Part 24 (1/2)
One bracelet of fine-twisted bra.s.s wire adorned his left wrist, and his hair, half an inch long, was worked up into small peppercorn-like k.n.o.bs by rubbing the hand circularly over the crown of the head. His eyes were long, face narrow, and nose prominent, after the true fas.h.i.+on 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. As no greetings were exchanged, and all at first remained as silent as death, I commenced, after asking about his health, by saying I had journeyed six long years (by the African computation of five months in the year) for the pleasure of this meeting, coming by Karague instead of by the Nile, because the ”Wanya Beri” (Bari people at Gondokoro) had defeated the projects of all former attempts made by white men to reach Unyoro.
The purpose of my coming was to ascertain whether his majesty would like to trade with our country, exchanging ivory for articles of European manufacture; as, should he do so, merchants would come here in the same way as they went from Zanzibar to Karague. Rumanika and Mtesa were both anxious for trade, and I felt sorry he would not listen to my advice and make friend with Mtesa; for unless the influence of trade was brought in to check the Waganda from pillaging the country, nothing would do so.
Kamrasi, in a very quiet, mild manner, instead of answering the questions, told us of the absurd stories which he had heard from the Waganda, said he did not believe them, else his rivers, deprived of their fountains, would have run dry; and he thought, if we did eat hills and the tender parts of mankind, we should have had enough to satisfy our appet.i.tes before we reached Unyoro. Now, however, he was glad to see that, although our hair was straight and our faces white, we still possessed hands and feel like other men.
The present was then opened, and everything in turn placed upon the red blanket. The goggles created some mirth; so did the scissors, as Bombay, to show their use, clipped his beard, and the lucifers were considered a wonder; but the king scarcely moved or uttered any remarks till all was over, when, at the instigation of the courtiers, my chronometer was asked for and shown. This wonderful instrument, said the officers (mistaking it for my compa.s.s), was the magic horn by which the white men found their way everywhere. Kamrasi said he must have it, for, besides it, the gun was the only thing new to him. The chronometer, however, I said, was the only one left, and could not possibly be parted with; though, if Kamrasi liked to send men to Gani, a new one could be obtained for him.
Then, changing the subject, much to my relief, Kamrasi asked Bombay, ”Who governs England?” ”A woman.” ”Has she any children?” ”Yes,” said Bombay, with ready impudence; ”these are two of them” (pointing to Grant and myself). That settled, Kamrasi wished to know if we had any specked cows, or cows of any peculiar colour, and would we like to change four large cows for four small ones, as he coveted some of ours. This was a staggerer. We had totally failed, then, in conveying to this stupid king the impression that we were not mere traders, ready to bargain with him.
We would present him with cows if we had such as he wanted, but we could not bargain. The meeting then broke up in the same chilling manner as it began, and we returned as we came, but no sooner reached home than four pots of pombe were sent us, with a hope that we had arrived all safely.
The present gave great satisfaction. The w.a.n.guana accused Frij of having ”unclean hands,” because the beef had not lasted so long as it should do--it being a notable fact in Mussulman creed, that unless the man's hands are pure who cuts the throat of an animal, its flesh will not last fresh half the ordinary time.
19th.--As the presents given yesterday occupied the king's mind too much for other business, I now sent to offer him one-third of the guns left in Uganda, provided he would send some messengers with one of my men to ask Mtesa for them, and also the same proportion of the sixty loads of property left in charge of Rumanika at Karague, if he would send the requisite number of porters for its removal. But of all things, I said, I most wished to send a letter to Petherick at Gani, to apprise him of our whereabouts, for he must have been four years waiting our arrival there, and by the same opportunity I would get a watch for the king. He sent us to-day two pots of pombe, one sack of salt, and what might be called a screw of b.u.t.ter, with an a.s.surance that the half of everything that came to his house--and everything was brought from great distances in boats--he would give me; but for the present the only thing he was in need of was some medicine or stimulants. Further, I need be under no apprehension if I did not find men at once to go on the three respective journeys; it should be all done in good time, for he loved me much, and desired to show us so much respect that his name should be celebrated for it in songs of praise until he was bowed down by years, and even after death it should be remembered.
I ascertained then that the salt, which was very white and pure, came from an island on the Little Luta Nzige, about sixty miles west from the Chaguzi palace, where the lake is said to be forty or fifty miles wide.
It is the same piece of water we heard of in Karague as the Little Luta Nzige, beyond Utumbi; and the same story of Unyoro being an island circ.u.mscribed by it and the Victoria N'yanza connected by the Nile, is related here, showing that both the Karague and Unyoro people, as indeed all negroes and Arabs, have the common defect in their language, of using the same word for a peninsula and an island. The Waijasi--of whom we saw a specimen in the shape of an old woman, with her upper lip edged with a row of small holes, at Karague--occupy a large island on this lake named Gasi, and sometimes come to visit Kamrasi. Ugungu, a dependency of Kamrasi's, occupies this side, the lake, and on the opposite side is Ulegga; beyond which, in about 2 N. lat. And 28 E.
long., is the country of Namachi; and further west still about 2, the Wilyanwantu, or cannibals, who, according to the report both here and at Karague, ”bury cows but eat men.” These distant people pay their homage to Kamrasi, though they have six degrees of longitude to travel over.
