Whampoa

“ Each evening, after the business of the council is over, games are played by old and young. It is a time for feasting and pleasure. No business with other people is really settled by a council without gifts of wampum to bind the bargain. Of course you have heard about wampum. Perhaps you have been told it is the Indian's money. There are two kinds of wampum. One is purple and the other [22] white. The white wampum is shaped into beads out of the inside of large conch shells, while the purple is made from the inside of the mussel shell. ”

“ Pompa jumped up in a hurry and backed toward Kabumpo. “Be careful how you talk to him,” roared the Elegant Elephant, swaying backwards and forward like a big ship. “He’s a Prince—the Prince of Pumperdink!” Kabumpo tossed his trunk threateningly.
“A Prince?” spluttered the King, changing his tone instantly. “Well, that’s different. A Prince can fall in on us any time and welcome but an Ouch! Why bring this great clumsy Ouch along?” He rolled his eyes mournfully at Kabumpo.
“He’s not an Ouch,” explained Pompa, who was gradually recovering from the shock of his fall. ”

“ Clarke's Island afforded the first specimen of the new animal, called womat; but I found it more numerous upon that of Cape Barren: Preservation and the Passage Isles do not possess it. This little bear-like quadruped is known in New South Wales, and called by the natives womat, wombat, or womback, according to the different dialects, or perhaps to the different rendering of the wood rangers who brought the information. It burrows like the badger, and on the Continent does not quit its retreat till dark ”

“ Wampus was wrestling with the tire.
"I have never start a private graveyard," he replied, "for reason I am afraid to hurt anyone. But I am Wampus. If Mister Algy he dance to-night, somebody mus' lead him, for he will be blind." ”

“ But he did not make much 31 headway, for, as he explained over and over to Queen Pozy, who—with Pompadore, the Elegant Elephant and the Prime Pumper—had remained to help him, “How is one to know where to find the Proper Princess, and how is one to know the proper time for Pompa to wed her?”
Who was J.G.? How did the scroll get in the cake?
The more the King thought about these questions, the more wrinkled his forehead became.
“Why! We’re liable to wake up any morning and find ourselves gone,” he announced gloomily. “How does it feel to disappear, I wonder?” ”

“ Muhavura or Mgahinga. Always he forbids the natives to follow him on pain of being seized by the spirits. And when he returns, wrapped in his nimbus of fire, he generally predicts an eruption of lava which quite generally is fulfilled. As I say, that is easy enough for a man of science, but the impression it makes on the native minds may easily be comprehended.
“In fact,” said Mr. Hampton, “at that last village, although it is not in the Mfumbiro Plain and no member has yet seen The Prophet, yet his influence has made itself felt. ”

“ Pompa sighed dismally. “No one will want to marry me now. It’s all coming true, Kabumpo, just as Count It Up said. Remember? ‘If a thin Prince sets out on a fat elephant to find a Proper Princess, how many yards of fringe will the elephant lose from his robe and how bald will the Prince be at the end of the journey?’ And we’ve scarcely begun!” ”

“ Wampum is the Indian name of ornaments manufactured by the Indians from vari-colored shells [281] which they get on the shore of the fresh-water streams, and file or cut into bits of half an inch, or an inch in length, and perforate, giving them the shape of pieces of broken pipe-stems, which they string on deer's sinews, or weave them ingeniously into war-belts for the waist. The wampum is evidently meant in the description of the esurgny or cornibolz, given by Verazzano in Ramusio, which has so much puzzled translators and commentators. ”

“ The Wampanoags only religious practitioner was the powow. His role was that of intermediary between the humans and the supernatural. [558] When illness was thought to be of supernatural origin he was called in to determine the kind of force at work and to carry out the proper ceremonies to restore health. [559] For this work he received payment in advance. Should the patient not recover, his relatives were apt to be angry with the powow; they would demand the return of the fee and perhaps his life if they felt that deception had been involved. ”

