ARTICLE XVIII.—See [Page 316.]
FIFTH PRESENT TO MODIBA.
- One single gun.
- Two pairs of fine pangs.
ARTICLE XIX.
LIST OF THINGS TAKEN BY MODIBA’S SLAVES AT MONIA.
- One double gun.
- Twenty pounds of powder.
- Four yards of red silk.
- Twelve do. of callico.
- One do. of scarlet cloth.
- One do. of yellow do.
- Two pounds of amber.
- One thousand flints.
- A large quantity of beads.
- Four ounces of small pipe coral.
- Four yards of baize; a number of knives, scissors, snuff boxes, looking glasses, and a ream of paper.
ARTICLE XX.—See [Page 325.]
I here witnessed an extraordinary ceremony performed by one of the young princes, who was about undergoing the Mahometan rite of circumcision. He was dressed in the manner shewn in [figure 1, plate 4;] and accompanied by a host of musicians and young men, visited several towns for the purpose of levying contributions on the provisions and purses of the inhabitants, either by stealth (and for which he could not be punished, not being amenable to the laws for that period) or during his exhibitions in public, by seizing on some of the spectators, whom he held fast and pretended to goad with the horn attached to the wooden figure on his head, until he received some offering which was never withheld, and which, together with the intercession of his attendants, who fanned him with boughs of trees, appeased his wrath, and induced him to sit down. In this position he remained for some minutes, and in an apparent paroxysm of rage recommenced his antics, which generally continued for two or three hours during the heat of the day, leaving the person so exhausted from his exertions and the weight of his dress, that he did not again make his appearance until the following day. In this manner I was told he continued acting for a moon.