"Haaha! Bruno, my brother, this was agreed—an ivory gift for Steward Nuno!... And this other portion, including the palm-leaf mats, is for you!"
"Ah! Praise the Lord! My heartfelt thanks for your generosity, Brother Anger!..."
The tropical sun shone over Sierra Leone Port, and the nimble Caravel flew Portugal's Royal Banner. Bruno widened his eyes and carefully took the two sets of magnificent ivory wares from Anger's hands, brilliant colors flashing again and again in his gaze.
The raw material for these ivory pieces had been forcibly seized from the surrounding "Sapi" tribes, then carved with great effort and exquisite skill by black tribal carvers driven into forced labor. Like that long, slender ivory horn—it was a full two meters long and thick as an arm, something that could only have been cut from the body of an old elephant forty or fifty years of age.
The surface of the ivory horn was finely carved with animals large and small, flowers and grasses, and abstract tribal runes, then colored with gold dust. It was luxurious and extravagant to the extreme, and one glance filled the eye with a savage exotic air!
"Wuu... tooo... wuu... tooo!..."
When Bruno blew it softly, a heavy, desolate, melancholy tune echoed between sea and sky in the port, as if a herd of elephants were trumpeting! This was a truly mysterious and costly instrument, far more precious than the magnificent pipe organs in the Church that represented the Lord!
Of course, in the homes of the great nobles of Europe, this sort of horn was never meant to be blown, but hung up as an ornament to flaunt the family's wealth and the nobility of its taste!
"Praise the Lord! Such a magnificent horn—and the craftsmanship of these black artisans is truly incredible! Steward Nuno