Then The Royal Cutler Brought In Dinner-Knives Made Of Iron,
Inlaid With Squares Of Copper And Brass, And Goats And Vegetables
Were Presented As Usual, When By Torchlight We Were Dismissed, My
Men Taking With Them As Many Plantains As They Could Carry.
1st. - I stayed at home all this day, because the king and queen
had set it apart for looking at and arranging their horns -
mapembe, or fetishes, as the learned call such things - to see
that there are no imperfections in the Uganga.
This was
something like an inquiry into the ecclesiastical condition of
the country, while, at the same time, it was a religious
ceremony, and, as such, was appropriate to the first day after
the new moon appears. This being the third moon by account, in
pursuance of ancient customs, all the people about court,
including the king, shaved their heads - the king, however,
retaining his cockscomb, the pages their double cockades, and the
other officers their single cockades on the back of the head, or
either side, according to the official rank of each. My men were
occupied making trousers for the king all day; whilst the pages,
and those sent to learn the art of tailoring, instead of doing
their duty, kept continually begging for something to present the
king.
2d. - The queen now taking a sporting fit into her head, sent for
me early in the morning, with all my men, armed, to shoot a
crested crane in her palace; but though we were there as
required, we were kept waiting till late in the afternoon, when,
instead of talking about shooting, as her Wakungu had forbidden
her doing it, she asked after her two daughters - whether they had
run away, or if they liked their new abode? I replied I was
sorry circumstances did not permit my coming to thank her sooner,
for I felt grateful beyond measure to her for having charmed my
house with such beautiful society. I did not follow her advice
to chain either of them with iron, for I found cords of love, the
only instrument white men know the use of, quite strong enough.
Fascinated with this speech, she said she would give me another
of a middle age between the two, expecting, as I thought, that
she would thus induce me to visit her more frequently than I did
her son; but, though I thanked her, it frightened me from
visiting her for ages after.
She then said, with glowing pride, casting a sneer on the king's
hospitality, "In the days of yore, Sunna, whenever visitors came
to see him, immediately presented them with women, and, secondly,
with food; for he was very particular in looking after his
guests' welfare, which is not exactly what you find the case now,
I presume." The rest of the business of the day consisted in
applications for medicine and medical treatment, which it was
difficult satisfactorily to meet.
3d. - To-day Katumba, the king's head page, was sent to me with
deoles to be made into trousers and waistcoats, and a large
sixty-dollar silk I had given him to cover the chair with. The
king likes rich colours, and I was solemnly informed that he will
never wear anything but clothes like Bana.
4th. - By invitation I went to the palace at noon, with guns, and
found the king holding a levee, the first since the new moon,
with all heads shaved in the manner I have mentioned. Soon
rising, he showed the way through the palace to a pond, which is
described as his bathing N'yanza, his women attending, and pages
leading the way with his guns. From this we passed on to a
jungle lying between the palace hill and another situated at the
northern end of the lake, where wild buffaloes frequently lie
concealed in the huge papyrus rushes of a miry drain; but as none
could be seen at that moment, we returned again to the palace.
He showed me large mounds of earth, in the shape of cocked hats,
which are private observatories, from which the surrounding
country can be seen. By the side of these observatories are huts,
smaller than the ordinary ones used for residing in, where the
king, after the exertion of "looking out," takes his repose.
Here he ordered fruit to be brought - the Matunguru, a crimson pod
filled with acid seeds, which has only been observed growing by
the rivers or waters of Uganda - and Kasori, a sort of liquorice-
root. He then commenced eating with us, and begging again,
unsuccessfully, for my compass. I tried again to make him see the
absurdity of tying a charm on Whitworth's rifle, but without the
least effect. In fact he mistook all my answers for admiration,
and asked me, in the simplest manner possible, if I would like to
possess a charm; and even when I said "No, I should be afraid of
provoking Lubari's" (God's) "anger if I did so," he only wondered
at my obstinacy, so thoroughly was he wedded to his belief. He
then called for his wideawake, and walked with us into another
quarter of his palace, when he entered a dressing-hut, followed
by a number of full-grown, stark-naked women, his valets; at the
same time ordering a large body of women to sit on one side the
entrance, whilst I, with Bombay, were directed to sit on the
other, waiting till he was ready to hold another levee. From
this, we repaired to the great throne-hut, where all his Wakungu
at once formed court, and business was commenced. Amongst other
things, an officer, by name Mbogo, or the Buffalo, who had been
sent on a wild-goose chase to look after Mr Petherick, described
a journey he had made, following down the morning sun. After he
had passed the limits of plantain-eating men, he came upon men
who lived upon meat alone, who never wore mbugus, but either
cloth or skins, and instead of the spear they used the double-
edged sime.
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