27th. - The King Would Not Show, For Some Reason Or Other, And We
Still Feared To Fire Guns Lest He Should Think Our Store Of
Powder Inexhaustible, And So Keep Us Here Until He Had Extorted
The Last Of It.
I found that the Waganda have the same absurd
notion here as the Wanyambo have in Karague, of Kamrasi's
supernatural power in being able to divide the waters of the Nile
in the same manner as Moses did the Red Sea.
28th. - The king sent a messenger-boy to inform us that he had
just heard from Unyoro that the white men were still at Gani
inquiring after us; but nothing was said of Budja's defeat. I
sent Bombay immediately off to tell him we had changed our plans,
and now simply required a large escort to accompany us through
Usoga and Kidi to Gani, as further delay in communicating with
Petherick might frustrate all chance of opening the Nile trade
with Uganda. He answered that he would assemble all his officers
in the morning to consult with them on the subject, when he hoped
we would attend, as he wished to further our views. A herd of
cows, about eighty in number, were driven in from Unyoro, showing
that the silly king was actually robbing Kamrasi at the same time
that he was trying to treat with him. K'yengo informed us that
the king, considering the surprising events which had lately
occurred at his court, being very anxious to pry into the future,
had resolved to take a very strong measure for accomplishing that
end. This was the sacrifice of a child by cooking, as described
in the introduction - a ceremony which it fell to K'yengo to carry
out.
29th. - To have two strings to my bow, and press our departure as
hotly as possible, I sent first Frij off with Nasib to the queen,
conveying, as a parting present, a block-tin brush-box, a watch
without a key, two sixpenny pocket-handkerchiefs, and a white
towel, with an intimation that we were going, as the king had
expressed his desire of sending us to Gani. Her majesty accepted
the present, finding fault with the watch for not ticking like
the king's, and would not believe her son Mtesa had been so hasty
in giving us leave to depart, as she had not been consulted on
the subject yet. Setting off to attend the king at his appointed
time, I found the Kamraviona already there, with a large court
attendance, patiently awaiting his majesty's advent. As we were
all waiting on, I took a rise out of the Kamraviona by telling
him I wanted a thousand men to march with me through Kidi to
Gani. Surprised at the extent of my requisition, he wished to
know if my purpose was fighting. I made him a present of the
great principle that power commands respect, and it was to
prevent any chance of fighting that we required so formidable an
escort.
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