“ We shall never go back to the tribe of Tirlta, rather will I spear Purleemil, my heart's beloved, as she stands before you, and mingle my blood with hers."
Wimbakobolo drew himself up and looked so powerful and fierce a warrior as he stood, weapons in hand, before the elders, that they said: "Fools should we be to give up the son of our old leader to our enemies. He shall lead us as did his father before him, and his Purleemil shall be the mother of warriors to follow him, for strong are the clan of Wimbakobolo, men like mountains as their name tells." ”

“ This constitutes the woof; and the warp is obtained by cross-strings twisted or tied to each of the longitudinal ones, at intervals of seven or eight inches. A strong cord, made from the epidermis of the full-grown leaves, is now passed through the loop of all the strings, drawn together at both ends, and the poles are then pulled out. The hammock, being finished and hung up between two trees, provides the naked Indian with a couch, upon which he may repose as luxuriantly as a monarch on his bed of down. ”

“ Wampum is an Indian word signifying a muscle. A number of these muscles strung together is called a string of wampum, which when a fathom long is termed a belt of wampum, but the word string is commonly used whether it be long or short. ”

“ The sky grew pinker and pinker. You have no idea how pink the morning skies in Oz can be. Just as the sun got out of bed, the Elegant Elephant came to the wonderful Emerald City itself, shining and fairylike as a dream under the lovely colors of sunrise. Kabumpo paused and took a deep breath. Even he was impressed, and it took a good bit to impress him. He reached back and touched Pompa with his trunk. ”

“ These secured, we clamber over the steep hill, passing by numerous deep holes, concealed almost by the thick bushes of the wild Raspberry, the Forget-me-not, and other of our indigenous plants;—they are the burrows of that uncouth creature, the Wombat, which is very numerous along the coast. A worthy friend in the town has taken much pains in endeavouring to rear the young of this and others of the Marsupialia. ”

“ The thought of Kabumpo in Glinda’s chariot made Pompa smile in spite of himself.
“There! That’s better,” said the Elegant Elephant more pleasantly.
“Now, what’s to hinder us from going to Ev and rescuing Princess Ozma? She couldn’t help marrying you if you saved her from a giant, could she?”
“But could I save her—that’s the question,” muttered the Prince, looking uneasily at the yawning cavity where the castle had stood. “This giant must be a terrible fellow!”
“Pooh!” said Kabumpo airily. “Who’s afraid of giants? I’ll wind my trunk around his leg and pull him to earth. ”

“ According to Cardanus, if a man anoints his temples with the blood of a whoop he sees marvellous things in his dreams. Albertus Magnus tells us that when an old whoop becomes blind, its young ones anoint its eyes with the herb that opens shut places, and they recover their sight. This is in perfect conformity with a Hindoo story (a variation of the legend of Lear) narrated by Ælianos, according to which a king of India had several sons ”

“ It is not often that a group of red men are so at their wit's end as were the Pawnees. They stood looking about them, silent and bewildered. Wimmoroo took a sly glance at the tree tops as though he half expected to see the missing Shawanoe perched in the branches.
But among those red men was one at least with quick intelligence. He was the last to approach the stream from the side toward which Deerfoot leaped. ”

“ Dorothy was too worried over the strange silence in the castle to bother with Kabumpo's saucy speeches, but the dummy, falling headlong from the Elegant Elephant's back, put his arm affectionately through Tora's.
Humpy waved Kabumpo aside and pulled the old tailor to a seat beside him. Tora shoved his spectacles up on his forehead and looked gravely at the pompous dummy.
"Let him stay by all means," said Humpy condescendingly. "Every King must have his tailor and he's mine. ”

“ With a tremendous yawn he opened the other eye and began to chuckle and shake all over.
“We stole a march on ’em, Pompa. I’d like to see the King’s face when he finds us gone. Old Pumper will be Oyezing all over the palace. He’ll think we’ve disappeared by magic.”
“Well, didn’t we?” asked Pompadore in amazement.
52
“Not unless you call me magic. I carried you off in the night. Did you suppose old Kabumpo was going to stand quietly by while they married you to a faggotty old fairy like Faleero? Not much,” wheezed the Elegant Elephant. “I have other plans for you, little one!” ”

