Note 205 — Chapter VIII

As these people have no written language, anything that happens in the kingdom, from the arrival of a stranger to an earthquake, is formed into a kind of song, which, rhythmless and rhymeless, is taught to professional men, and is thus transmitted to posterity. The stranger, however, may find himself strangely named. European nomenclature not being pleasant to negro ears and tongues, every white man in the land has, as on the Gold Coast, a nickname. The Father Superior of the French mission is known as Nyan gli—“Padre Curto,” opposed to a tall brother, Nyan gágá, “Long father.” Another missionary, M. L——, being of highly nervous temperament, was dubbed Penan, or papaw leaf, which resembles the aspen. Mr. Beecham, being much addicted to meat, and walking about with rounded shoulders, became Kpon ’akra, the hunchback-vulture. I at once was known as Kwabna, Tuesday, from landing at Whydah on that day, and afterwards as “Ommoba,” from a well-known Fanti character.