han they
quitted the town of Larro, and pursued their journey on horseback.
Three horsemen from Jenna followed them on the path, and they were
enlivened by the wild jingling of their animals' bells, till they got
within a mile of that town, where they alighted at a kind of
turnpike, and fired a salute of two muskets. Here they were met by a
number of fellows with horns, who blew on them with the accustomed
energy of the natives; these men preceded them over a bridge, which
was thrown across a moat that surrounds Jenna into the centre of the
town, where they again alighted, and waited the chief's pleasure in
an open shed. They had not been seated many seconds before an immense
crowd of people pressed in upon them on every side, subjecting them
to the accustomed inconvenience of want of air, strong unwholesome
smells, and a confused hubbub, that defies description. Never were
the people more eager to behold a white man; the little ones formed
themselves into a ring close to the shed, then followed those of
maturer age, after them came a still older class, and the last circle
consisted of people as tall as steeples; most of whom held infants in
their arms. Altogether a large amphitheatre was formed of black
woolly heads, and white teeth set in jetty faces, and although the
Landers felt rather amazed at their innocent curiosity, and were
obliged to wait a considerable time for the new chief, they could
not help being highly diverted with the spectacle around them; at
length, to their great relief and joy, intelligence was brought that
the chief was ready to receive them. It appears that the principles
of etiquette at the royal courts, whether of Europe or of Africa, are
not definitively settled, for that which at the court of a William
the fourth, would be considered as the extreme of rudeness and
disrespect, is at the African courts construed into the most decisive
testimony of good breeding and politeness. It may be difficult to
determine to which the preference ought to be given, but as etiquette
is an essential in all courts, no matter how far it departs from
common sense and reason, we do not see why, as amongst the many
fooleries which are enacted at courts, the African system should not
be introduced. It happens, however, that the etiquette of the
European and African are decidedly dissimilar: to make an individual
wait is certainly considered in the former, as a breach of good
manners, whereas in the latter, the lon