The Omaha Sunday Bee Magazine Page
Copyright. 1912. by American-Examiner. Great Britain Rights Reirv4.
Distressing
Plight of a
Ruler Who
Introduced
bore- 3rr
vkmwim
fcUoraro
The Sultan of Zanzibar.
"The Sultan's bodyguard had to' accompany him always and
his mile-a-minute auto nearly had half of the army worn out."
rQ mere figure of speech Is tha i
High Cost of Living.. Foe,;
N
r both . ik nas oeeu uguienms '
its grasp throughout the coustry.
Frost the Battery to the Bronx in
Manhattan ia it known; from the tip: ;
of Telegraph Hill to the Ferry is :
it felt in 'Frisco;: around and about !
from Whitechapel to the Strand in '
London it has settled like a pall oi
discouragements -
TS.i.. lk.- I A -11 T J 3i il .
. i3 ui, wiia itf aoi an. luuaeu ia mem
High Cost of Living real, for It has
seas until to-day it has clutched ;
distant Zanzibar!
Zanzibar, - that tiny country so I
remote in our minds that we must-
have recourse to' the atlas to place j
It properly; Zanzibar, the ancient i
and the quaint, the primitive and'
the grotesque, is as truly oppressed,
by this modern Juggernaut of
Boosted Prices as any country of '
the demi-tasse,, demi-monde and I
demijohn; called civilized.
And so to-day His Glorious and
Effulgent Majesty, All ben Hamoud,
Sultan of Zanzibar, sits gloomily
ales in the Paris eafes and sips
his absfnthe, while his commis
sioner is stirring about through;
Europe, telling; the jewels and
costumes and other precious pos
sessions of the unhappy Sultan, that
he may secure the wherewithal to
combat for a while longer this:
terrible High Cost of Living!
His Glorious and " Effulgent:
Majesty, the Sultan of Zanzibar, is-twenty-eight
years old, of true Afri
can type, dark, chocolate colored,
and every' inch a royal ruler.
He possesses four legal wives and :
a harem adorned by 200 concubines.
Notwithstanding thisr he Is a most
unhappy man for his royal house
hold is expensive and bis four wives
11 & .w
'The head, high hereditary cook of Z i
chef didnt get along weF)
and 200- second wives have, alas,
formed the joy-riding, Paris gown
and champagne habits.
Consider, for a moment, the ex
pense of properly, or improperly,
dressing one woman in French
gowns depending upon the individ
ual viewpoint." Consider also the
cost of such a woman who demands'
champagne morning, noon and
night, and whose chief delight is
joy-riding in a mile-a-minute auto
mobile. Multiply this by 204 and try to
pay for it air on a paltry Income
of $50,000 a year,: and you will know
something of the sorrows and tribu
lations and problems of His Glorious
and Effulgent Majesty, All ben
Hauioud, Sultan of Zanzibar.
In these days when $50,000 a year
scarcely pays for little Fldo's gold
booties and his tooth-brushes, it is
small wonder poor All is in sore
financial distress, and it all came
about through education.
The Sultan of Zanzibar was edu
cated at Harrow, Oxford and the
cafes of Paris. Later Germany
sought to win his favor and gain
the protectorate over Zanzibar.
The English would not allow it
They entertained him right royally.
He stayed at the RHz and had
carte blanche at the expense of the
British crown, he traveled through ,
France, which consisted for the , '
most part of remaining right In th'
heart and heat of Paris, and thrn .
he went back1 to Zanzibar, wh'irev '
England allows him $50,000 a year)
for the. lease of a strip of about ten: -miles
along the coast In British East
Africa, including Mombassa. ; ,
But somehow after years in Eng- , ;
land, meeting celebrities and being
entertained by royalty, attending J ;
gay week-end parties and Journey- '
ing leisurely through the bright r
spots- In Paris somehow, after alU
of this, poor old Zanzibar did no fc
seem attractive.
