The Discovery of the Source of the Nile Part 24

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.

In fact, he wanted to fleece us of everything; so, to shut him up, I said I would not part with one bird for one hundred tusks of ivory; they were all the collections I had made in Africa, and if I parted with them my journey would go for nothing; but if he wanted a few drawings of birds I would do some for him--at present I wished to speak to him.

"Well, what is it? we are all attention." "I wish to know positively if you would like English traders to come here regularly, as the Arabs do to trade at Karague? and if so, would you give me a pembe (magic horn) as a warrant, that everybody may know Kamrasi, king of Unyoro, desires it?"

Kamrasi replied, "I like your proposition very much; you shall have the horn you ask for, either large or small, just as you please; and after you have gone, should we hear any English are at Gani wis.h.i.+ng to come here, as my brothers are in the way we will advance with spears whilst they approach with guns, and between us both, my brothers must fly--for I myself will head the expedition. But now you have had your say I will have mine if you will listen." "All right, your majesty; what is it?" "I am constantly stricken with fever and pains, for which I know no remedy but cautery; my children die young; my family is not large enough to uphold my dignity and station in life; in fact, I am infirm and want stimulants, and I wish you to prescribe for me, which considering you have found your way to this, where n.o.body came before, must be easy to you." Two pills and a draught for the morning were given as a preliminary measure, argument being of no avail; and to our delight the king said it was time to go.

We jumped off our seats to show him the way, hoping our persecutions were over; but still he sat, and sat, until at length, finding we did not take the hint to give him a parting present, he said, "I never visited any big man's house without taking home some trifle to show my wife and children." "Indeed, great king! then you did not come to visit us, but to beg, eh? You shall have nothing, positively nothing; for we will not have it said the king did not come to see us, but to beg."

Kamrasi's face changed colour; he angrily said, "Irokh togend" (let us rise and go), and forthwith walked straight out of the hut. Frij piped, but no guns fired; and as he asked the reason why he was told it would be offensive to say we were glad he was going. The king was evidently not pleased for no pombe came to-day.

Chapter XVIII. Unyoro--Continued

The Ceremonies of the New Moon--Kamrasi's Rule and Discipline--An Emba.s.sy from Uganda, and its Results--The Rebellious Brothers--An African Sorcerer and his Incantations--The Kamraviona of Unyoro--Burial Customs--Ethiopian Legends--Complicated Diplomacy for our Detention--Proposal to send Princes to England--We get away.

26th.--We found that the palace was shut up in consequence of the new moon, seen for the first time last evening; and incessant drumming was the order of the day. Still, private interviews might be granted, and I sent to inquire after the state of the king's health. The reply was, that the medicine had not taken, and the king was very angry because nothing was given him when he took the trouble to call on us. He never called at a big man's house and left it mwiko (empty-handed) before; if there was nothing else to dispose of, could Bana not have given him a bag of beads?

To save us from this kind of incessant annoyance, I now thought it would be our best policy to mount the high horse and bully him. Accordingly, we tied up a bag of the commonest mixed beads, added the king's chronometer, and sent them to Kamrasi with a violent message that we were thoroughly disgusted with all that had happened; the beads were for the poor beggar who came to our house yesterday, not to see us, but to beg; and as we did not desire the acquaintance of beggars, we had made up our minds never to call again, nor receive any more bread or wine from the king.

This appeared to be a hit. Kamrasi, evidently taken aback, said, if he thought he should have offended us by begging, he would not have begged.

He was not a poor man, for he had many cows, but he was a beggar, of course, when beads were in the question; and, having unwittingly offended, as he desired our friends.h.i.+p, he trusted his offence would be forgiven. On opening the chronometer, he again wrenched back the seconds-hand, and sent it for repair, together with two pots of pombe as a peace-offering. Frij, who accompanied the deputation, overheard the counsellors tell their king that the Waganda were on their way back to Unyoro to s.n.a.t.c.h us away; on hearing which the king asked his men if they would ever permit it; and, handling his spear as if for battle, said at the same time he would lose his own head before they should touch his guests. Then, turning to Frij, he said, "What would you do if they came?--go back with them?" To which Frij said, "No, never, when Gani is so near; they might cut our heads off, but that is all they could do." The watch being by this time repaired, it gave me the opportunity of sending Kidgwiga back to the palace to say we trusted Kamrasi would allow Budja to come here, if only with one woman to carry his pombe, else Mtesa would take offence, form an alliance with Rionga, and surround the place with warriors, for it was not becoming in great kings to treat civil messengers like dogs.

