Rumanika And Mtesa Were Both Anxious For Trade, And I Felt Sorry
He Would Not Listen To My Advice And Make Friend With Mtesa; For
Unless The Influence Of Trade Was Brought In To Check The Waganda
From Pillaging The Country, Nothing Would Do So.
Kamrasi, in a very quiet, mild manner, instead of answering the
questions, told us of the absurd stories which
He had heard from
the Waganda, said he did not believe them, else his rivers,
deprived of their fountains, would have run dry; and he thought,
if we did eat hills and the tender parts of mankind, we should
have had enough to satisfy our appetites before we reached
Unyoro. Now, however, he was glad to see that, although our hair
was straight and our faces white, we still possessed hands and
feel like other men.
The present was then opened, and everything in turn placed upon
the red blanket. The goggles created some mirth; so did the
scissors, as Bombay, to show their use, clipped his beard, and
the lucifers were considered a wonder; but the king scarcely
moved or uttered any remarks till all was over, when, at the
instigation of the courtiers, my chronometer was asked for and
shown. This wonderful instrument, said the officers (mistaking
it for my compass), was the magic horn by which the white men
found their way everywhere. Kamrasi said he must have it, for,
besides it, the gun was the only thing new to him. The
chronometer, however, I said, was the only one left, and could
not possibly be parted with; though, if Kamrasi liked to send men
to Gani, a new one could be obtained for him.
Then, changing the subject, much to my relief, Kamrasi asked
Bombay, "Who governs England?" "A woman." "Has she any
children?" "Yes," said Bombay, with ready impudence; "these are
two of them" (pointing to Grant and myself). That settled,
Kamrasi wished to know if we had any specked cows, or cows of any
peculiar colour, and would we like to change four large cows for
four small ones, as he coveted some of ours. This was a
staggerer. We had totally failed, then, in conveying to this
stupid king the impression that we were not mere traders, ready
to bargain with him. We would present him with cows if we had
such as he wanted, but we could not bargain. The meeting then
broke up in the same chilling manner as it began, and we returned
as we came, but no sooner reached home than four pots of pombe
were sent us, with a hope that we had arrived all safely. The
present gave great satisfaction. The Wanguana accused Frij of
having "unclean hands," because the beef had not lasted so long
as it should do - it being a notable fact in Mussulman creed, that
unless the man's hands are pure who cuts the throat of an animal,
its flesh will not last fresh half the ordinary time.
19th. - As the presents given yesterday occupied the king's mind
too much for other business, I now sent to offer him one-third of
the guns left in Uganda, provided he would send some messengers
with one of my men to ask Mtesa for them, and also the same
proportion of the sixty loads of property left in charge of
Rumanika at Karague, if he would send the requisite number of
porters for its removal. But of all things, I said, I most
wished to send a letter to Petherick at Gani, to apprise him of
our whereabouts, for he must have been four years waiting our
arrival there, and by the same opportunity I would get a watch
for the king. He sent us to-day two pots of pombe, one sack of
salt, and what might be called a screw of butter, with an
assurance that the half of everything that came to his house -
and everything was brought from great distances in boats - he
would give me; but for the present the only thing he was in need
of was some medicine or stimulants. Further, I need be under no
apprehension if I did not find men at once to go on the three
respective journeys; it should be all done in good time, for he
loved me much, and desired to show us so much respect that his
name should be celebrated for it in songs of praise until he was
bowed down by years, and even after death it should be
remembered.
I ascertained then that the salt, which was very white and pure,
came from an island on the Little Luta Nzige, about sixty miles
west from the Chaguzi palace, where the lake is said to be forty
or fifty miles wide. It is the same piece of water we heard of
in Karague as the Little Luta Nzige, beyond Utumbi; and the same
story of Unyoro being an island circumscribed by it and the
Victoria N'yanza connected by the Nile, is related here, showing
that both the Karague and Unyoro people, as indeed all negroes
and Arabs, have the common defect in their language, of using the
same word for a peninsula and an island. The Waijasi - of whom we
saw a specimen in the shape of an old woman, with her upper lip
edged with a row of small holes, at Karague - occupy a large
island on this lake named Gasi, and sometimes come to visit
Kamrasi. Ugungu, a dependency of Kamrasi's, occupies this side,
the lake, and on the opposite side is Ulegga; beyond which, in
about 2§ N. lat. And 28§ E. long., is the country of Namachi; and
further west still about 2§, the Wilyanwantu, or cannibals, who,
according to the report both here and at Karague, "bury cows but
eat men." These distant people pay their homage to Kamrasi,
though they have six degrees of longitude to travel over. They
are, I believe, a portion of the N'yam N'yams - another name for
cannibal - whose country Petherick said he entered in 1857-58.
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