Part 10 (1/2)

To do royal honours to the king of this charming land, I ordered my men to put down their loads and fire a volley. This was no sooner done than, as we went to the palace gate, we received an invitation to come in at once, for the king wished to see us before attending to anything else.

Now, leaving our traps outside, both Grant and myself, attended by Bombay and a few of the seniors of my w.a.n.guana, entered the vestibule, and, walking through extensive enclosures studded with huts of kingly dimensions, were escorted to a pent-roofed baraza, which the Arabs had built as a sort of government office where the king might conduct his state affairs.

Here, as we entered, we saw sitting cross-legged on the ground Rumanika the king, and his brother Nnanaji, both of them men of n.o.ble appearance and size. The king was plainly dressed in an Arab's black choga, and wore, for ornament, dress-stockings of rich-coloured beads, and neatly-worked wristlets of copper. Nnanaji, being a doctor of very high pretensions, in addition to a check cloth wrapped round him, was covered with charms. At their sides lay huge pipes of black clay. In their rear, squatting quiet as mice, were all the king's sons, some six or seven lads, who wore leather middle-coverings, and little dream-charms tied under their chins. The first greetings of the king, delivered in good Kisuahili, were warm and affecting, and in an instant we both felt and saw we were in the company of men who were as unlike as they could be to the common order of the natives of the surrounding districts. They had fine oval faces, large eyes, and high noses, denoting the best blood of Abyssinia. 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 s.h.i.+ps, 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 a.s.sured 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 gra.s.s 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 superst.i.tious 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 w.a.n.guana 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 s.h.i.+ver, 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 a.s.sortment of spears--bra.s.s-headed with iron handles, and iron-headed with wooden ones--of excellent workmans.h.i.+p. A large standing-screen, of fine straw-plait work, in elegant devices, part.i.tioned off one part of the room; and on the opposite side, as mere ornaments, were placed a number of bra.s.s grapnels and small models of cows, made in iron for his amus.e.m.e.nt 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.

Seating them both on our chairs, which amused them intensely, I asked Rumanika, although I had heard before the whole facts of the case, what motives now induced him to wish the committal of such a terrible act, and brought out the whole story afresh.

Before their old father Dagara died, he had unwittingly said to the mother of Rogero, although he was the youngest born, what a fine king he would make; and the mother, in consequence, tutored her son to expect the command of the country, although the law of the land in the royal family is the primogeniture system, extending, however, only to those sons who are born after the accession of the king to the throne.

As soon, therefore, as Dagara died, leaving the three sons alluded to, all by different mothers, a contest took place with the brothers, which, as Nnanaji held by Rumanika, ended in the two elder driving Rogero away.

It happened, however, that half the men of the country, either from fear or love, attached themselves to Rogero. Feeling his power, he raised an army and attempted to fight for the crown, which it is generally admitted would have succeeded, had not Musa, with unparalleled magnanimity, employed all the ivory merchandise at his command to engage the services of all the Arabs' slaves residing at Kufro, to bring muskets against him. Rogero was thus frightened away; but he went away swearing that he would carry out his intentions at some future date, when the Arabs had withdrawn from the country.

Magic charms, of course, we had none; but the king would not believe it, and, to wheedle some out of us, said they would not kill their brother even if they caught him--for fratricide was considered an unnatural crime in their country--but they would merely gouge out his eyes and set him at large again; for without the power of sight he could do them no harm.

I then recommended, as the best advice I could give him for the time being, to take some strong measures against Suwarora and the system of taxation carried on in Usui. These would have the effect of bringing men with superior knowledge into the country--for it was only through the power of knowledge that good government could be obtained. Suwarora at present stopped eight-tenths of the ivory-merchants who might be inclined to trade here from coming into the country, by the foolish system of excessive taxation he had established. Next I told him, if he would give me one or two of his children, I would have them instructed in England; for I admired his race, and believed them to have sprung from our old friends the Abyssinians, whose king, Sahela Sela.s.sie, had received rich presents from our Queen. They were Christians like ourselves, and had the Wahuma not lost their knowledge of G.o.d they would be so also. A long theological and historical discussion ensued, which so pleased the king, that he said he would be delighted if I would take two of his sons to England, that they might bring him a knowledge of everything. Then turning again to the old point, his utter amazement that we should spend so much property in travelling, he wished to know what we did it for; when men had such means they would surely sit down and enjoy it. ”Oh no,” was the reply; ”we have had our fill of the luxuries of life; eating, drinking, or sleeping have no charms for us now; we are above trade, therefore require no profits, and seek for enjoyment the run of the world. To observe and admire the beauties of creation are worth much more than beads to us. But what led us this way we have told you before; it was to see your majesty in particular, and the great kings of Africa--and at the same time to open another road to the north, whereby the best manufactures or Europe would find their way to Karague, and you would get so many more guests.” In the highest good-humour the king said, ”As you have come to see me and see sights, I will order some boats and show you over the lake, with musicians to play before you, or anything else that you like.” Then, after looking over our pictures with intensest delight, and admiring our beds, boxes, and outfit in general, he left for the day.

