They
Are All Now Taking Presents Of Cows From Kamrasi, And Going To
Their Homes, And, As Soon As They Are Disposed Of, Your Turn Will
Come."
16th. - We kept quiet all day, to see what effect that would have
upon the king.
Kidgwiga told us that, when he was a lad, Kamrasi
sent him with a large party of Wanyoro to visit a king who lived
close to a high mountain, two months' journey distant, to the
east or south-east of this, and beg for a magic horn, as that
king's doctor was peculiarly famed for his skill as a magician.
The party carried with them 600 majembe (iron spades), two of
which expended daily paid for their board and lodgings on the
way. The horn applied for was sent by a special messenger to
Kamrasi, who, in return, sent one of his horns; from which date,
the two kings, whenever one of them wishes to communicate with
the other, sends, on the messenger's neck, the horn that had been
given him, which both serves for credentials and security, as no
one dare touch a Mbakka with one of these horns upon his neck.
A common source of conversation among our men now was the
desertion of their comrades, all fancying how bitterly they would
repent it when they heard how we had succeeded, eating beef every
day; and Uledi now, in a joking manner, abused Mektub for having
urged him to desert. He would not leave Bana, and if he had not
stopped, Mektub would have gone, for they both served one master
at Zanzibar, and therefore were like brothers; whilst Mektub,
laughing over the matter as if it were a good joke, said, "I
packed up my things to go, it is true; but I reflected if I got
back to the coast Said Majid would only make a slave of me
again." M'yinzuggi, the head of Rumanika's party, gave me to-day
a tippet monkey-skin in return for the cow I had given him on the
14th. These men, taking their natures from their king Rumanika,
are by far the most gentle, polite, and attentive of any black
men we have travelled amongst.
17th. - Tired and out of patience with our prison - a river of
crocodiles on one side, and swamps in every other direction,
while we could not go out shooting without a specific order from
the king - I sent Kidgwiga and Kajunju to inform Kamrasi that we
could bear this life no longer. As he did not wish to see white
men, our residing here could be of no earthly use. I hoped he
would accept our present from Bombay, and give us leave to depart
for Gani. The Wakungu, who thought, as well as ourselves, that
we were in nothing better than a prison, hurried off with the
message, and soon returned with a message from their king that he
was busily engaged decorating his palace to give us a triumphant
reception; for he was anxious to pay us more respect than anybody
who had ever visited him before. We should have seen him
yesterday, only that it rained; and, as a precaution against our
meeting being broken up, a shed was being built. He could not
hear of our leaving the country without seeing him.
18th. - At last we were summoned to attend the king's levee; but
the suspicious creature wished his officers to inspect the things
we had brought for him before we went there. Here was another
hitch. I could not submit to such disrespectful suspicions, but
if he wished Bombay to convey my present to him, I saw no harm in
the proposition. The king waived the point, and we all started,
carrying as a present the things enumerated in the note.[FN#24]
The Union Jack led the way. At the ferry three shots were fired,
when, stepping into two large canoes, we all went across the Kafu
together, and found, to our surprise, a small hut built for the
reception, low down on the opposite bank, where no strange eyes
could see us.
Within this, sitting on a low wooden stool placed upon a double
matting of skins - cows' below and leopards' above - on an elevated
platform of grass, was the great king Kamrasi, looking,
enshrouded in his mbugu dress, for all the world like a pope in
state - calm and actionless. One bracelet of fine-twisted brass
wire adorned his left wrist, and his hair, half an inch long, was
worked up into small peppercorn-like knobs by rubbing the hand
circularly over the crown of the head. His eyes were long, face
narrow, and nose prominent, after the true fashion of his breed;
and though a finely-made man, considerably above six feet high,
he was not so large as Rumanika. A cow-skin, stretched out and
fastened to the roof, acted as a canopy to prevent dust falling,
and a curtain of mbugu concealed the lower parts of the hut, in
front of which, on both sides of the king, sat about a dozen head
men.
This was all. We entered and took seats on our own iron stools,
whilst Bombay placed all the presents upon the ground before the
throne. As no greetings were exchanged, and all at first
remained as silent as death, I commenced, after asking about his
health, by saying I had journeyed six long years (by the African
computation of five months in the year) for the pleasure of this
meeting, coming by Karague instead of by the Nile, because the
"Wanya Beri" (Bari people at Gondokoro) had defeated the projects
of all former attempts made by white men to reach Unyoro. The
purpose of my coming was to ascertain whether his majesty would
like to trade with our country, exchanging ivory for articles of
European manufacture; as, should he do so, merchants would come
here in the same way as they went from Zanzibar to Karague.
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