes, certain offices attached to royalty 
even in the African clay palace ; thus wc have called 
attention, at Cape Coast, to the retinue of the Akim 
caboceers, and also those of the chiefs of Aboh, and 
Iddah, where we find, head musicians, fan-bearers* * * § , 
cane-bearers, persons holding situations similar to the 
aiTOfivioi of Hesychius, who drove away the flies by 
means of chowries, and above all the office of king’s f 
mouth, or royal interpreter, — Kal-hatze of Abyssinia, — 
it being contrary to etiquette, for those sovereigns to 
communicate directly with any one. We find too, the 
same respect for royalty at Iddah as obtained among 
the Abyssinians, namely, that the king was neither 
allowed to eat or drink in the presence of any person. 
At Iddah it was carried so far, as even to suppress the 
display of the commonest emotions of our nature J, 
The practice for one or more judges to attend the 
kin g in time of war in Abyssinia, is still observed by 
the Ashantis and Eggarahs; indeed among the latter, 
the chief and second judges are the generals of the 
army It is however in the religious rituals, that we 
properly look for the greatest number of coincidences. 
* Vide voL i., page 146. 
t Vide vol. i., pages 216, 289. 
X Vide vol. i., pages 289, 298, and 296. 
§ Vide vol. i., page 326. 
