ducted into the royal presence, he had an opportunity of observing the court etiquette. His woolly Majesty was seated on a throne of skulls, and, spite of his diminutive stature, distorted features, and an exorbitant squint, preserved an air of dignity which fully proclaimed him to be "every inch a king." A red cloth, nearly as fine as a hopsack, was girt round his loins; in his right hand was a crocodile's jaw for a sceptre; in his left, a bunch of feathers for a fan; and two attendants were constantly employed in anointing his most sacred and woolly head with fat, grease, and soot. On either side were ranged his guards, each wielding a long lance with a skull at the top; and at a signal given by the Poet Laureate, the whole court fell prostrate, and chanted in chorus the following legitimate ode, or loyal address to their Sovereign Lord, King Quashiboo.

:

"Hoo! Tamarama bow-now!
Slamarambo-jug!"

Hurrah! for the son of the Sun!

Hurrah! for the brother of the Moon!
Throughout all the world there is none
Like Quashiboo the only one

Descended from the Great Baboon, Baboon,
Descended from the Great Baboon.*

Buffalo of Buffalos, and Bull of Bulls !
He sits on a throne of his enemies' skulls:
And if he wants others to play at foot-ball,
Ours are at his service-all! all! all!

Hugaboo-jah! Hugaboo-joo!
Hail to the royal Quashiboo,
Emperor and Lord of Timbuctoo!

Referring to the forthcoming volumes for the particulars of this most interesting audience, we shall merely observe, that as to the commercial advantages to be derived from an intercourse with this people, Captain Muggs is of opinion that, as they all wear

* Their principal idol, whose temple adjoins the palace.

a coarse cloth round their bodies, there might be a considerable sale of this article, did they not unfortunately manufacture it much cheaper for themselves than it could be conveyed to them across the desert; and he has no doubt there would be an almost unlimited demand for perfumery, could the natives be once induced to discontinue the use of their present cosmetics; videlicet, buffalo's fat, soot, pitch, tar, grease, and cow-dung. Our limits not allowing us to go into any further details, we must hasten to conclude with a few specimens of their poetry, furnished by the Court Laureate, and translated by Captain Muggs, who has devoted his fourth quarto volume to their preservation, and assures us that his version is as literal as the different idioms of the languages will allow. The Timbuctoo tongue is excessively guttural and harsh, nearly as much so as the Dutch, of the Anthology of which we have lately had specimens ; and the reader will, perhaps, be surprised that any thing so cacophonous, and apparently barbarous, should be made the medium of such refined and delicate sentiments as are exhibited in the following

ELEGY.

"Funke rumbo yaya, blubdab mum y funghyzz."

To Tambooshie.

Awed as I am, and in thy presence dumb,
Deny me not the solitary bliss
To sing thy lips, each thicker than my thumb-
Lips that seem'd form'd as cushions for a kiss.

Thy flatten'd nose still haunts me in my sleep,
Whose upturn'd nostrils are the bowers of love,
Where Cupid lingers, playing at bo-peep,

Or stealing arrows from thine eyes above.

With gooroo juice are stain'd thy yellow teeth,
Bracelets of entrails clasp thy legs and arms;
Tobacco gives its perfume to thy breath,
And grease its radiance to thy sable charms.

:

O wert thou mine, Tambooshie! I would make
Suet and soot pomatum for thy head,
Then powder it with bucku dust, and take
Cowdung cosmetics o'er thy face to spread.

Ah! when the mothers o'er their shoulders throw
Their breasts to feed the young one at their back,*
The husband's, father's joys, 1 sigh to know,
And disappointed hopes my bosom rack.

Presumptuous thought!-Tambooshie for my wife!
She who was form'd for monarchs to adore!
I feel that I must love her all my life,

But hope both life and love will soon be o'er.

We shall only offer one more selection from their amatory poetry, which, we think, our readers will confess to be not altogether unworthy of Shenstone.

"Schneik-boo Dsirika cha-cha ben."

I know what my Dsirike loves,

And I'll creep by the light of the moon
To the jungles and tamarisk groves,
To steal a young howling baboon.

My charmer shall make it a cage,
And feed it with lizards and frogs,
And when it attains its full age,
Shall bait and torment it with dogs.

I will catch her a fat yellow snake,
To be eaten with crocodile's eggs,
Form of buffalo's entrails a cake,
And a jam of tarantula's legs.

From the banks of the Niger I'll bring
Fish-bones to be thrust through her nose,
And sew up live worms in a ring,
To encircle her fingers and toes.

I told her my plan, but her heart
Is so tender she winced at the worms,.
And proposed I should alter that part
Before she accepted my terms.

" I had rather," she cried, quick as thought,
"On my finger a wedding-ring hung;"
And I loved her the more when I caught
Such a delicate hint from her tongue.

* A common practice in the interior of Africa.

Their lyric poetry possesses a most noble and animated pæan or battle-ode, which has been much admired by the critics, for the truly Pindaric and daring abruptness of its commencement, and which, moreover, is curious not only as describing the Timbuctoo mode of battle, but as containing their most approved receipt for dressing and eating the prisoners. We had begun its translation, but as its beauties could not be fully felt in an extract, and our limits would not allow us to insert the whole, we were reluctantly compelled to desist.

It will perhaps excite some surprise when we state that their literature is richer in epigrams, than any other with which we are conversant, the point being generally made to turn upon some familiar proverb, and their proverbs bearing such a striking affinity to ours, that with no other than the fair latitude of a free translation they might be actually identified. Fragments of Latin are not unfrequently encountered in these caustic and witty effusions, an additional proof that Timbuctoo was the actual city discovered by the Nasamones, to whom we have already made allusion, and who must have left behind them these curious relics of the Roman tongue. It is principally on this account that we select the following

EPIGRAM.

As Slug-shoo was courting the fat-smear'd Boo-jeer,
On the snake-cover'd banks of the Niger,
Her lover pass'd by, and exclaim'd with a sneer,
"Optat ephippia bos piger."

The next which we shall translate was composed upon Squosh, a prime minister, who appears to have severely oppressed the people for the gratification of his own architectural extravagance, and to have richly merited the cutting irony of the last line.

"Pilferbo pickpock Squosh."

Squosh ravages, pillages,
Houses and villages,

To build his mud-palace at Squosh-dungjalee,

But egad, it's no wonder

The rogue's fond of plunder,

For two of a trade can never agree.

Some of our own exquisites might be benefitted if they would pay due attention to the sting of this happy jeu d'esprit.

"Bu dripscotce switchcoo turpen."

* With suet-dripping head and pitch'd rattan,
Perfumed with tar, a dandy in attire,
Phopfoo seems more a woman than a man;
The reason's plain-a burnt child dreads the fire.

We shall conclude with a brilliant sally, which had it been launched upon the banks of Cam or Isis, would have alone established the fame of its author as a sparkling epigrammatist.

On Goula, a celebrated Beauty, wearing the cheek bones of sacrificed prisoners in her ears.

Avah flatsnoutah tam bu dirah."

Forbear, proud beauty, with such cruel skill,
To make dead heroes their survivors kill;
Too many cooks, we know, will spoil the broth,
So cut your coat according to your cloth.

WOMEN VINDICATED.

"The treasures of the deep are not so precious
As the concealed comforts of a man
Lock'd up in woman's love."

MIDDLETON,

If it be true that the principal source of laughter is the exultation occasioned by a sense of our own superiority over others, we need not wonder that nations and individuals have in all ages been anxious