They
Had Been On Their Own Account To Beg For The Women And Cows Which
Had Been Refused, Saying, If
Bana does not want them we do, for
we have been starved here ever since we came, and when we
Go for
food get broken heads; we will not serve with Bana any longer;
but as he goes north, we will return to Karague and Unyanyembe.
Bombay, however, told them they never had fed so well in all
their lives as they had in Uganda, counting from fifty to sixty
cows killed, and pombe and plantains every day, whenever they
took the trouble to forage; and for their broken heads they
invariably received a compensation in women; so that Bana had
reason to regret every day spent in asking for food for them at
the palace - a favour which none but his men received, but which
they had not, as they might have done, turned to good effect by
changing the system of plundering for food in Uganda.
5th. - By the king's order we attended at the palace early. The
gun obtained us all a speedy admittance, when the king opened
conversation by saying, "Well, Bana, so you really are going?"
"Yes; I have enjoyed your hospitality for a long time, and now
wish to return to my home." "What provision do you want?" I
said, Five cows and five goats, as we shan't be long in Uganda;
and it is not the custom of our country, when we go visiting, to
carry anything away with us. The king then said, "Well, I wish
to give you much, but you won't have it"; when Budja spoke out,
saying, "Bana does not know the country he had to travel through;
there is nothing but jungle and famine on the way, and he must
have cows"; on which the king ordered us sixty cows, fourteen
goats, ten loads of butter, a load of coffee and tobacco, one
hundred sheets of mbugu, as clothes for my men, at a suggestion
of Bombay's, as all my cloth had been expended even before I left
Karague.
This magnificent order created a pause, which K'yengo took
advantage of by producing a little bundle of peculiarly-shaped
sticks and a lump of earth - all of which have their own
particular magical powers, as K'yengo described to the king's
satisfaction. After this, Viarungi pleaded the cause of my
mutinous followers, till I shook my finger angrily at him before
the king, rebuked him for intermeddling in other people's
affairs, and told my own story, which gained the sympathy of the
king, and induced him to say, "Supposing they desert Bana, what
road do they expect to get?" Maula was now appointed to go with
Rozaro to Karague for the powder and other things promised
yesterday, whilst Viarungi and all his party, though exceedingly
anxious to get away, had orders to remain here prisoners as a
surety for the things arriving. Further, Kaddu and two other
Wakungu received orders to go to Usui with two tusks of ivory to
purchase gunpowder, caps, and flints, failing which they would
proceed to Unyanyembe, and even to Zanzibar, for the king must
not be disappointed, and failure would cost them their lives.
Not another word was said, and away the two parties went, with no
more arrangement than a set of geese - Maula without a letter, and
Kaddu without any provision for the way, as if all the world
belonged to Mtesa, and he could help himself from any man's
garden that he liked, no matter where he was. In the evening my
men made a humble petition for their discharge, even if I did not
pay them, producing a hundred reasons for wishing to leave me,
but none which would stand a moment's argument: the fact was,
they were afraid of the road to Unyoro, thinking I had not
sufficient ammunition.
6th. - I visited the king, and asked leave for boats to go at
once; but the fleet admiral put a veto on this by making out that
dangerous shallows exist between the Murchison Creek and the Kira
district station, so that the boats of one place never visit the
other; and further, if we went to Kira, we should find
impracticable cataracts to the Urondogani boat-station; our
better plan would therefore be, to deposit our property at the
Urondogani station, and walk by land up the river, if a sight of
the falls at the mouth of the lake was of such material
consequence to us.
Of course this man carried everything his own way, for there was
nobody able to contradict him, and we could not afford time to
visit Usoga first, lest by the delay we might lose an opportunity
of communicating with Petherick. Grant now took a portrait of
Mtesa by royal permission, the king sitting as quietly as his
impatient nature would permit. Then at home the Wanyamuezi
porters received their tusks of ivory, weighing from 16 to 50 lb.
each, and took a note besides on Rumanika each for twenty fundo
of beads, barring one Bogue man, who, having lent a cloth to the
expedition some months previously, thought it would not be paid
him, and therefore seized a sword as security; the consequence
was, his tusk was seized until the sword was returned, and he was
dismissed minus his beads, for having so misconducted himself.
The impudent fellow then said, "It will be well for Bana if he
succeeds in getting the road through Unyoro; for, should he fail,
I will stand in his path at Bogue." Kitunzi offered an ivory for
beads, and when told we were not merchants, and advised to try
K'yengo, he said he dared not even approach K'yengo's camp lest
people should tell the king of it, and accuse him of seeking for
magical powers against his sovereign. Old Nasib begged for his
discharge. It was granted, and he took a $50 letter on the
coast, and a letter of emancipation for himself and family,
besides an order, written in Kisuahili, for ten fundo of beads on
Rumanika, which made him very happy.
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