“ Stock-riding in those days, half real business, half sport, as we youngsters held it to be, was certainly not one of those games into which, as Lindsay Gordon sings—"No harm could possibly find its way."
Part of the "Yambuk" run was distinctly dangerous riding. Where the wombats dug their treacherous shafts and galleries, how many a good steed and horseman have I seen o'erthrown! These peculiar night-feeding animals, akin to the badger of the old country, burrowed much among the coast hummocks. ”

“ We therefore assign you two Places to go, either to Wyomen or Shamokin. You may go to either of these Places, and then we shall have you more under our Eye, and shall see how you behave. Don't deliberate; but remove away, and take this Belt of Wampum.'
This being interpreted by Conrad Weiser into English, and by Cornelius Spring into the Delaware Language, Canassateego taking a String of Wampum, added further. ”

“ Dwarfs were as common at court, in those days, as fools; and many monarchs would have found it difficult to get through their days (days are rather longer at court than elsewhere) without both a jester to laugh with, and a dwarf to laugh at. But, as I have already observed, your jesters, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, are fat, round and unwieldy—so that it was no small source of self-gratulation with our king that, in Hop-Frog (this was the fool’s name,) he possessed a triplicate treasure in one person. ”

“ He was just like the other Wymps, except that he looked too lazy to turn somersaults, and he had no laughter wrinkles at all.
"Is that the King? He doesn't look much like a King," whispered Lady Daffany.
"He hasn't got to look like a King," said the Wymp. "We choose our Kings because they are harmless, and don't want to make jokes, and will keep out of the way. We once had a King who looked like a King—we used to live in the sun then—but he did so much mischief that the sun people turned us out, and we have had to live at the back of the sun ever since." ”

“ To this banquet Radisson was led, decked out in colored blankets with garnished leggings and such a wealth of wampum strings hanging from wrists, neck, hair, and waist that he could scarcely walk. Wampum means more to the Indian than money to the white man. ”

“ Whereas very bad Wampum is at present circulating here, and payment is made in nothing but rough, unpolished stuff which is brought hither from other places, where it is 50 per cent cheaper than it is paid out here, and the good, polished Wampum, commonly called Manhattan Wampum is wholly put out of sight or exported, which tends to the express ruin and destruction of this Country ”

“ The ancient city of Hampton and its Theological Seminary are well known. To the wanderer under the elms of the quaint old town there is imparted an impression of cleanliness and a serene complacency, derived, doubtless, from the countenances of the many who, clad in sombre vesture and clean linen, pass and repass in the quiet streets. No man can be long in Hampton without feeling the theological influence; unconsciously the wayfarer adopts the prevailing manner, becomes deliberate in his walk and grave of aspect ”

“ Behind Wamba stands his beloved follower, Ervig, a youth whose olive-complexioned face and clear brown eyes show alien blood. His mother, a Gothic princess, was kinswoman to King Chindavinto, but his father was a Greek. As yet no one reads the unscrupulous ambition of his soul. Indeed, he hardly realises it himself. Crime often lies dormant in seemingly innocent natures, until occasion discovers it. The evil spirit within him is to be developed by the indulgence of his patron Wamba, who, unknowingly, is warming a serpent in his breast. ”

“ And you, I suppose, are the father of that meddling Kuma Party?”
“Why, yes,” said Wumbo in surprise. “Have you met my son?” Ruggedo gave a spiteful nod, and began to struggle anew with the arms of the chair.
“I command you to let me go,” puffed the Gnome King. “I’ve important business in the Emerald City and must reach there to-night.”
“I’m afraid that will be impossible,” sighed Wumbo softly. “When my chair takes a fancy to a person, [Pg 233] it sometimes hangs on to him for days and days. ”

“ The wymp looked at her and twinkled more than ever; but when he saw that her eyes were shining, just as her own flowers might have done at the time of the dew-fall, he stopped teasing her at once. No one knows better than a wymp when it is time to stop teasing. ”