Ismailia Part 49

It was quite useless to attempt reason with this hardened young fellow, who had not an idea of mercy in his disposition. As he had murdered his own relatives by the foulest treachery, so he would of course destroy any person who stood in his way. I therefore changed the conversation to Abou Saood.

Kabba Rega and his sheiks all agreed that he had arrived here some time ago in a very miserable plight, exceedingly dirty, and riding upon a donkey. He was without baggage of any kind, and he introduced himself by giving a present to Kabba Rega of an old, battered metal basin and jug, in which he washed, together with a very old and worn-out small carpet, upon which he was accustomed to sit. With these magnificent presents he declared that he was "the son of a sultan, who had come to visit the king of Unyoro."

Kabba Rega had replied that "he did not believe it, as he had heard that he was simply a trader."

Reports had reached Unyoro that I had arrived at Gondokoro, and that I was on my way to visit Kamrasi, and to explore the Albert N'yanza; therefore Kabba Rega had questioned Abou Saood concerning me.

"Oh," Abou Saood replied, "that man whom we call 'the traveller'? Oh yes, he was a very good fellow indeed; but he is dead. He died long ago.

The Pacha is a very different person; and I hope he will never be able to reach this country. If he does, it will be a bad time for YOU."

"Indeed!" replied Kabba Rega. "I heard that the Pacha and the traveller, the friend of my father, were the same person."

"You have been deceived," said Abou Saood. "The Pacha is not like the traveller, or any other man. He is a monster with three separate heads, in each of which are six eyes--three upon each side. Thus with eighteen eyes he can see everything and every country at once. He has three enormous mouths, which are furnished with teeth like those of a crocodile, and he devours human flesh. He has already killed and eaten the Bari people and destroyed their country. Should he arrive here, he will pull you from the throne and seize your kingdom. You must fight him, and by no means allow him to cross the river at Foweera. My soldiers will fight him on the road from Gondokoro, as will all the natives of the country: but I don't think he will be able to leave Gondokoro, as he has a large amount of baggage, _and I have told the Baris not to transport it:--thus he will have no carriers."

This was the actual report that Abou Saood had given to Kabba Rega, as the dragoman Umbogo had been the interpreter, in the presence of Mohammed, my old Cairo dragoman.

I laughed outright at this absurdity: at the same time it corroborated all that I had already heard of Abou Saood's treachery. I immediately asked Kabba Rega if he was satisfied now that he had seen me? He replied, "Abou Saood is a liar, and you are Kamrasi's friend, and my father: therefore you will, I am sure, a.s.sist me, and relieve me from my great enemy, Rionga. I shall then know that you are indeed my true friend."

Once more it was necessary to change the conversation. A number of buffoons that were kept about the court for the amus.e.m.e.nt of the young king now came forward. The crowd was driven back, and an open s.p.a.ce having been thus cleared, they performed a curious theatrical scene, followed by a general fight with clubs, until one man, having knocked down all the party, remained the victor. The scene terminated with an act of disgusting indecency, which created roars of laughter from the immense crowd, who evidently considered this was the great joke of the piece.

"Kabba Rega now took leave, and retired as he had before arrived, with drums, whistles, horns, flageolets, making a horrid din . . . ."

The spot that I had selected for a station was at the southern edge of the town, from which site the land sloped into a valley about a hundred feet below. I had at once commenced clearing away the high gra.s.s, and, as usual when first settling, I had broken up a few small plots, and had already sown seeds of English cuc.u.mbers, sweet melons, &c.

The soil was wonderfully rich, at the same time it was very easily worked. When the tall rank gra.s.s was torn out by the roots, a fine surface was exposed that resembled dark chocolate. This was a vegetable loam, with a minimum of two feet thickness, resting upon a bright red quartz gravel.

The quartz was not rounded, and appeared to be only the residue of decayed rock that had never been subjected to the action of running water. When washed, a handful remained of sharp and clear white fragments.

With such a subsoil the country must be healthy, as the heaviest shower drained rapidly through the gravel.

I employed the prisoners in clearing the gra.s.s, while the soldiers commenced cultivation, and dug up the ground with a number of hoes that I borrowed from Kabba Rega.

These implements are nearly the same in shape as those in Gondokoro and throughout the Madi country, but smaller, and the iron is very brittle and inferior. They are not used like the Dutch hoe, with a long handle, but are fixed upon a piece of wood with a bend of natural growth, so the hoe can be used with a downward stroke like a pick-axe.

On 29th April I commenced building a government house and public divan.

The king of Uganda (M'tese) has envoys throughout the countries which surround his dominions. One of these chiefs, who represented M'tese at Masindi, paid me a visit, and gave me a good deal of information.

He described the M'wootan N'zige (Albert N'yanza) as forming the western frontier of Karagwe, from which point it turned westward for a distance unknown. This was a similar description to that given by Kamrasi some years ago.

I gave the envoy a red and yellow handkerchief to tie around his head.

The man was neatly dressed in Indian clothes that had arrived from Bombay via Zanzibar.

On 30th April, Kabba Rega sent a present of twelve elephants' tusks, forty-one loads of tullaboon, twelve pots of sour plantain cider, and thirty-four cows. At the same time, he complained that some of Abou Saood's people were taking slaves in the neighbourhood of Foweera and Kisoona.

