To Put A Stop To This Vile Practice Was Now Beyond My
Power; The King Allowed It, And His Men Were The First In Every
House, Taking Goats, Fowls, Skins, Mbugus, Cowries, Beads, Drums,
Spears, Tobacco, Pombe, - In Short, Everything They Could Lay
Their Hands On - In The Most Ruthless Manner.
It was a perfect
marauding campaign for them all, and all alike were soon laden
with as much as they could carry.
A halt of some days had become necessary at Kari to collect the
cows given by the king; and, as it is one of the most extensive
pasture- grounds, I strolled with my rifle (11th) to see what new
animals could be found; but no sooner did I wound a zebra than
messengers came running after me to say Kari, one of my men, had
been murdered by the villagers three miles off; and such was the
fact. He, with others of my men, had been induced to go
plundering, with a few boys of the Waganda escort, to a certain
village of potters, as pots were required by Budja for making
plantain-wine, the first thing ever thought of when a camp is
formed. On nearing the place, however, the women of the village,
who were the only people visible, instead of running away, as our
braves expected, commenced hullalooing, and brought out their
husbands. Flight was now the only thought of our men, and all
would have escaped had Kari not been slow and his musket empty.
The potters overtook him, and, as he pointed his gun, which they
considered a magic-horn, they speared him to death, and then fled
at once. Our survivors were not long in bringing the news into
camp, when a party went out, and in the evening brought in the
man's corpse and everything belonging to him, for nothing had
been taken.
12th. - To enable me at my leisure to trace up the Nile to its
exit from the lake, and then go on with the journey as quickly as
possible, I wished the cattle to be collected and taken by Budja
and some of my men with the heavy baggage overland to Kamrasi's.
Another reason for doing so was, that I thought it advisable
Kamrasi should be forewarned that we were coming by the water
route, lest we should be suspected and stopped as spies by his
officers on the river, or regarded as enemies, which would
provoke a fight. Budja, however, objected to move until a report
of Kari's murder had been forwarded to the king, lest the people,
getting bumptious, should try the same trick again; and Kasoro
said he would not go up the river, as he had received no orders
to do so.
In this fix I ordered a march back to the palace, mentioning the
king's last words, and should have gone, had not Budja ordered
Kasoro to go with me. A page then arrived from the king to ask
after Bana's health, carrying the Whitworth rifle as his master's
card, and begging for a heavy double-barrelled gun to be sent him
from Gani. I called this lad to witness the agreement I had made
with Budja, and told him, if Kasoro satisfied me, I would return
by him, in addition to the heavy gun, a Massey's patent log. I
had taken it for the navigation of the lake, and it was now of no
further use to me, but, being an instrument of complicated
structure, it would be a valuable addition to the king's museum
of magic charms. I added I should like the king to send me the
robes of honour and spears he had once promised me, in order that
I might, on reaching England, be able to show my countrymen a
specimen of the manufactures of his country. The men who were
with Kari were now sent to the palace, under accusation of having
led him into ambush, and a complaint was made against the
villagers, which we waited the reply to. As Budja forbade it, no
men would follow me out shooting, saying the villagers were out
surrounding our camp, and threatening destruction on any one who
dared show his face; for this was not the highroad to Uganda, and
therefore no one had a right to turn them out of their houses and
pillage their gardens.
13th. - Budja lost two cows given to his party last night, and
seeing ours securely tied by their legs to trees, asked by what
spells we had secured them; and would not believe our assurance
that the ropes that bound them were all the medicines we knew of.
One of the Queen's sisters, hearing of Kari's murder, came on a
visit to condole with us, bringing a pot of pombe, for which she
received some beads. On being asked how many sisters the queen
had, for we could not help suspecting some imposition, she
replied she was the only one, till assured ten other ladies had
presented themselves as the queen's sisters before, when she
changed her tone, and said, "That is true, I am not the only one;
but if I had told you the truth I might have lost my head." This
was a significant expression of the danger to telling court
secrets.
I suspected that there must be a considerable quantity of game in
this district, as stake-nets and other traps were found in all
the huts, as well as numbers of small antelope hoofs spitted on
pipe-sticks - an ornament which is counted the special badge of
the sportsman in this part of Africa. Despite, therefore, of the
warnings of Budja, I strolled again with my rifle, and saw
pallah, small plovers, and green antelopes with straight horns,
called mpeo, the skin of which makes a favourite apron for the
Mabandwa.
14th. - I met to-day a Mhuma cowherd in my strolls with the rifle,
and asked him if he knew where the game lay.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 155 of 207
Words from 157587 to 158586
of 210958
