His chiefs now discovered that the faces in the pictures were also
looking at them; and the eyes followed them whether they moved to the
right or left! This was cojoor, or magic, which at first made them feel
uncomfortable.
One of my wife's female servants, Wat-el-Kerreem, would never remain by
herself in this room, for fear of "the eyes that stared at her."
Everything that we possessed was now minutely scrutinized. The guns and
rifles of various breechloading mechanism were all displayed and
admired. Kabba Rega thoughtfully asked "which of them I had intended for
him?" His uncle, Rahonka, exclaimed - "You have done wisely in bringing
all those guns as presents for Kabba Rega." My visitors were quite
charmed. The musical box played various delightful airs, and it was
remarked that it would be more convenient than an instrument which
required the study of learning, as "you might set this going at night to
play you to sleep, when you were too drunk to play an instrument
yourself; even if you knew how to do it."
This was my young friend Kabba Rega's idea of happiness - to go to sleep
drunk, assisted by the strains of self-playing melody.
Of course, the large musical box was asked for; and, of course, I
promised to give it as a present from the Khedive of Egypt, if I found
that Kabba Rega conducted himself properly.
My wife's trinkets, &c., were now begged for; but it was explained that
such things were private property belonging to the Sit (lady). "The Sit!
the Sit! the Sit!" the young cub peevishly exclaimed; "everything that
is worth having seems to belong to THE SIT!"
A small and beautifully-made revolver, with seven chambers, now
attracted his attention. "Does this also belong to the Sit?" inquired
Kabba Rega. "Yes, that is the Sit's own little revolver," was the reply;
at which the young king burst out laughing, saying, "Do women also carry
arms in your country? I see everything belongs to the Sit!"
My wife now gave him some of the finest Venetian beads, of which we only
had a few dozen. These were much prized. He was then presented with a
handsome gilt bracelet, set with four large French emeralds. This was a
treasure such as he had never seen. He also received a few strings of
fine imitation pearls.
After much delay and vexatious demands for everything that he saw, we at
length got rid of our visitor.
I had explained to Kabba Rega the intended ceremony of hoisting the flag
in the name of the Khedive, and that the country would be in future
under the protection of Egypt, but that he should remain as the
representative of the government.
