The King Waived The Point, And We All Started,
Carrying As A Present The Things Enumerated In The Note.[FN#24]
The Union Jack Led The Way.
At the ferry three shots were fired,
when, stepping into two large canoes, we all went across the Kafu
together, and found, to our surprise, a small hut built for the
reception, low down on the opposite bank, where no strange eyes
could see us.
Within this, sitting on a low wooden stool placed upon a double
matting of skins - cows' below and leopards' above - on an elevated
platform of grass, was the great king Kamrasi, looking,
enshrouded in his mbugu dress, for all the world like a pope in
state - calm and actionless. One bracelet of fine-twisted brass
wire adorned his left wrist, and his hair, half an inch long, was
worked up into small peppercorn-like knobs by rubbing the hand
circularly over the crown of the head. His eyes were long, face
narrow, and nose prominent, after the true fashion of his breed;
and though a finely-made man, considerably above six feet high,
he was not so large as Rumanika. A cow-skin, stretched out and
fastened to the roof, acted as a canopy to prevent dust falling,
and a curtain of mbugu concealed the lower parts of the hut, in
front of which, on both sides of the king, sat about a dozen head
men.
This was all. We entered and took seats on our own iron stools,
whilst Bombay placed all the presents upon the ground before the
throne.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 643 of 767
Words from 176621 to 176883
of 210958