In the afternoon, as I had heard from Musa that the wives of the king and princes were fattened to such an extent that they could not stand upright, I paid my respects to Wazezeru, the king's eldest brother--who, having been born before his father ascended the throne, did not come in the line of succession--with the hope of being able to see for myself the truth of the story. There was no mistake about it. On entering the hut I found the old man and his chief wife sitting side by side on a bench of earth strewed over with gra.s.s, and part.i.tioned like stalls for sleeping apartments, whilst in front of them were placed numerous wooden pots of milk, and hanging from the poles that supported the beehive-shaped hut, a large collection of bows six feet in length, whilst below them were tied an even larger collection of spears, intermixed with a goodly a.s.sortment of heavy-headed a.s.sages. I was struck with no small surprise at the way he received me, as well as with the extraordinary dimensions, yet pleasing beauty, of the immoderately fat fair one his wife. She could not rise; and so large were her arms that, between the joints, the flesh hung down like large, loose-stuffed puddings. Then in came their children, all models of the Abyssinian type of beauty, and as polite in their manners as thorough-bred gentlemen.

They had heard of my picture-books from the king, and all wished to see them; which they no sooner did, to their infinite delight, especially when they recognised any of the animals, then the subject was turned by my inquiring what they did with so many milk-pots. This was easily explained by Wazezeru himself, who, pointing to his wife, said, ”This is all the product of those pots: from early youth upwards we keep those pots to their mouths, as it is the fas.h.i.+on at court to have very fat wives.”

27th.--Ever anxious to push on with the journey, as I felt every day's delay only tended to diminish my means--that is, my beads and copper wire--I instructed Bombay to take the under-mentioned articles to Rumanika as a small sample of the products of my country; [11] to say I felt quite ashamed of their being so few and so poor, but I hoped he would forgive my shortcomings, as he knew I had been so often robbed on the way to him; and I trusted, in recollection of Musa, he would give me leave to go on to Uganda, for every day's delay was consuming my supplies. Nnanaji, however, it was said, should get something; so, in addition to the king's present, I apportioned one out for him, and Bombay took both up to the palace. [12] Everybody, I was pleased to hear, was surprised with both the quant.i.ty and quality of what I had been able to find for them; for, after the plundering in Ugogo, the immense consumption caused by such long delays on the road, the fearful prices I had had to pay for my porters' wages, the enormous taxes I had been forced to give both in Msalala and Uzinza, besides the constant thievings in camp, all of which was made public by the constantly-recurring tales of my men, n.o.body thought I had got anything left.

Rumanika, above all, was as delighted as if he had come in for a fortune, and sent to say the Raglan coat was a marvel, and the scarlet broadcloth the finest thing he had ever seen. n.o.body but Musa had ever given him such beautiful beads before, and none ever gave with such free liberality. Whatever I wanted I should have in return for it, as it was evident to him I had really done him a great honour in visiting him.

Neither his father nor any of his forefathers had had such a great favour shown them. He was alarmed, he confessed, when he heard we were coming to visit him, thinking we might prove some fearful monsters that were not quite human, but now he was delighted beyond all measure with what he saw of us. A messenger should be sent at once to the king of Uganda to inform him of our intention to visit him, with his own favourable report of us. This was necessary according to the etiquette of the country. Without such a recommendation our progress would be stopped by the people, whilst with one word from him all would go straight; for was he not the gatekeeper, enjoying the full confidence of Uganda? A month, however, must elapse, as the distance to the palace of Uganda was great; but, in the meantime, he would give me leave to go about in his country to do and see what I liked, Nnanaji and his sons escorting me everywhere. Moreover, when the time came for my going on to Uganda, if I had not enough presents to give the king, he would fill up the complement from his own stores, and either go with me himself, or send Nnanaji to conduct me as far as the boundary of Uganda, in order that Rogero might not molest us on the way. In the evening, Masudi, with Sangoro and several other merchants, came up from Kufro to pay us a visit of respect.

28th and 29th.--A gentle hint having come to us that the king's brother, Wazezeru, expected a trifle in virtue of his rank, I sent him a blanket and seventy-five blue egg-beads. These were accepted with the usual good grace of these people. The king then, ever attentive to our position as guests, sent his royal musicians to give us a tune. The men composing the band were a mixture of Waganda and Wanyambo, who played on reed instruments made telescope fas.h.i.+on, marking time by hand-drums. At first they marched up and down, playing tunes exactly like the regimental bands of the Turks, and then commenced dancing a species of ”hornpipe,”

blowing furiously all the while. When dismissed with some beads, Nnanaji dropped in and invited me to accompany him out shooting on the slopes of the hills overlooking the lake. He had in attendance all the king's sons, as well as a large number of beaters, with three or four dogs.

