19th. - Nothing Was Done Because Kamrasi Was Dismissing His Kidi
Guests, 200, With Presents Of Cows And Women.
20th. - Having asked Kamrasi to return my pictures, he sent the
book of birds, but not of animals; and said he could not see us
until a new hut was built, because the old one was flooded by the
Kafu, which had been rising several days.
We must not, he said,
talk about Bombay any more, because everybody said he was
detained by the N'yanswenge (Petherick's party), and would return
here with the new moon. I would not accept the lie, saying, How
can my "children" at Gani detain my messengers, when they have
received strict orders from me by letter to send an answer
quickly? It was all Kamrasi's doing, for he had either hidden
Bombay, or ordered his officers to take him slowly, as he did us,
stopping four days at each stage.
Frij again told me he was present when Said Said, the Sultan of
Zanzibar, sent an army to assist the Wagunya at Amu, on the
coast, against the incursions of the Masai. These Amu people
have the same Wahuma features as Kamrasi, whom they also resemble
both in general physical appearance, and in many of them having
circular marks, as if made by cautery, on the forehead and
temples. These marks I took not to be tatooing or decorative,
but as a cure for disease - cautery being a favourite remedy with
both races.
The battle lasted only two days, though the Masai brought a
thousand spears against the Arabs' cannon.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 679 of 767
Words from 186539 to 186801
of 210958
