The Party Carried With Them 600 Majembe (Iron Spades), Two Of
Which Expended Daily Paid For Their Board And Lodgings On The
Way.
The horn applied for was sent by a special messenger to
Kamrasi, who, in return, sent one of his
Horns; from which date,
the two kings, whenever one of them wishes to communicate with
the other, sends, on the messenger's neck, the horn that had been
given him, which both serves for credentials and security, as no
one dare touch a Mbakka with one of these horns upon his neck.
A common source of conversation among our men now was the
desertion of their comrades, all fancying how bitterly they would
repent it when they heard how we had succeeded, eating beef every
day; and Uledi now, in a joking manner, abused Mektub for having
urged him to desert. He would not leave Bana, and if he had not
stopped, Mektub would have gone, for they both served one master
at Zanzibar, and therefore were like brothers; whilst Mektub,
laughing over the matter as if it were a good joke, said, "I
packed up my things to go, it is true; but I reflected if I got
back to the coast Said Majid would only make a slave of me
again." M'yinzuggi, the head of Rumanika's party, gave me to-day
a tippet monkey-skin in return for the cow I had given him on the
14th. These men, taking their natures from their king Rumanika,
are by far the most gentle, polite, and attentive of any black
men we have travelled amongst.
17th. - Tired and out of patience with our prison - a river of
crocodiles on one side, and swamps in every other direction,
while we could not go out shooting without a specific order from
the king - I sent Kidgwiga and Kajunju to inform Kamrasi that we
could bear this life no longer. As he did not wish to see white
men, our residing here could be of no earthly use. I hoped he
would accept our present from Bombay, and give us leave to depart
for Gani. The Wakungu, who thought, as well as ourselves, that
we were in nothing better than a prison, hurried off with the
message, and soon returned with a message from their king that he
was busily engaged decorating his palace to give us a triumphant
reception; for he was anxious to pay us more respect than anybody
who had ever visited him before. We should have seen him
yesterday, only that it rained; and, as a precaution against our
meeting being broken up, a shed was being built. He could not
hear of our leaving the country without seeing him.
18th. - At last we were summoned to attend the king's levee; but
the suspicious creature wished his officers to inspect the things
we had brought for him before we went there. Here was another
hitch. I could not submit to such disrespectful suspicions, but
if he wished Bombay to convey my present to him, I saw no harm in
the proposition.
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