"Well," Said The King Of Kings, "If That Is True, Go
Back To Your Master, Tell Him You Have Disappointed
Me before
these men, and obtain permission to shoot the cow in the morning;
after which, should you succeed, your
Master can come after
breakfast to see me - but for the present, take him this pot of
pombe."
12th. - To back Bombay in what he had said, I gave him two more
cartridges to shoot the cow with, and orders as well to keep
Kamrasi to his word about the oft-promised interview and change
of residence. He gave me the following account on his return: -
Upwards of a thousand spectators were present when he killed the
cow, putting both bullets into her, and all in a voice, as soon
as they saw the effect of the shot, shouted in amazement; the
Kidi visitors, all terror-stricken, crying out, as they clasped
their breasts, "Oh, great king, do allow us to return to our
country, for you have indeed got a new specimen of man with you,
and we are greatly afraid!" - a lot of humbug and affectation to
flatter the king, which pleased him greatly. It was not
sufficient, however, to make him forget his regal pride; for
though Bombay pleaded hard for our going to see him, and for a
change of residence, the immovable king, to maintain the imperial
state he had assumed as "king of kings," only said, "What
difference does it make whether your master sees me to-day or to-
morrow? If he wants to communicate about the road to Gani, his
property at Karague, or the guns at Uganda, he can do so as well
through the medium of my officers as with me direct, and I will
send men whenever he wishes to do so. Perhaps you don't know, but
I expect men from Gani every day, who took a present of slaves,
ivory and monkey-skins to the foreigners residing there, who, in
the first instance sent me a necklace of beads [showing them] by
some men who wore clothes. They said white men were coming from
Karague, and requested the beads might be shown them should they
do so. They left this two moons before Baraka arrived here, and
I told them the white men would not come here, as I heard they
had gone to Uganda."
Bombay then, finding the king very communicative, went at him for
his inhospitality towards us, his turning us back from his
country twice, and now, after inviting us, treating us as
Suwarora did. On this he gave, by Bombay's account, the following
curious reason for his conduct: - "You don't understand the
matter. At the time the white men were living in Uganda, many of
the people who had seen them there came and described them as
such monsters, they ate up mountains and drank the N'yanza dry;
and although they fed on both beef and mutton, they were not
satisfied until they got a dish of the 'tender parts' of human
beings three times a-day. Now, I was extremely anxious to see
men of such wonderful natures. I could have stood their
mountain-eating and N'yanzi-drinking capacities, but on no
consideration would I submit to sacrifice my subjects to their
appetites, and for this reason I first sent to turn them back;
but afterwards, on hearing from Dr K'yengo's men that, although
the white men had travelled all through their country, and
brought all the pretty and wonderful things of the world there,
they had never heard such monstrous imputations cast upon them, I
sent a second time to call them on: these are the facts of the
case. Now, with regard to your accusation of my treating them
badly, it is all their own fault. I ordered them to advance
slowly and pick up food by the way, as there is a famine here;
but they, instead, hurried on against my wishes. That they want
to see and give me presents you have told me repeatedly - so do I
them; for I want them to teach me the way to shoot, and when that
is accomplished, I will take them to an island near Kidi, where
there are some men [his refractory brothers] whom I wish to
frighten away with guns; but still there is no hurry, - they can
come when I choose to call them, and not before." Bombay to this
said, "I cannot deliver such a message to Bana; I have told so
many falsehoods about your saying you will have an interview to-
morrow, I shall only catch a flogging"; and forthwith departed.
13th. - More disgusted with Kamrasi than ever, I called Kidgwiga
up, and told him I was led to expect from Rumanika that I should
find his king a good and reasonable man, which I believed,
considering it was said by an unprejudiced person. Mtesa, on the
contrary, told me Kamrasi treated all his guests with disrespect,
sending them to the farther side of the N'yanzi. I now found his
enemy more truthful than his friend, and wished him to be told
so. "For the future, I should never," I said, "mention his name
again, but wait until his fear of me had vanished; for he quite
forgot his true dignity as a host and king in his surprise and
fear, merely because we were in a hurry and desired to see him."
He was reported to-day, by the way, to be drunk.
As nothing could be done yesterday, in consequence of the king
being in his cups, the Wakungu conveyed my message to-day, but
with the usual effect, till a diplomatic idea struck me, and I
sent another messenger to say, if our residence was not changed
at once, both Grant and myself had made up our minds to cut off
our hair and blacken our faces, so that the king of all kings
should have no more cause to fear us.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 171 of 207
Words from 173959 to 174958
of 210958
