It was evident that neither Lander
nor his brother knew how to deport themselves in the presence of a
king, a thing which the former had never seen in his life but at the
courts of Africa, and they, God knows, were not calculated to give
him an exalted idea of royalty; but when it had been ascertained,
that it was contrary to etiquette at the court of Badagry, for even
the heir apparent to assume any other attitude in the royal presence
than that of kneeling, it might have occurred to the European
travellers, that seating themselves without permission, in the
presence of so august a personage as the king of Badagry, might be
the forerunner of their heads being severed from their body, which,
as it has been detailed in a preceding part of this work, is in that
part of the country, a ceremony very easily and speedily despatched.
It was, however, necessary that some conversation should take place
between the king and his visitors, and therefore the latter began in
the true old English fashion, to inquire about the state of his
health, not forgetting to inform him at the same time, that they
found the weather uncommonly hot, which could not well have been
otherwise, considering that they were at that moment not much more
than 5 deg. to the northward of the equator. In regard to the state of
his health, he answered them only with a languid smile, and relapsed
into his former thoughtlessness. Not being able to break in upon the
taciturnity of the monarch, they had recourse to a method which
seldom fails of "unknitting the brow of care," and that was by a
display to the best advantage, of the presents, which they had
brought for him from England. Badagry is not the only kingdom in
which, if a present be made to the king, the sole return that is
received for it, is the honour of having been allowed to offer it,
and this experience was acquired by our travellers, for the king
certainly accepted the presents, but without the slightest
demonstration of pleasure or satisfaction; the king scarcely deigned
to look at the presents, and they were carried away by the
attendants, with real or seeming indifference. To be permitted to
kiss the hand of the sable monarch could not rationally be expected,
as an honour conferred upon them for the presents, which they had
delivered, but it was mortifying to them not to receive a word of
acknowledgement, not even the tithe of a gracious smile; they
accordingly said not a word, but they had seen