AFRICAN EXPLORERS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 159 
captain of the messengers, the captain for royal execu¬ 
tions, the captain of the market, the keeper of the royal 
burying-ground, and the master of the bands, sat 
surrounded by a retinue and splendour which bespoke 
the dignity and importance of their offices. The cook 
had a number of small services, covered with leopard- 
skin, held behind him, and a large quantity of massy 
silver plate was displayed before him—punch-bowls, 
waiters, coffee-pots, tankards, and a very large vessel 
with heavy handles and clawed feet, which seemed to 
have been made to hold incense. I observed a 
Portuguese inscription on one piece, and they seemed 
generally of that manufacture. The executioner, a man 
of immense size, wore a massy gold hatchet on his 
breast; and the execution-stool was *held before him, 
clotted in blood, and partly covered with a caul of fat. 
The king’s four linguists were encircled by a splendour 
inferior to none, and their peculiar insignia, gold canes, 
were elevated in all directions, tied in bundles like 
fasces. The keeper of the treasury added to his own 
magnificence by the ostentatious display of his service ; 
the blow-pan, boxes, scales and weights, were of solid 
gold. 
“ A delay of some minutes whilst we severally 
approached to receive the king’s hand, afforded us a 
thorough view of him. His deportment first excited 
my attention ; native dignity in princes we are pleased 
to call barbarous was a curious spectacle; his manners 
were majestic, yet courteous, and he did not allow his 
surprise to beguile him for a moment of the composure 
of the monarch. He appeared to be about thirty-eight 
years of age, inclined to corpulence, and of a benevolent 
countenance.” 
This account is followed by a description, extending 
over several pages, of the costume of the king, the 
filing past of the chiefs and troops, the dispersing of 
the crowd, and the ceremonies of reception, which 
lasted far on into the night. 
Gaspar Mollien was nephew to Napoleon’s Minister 
of the Treasury. He was on board the Medusa, but 
