Just At This Juncture An
Adjutant Flew Overhead, And, By Way Of Fun, I Presented My Gun,
When The Excited
King, like a boy from school, jumped up,
forgetting his company, and cried, "Come, Bana, and shoot the
nundo; I
Know where he has gone - follow me." And away we went,
first through one court, then through another, till we found the
nundo perched on a tree, looking like a sedate old gentleman with
a bald head, and very sharp, long nose. Politeness lost the
bird; for whilst I wished the king to shoot, he wished me to do
so, from fear of missing it himself. He did not care about
vultures - he could practise at them at any time; but he wanted a
nundo above all things. The bird, however, took the hint, and
flew away.
Chapter XIII
Palace, Uganda - Continued
A Visit to a Distinguished Statesman - A Visit from the King -
Royal Sport - The Queen's Present of Wives - The Court Beauties and
their Reverses - Judicial Procedure in Uganda - Buffalo-Hunting - A
Musical Party - My Medical Practice - A Royal Excursion on the
N'yanza - The Canoes of Uganda - A Regatta - Rifle Practice -
Domestic Difficulties - Interference of a Magician - The King's
Brothers.
29th. - According to appointment I went early this morning to
visit Congow. He kept me some time waiting in his outer hut, and
then called me in to where I found him sitting with his women - a
large group, by no means pretty. His huts are numerous, the
gardens and courts all very neat and well kept. He was much
delighted with my coming, produced pombe, and asked me what I
thought of his women, stripping them to the waist. He assured me
that he had thus paid me such a compliment as nobody else had
ever obtained, since the Waganda are very jealous of one another-
-so much so, that any one would be killed if found starring upon
a woman even in the highways. I asked him what use he had for so
many women? To which he replied, "None whatever; the king gives
them to us to keep up our rank, sometimes as many as one hundred
together, and we either turn them into wives, or make servants of
them, as we please." Just then I heard that Mkuenda, the queen's
woman-keeper, was outside waiting for me, but dared not come in,
because Congow's women were all out; so I asked leave to go home
to breakfast, much to the surprise of Congow, who thought I was
his guest for the whole day. It is considered very indecorous in
Uganda to call upon two persons in one day, though even the king
or the queen should be one of them. Then, as there was no help
for it - Congow could not detain me when hungry - he showed me a
little boy, the only child he had, and said, with much fatherly
pride, "Both the king and queen have called on me to see this
fine little fellow"; and we parted to meet again some other day.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 244 of 403
Words from 127538 to 128048
of 210958
