This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
i
BONNY AND THE PEPPLE FAMILY
519
If you will help to save the nigger
Your crown of glory shall be bigger,
More white your robes, your sandals smarter,
When we shall meet above herear'ter
Tooralooral! Psalms and Hymns,
Cherubs sweet and Seraphims.

Fields of glory, floods of light,
Sweet effulgence, Angels bright,
Sounds symphoneous, jewels rare,
Sheets of gold and perfumed air.
Tooralooral! fellow men,
Hallelujah and Amen.

By what specious reasoning he succeeded in prevailing upon the authorities at the Foreign Office to countenance his return to Bonny, or what he described as his dominions, I know not. The fact, however, is on record that he did get this permission, and that he found some good friends in London to assist him with sufficient cash to pay £900 down on account of the charter of the Bewley, a small vessel of only about 180 tons register, which was to carry him and his consort, the Queen Eleanor, better known in Bonny as Allaputa, and their royal suite, which consisted of nine English men and two English women; amongst the former he had nominated the following officials, viz., premier, secretary, an assistant secretary, three clerks, and one doctor, a farmer, and a valet for himself. Mrs. Wood, the gardener's wife, was to be schoolmistress, and the other English woman was to act as a maid of honour to the Queen Eleanor. All these people had agreements for salaries varying from £60 to £600 per annum, some of them with an allowance of £15 for uniform; several of the agreements contained a clause that stipulated that the king was to supply them with suitable apartments in the royal