The native women still put thre g
pound gew-gaws in their ears, te-JB-tooed
their foreheads and did thdj
I
I. All thin hABVArt j Sri in . K-XtMvV fjfl f tv
I' Is, his chief wife. $ t t7tM U v I
F fin? 1 ,K ' , A
t
hair lhto Eiffel towers with cute
' little human bones for hair-pins,
and try as he might, the Sultan
couldn't make: 'em appear quite like
the lively ladies he met in London
and Paris; And so he Journeyed
back to Paris and remained a year.
Home again for a brief visit and
back, to Paris
again, 7
All. this peeved
his wife. That
Is, his; chief wife,
who was a prin
cess of the blood
royal, and she
made such a
fuss over it; that
the young- Sul
tan divorced her.
In Zanzibar this
consists of' tak
ing the wife be
fore a witness
and telling: her
to "go- away."'
But His GIdri
ous and; Efful
gent Majesty
overlooked, one
thlngf. His chief
wife was of ' evep
more royal, blood!
than he. She
was directly de
scended from: a
line of . rulers
that may have
dated back to
the celebrated
Rameses family.
At any rata,, her:
going meant tl
upsetting, of his
country. Blpjht
here England
stepped in. A
high official waj
Autos, Champagne and
Paris Fashions to His
204 Dusky Wives, and
Now Has to Hold an
Auction hale or
His Decorations to
Keep 'Em Quiet
There Are Two of the Sultan's Wives in Their Traditional
Costume and "Modesty Blinkers" BEFORE the
7 High Cost of Living Was Introduced.
4 J
lzibar and the French
gether
sent t V the Sultan. 7 7
"Yc kv must take tack your wife,
we c innot have other powers get
ting fiiantrol here, which they Surely
will ' under these clrcmHStancefc,"
said ;j the English official. 1
"Vd (possible, sir,' replied his Glor
looi i na Effulgent Majesty, yawning,
"t y r our laws, a man's wife must
TOarri' some other man before her
first msband can take her back."
Vonu cannot feaze an Englishman
an f -ore than you can make him
se a joke. , This particular efficial
sti joked his tawny mustache a mo
rojn; and exclaimed "By Jove, Your
Hi aness, marry her to another
m; 0 1, then have hier divorce him, tr
ha f e him divorce her the minute
af a srward. then marry her . ever
tin yourself! tJreat? Eh, what?"
'Ah, bt yon in not nauite nnder-
ina our wonaerrui laws, saia me
ltan, "you see, when A woman
ies this ana tier first nusDana
kes her back, he naturally has
i kill her second fcusband or else
ilo one will believe she las really
" o emarrled her first husband '
"My word, no, His Majesty, King
George wouldn't stand for that, you
know, old toper youf Majesty.
- He's a good sport and all that sort
oif silly thing, but he is not strong
n murder." But the clever Eng
lishman fixed it up.. A man was
Hade to marry the princess, who
promptly divorced him, the Sultan
itnen married the princess again and
' Jti.e second husband was spirited
eway and pensioned, while a mock
-Tetecution was performed and every
? body "was happy except perhaps the
i Sultan and his new-old wife.
About this time the Sultan be
gan to Introduce European ideas
Into the royal court in Zanzibar.
He had taken a favorite into his
"harem, a Maori girl of great beauty,
from an African standpoint. The
200 second wives had nothing to say,
but his four legal wives were angry
at the favoritism, especially the
princess, so the Sultan, to appease
them, brought on from Paris a
wonderful automobile, a great, long,
low-hung, vermllllon-painted car
that covered a mile in less than a
minute, looked like a streak of red
lightning as it passed along Zanzi
bar boulevards and smelled like
a tan-yard for hippopotami hides.
For years the members of the
royal household, Including the 200
varieties of feminine beauty, had
known no other spirituous beverage
than the simple "Bolouga" of their
fathers and forefathers, for ages
back. Bolouga was distilled , from
some sort of native nuts, tasted
something like a kerosene highball
and promptly put one Into a state
of coma.
No more Bolouga for his Glorious
( and Effulgent Majesty and his four
wives and 200 second wives. It was
too commonplace, so he imported
champagne.
It made a hit from the start.
"See," cried the ladies, "it bubbles
like unto the holy spring of Nap
thuragini, it hath a taste like unto
wild honey and sweetened limes
and it maketh us all chatter like
the apes of the forest, forgetting
our worries." .
