Two Great Objections Had Been Raised Against Us; One
Was That We Were Reported To Be Cannibals, And The Other
That our
advancing by two roads at once was suspicious, the more
especially so as the Waganda were his enemies;
Had we come from
Rumanika direct, there would have been no objection to us.
When all was duly considered, it appeared evident to me that the
great king of Unyoro, "the father of all the kings," was merely a
nervous, fidgety creature, half afraid of us because we were
attempting his country by the unusual mode of taking two routes
at once, but wholly so of the Waganda, who had never ceased
plundering his country for years. As it appeared that he would
have accepted us had we come by the friendly route of Kisuere, a
further parley was absolutely necessary, and the more especially
so, as now we were all together and in Uganda, which, in
consequence, must relieve him from the fear of our harbouring
evil designs against him. No one present, however, could be
prevailed on to go to him in the capacity of ambassador, as the
frontier officer had warned the Wageni or guests that, if they
ever attempted to cross the border again, he was bound in duty,
agreeably to the orders of his king, to expel them by force;
therefore, should the Wageni attempt it after this warning, their
first appearance would be considered a casus belli; and so the
matter rested for the day.
To make the best of a bad bargain, and as N'yakinyama was "eaten
up," we repaired to Grant's camp to consult with Budja; but Budja
was found firm and inflexible against sending men up to Unyoro.
His pride had been injured by the rebuffs we had sustained. He
would wait here three or four days as I proposed, to see what
fortune sent us, if I would not be convinced that Kamrasi wished
to reject us, and he would communicate with his king in the
meantime, but nothing more. Here was altogether a staggerer: I
would stop for three or four days, but if Kamrasi would not have
us by that time, what was to be done? Would it be prudent to try
Kisuere now Baraka had been refused the Gani route? or would it
not be better still for me to sell Kamrasi altogether, by
offering Mtesa five hundred loads of ammunition, cloth and beads,
if he would give us a thousand Waganda as a force to pass through
the Masai to Zanzibar, this property to be sent back by the
escort from the coast? Kamrasi would no doubt catch it if we
took this course, but it was expensive.
Thus were we ruminating, when lo, to our delight, as if they had
been listening to us, up came Kidgwiga, my old friend, who, at
Mtesa'a place, had said Kamrasi would be very glad to see me, and
Vittagura, Kamrasi's commander-in-chief, to say their king was
very anxious to see us, and the Waganda might come or not as they
liked.
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