4th. - By Invitation I Went To The Palace At Noon, With Guns, And
Found The King Holding A Levee, The First Since The New Moon,
With All Heads Shaved In The Manner I Have Mentioned.
Soon
rising, he showed the way through the palace to a pond, which is
described as his bathing N'yanza, his women attending, and pages
leading the way with his guns.
From this we passed on to a
jungle lying between the palace hill and another situated at the
northern end of the lake, where wild buffaloes frequently lie
concealed in the huge papyrus rushes of a miry drain; but as none
could be seen at that moment, we returned again to the palace.
He showed me large mounds of earth, in the shape of cocked hats,
which are private observatories, from which the surrounding
country can be seen. By the side of these observatories are huts,
smaller than the ordinary ones used for residing in, where the
king, after the exertion of "looking out," takes his repose.
Here he ordered fruit to be brought - the Matunguru, a crimson pod
filled with acid seeds, which has only been observed growing by
the rivers or waters of Uganda - and Kasori, a sort of liquorice-
root. He then commenced eating with us, and begging again,
unsuccessfully, for my compass. I tried again to make him see the
absurdity of tying a charm on Whitworth's rifle, but without the
least effect. In fact he mistook all my answers for admiration,
and asked me, in the simplest manner possible, if I would like to
possess a charm; and even when I said "No, I should be afraid of
provoking Lubari's" (God's) "anger if I did so," he only wondered
at my obstinacy, so thoroughly was he wedded to his belief. He
then called for his wideawake, and walked with us into another
quarter of his palace, when he entered a dressing-hut, followed
by a number of full-grown, stark-naked women, his valets; at the
same time ordering a large body of women to sit on one side the
entrance, whilst I, with Bombay, were directed to sit on the
other, waiting till he was ready to hold another levee. From
this, we repaired to the great throne-hut, where all his Wakungu
at once formed court, and business was commenced. Amongst other
things, an officer, by name Mbogo, or the Buffalo, who had been
sent on a wild-goose chase to look after Mr Petherick, described
a journey he had made, following down the morning sun. After he
had passed the limits of plantain-eating men, he came upon men
who lived upon meat alone, who never wore mbugus, but either
cloth or skins, and instead of the spear they used the double-
edged sime. He called the people Wasewe, and their chief Kisawa;
but the company pronounced them to be Masawa (Masai).
After this, about eighty men were marched into the court, with
their faces blackened, and strips of plantain-bark tied on their
heads, each holding up a stick in his hand in place of a spear,
under the regulation that no person is permitted to carry weapons
of any sort in the palace.
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