26th. - To-Day, To Amuse The King, I Drew A Picture Of Himself
Holding A Levee, And Proceeded To Visit Him.
On the way I found
the highroad thronged with cattle captured in Unyoro; and on
arrival at the ante-chamber, amongst the officers in waiting,
Masimbi (Mr Cowries or Shells), the queen's uncle, and Congow, a
young general, who once led an army into Unyoro, past Kamrasi's
palace.
They said they had obtained leave for me to visit them,
and were eagerly looking out for the happy event. At once, on
firing, I was admitted to the king's favourite place, which, now
that the king had a movable chair to sit upon, was the shade of
the court screen. We had a chat; the picture was shown to the
women; the king would like to have some more, and gave me leave
to draw in the palace any time I liked. At the same time he
asked for my paint-box, merely to look at it. Though I
repeatedly dunned him for it, I could never get it back from him
until I was preparing to leave Uganda.
27th. - After breakfast I started on a visit to Congow; but
finding he had gone to the king as usual, called at Masimbi's and
he being absent also, I took advantage of my proximity to the
queen's palace to call on her majesty. For hours I was kept
waiting; firstly, because she was at breakfast; secondly, because
she was "putting on medicine"; and, thirdly, because the sun was
too powerful for her complexion; when I became tired of her
nonsense, and said, "If she does not wish to see me, she had
better say so at once, else I shall walk away; for the last time
I came I saw her but for a minute, when she rudely turned her
back upon me, and left me sitting by myself." I was told not to
be in a hurry - she would see me in the evening. This promise
might probably be fulfilled six blessed hours from the time when
it was made; but I thought to myself, every place in Uganda is
alike when there is no company at home, and so I resolved to sit
the time out, like Patience on a monument, hoping something funny
might turn up after all.
At last her majesty stumps out, squats behind my red blanket,
which is converted into a permanent screen, and says hastily, or
rather testily, "Can't Bana perceive the angry state of the
weather? - clouds flying about, and the wind blowing half a gale?
Whenever that is the case, I cannot venture out." Taking her lie
without an answer, I said, I had now been fifty days or so doing
nothing in Uganda - not one single visitor of my own rank ever
came near me, and I could not associated with people far below
her condition and mine - in fact, all I had to amuse me at home
now was watching a hen lay her eggs upon my spare bed. Her
majesty became genial, as she had been before, and promised to
provide me with suitable society. I then told her I had desired
my officers several times to ask the king how marriages were
conducted in this country, as they appeared so different from
ours, but they always said they dared not put such a question to
him, and now I hoped she would explain it to me. To tell her I
could not get anything from the king, I knew would be the surest
way of eliciting what I wanted from her, because of the jealousy
between the two courts; and in this instance it was fully proved,
for she brightened up at once, and, when I got her to understand
something of what I meant by a marriage ceremony, in high good
humour entered on a long explanation, to the following effect: -
There are no such things as marriages in Uganda; there are no
ceremonies attached to it. If any Mkungu possessed of a pretty
daughter committed an offence, he might give her to the king as a
peace-offering; if any neighbouring king had a pretty daughter,
and the king of Uganda wanted her, she might be demanded as a
fitting tribute. The Wakungu in Uganda are supplied with women
by the king, according to their merits, from seizures in battle
abroad, or seizures from refractory officers at home. The women
are not regarded as property according to the Wanyamuezi
practice, though many exchange their daughters; and some women,
for misdemeanours, are sold into slavery; whilst others are
flogged, or are degraded to do all the menial services of the
house.
The Wakungu then changed the subject by asking, if I married a
black woman, would there be any offspring, and what would be
their colour? The company now became jovial, when the queen
improved it by making a significant gesture, and with roars of
laughter asking me if I would like to be her son-in-law, for she
had some beautiful daughters, either of the Wahuma, or Waganda
breed. Rather staggered at first by this awful proposal, I
consulted Bombay what I should do with one if I got her. He,
looking more to number one than my convenience, said, "By all
means accept the offer, for if YOU don't like her, WE should, and
it would be a good means of getting her out of this land of
death, for all black people love Zanzibar." The rest need not be
told; as a matter of course I had to appear very much gratified,
and as the bowl went round, all became uproarious. I must wait a
day or two, however, that a proper selection might be made; and
when the marriage came off, I was to chain the fair one two or
three days, until she became used to me, else, from mere fright,
she might run away.
To keep up the spirits of the queen, though her frequent potions
of pombe had wellnigh done enough, I admired her neck-ring,
composed of copper wire, with a running inlaid twist of iron, and
asked her why she wore such a wreath of vine-leaves, as I had
often seen on some of the Wakungu.
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