The princ.i.p.al chiefs, together with Kabba Rega, a.s.sured me that Abou Saood's people had been in the habit of torturing people to extract from them the secret of the spot in which their corn was concealed.

Throughout Unyoro there are no granaries exposed at the present time, as the country has been ravaged by civil war; thus all corn is buried in deep holes specially arranged for that purpose. When the slave-hunters sought for corn, they were in the habit of catching the villagers and roasting their posteriors by holding them down on the mouth of a large earthen water jar filled with gloving embers. If this torture of roasting alive did not extract the secret, they generally cut the sufferer's throat to terrify his companion, who would then divulge the position of the hidden stores to avoid a similar fate. This accusation was corroborated by Mohammed, the Cairo dragoman.

It is difficult to conceive the brutality of these brigands, who, thus relieved from the fear of a government, exhibit their unbridled pa.s.sions by every horrible crime.

Umbogo, the interpreter, was now regularly installed in a hut within call of my tent. This man appeared to be exceedingly fond of us, and he was the main source of information.

He had a very lovely wife, a Bahooma, who was a light brown colour, with beautiful Abyssinian eyes; she had been given to him by Kabba Rega, with whom he was a great favourite.

Umbogo was very intelligent, and he took a great interest in all my plans for establis.h.i.+ng free trade throughout the country: but he told me privately that he thought the idea would be opposed secretly by Kabba Rega, who would wish to monopolize all the ivory trade, in order to keep up the price, and to obtain the whole of the merchandise.

The great variety of goods much astonished him, and he advised me strongly to send for a large supply of soap, for which there would be a great demand, as a light complexion was greatly admired in Unyoro. He said that Mohammed, the Cairo dragoman, was several shades lighter since I had supplied him with soap; this was true, as he had been very filthy before my arrival; but Umbogo was persuaded that the difference between white and black people was caused by the fact of our ancestors having always used soap, while the blacks used only plain water. This ethnological fact having been established, I gave him a small piece, to his great delight, as he expressed his intention to become a white man.

I was always chatting with Umbogo and the various chiefs, especially with my favourite, Kittakara, who was Kabba Rega's most confidential counsellor. They gave me a graphic account of the royal funeral that had taken place a few months ago, when Kamrasi has interred.

When a king of Unyoro dies, the body is exposed upon a framework of green wood, like a gigantic gridiron, over a slow fire. It is thus gradually dried, until it resembles an over-roasted hare.

Thus mummified, it is wrapped in new bark-cloths, and lies in state within a large house built specially for its reception.

The sons fight for the throne. The civil war may last for years, but during this period of anarchy, the late king's body lies still unburied.

At length, when victory has decided in favour of one of his sons, the conqueror visits the hut in which his father's body lies in state. He approaches the corpse, and standing by its side, he sticks the b.u.t.t-end of his spear in the ground, and leaves it thus fixed near the right hand of the dead king. This is symbolical of victory.

The son now ascends the throne, and the funeral of his father must be his first duty.

An immense pit or trench is dug, capable of containing several hundred people.

This pit is neatly lined with new bark-cloths.

Several wives of the late king are seated together at the bottom, to bear upon their knees the body of their departed lord.

The night previous to the funeral, the king's own regiment or body-guard surround many dwellings and villages, and seize the people indiscriminately as they issue from their doors in the early morning.

These captives are brought to the pit's mouth.

Their legs and arms are now broken with clubs, and they are pushed into the pit on the top of the king's body and his wives.

An immense din of drums, horns, flageolets, whistles, mingled with the yells of a frantic crowd, drown the shrieks of the sufferers, upon whom the earth is shovelled and stamped down by thousands of cruel fanatics, who dance and jump upon the loose mould so as to form it into a compact ma.s.s; through which the victims of this horrid sacrifice cannot grope their way, the precaution having been taken to break the bones of their arms and legs. At length the mangled ma.s.s is buried and trodden down beneath a tumulus of earth, and all is still. The funeral is over.

Upon my return to Egypt I was one day relating this barbarous custom to a friend, when Mr. Kay, of Alexandria, reminded me of the curious coincidence in the description of the travels of Ibn Batuta, written A.D. 1346.

I am indebted to Mr. Kay for the following extract from the work of Ibn Batuta, which will go far to prove the extreme conservatism of Africans in all that regards their rites and customs.

On his arrival at Khan Balik (Pekin), Ibn Batuta found that the khan, or emperor, was absent. His cousin had risen against him, and had been joined by most of the ameers, who accused the khan of having broken the laws of the Ya.s.sak, and had called upon him to abdicate.

The emperor marched against the rebels at the head of an army (which, Ibn Batuta says, consisted of a million cavalry and half a million infantry). A battle was fought, in which the khan was defeated and killed.

"This news reached the capital a few days after our arrival. The city was decorated, drums and trumpets were sounded, and games and rejoicings inst.i.tuted, which continued for the s.p.a.ce of a month.

"The dead body of the khan was then brought, together with the bodies of about a hundred men, his relations and followers.

"A large vault was constructed underground. It was spread with magnificent carpets, and the body of the khan was laid in it, along with his weapons and with the gold and silver vessels that were used in his household.

"Four female slaves and six memluks were led into the vault, each provided with a drinking vessel filled with liquid.