They are, I believe, a portion of the N'yam N'yams--another name for cannibal--whose country Petherick said he entered in 1857-58. Among the other wild legends about this people, it was said that the Wilyanwantu, in making brotherhood, exchanged their blood by drinking at one another's veins; and, in lieu of b.u.t.ter with their porridge, they smear it with the fat of fried human flesh.
20th.--I had intended for to-day an expedition to the lake; but Kamrasi, harbouring a wicked design that we should help in an attack on his brothers, said there was plenty of time to think of that; we would only find that all the waters united go to Gani, and he wished us to be his guests for three or four months at least. Fifty Gani men had just arrived to inform him that Rionga had lately sent ten slaves and ten ivory tusks to Petherick's post, to purchase a gun; but the answer was, that a thousand times as much would not purchase a weapon that might be used against us; for our arrival with Kamrasi had been heard of, and nothing would be done to jeopardise our road.
To talk over this matter, the king invited us to meet him. We went as before, minus the flag and firing, and met a similar reception. The Gani news was talked over, and we proposed sending Bombay with a letter at once. I could get no answer; so, to pa.s.s the time, we wished to know from the king's own lips if he had prevented Baraka from going to Gani, as he had carried orders from Rumanika as well as from myself to visit Kamrasi, to give him fifty egg-beads, seventy necklaces of mtende, and seventy necklaces of kutuamn.a.z.i beads, and then to pa.s.s on to Gani and give its chief fifty egg-beads and forty necklaces of kutuamn.a.z.i.
Kamrasi replied, ”I did not allow him to go, because I heard you had gone to Uganda”; and Dr K'yengo's men happening to be present, added, ”Baraka used up all the beads save forty which he gave to Kamrasi, living upon goats all the way; and when he left, took back a tusk of ivory.”
This little controversy was amusing, but did not suit Kamrasi, who had his eye on a certain valuable possession of mine. He made his approach towards it by degrees, beginning with a truly royal speech thus: ”I am the king of all these countries, even including Uganda and Kidi--though the Kidi people are such savages they obey no man's orders--and you are great men also, sitting on chairs before kings; it therefore ill becomes us to talk of such trifles as beads, especially as I know if you ever return this way I shall get more from you.” ”Begging your majesty's pardon,” I said, ”the mention of beads only fell in the way of our talk like stones in a walk; our motive being to get at the truth of what Baraka did and said here, as his conduct in returning after receiving strict orders from Rumanika and ourselves to open the road, is a perfect enigma to us. We could not have entered Unyoro at all excepting through Uganda, and we could not have put foot in Uganda without visiting its king.” Without deigning to answer, Kamrasi, in the metaphorical language of a black man, said, ”It would be unbecoming of me to keep secrets from you, and therefore I will tell you at once; I am sadly afflicted with a disorder which you alone can cure.” ”What is it, your majesty? I can see nothing in your face; it may perhaps require a private inspection.” ”My heart,” he said, ”is troubled, because you will not give me your magic horn--the thing, I mean, in your pocket, which you pulled out one day when Budja and Vittagura were discussing the way; and you no sooner looked at it than you said, 'That is the way to the palace.'”
So! the sly fellow has been angling for the chronometer all this time, and I can get nothing out of him until he has got it--the road to the lake, the road to Gani, everything seemed risked on his getting my watch--a chronometer worth 50, which would be spoilt in his hands in one day. To undeceive him, and tell him it was the compa.s.s which I looked at and not the watch, I knew would only end with my losing that instrument as well; so I told him it was not my guide, but a time-keeper, made for the purpose of knowing what time to eat my dinner by. It was the only chronometer I had with me; and I begged he would have patience until Bombay returned from Gani with another, when he should have the option to taking this or the new one. ”No; I must have the one in your pocket; pull it out and show it.” This was done, and I placed it on the ground, saying, ”The instrument is yours, but I must keep it until another one comes.” ”No; I must have it now, and will send it you three times every day to look at.”
The watch went, gold chain and all, without any blessings following it; and the horrid king asked if I could make up another magic horn, for he hoped he had deprived us of the power of travelling, and plumed himself on the notion that the glory of opening the road would devolve upon himself. When I told him that to purchase another would cost five hundred cows, the whole party were more confirmed than ever as to its magical powers; for who in his sense would give five hundred cows for the mere gratification of seeing at what time his dinner should be eaten? Thus ended the second meeting. Kamrasi now said the Gani men would feast on beef to-morrow, and the next day be ready to start with my men for Petherick's camp. He then accompanies us to the boats, spear in hand, and saw us cross the water. Long tail-hairs of the giraffe surrounded his neck, on which little b.a.l.l.s and other ornaments of minute beads, after the Uganda fas.h.i.+on, were worked. In the evening four pots of pombe and a pack of flour were brought, together with the chronometer, which was sent to be wound up--damaged of course--the seconds-hand had been dislodged.