"More!" they cried.
Champagne costs about $5 the
bottle, the sort the Sultan bought,
and by the time it was transported
to the East coast of Africa it stood
him nearer $8 a bottle.
Now the Suitan had seen the gor
geous Royal Life Guards in England,
and so he put all bis own bodyguard
Into a similar sort of scarlet and
gold uniform at great expense.
Then he started out In the won
derful automobile he had imported
from Paris. Etiquette requires that
the bodyguard shall follow the Sul
tan wherever he goes. The body
guard started walking majestically
by the car. The Sultan put on a
little more speed and the soldiers
began to sprint Half a dozen dusky
wives enjoyed the spectacle. Faster
and faster went the Suitan, until
the poor fellows were worn tut In
the road.
Little . wonder his Glorious , and '
Effulgent Majesty, All ben Hamoud,
- Sultan of Zanzibar, owner of a two-by-four
kingdom and a 200-by-four
harem and household, with each one
of these 204 women running up bills
that amounted to nearly as much
as his miserly $50,000 allowance
was and is in great financial
distress. '
Of all his orders, his most cher
ished was the Glorious Star of
Zanzibar. To possess that was once
a great honor. The decoration It
self cost about $25. He began sell
ing them to the wealthy native
merchants. First he got as high as
$1,000 each. When they would pay
no more he dropped the price until
it got so almost every one was
wearing the decoration of the order,
of the Glorious Star of Zanzibar
and then he couldn't, give .them
away. They were as common as
washboards in an East Side tene
ment block.
His Glorious and Effulgent High
ness pleaded with England to double
his allowance, and he was shocked
when he learned that England was
thinking seriously of cutting It
down. He must have more money.
And how could he get more
money?
His Glorious and Effulgent High
ness was educated at Harrow and
Oxford, it has been remarked. That
education was not to be wasted
He hit upon a plan to make some
money.
As the sole ruler of Zanzibar in
name, with England practicallv
governing he held counsel with
himself.
Alone in his throne room slaves
are not counted as any one there
the Sultan said to himself:
"Most glorlouB ruler of the great ,
and powerful Zanzibar, I have come
to inform you that the people
your people demand that you be
given another decoration."
Then the Sultan would bow low
and reply to
hflDRfilf- Iffi
"And if
it pleasetb
my beloved
people to
so honor
me, glRdly
I f i v
ceDL soieiv t
them joy.
What shall by,
tti rfprnrn. It ' 1
tl bef
u t c -
spouse to
this the
Sultan
would tell
himself :
"The peo-
pie suggest t
wai you De x-f
tt ,11 f.
i u i mwiin
i n vested
with the
d e coratlon
of the Or
der of the
Setting
Sun!"
"Ti8 well," remarks this won
. derful young Sultan to himself in
his solemn monologue, "but, pray,
what. shall the Insignia be?"
. Here the Sultan thinks a mo
ment before replying to his own
question, then exclaims:
"Oh, most Glorious and Effulgent
Majesty, I suggest that it be made
of an immense ruby surrounded by
111 large blue-white diamonds, rep
resenting both the rays of the sun
and the 111 Moguili gods of our
ancient Zanzibar faith."
"Quite so, 'tis an excellent de
sign," says the Sultan, continuing
his monologue; ' "but it will cost
exceeding much. Who shall pay for
It?" -;
"Ah, sire," exclaims the Sultan
after a moment's thought .with
himself, "inasmuch as the people
have asked you to accept this honor,
the people shall pay for it!". .
Then the Sultan goes to his min
isters and tells them that the people
have demanded that he accept this
new decoration, wliereupon his min
isters secretly smile . behind their
rhinoceros-hide shields, but they
have, the decoration, made. The
Sultan wears it a week or so, and
then away it goes 111 great dia-;
monds and a mammoth ruby Into '
the market, where it brings him an
immense sum.
Truly, the high cost of living has
hit distant Zanzibar!
"""
74. .
it
f."-Af If, 'A' ! .... . . j; .. m fc .
N
J
"And so he first brought over some modistes' dummies to educate them."