As Might Have Been Expected, He Said He Had Been
Anything But Welcomed In Unyoro.
Kamrasi, after keeping him
half-starved and in suspense eight days, sent a message - for he
would not see
Him - that he did not desire any communication with
blackguard Waganda thieves, and therefore advised him, if he
valued his life, to return by the road by which he came as
speedily as possible. Turning to Congow, I playfully told him
that, as the road through Unyoro was closed, he would have to go
with me through Usoga and Kidi; but the gallant colonel merely
shuddered, and said that would be a terrible undertaking.
27th. - The king would not show, for some reason or other, and we
still feared to fire guns lest he should think our store of
powder inexhaustible, and so keep us here until he had extorted
the last of it. I found that the Waganda have the same absurd
notion here as the Wanyambo have in Karague, of Kamrasi's
supernatural power in being able to divide the waters of the Nile
in the same manner as Moses did the Red Sea.
28th. - The king sent a messenger-boy to inform us that he had
just heard from Unyoro that the white men were still at Gani
inquiring after us; but nothing was said of Budja's defeat. I
sent Bombay immediately off to tell him we had changed our plans,
and now simply required a large escort to accompany us through
Usoga and Kidi to Gani, as further delay in communicating with
Petherick might frustrate all chance of opening the Nile trade
with Uganda. He answered that he would assemble all his officers
in the morning to consult with them on the subject, when he hoped
we would attend, as he wished to further our views. A herd of
cows, about eighty in number, were driven in from Unyoro, showing
that the silly king was actually robbing Kamrasi at the same time
that he was trying to treat with him. K'yengo informed us that
the king, considering the surprising events which had lately
occurred at his court, being very anxious to pry into the future,
had resolved to take a very strong measure for accomplishing that
end. This was the sacrifice of a child by cooking, as described
in the introduction - a ceremony which it fell to K'yengo to carry
out.
29th. - To have two strings to my bow, and press our departure as
hotly as possible, I sent first Frij off with Nasib to the queen,
conveying, as a parting present, a block-tin brush-box, a watch
without a key, two sixpenny pocket-handkerchiefs, and a white
towel, with an intimation that we were going, as the king had
expressed his desire of sending us to Gani. Her majesty accepted
the present, finding fault with the watch for not ticking like
the king's, and would not believe her son Mtesa had been so hasty
in giving us leave to depart, as she had not been consulted on
the subject yet. Setting off to attend the king at his appointed
time, I found the Kamraviona already there, with a large court
attendance, patiently awaiting his majesty's advent. As we were
all waiting on, I took a rise out of the Kamraviona by telling
him I wanted a thousand men to march with me through Kidi to
Gani. Surprised at the extent of my requisition, he wished to
know if my purpose was fighting. I made him a present of the
great principle that power commands respect, and it was to
prevent any chance of fighting that we required so formidable an
escort. His reply was that he would tell the king; and he
immediately rose and walked away home.
K'yengo and the representatives of Usui and Karague now arrived
by order of the king to bid farewell, and received the slaves and
cattle lately captured. As I was very hungry, I set off home to
breakfast. Just as I had gone, the provoking king inquired after
me, and so brought me back again, though I never saw him the
whole day. K'yengo, however, was very communicative. He said he
was present when Sunna, with all the forces he could muster,
tried to take the very countries I now proposed to travel
through; but, though in person exciting his army to victory, he
could make nothing of it. He advised my returning to Karague,
when Rumanika would give me an escort through Nkole to Unyoro;
but finding that did not suit my views, as I swore I would never
retrace one step, he proposed my going by boat to Unyoro,
following down the Nile.
This, of course, was exactly what I wanted; but how could king
Mtesa, after the rebuff he had received from Kamrasi be induced
to consent to it? My intention, I said, was to try the king on
the Usoga and Kidi route first, then on the Masai route to
Zanzibar, affecting perfect indifference about Kamrasi; and all
those failing - which, of course, they would - I would ask for
Unyoro as a last and only resource. Still I could not see the
king to open my heart to him, and therefore felt quite
nonplussed. "Oh," says K'yengo, "the reason why you do not see
him is merely because he is Ashamed to show his face, having made
so many fair promises to you which he knows he can never carry
out: bide your time, and all will be well." At 4 p.m., as no
hope of seeing the king was left, all retired.
30th. - Unexpectedly, and for reasons only known to himself, the
king sent us a cow and load of butter, which had been asked for
many days ago. The new moon seen last night kept the king
engaged at home, paying his devotions with his magic horns or
fetishes in the manner already described. The spirit of this
religion - if such it can be called - is not so much adoration of a
Being supreme and beneficent, as a tax to certain malignant
furies - a propitiation, in fact, to prevent them bringing evil on
the land, and to insure a fruitful harvest.
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