1st. - I Stayed At Home All This Day, Because The King And Queen
Had Set It Apart For Looking At And Arranging Their Horns -
Mapembe, Or Fetishes, As The Learned Call Such Things - To See
That There Are No Imperfections In The Uganga.
This was
something like an inquiry into the ecclesiastical condition of
the country, while, at the same time, it was a religious
ceremony, and, as such, was appropriate to the first day after
the new moon appears.
This being the third moon by account, in
pursuance of ancient customs, all the people about court,
including the king, shaved their heads - the king, however,
retaining his cockscomb, the pages their double cockades, and the
other officers their single cockades on the back of the head, or
either side, according to the official rank of each. My men were
occupied making trousers for the king all day; whilst the pages,
and those sent to learn the art of tailoring, instead of doing
their duty, kept continually begging for something to present the
king.
2d. - The queen now taking a sporting fit into her head, sent for
me early in the morning, with all my men, armed, to shoot a
crested crane in her palace; but though we were there as
required, we were kept waiting till late in the afternoon, when,
instead of talking about shooting, as her Wakungu had forbidden
her doing it, she asked after her two daughters - whether they had
run away, or if they liked their new abode? I replied I was
sorry circumstances did not permit my coming to thank her sooner,
for I felt grateful beyond measure to her for having charmed my
house with such beautiful society. I did not follow her advice
to chain either of them with iron, for I found cords of love, the
only instrument white men know the use of, quite strong enough.
Fascinated with this speech, she said she would give me another
of a middle age between the two, expecting, as I thought, that
she would thus induce me to visit her more frequently than I did
her son; but, though I thanked her, it frightened me from
visiting her for ages after.
She then said, with glowing pride, casting a sneer on the king's
hospitality, "In the days of yore, Sunna, whenever visitors came
to see him, immediately presented them with women, and, secondly,
with food; for he was very particular in looking after his
guests' welfare, which is not exactly what you find the case now,
I presume." The rest of the business of the day consisted in
applications for medicine and medical treatment, which it was
difficult satisfactorily to meet.
3d. - To-day Katumba, the king's head page, was sent to me with
deoles to be made into trousers and waistcoats, and a large
sixty-dollar silk I had given him to cover the chair with. The
king likes rich colours, and I was solemnly informed that he will
never wear anything but clothes like Bana.
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