Scotland/Scots > Last years of Livingstone

120
THE LAST YEARS OF LIVINGSTONE.
Hospital, London, long ago, have made me look critically,
on eyes ever since. A third lady entered and broke
bread also. She was plain as compared with her sister
houris, hut the child of the chief man of those parts.
Her complexion was fair brunette.
The prince remarked that he had only three wives,
though his rank entitled him to twelve. The mother of
the prince had just before this earnestly begged a gentle¬
man to remonstrate with him because he was ruining
himself by devotion to three! A dark slave woman,
dressed like but less gaudily than her superiors, now
entered with a tray and tumblers of sweet sherbet. Hav¬
ing drank thereof, flowers were presented, and then beetle
nut for chewing. The head lady wrapped up enough for
a quid in a leaf and handed it to each of us, and to please
her we chewed a little. It is slightly bitter and astrin¬
gent, and, like the Kola nut of West Africa, was prob¬
ably introduced as a tonic and preventive of fever. The
lady superior mixed lime with her own and sisters’ good
large quids. This made the saliva flow freely, and, it be¬
ing of a brick-red colour, stained their pretty teeth and
lips, and by no means improved their looks. It was the
fashion, and to them nothing uncomely, when they
squirted the red saliva quite artistically all over the floor.
On asking the reason why the mother took no lime in her
quid, and kept her teeth quite white, she replied that the
reason was she had been on a pilgrimage to Mecca, and
was a Hadjee. The whole scene of the visit was like a
gorgeous picture. The ladies had tried to please us and