21st.--I heard from Kidgwiga that some of those Gani men now ordered to go with Bombay had actually been visiting here when the latter shot his first cow at the palace, but had gone to their homes to give information of us, and had returned again. Eager to get on with my journey, and see European faces again, I besought the king to let us depart, as our work was all finished here, since he had a.s.sured us he would like to trade with England. The N'yanswenge--meaning Petherick's party--who have hitherto been afraid to come here, would do so now, when they had seen us pa.s.s safely down, and could receive my guns and property left to come from Uganda and Karague, which we ourselves could not wait for. Kamrasi, thinking me angry for his having taken the watch so rudely out of my pocket, took fright at the message, sent some of his attendants quickly back to me, requesting me to keep the instrument until another arrived, and begged I would never say I wished to leave his house again.
22d.--Kamrasi sent to say Bombay was not to start to-day, but to-morrow, so we put the screw on again, and said we must go at once; if he would give us guides to Gani, we would return him his twenty cows and seven goats with pleasure. I let him understand we suspected he was keeping us here to fight his brothers, and told him he must at once know we would never lift hand against them. It was contrary to the laws of our land.
”I have got no orders to enter into black men's quarrels, and my mother”
(the Queen), ”whom I see every night in my sleep calling me home, would be very angry if she heard of it. Rumanika once asked me to fight his brothers Rogero and M'yongo, but my only reply to all had been the same--I have no orders to fight with, only to make friends of, the great kings of Africa.”
The game seemed now to be won. At once Kamrasi ordered Bombay to prepare for the journey. Five Wanyoro, five Chopi men, and five Gani men, were to escort him. There was no objection to his carrying arms. The moment he returned, which ought to be in little more than a fortnight, we would all go together. An earnest request was at the same time made that I would not bully him in the mean time with any more applications to depart. So Bombay and Mabruki, carrying there muskets, and a map and letter for Petherick, departed.
23d and 24th.--Kamrasi, presuming he had gained favour in our eyes, sent, begging to know how we had slept, and said he would like us to inform him what part of his journey Bombay had this morning reached--a fact which he had no doubt must be divinable through the medium of our books. The reply was, that Bombay's luck was so good we had no doubt regarding his success; but now he had gone, and our days here were numbered, we should like to see the palace, his fat wives and children, as well as the Wanyoro's dances, and all the gaiety of the place. We did not think our reception-hut by the river sufficiently dignified, and our residence here was altogether like that of prisoners--seeing no one, knowing no one. In answer to this, Kamrasi sent one pot of pombe and five fowls, begging we would not be alarmed; we should see everything in good time, if we would but have patience, for he considered us very great men, as he was a great man himself, and we had come at his invitation. He must request, in the mean time, that we would send no more messages by his officers, as such messages are never conveyed properly. At present there was a great deal of business in the palace.
We asked for some b.u.t.ter, but could get none, as all the milk in the palace was consumed by the wives and children, drinking all day long, to make themselves immovably fat.
25th.--In the morning, the commander-in-chief wished us to cast a horoscope, and see where Bombay was, and if he were getting on well.
That being negatived, he told us to put our hut in order, as Kamrasi was coming to see us. Accordingly we made everything as smart as possible, hanging the room round with maps, horns, and skins of animals, and places a large box covered with a red blanket, as a throne for the king to set upon. As he advanced, my men, forming a guard of honour fired three shots immediately on his setting foot upon our side the river; whilst Frij, with his boatswain's whistle, piped the 'Rogue's March,' to prepare us for his majesty's approach. We saluted him, hat in hand, and, leading the way, showed him in. He was pleased to be complimentary, remarking, what Waseja (fine men) we were, and took his seat. We sat on smaller boxes, to appear humble, whilst his escort of black ”swells”
filled the doorway, squatting on the ground, so as to stop the light and interfere with our decorations.
After the first salutations, the king remarked the head of a nsamma buck, and handled it; then noticed my mosquito-curtains hanging over the bed, and begged for them. He was told they could not be given until Bombay returned, as the mosquitoes would eat us up. ”But there were two,” said the escort, ”for we have seen one in the other hut.” That was true; but were there not two white men? However, if the king wanted gauze, here was a smart gauze veil--and the veil vanished at once. The iron camp-bed was next inspected, and admired; then the s.e.xtant, which was coveted and begged for, but without success, much to the astonishment of the king, as his attendants had led him to expect he would get anything he asked for. Then the thermometers were wanted and refused; also table-knives, spoons, forks, and even cooking-pots, for we had no others, and could not part with them. The books of birds and animals had next to be seen, and being admired were coveted, the king offering one of the books I first gave him in exchange for one of these.