He Called The People Wasewe, And Their Chief Kisawa;
But The Company Pronounced Them To Be Masawa (Masai).
After this, about eighty men were marched into the court, with
their faces blackened, and strips of plantain-bark tied
On their
heads, each holding up a stick in his hand in place of a spear,
under the regulation that no person is permitted to carry weapons
of any sort in the palace. They were led by an officer, who,
standing like a captain before his company, ordered them to jump
and praise the king, acting the part of fugleman himself. Then
said the king, turning to me, "Did I not tell you I had sent many
men to fight? These are some of my army returned; the rest are
coming, and will eventually, when all are collected, go in a body
to fight in Usoga." Goats and other peace-offerings were then
presented; and, finally a large body of officers came in with an
old man, with his two ears shorn off for having been too handsome
in his youth, and a young woman who, after four days' search, had
been discovered in his house. They were brought for judgment
before the king.
Nothing was listened to but the plaintiff's statement, who said
he had lost the woman four days, and, after considerable search,
had found her concealed by the old man, who was indeed old enough
to be her grandfather. From all appearances one would have said
the wretched girl had run away from the plaintiff's house in
consequence of ill treatment, and had harboured herself on this
decrepid old man without asking his leave; but their voices in
defence were never heard, for the king instantly sentenced both
to death, to prevent the occurrence of such impropriety again;
and, to make the example more severe, decreed that their lives
should not be taken at once, but, being fed to preserve life as
long as possible, they were to be dismembered bit by bit, as
rations for the vultures, every day, until life was extinct. The
dismayed criminals, struggling to be heard, in utter despair,
were dragged away boisterously in the most barbarous manner, to
the drowning music of the milele and drums.
The king, in total unconcern about the tragedy he had thus
enacted, immediately on their departure said, "Now, then, for
shooting, Bana; let us look at your gun." It happened to be
loaded, but fortunately only with powder, to fire my announcement
at the palace; for he instantly placed caps on the nipples, and
let off one barrel by accident, the contents of which stuck in
the thatch. This created a momentary alarm, for it was supposed
the thatch had taken fire; but it was no sooner suppressed than
the childish king, still sitting on his throne, to astonish his
officers still more, levelled the gun from his shoulder, fired
the contents of the second barrel into the faces of his squatting
Wakungu, and then laughed at his own trick. In the meanwhile
cows were driven in, which the king ordered his Wakungu to shoot
with carbines; and as they missed them, he showed them the way to
shoot with the Whitworth, never missing. The company now broke
up, but I still clung to the king, begging him to allow me to
purchase food with beads, as I wanted it, for my establishment
was always more or less in a starving state; but he only said,
"Let us know what you want and you shall always have it"; which,
in Uganda, I knew from experience only meant, Don't bother me any
more, but give me your spare money, and help yourself from my
spacious gardens - Uganda is before you.
5th - To-day the king went on a visit with his mother, and
therefore neither of them could be seen by visitors. I took a
stroll towards the N'yanza, passing through the plantain-groves
occupied by the king's women, where my man Sangoro had been twice
taken up by the Mgemma and put in the stocks. The plantain
gardens were beautifully kept by numerous women, who all ran away
from fright at seeing me, save one who, taken by surprise, threw
herself flat on the ground, rolled herself up in her mbugu, and,
kicking with her naked heels, roared murder and help, until I
poked her up, and reproached her for her folly. This little
incident made my fairies bolder, and, sidling up to me one by
one, they sat in a knot with me upon the ground; then clasping
their heads with their hands, they woh-wohed in admiration of the
white man; they never in all their lives saw anything so
wonderful; his wife and children must be like him; what would not
Sunna have given for such a treat? - but it was destined to
Mtesa's lot. What is the interpretation of this sign, if it does
not point to the favour in which Mtesa is upheld by the spirits?
I wished to go, but no: "Stop a little more," they said, all in a
breath, or rather out of breath in their excitement; "remove the
hat and show the hair; take off the shoes and tuck up the
trousers; what on earth is kept in the pockets? Oh, wonder of
wonders! - and the iron!" As I put the watch close to the ear of
one of them, "Tick, tick, ticks - woh, woh, woh" - everybody must
hear it; and then the works had to be seen. "Oh, fearful!" said
one, "hide your faces: it is the Lubari. Shut it up, Bana, shut
it up; we have seen enough; but you will come again and bring us
beads." So ended the day's work.
6th. - To-day I sent Bombay to the palace for food. Though rain
fell in torrents, he found the king holding a levee, giving
appointments, plantations, and women, according to merit, to his
officers. As one officer, to whom only one woman was given,
asked for more, the king called him an ingrate, and ordered him
to be cut to pieces on the spot; and the sentence was, as Bombay
told me, carried into effect - not with knives, for they are
prohibited, but with strips of sharp-edged grass, after the
executioners had first dislocated his neck by a blow delivered
behind the head, with a sharp, heavy-headed club.
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