Having Shaken Hands In True English Style, Which Is The Peculiar
Custom Of The Men Of This Country, The Ever-
Smiling Rumanika
begged us to be seated on the ground opposite to him, and at once
wished to know what
We thought of Karague, for it had struck him
his mountains were the finest in the world; and the lake, too,
did we not admire it? Then laughing, he inquired - for he knew
all the story - what we thought of Suwarora, and the reception we
had met with in Usui. When this was explained to him, I showed
him that it was for the interest of his own kingdom to keep a
check on Suwarora, whose exorbitant taxations prevented the Arabs
from coming to see him and bringing things from all parts of the
world. He made inquiries for the purpose of knowing how we found
our way all over the world; for on the former expedition a letter
had come to him for Musa, who no sooner read it than he said I
had called him and he must leave, as I was bound for Ujiji.
This of course led to a long story, describing the world, the
proportions of land and water, and the power of ships, which
conveyed even elephants and rhinoceros - in fact, all the animals
in the world - to fill our menageries at home, - etc., etc.; as
well as the strange announcement that we lived to the northward,
and had only come this way because his friend Musa had assured me
without doubt that he would give us the road on through Uganda.
Time flew like magic, the king's mind was so quick and enquiring;
but as the day was wasting away, he generously gave us our option
to choose a place for our residence in or out of his palace, and
allowed us time to select one. We found the view overlooking the
lake to be so charming, that we preferred camping outside, and
set our men at once to work cutting sticks and long grass to
erect themselves sheds.
One of the young princes - for the king ordered them all to be
constantly in attendance on us - happening to see me sit on an
iron chair, rushed back to his father and told him about it.
This set all the royals in the palace in a state of high wonder,
and ended by my getting a summons to show off the white man
sitting on his throne; for of course I could only be, as all of
them called me, a king of great dignity, to indulge in such
state. Rather reluctantly I did as I was bid, and allowed myself
once more to be dragged into court. Rumanika, as gentle as ever,
then burst into a fresh fit of merriment, and after making sundry
enlightened remarks of enquire, which of course were responded to
with the greatest satisfaction, finished off by saying, with a
very expressive shake of the head, "Oh, these Wazungu, these
Wazungu! they know and do everything."
I then put in a word for myself. Since we had entered Karague we
never could get one drop of milk either for love or for money,
and I wished to know what motive the Wahuma had for withholding
it. We had heard they held superstitious dreads; that any one who
ate the flesh of pigs, fish, or fowls, or the bean called
Maharague, if he tasted the products of their cows, would destroy
their cattle - and I hoped he did not labour under any such
absurd delusions. To which he replied, It was only the poor who
thought so; and as he now saw we were in want, he would set apart
one of his cows expressly for our use. On bidding adieu, the
usual formalities of handshaking were gone through; and on
entering camp, I found the good thoughtful king had sent us some
more of his excellent beer.
The Wanguana were now all in the highest of good-honour; for time
after time goats and fowls were brought into camp by the officers
of the king, who had received orders from all parts of the
country to bring in supplies for his guests; and this kind of
treatment went on for a month, though it did not diminish my
daily expenditures of beads, as grain and plantains were not
enough thought of. The cold winds, however, made the coast-men
all shiver, and suspect, in their ignorance, we must be drawing
close to England, the only cold place they had heard of.
16th. - Hearing it would be considered indecent haste to present
my tributary offering at once, I paid my morning's visit, only
taking my revolving-pistol, as I knew Rumanika had expressed a
strong wish to see it. The impression it made was surprising - he
had never seen such a thing in his life; so, in return for his
great generosity, as well as to show I placed no value on
property, not being a merchant, I begged him to accept it. We
then adjourned to his private hut, which rather surprised me by
the neatness with which it was kept. The roof was supported by
numerous clean poles, to which he had fastened a large assortment
of spears - brass-headed with iron handles, and iron-headed with
wooden ones - of excellent workmanship. A large standing-screen,
of fine straw-plait work, in elegant devices, partitioned off one
part of the room; and on the opposite side, as mere ornaments,
were placed a number of brass grapnels and small models of cows,
made in iron for his amusement by the Arabs at Kufro. A little
later in the day, as soon as we had done breakfast, both Rumanika
and Nnanaji came over to pay us a visit; for they thought, as we
could find our way all over the world, so we should not find much
difficulty in prescribing some magic charms to kill his brother,
Rogero, who lived on a hill overlooking the Kitangule.
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