The reply to this was, that Kamrasi was very much pleased with my fatherly wisdom and advice, and would act up to it, allowing Budja only to approach with one woman; we need, however, be under no apprehensions, for Kamrasi's power was infinite; the Gani road should be opened even at the spear's point; he had been beating the big drum in honour of us the whole day; he would not allow any beggars to come and see us, for he wanted us all to himself, and for this reason had ordered a fence to be built all round our house; but he had got no present from Grant yet, though all he wanted was his mosquito-curtains, whilst he wished my picture-books to show his women, and he returned. We sent a picture of Mtesa as a gift, the two books to look at and an acknowledgement that the mosquito-curtains were his, only he must have patience until Bombay arrived; but his proposition about the fence we rejected with scorn.

The king had been raising an army to fight Rionga--the true reason, we suspect, for the beating of the drums.

27th and 28th.--There was drumming and music all day and night, and the army was being increased to a thousand men, but we poor prisoners could see nothing of it. Frij was therefore sent to inspect the armament and brings us all the news. Some of N'yamyonjo's men, seeing mine armed with carbines, became very inquisitive about them, and asked if they were the instruments which shot at their men on the Nile--one in the arm, who died; the other on the top of the shoulder, who was recovering.

The drums were kept in private rooms, to which a select few only were admitted. Kamrasi conducts all business himself, awarding punishments and seeing them carried out. The most severe instrument of chastis.e.m.e.nt is a k.n.o.b-stick, sharpened at the back, like that used in Uganda, for breaking a man's neck before he is thrown into the N'yanza; but this severity is seldom resorted to, Kamrasi being of a mild disposition compared with Mtesa, whom he invariably alludes to when ordering men to be flogged, telling them that were they in Uganda, their heads would suffer instead of their backs. In the day's work at the palace, army collecting, ten officers were bound because they failed to bring a sufficient number of fighting men, but were afterwards released on their promising to bring more.

Nothing could be more filthy than the state of the palace and all the lanes leading up to it: it was well, perhaps, that we were never expected to go there, for without stilts and respirators it would have been impracticable, such is the dirty nature of the people. The king's cows, even, are kept in the palace enclosure, the calves actually entering the hut, where, like a farmer, Kamrasi walks amongst them up to his ankles in filth, and, inspecting them, issues his orders concerning them. What has to be selected for his guests he singles out himself.

Dr K'yengo's men, who had been sent three times into action against the refractory brothers, asked leave to return to Karague; but the king, who did not fear for their lives when his work was to be done, would not give them leave, lest accident should befall them on the way. We found no prejudice against eating b.u.t.ter amongst these Wahuma, for they not only sold us some, but mixed it with porridge and ate it themselves.

29th.--The king has appointed a special officer to keep our table supplied with sweet potatoes, and sent us a pot of pombe, with his excuses for not seeing us, as business was so pressing, and would continue to be so until the army marched. Budja and Kasoro were again reported to be near with a force of fifty Waganda, prepared to s.n.a.t.c.h us away; and the king, fearing the consequences, had sent to inform Budja, that if he dared attempt to approach, he would slip us off in boats to Gani, and then fight it out with the Waganda; for his guests, since they had been handed over to him, had been treated with every possible respect.

To keep Kamrasi to his promise, as we particularly wished to hear the Uganda news, Frij was sent to inform him on my behalf that Mtesa only wished to make friends with all the great kings surrounding his country before his coronation took place, when his brothers would be burnt, and he would cease to take advice from his mother. To treat his messengers disrespectfully could do no good, and might provoke a war, when we should see my deserters joined with the Waganda really coming in force against us; whereas, if we saw Budja, we could satisfy him, and Mtesa too, and obviate any such calamity. The reply was, that Kamrasi would arrange for our having a meeting with Budja alone if we wished it; he did not fear my deserters siding with king Mtesa, but he detested the Waganda, and could not bear to see them in his country.

