Maula, All Smirks And Smiles, On Seeing Me Order The Things Out
For The March, Begged I Would Have Patience, And Wait Till The
Messenger Returned From The King; It Would Not Take More Than Ten
Days At The Most.
Much annoyed at this nonsense, I ordered my
tent to be pitched.
I refused all Maula's plantains, and gave my
men beads to buy grain with; and, finding it necessary to get up
some indignation, said I would not stand being chained like a
dog; if he would not go on ahead, I should go without him. Maula
then said he would go to a friend's and come back again. I said,
if he did not, I should go off; and so the conversation ended.
26th. - Drumming, singing, screaming, yelling, and dancing had
been going on these last two days and two nights to drive the
Phepo or devil out of a village. The whole of the ceremonies
were most ludicrous. An old man and woman, smeared with white
mud, and holding pots of pombe in their laps, sat in front of a
hut, whilst other people kept constantly bringing them baskets
full of plantain-squash, and more pots of pombe. In the
courtyard fronting them, were hundreds of men and women dressed
in smart mbugus - the males wearing for turbans, strings of
abrus-seeds wound round their heads, with polished boars' tusks
stuck in in a jaunty manner. These were the people who, drunk as
fifers, were keeping up such a continual row to frighten the
devil away. In the midst of this assembly I now found Kachuchu,
Rumanika's representative, who went on ahead from Karague palace
to tell Mtesa that I wished to see him. With him, he said, were
two other Wakungu of Mtesa's, who had orders to bring on my party
and Dr K'yengo's. Mtesa, he said, was so mad to see us, that the
instant he arrived at the palace and told him we wished to visit
him, the king caused "fifty big men and four hundred small ones"
to be executed, because, he said, his subjects were so bumptious
they would not allow any visitors to come near him, else he would
have had white men before.
27th. - N'yamgundu, my old friend at Usui, then came to me, and
said he was the first man to tell Mtesa of our arrival in Usui,
and wish to visit him. The handkerchief I had given Irungu at
Usui to present as a letter to Mtesa he had snatched away from
him, and given, himself, to his king, who no sooner received it
than he bound it round his head, and said, in ecstasies of
delight, "Oh, the Mzungu, the Mzungu! he does indeed want to see
me." Then giving him four cows as a return letter to take to me,
he said, "Hurry off as quickly as possible and bring him here."
"The cows," said N'yamgundu, "have gone on to Kisuere by another
route, but I will bring them here; and then, as Maula is taking
you, I will go and fetch Grant." I then told him not to be in
such a hurry. I had turned off Maula for treating me like a dog,
and I would not be escorted by him again. He replied that his
orders would not be fully accomplished as long as any part of my
establishment was behind; so he would, if I wished it, leave part
of his "children" to guide me on to Mtesa's, whilst he went to
fetch Grant. An officer, I assured him, had just gone on to fetch
Grant, so he need not trouble his head on that score; at any
rate, he might reverse his plan, and send his children for Grant,
whilst he went on with me, by which means he would fully
accomplish his mission. Long arguments ensued, and I at length
turned the tables by asking who was the greatest - myself or my
children; when he said, "As I see you are the greatest, I will do
as you wish; and after fetching the cows from Kisuere, we will
march to-morrow at sunrise."
The sun rose, but N'yamgundu did not appear. I was greatly
annoyed lest Maula should come and try to drive him away. I
waited, restraining my impatience until noon, when, as I could
stand it no longer, I ordered Bombay to strike my tent, and
commence the march. A scene followed, which brought out my
commander-in-chief's temper in a rather surprising shape. "How
can we go in?" said Bombay. "Strike the tent," said I. "Who will
guide us?" said Bombay. "Strike the tent," I said again. "But
Rumanika's men have all gone away, and there is no one to show us
the way." "Never mind; obey my orders, and strike the tent."
Then, as Bombay would not do it, I commenced myself, assisted by
some of my other men, and pulled it down over his head, all the
women who were assembled under it, and all the property. On
this, Bombay flew into a passion, abusing the men who were
helping me, as there were fires and powder-boxes under the tent.
I of course had to fly into a passion and abuse Bombay. He, in a
still greater rage, said he would pitch into the men, for the
whole place would be blown up. "That is no reason why you should
abuse my men," I said, "who are better than you by obeying my
orders. If I choose to blow up my property, that is my look-out;
and if you don't do your duty, I will blow you up also." Foaming
and roaring with rage, Bombay said he would not stand being thus
insulted. I then gave him a dig on the head with my fist. He
squared up, and pouted like an enraged chameleon, looking
savagely at me. I gave him another dig, which sent him
staggering. He squared again: I gave him another; till at last,
as the claret was flowing, he sulked off, and said he would not
serve me any more.
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