n
miraculously preserved from many dangers in far lands by the help of the
Grasshopper in heaven, and, as my messengers will have told you, of my
beloved friend, lord Shabaka the Egyptian, who has deigned to come to
dwell with us for a while, have at length returned to Ethiopia that I
may shed my wisdom on you like the sun and pour it on your heads like
melted honey. Moreover, mindful of our laws which aforetime I defied and
therefore left you, I have searched the whole world through till I found
the most beautiful woman that it contained, and made her my wife. She
too has deigned to come to this far country to be your queen. Advance,
fair Karema, and show yourself to these my Ethiopians."

So Karema stepped forward and stood on the prow of the boat by the side
of Bes, and a strange couple they looked. The Ethiopians who had risen,
considered her gravely, then one of them said,

"Karoon called her beautiful, but in truth she is almost white and very
ugly."

"At least she is a woman," said another, "for her shape is female."

"Yes, and he has married her," remarked a third, "and even a king
may choose his own wife sometimes. For in such matters who can judge
another's taste?"

"Cease," said Bes in a lordly way. "If you do not think her beautiful
to-night, you will to-morrow. And now let us land and rest."

So we landed and while I did so I took note of these Ethiopians. They
were great men, black as charcoal with thick lips, white teeth and flat
noses. Their eyes were large and the whites of them somewhat yellow,
their hair curled like wool, their beards were short and on their faces
they wore a continual smile. Of dress most of them had little, but their
elders or leaders wore lion and leopard skins and some were clad in a
kind of silken tunic belted about the middle. All were armed for war
with long bows, short swords and small shields round in shape and made
from the hide of the hippopotamus or of the unicorn. Gold was plentiful
amongst them since even the humblest wore bracelets of that metal, while
about the necks of the chieftains it was wound in great torques, also
sometimes on their ankles. They wore sandals on their feet and some
of them had ostrich feathers stuck in their hair, a few also had
grasshoppers fashioned of gold bound on the top of their heads, and
these I took to be the priests. There were no women in their number.

As the sun was sinking we were led at once to a very beautiful tent made
of