Tripping down the greensward of the hills together, these tall, athletic princes every now and then stopped to see who could shoot furthest, and I must say I never witnessed better feats in my life. With powerful six-feet-long bows they pulled their arrows' heads up to the wood, and made wonderful shots in the distance. They then placed me in position, and arranging the field, drove the covers like men well accustomed to sport--indeed, it struck me they indulged too much in that pleasure, for we saw nothing but two or three montana and some diminutive antelopes, about the size of mouse deer, and so exceedingly shy that not one was bagged.

Returning home to the tents as the evening sky was illumined with the red glare of the sun, my attention was attracted by observing in the distance some bold sky-sc.r.a.ping cones situated in the country Ruanda, which at once brought back to recollection the ill-defined story I had heard from the Arabs of a wonderful hill always covered with clouds, on which snow or hail was constantly falling. This was a valuable discovery, for I found these hills to be the great turn-point of the Central African watershed. Without loss of time I set to work, and, gathering all the travellers I could in the country, protracted, from their descriptions, all the distance topographical features set down in the map, as far north as 3 of north lat.i.tude, as far east as 36, and as far west as 26 of east longitude; only afterwards slightly corrected, as I was better able to connect and clear up some trifling but doubtful points.

Indeed, I was not only surprised at the amount of information about distant places I was enabled to get here from these men, but also at the correctness of their vast and varied knowledge, as I afterwards tested it by observation and the statements of others. I rely so far on the geographical information I thus received, that I would advise no one to doubt the accuracy of these protractions until he has been on the spot to test them by actual inspection. About the size only of the minor lakes do I feel doubtful, more especially the Little Luta Nzige, which on the former journey I heard was a salt lake, because salt was found on its sh.o.r.es and in one of its islands. Now, without going into any lengthy details, and giving Rumanika due credit for everything--for had he not ordered his men to give me every information that lay in their power, they would not have done so--I will merely say for the present that, whilst they conceived the Victoria N'yanza would take a whole month for a canoe to cross it, they thought the Little Luta Nzige might be crossed in a week. The Mfumbiro cones in Ruanda, which I believe reach 10,000 feet, are said to be the highest of the ”Mountains of the Moon.” At their base are both salt and copper mines, as well as hot springs. There are also hot springs in Mpororo, and one in Karague near where Rogero lived.

30th.--The important business of announcing our approach to Uganda was completed by Rumanika appointing Kachuchu to go to king Mtesa as quickly as possible, to say we were coming to visit him. He was told that we were very great men, who only travelled to see great kings and great countries; and, as such, Rumanika trusted we should be received with courteous respect, and allowed to roam all over the country wherever we liked, he holding himself responsible for our actions for the time being. In the end, however, we were to be restored to him, as he considered himself our father, and therefore must see that no accident befell us.

To put the royal message in proper shape, I was now requested to send some trifle by way of a letter or visiting card; but, on taking out a Colt's revolving rifle for the purpose, Rumanika advised me not to send it, as Mtesa might take fright, and, considering it a charm of evil quality, reject us as bad magicians, and close his gates on us. Three bits of cotton cloth were then selected as the best thing for the purpose; and, relying implicitly on the advice of Rumanika, who declared his only object was to further our views, I arranged accordingly, and off went Kachuchu.

To keep my friend in good-humour, and show him how well the English can appreciate a kindness, I presented him with a hammer, a sailor's knife, a Rodger's three-bladed penknife, a gilt letter-slip with paper and envelopes, some gilt pens, an ivory holder, and a variety of other small articles. Of each of these he asked the use, and then in high glee put it into the big block-tin box, in which he kept his other curiosities, and which I think he felt more proud of than any other possession. After this, on adjourning to his baraza, Ungurue the Pig, who had floored my march in Sorombo, and Makinga, our persecutor in Usui, came in to report that the Watuta had been fighting in Usui, and taken six bomas, upon which Rumanika asked me what I thought of it, and if I knew where the Watuta came from. I said I was not surprised to hear Usui had attracted the Watuta's cupidity, for every one knew of the plundering propensities of the inhabitants, and as they became rich by their robberies, they must in turn expect to be robbed. Where the Watuta came from, n.o.body could tell; they were dressed something like the Zulu Kaffirs of the South, but appeared to be now gradually migrating from the regions of N'yazza. To this Dr K'yengo, who was now living with Rumanika as his head magician, added that, whilst he was living in Utambara, the Watuta invested his boma six months; and finally, when all their cows and stores were exhausted, they killed all the inhabitants but himself, and he only escaped by the power of the charms which he carried about him.

These were so powerful, that although he lay on the ground, and the Watuta struck at him with their spears, not one could penetrate his body.