On Being
Questioned By Me, They Said That They Once Saw Some Men Like My
Wanguana There; They Had Come From The North To Trade, But,
Though They Carried Firearms, They Were All Killed By The People
Of Kidi.
This was famous; it corroborated what I knew, but could
not convince others of, - that traders could find their way up to
Kidi by the Nile.
It in a manner explained also how it was that
Kamrasi, some years before, had obtained some pink beads, of a
variety the Zanzibar merchants had never thought of bringing into
the country. Bombay was now quite convinced, and we all became
transported with joy, until Rumanika, reflecting on the sad state
of Grant's leg, turned that joy into grief by saying that the
rules of Uganda are so strict, that no one who is sick could
enter the country. "To show," he said, "how absurd they are,
your donkey would not be permitted because he has no trousers;
and you even will have to put on a gown, as your unmentionables
will be considered indecorous." I now asked Rumanika if he would
assist me in replenishing my fast-ebbing store of beads, by
selling tusks to the Arabs at Kufro, when for every 35lb. weight
I would give him 50 dollars by orders on Zanzibar, and would
insure him from being cheated, by sending a letter of advice to
our Consul residing there. At first he demurred, on the high-
toned principle that he could not have any commercial dealings
with myself; but, at the instigation of Bombay and Baraka, who
viewed it in its true character, as tending merely to assist my
journey in the best manner he could, without any sacrifice to
dignity, he eventually yielded, and, to prove his earnestness,
sent me a large tusk, with a notice that his ivory was not kept
in the palace, but with his officers, and as soon as they could
collect it, so soon I should get it.
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