The River, Very Unlike What It Was From The
Ripon Falls Downward, Bore At Once The Character Of River And
Lake - Clear In The Centre, But Fringed In Most Places With Tall
Rush, Above Which The Green Banks Sloped Back Like Park Lands.
It was all very pretty and very interesting, and would have
continued so, had not Kasoro disgraced the Union Jack, turning it
to piratical purposes in less than one hour.
A party of Wanyoro, in twelve or fifteen canoes, made of single
tree trunks, had come up the river to trade with the Wasoga, and
having stored their vessels with mbugu, dried fish, plantains
cooked and raw, pombe, and other things, were taking their last
meal on shore before they returned to their homes. Kasoro seeing
this, and bent on a boyish spree, quite forgetting we were bound
for the very ports they were bound for, ordered our sailors to
drive in amongst them, landed himself, and sent the Wanyoro
flying before I knew what game was up, and then set to pillaging
and feasting on the property of those very men whom it was our
interest to propitiate, as we expected them shortly to be our
hosts.
The ground we were on belonged to king Mtesa, being a dependency
of Uganda, and it struck me as singular that Wanyoro should be
found here; but I no sooner discovered the truth than I made our
boatmen disgorge everything they had taken, called back the
Wanyoro to take care of their things, and extracted a promise
from Kasoro that he would not practise such wicked tricks again,
otherwise we could not travel together.
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