One Of Kamrasi's Cousins, Kaoroti, With His Chief
Officer, Called On Us, Presenting Five Fowls As An Honorarium.
He had little to say, but begged for medicine, and when given
some in a liquid state, said his
Sub would like some also; then
Kidgwiga's wife, who was left behind, must have some; and as
pills were given for her, the two men must have dry medicine too,
to take home with them. Severe drain as this was on the
medicine-chest, Magamba and his wife must have both wet and dry;
and even others put in a claim, but were told they were too
healthy to require physicking. Many Kidi men, dressed as in the
woodcut, crossed the river to visit Kamrasi; they could not,
however, pass us without satisfying their curiosity with a look.
Usually these men despise clothes, and never deign to put any
covering on except out of respect, when visiting Kamrasi. Their
"sou'-wester"-shaped wigs are made of other men's hair, as the
negro hair will not grow long enough. A message came from Ukero,
the governor-general of Chopi, to request we would not go down
the river in boats to-morrow, lest the Chopi ferrymen at the
falls should take fright at our strange appearance, paddle
precipitately across the river, hide their boats, and be seen no
more.
We started, leaving all the traps and men to follow, and made
this place in a stride, as a whisper warned me that Kamrasi's
officers, who are as thick as thieves about here, had made up
their minds to keep us each one day at his abode, and show us
"hospitality." Such was the case, for they all tried their powers
of persuasion, which failing, they took the alternative of making
my men all drunk, and sending to camp sundry pots of pombe. The
ground on the line of march was highly cultivated, and
intersected by a deep ravine of running water, whose sundry
branches made the surface very irregular. The sand-paper tree,
whose leaves resemble a cat's tongue in roughness, and which is
used in Uganda for polishing their clubs and spear-handles, was
conspicuous; but at the end of the journey only was there
anything of much interest to be seen. There suddenly, in a deep
ravine one hundred yards below us, the formerly placid river, up
which vessels of moderate size might steam two or three abreast,
was now changed into a turbulent torrent. Beyond lay the land of
Kidi, a forest of mimosa trees, rising gently away from the water
in soft clouds of green. This, the governor of the place, Kija,
described as a sporting-field, where elephants, hippopotami, and
buffalo are hunted by the occupants of both sides of the river.
The elephant is killed with a new kind of spear, with a double-
edged blade a yard long, and a handle which, weighted in any way
most easy, is pear-shaped.
With these instruments in their hands, some men climb into trees
and wait for the herd to pass, whilst others drive them under.
The hippopotami, however, are not hunted, but snared with lunda,
the common tripping-trap with spike-drop, which is placed in the
runs of this animal, described by every South African traveller,
and generally known as far as the Hametic language is spread.
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