We continue our extracts from this very entertaining work, the following
being from the second volume.
At Boossà, the travellers receive a visit from "the noted widow Zuma." She
must be an Amazonian lady, for, having quarrelled with her prince, the
ruler of Wowow, she was obliged to fly, and actually to climb over the
city wall in the night, and travel on foot to Boossà. Female politicians
in Africa are not so safe as in the _coteries_ of civilized Europe: they
have to fight their own battles, and we conclude, to raise their own
supplies: "the widow complained sadly of poverty and the hardness of the
times; she had fought with the Yarribeans against Alòrie; but instead of
receiving a recompense for her bravery, she had lost half her slaves in an
engagement, which so disgusted her with the military profession, that she
immediately abandoned it and returned home. Yet, in spite of all her
losses and misfortunes, she has gained so much in corpulency, that it was
with the utmost difficulty, she could squeeze herself into the doorway of
our hut, although it is by no means small. The widow Zuma is a very
good-looking, elderly person of matronly appearance. Her skin is of a
light copper colour." Should this meet the eye of any soldier of fortune,
&c.