It Would Be As Much As His Life
Was Worth To Go One Yard In Advance Of This Until The King's
Leave Was Obtained.
I said, rather than be starved to death in
this ignominious manner, I would return to Karague; to which he
replied, laughing, "Whose leave have you got to do that?
Do you
suppose you can do as you like in this country?"
Next day (17th), in the evening, N'yamgundu returned full of
smirks and smiles, dropped on his knees at my feet, and, in
company with his "children," set to n'yanzigging, according to
the form of that state ceremonial already described.[FN#17] In
his excitement he was hardly able to say all he had to
communicate. Bit by bit, however, I learned that he first went
to the palace, and, finding the king had gone off yachting to the
Murchison Creek, he followed him there. The king for a long
while would not believe his tale that I had come, but, being
assured, he danced with delight, and swore he would not taste
food until he had seen me. "Oh," he said, over and over again
and again, according to my informer, "can this be true? Can the
white man have come all this way to see me? What a strong man he
must be too, to come so quickly! Here are seven cows, four of
them milch ones, as you say he likes milk, which you will give
him; and there are three for yourself for having brought him so
quickly. Now, hurry off as fast as you can, and tell him I am
more delighted at the prospect of seeing him than he can be to
see me. There is no place here fit for his reception. I was on
a pilgrimage which would have kept me here seven days longer but
as I am so impatient to see him, I will go off to my palace at
once, and will send word for him to advance as soon as I arrive
there."
About noon the succeeding day, some pages ran in to say we were
to come along without a moment's delay, as their king had ordered
it. He would not taste food until he saw me, so that everybody
might know what great respect he felt for me. In the meanwhile,
however, he wished for some gunpowder. I packed the pages off as
fast as I could with some, and tried myself to follow, but my men
were all either sick or out foraging, and therefore we could not
get under way until the evening. After going a certain distance,
we came on a rush-drain, of much greater breadth even than the
Mwerango, called the Moga (or river) Myanza, which was so deep I
had to take off my trousers and tuck my clothes under my arms.
It flowed into the Mwerango, but with scarcely any current at
all. This rush-drain, all the natives assured me, rose in the
hills to the southward - not in the lake, as the Mwerango did -
and it was never bridged over like that river, because it was
always fordable.
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