Note 253 — Chapter IX

Africans and some Asiatics are most subject to witchcraft when eating and drinking; the Maldivian Islanders, for instance, eat alone in the recesses of their houses, fearing lest some unlucky cantrip be played with the victuals. Moreover, in most places, the King is too great a man to eat, drink, or sleep at all. The origin of the idea is intelligible: it could not have been imposing to see the august person of George III. “at dinner on mutton and turnips.” Hence the old kings of France preferred to be served by knights on horseback. The Alake of Abeokuta must be hidden even whilst he enjoys a prise. It was certain death to see the petty King of Loango eat or drink, which he did in different houses. When the cup was handed to him, an attendant struck together two iron rods, the thickness of a man’s finger: all who heard it buried their faces in the sand till the sound ceased, and then clapped hands, and uttered blessings. (Barbot: Supplement). Also, no one might drink in the presence except by turning back upon royalty, which is also the case for all but white men at Dahome. The negroes of “Ardra,” we are told, used in friendship the same cup, showing that the idea of dignity has done much towards surrounding the act with ceremony. Mr. Ditton has quoted upon this subject from the description of Henry VII. and Elizabeth of York’s coronation: first, “The Lady Elizabeth Grey and Mistress Ditton went under the table and sat at the Queen’s feet, and the Countesses of Oxford and Rivers knelt on each side, and now and then held a kerchief before her Grace; and after the feast the Queen departed with God’s blessing, and the rejoicing of many a true English heart.” (Leland’s “Collectanea,” vol. iv. pp. 216-233). On the other hand, Mr. Jas. W. Smith cites Stowe’s Chronicles: “On the right side of her (Queen Anne Boleyn’s) chair, stood the Countess of Oxford, widow, and on her left hand stood the Countess of Worcester, all the dinner season, which, divers times in the dinner time, did hold a fair cloth before the Queen’s face when she did list to spit, or do otherwise at her pleasure; and at the Queen’s feet, all dinner time, sat two gentlewomen under the table.” Amongst some tribes in the Congo country, the chief’s big toes are still pulled when he drinks.