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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