30th.--At breakfast-time we heard that my old friend Kasoro had come to our camp without permission, to the surprise of everybody, attended by all his boys, leaving Budja and his children, on account of sickness, at the camp a.s.signed to the Waganda, five miles off. Kasoro wished to speak to us, and we invited him into the hut; but the interview could not be permitted until Kamrasi's wishes on the subject had been ascertained.

In a little while the Kamraviona, having seen Kamrasi, said we might converse with one another whilst his officers were present listening, and sent a cow as a present for the Waganda. Kasoro with his children now came before us in their usual merry manner and, after saluting, told us how the deserters, on reaching Uganda, begged for leave to proceed to Karague; but Mtesa, who would only allow two of them to approach him, abused them, saying, "Did I not command you to take Bana to Gani at all risks? If there was no road by land, you were to go by water; or, if that failed, to go under-ground, or in the air above, and if he died, you were to die with him: what, then, do you mean by deserting him and flying here? You shall not move a yard from this until I receive a messenger from him to hear what he has got to say on the matter." Mtesa would not take their arms, even at the desire of Budja, on my behalf; for as no messenger on my behalf came to him, he would not believe what Budja said, and feared to touch any of our property. The chief item of court news was, that Mtesa had shot a buffalo which was attacking him behind the palace, and made his Wakungu carry the animal bodily, whilst life was in it, into his court. The ammunition I wrote for to Rumanika had been brought by Maula.

As Kasoro still remained silent with regard to Mtesa's message, I told him we shot two of N'yamyonjo's men on our retreat up the Nile, and that Kamrasi turned us back because some miscreant Waganda had forged lies and told him we were terrible monsters, who ate hills and human flesh, and drank up all the water of the lake. He laughed, but still was silent; so I said, "What message have you brought from Mtesa?" To which, in a timid, modest kind of manner, he said, "Bana knows--what more need I say? Has he forgotten Mtesa, who loves him so?" I said, "No, indeed, I have not forgotten Mtesa; and, moreover, as I expected you back again, I have sent Bombay to bring the stimulants and all the things I promised Mtesa from Gani; in two or three days he will return." "No," said Kasoro, "that is not it; we must go to Gani with you; for Mtesa says he loves you so much he will never allow you to part from his hand until his servants have seen you safely at your homes."

I replied, "If Mtesa wishes you to see my vessels and all the wonders they contain, as far as I am concerned you may do so, and I shall be only too happy to show you a little English hospitality; but the road is in Kamrasi's hands, and his wishes must now be heard." The commander-in-chief, now content with all he had heard, went to Kamrasi to receive his orders, whilst I gave Kasoro a feast of porridge and salt, with pombe to wash it down, and a cow to take home with him; for the poor creatures said they were all starving as the Wanyoro would not allow them to take a single plantain from the field until Kamrasi's permission had been given.

Kamrasi's reply now arrived; it was to the following effect:--"Tell my children, the Waganda, they were never turned out of Unyoro by my orders: if they wish to go to Gani, they can do so; but, first of all, they must return to Mtesa, and ask him to deliver up all of Bana's men."

I answered, "No; if any one of those scoundrels who has deserted me ever dares show his face to me again, I will shoot him like a dog. Moreover, I want Mtesa to take their guns from them, and, without taking life, to transport them all to an island on the N'yanza, where they can spend their days in growing plantains; for it is such men who prevent our travelling in the country and visiting kings." Kasoro on this said, "Mtesa will do so in a minute if you send a servant to him, but he won't if we only say you wish it."

The commander-in-chief then added, as to Kasoro's wish to accompany me, "If Mtesa will send another time one of his people whose life he wishes sacrificed on the journey, or tells, Here is a man whom I wish you to send to Gani at all hazards, and without responsibility for his life on our part, we will be very glad to send him; but as we are at war with the Gani people continually, there will be no security for a Mganda's life there." To this I added, "Now, Kasoro, you see how it is; Kamrasi does not wish you to do to Gani, so if you take my advice you will return to Mtesa. Give this tin cartridge-box, which first came from him, back to him again, to show him you have seen me, and say, This is Bana's letter; he wishes you to transport the deserters and seize their guns.

The guns, of course, I shall want again at some other time, when I will send one of my English children to visit him; for now Kamrasi has opened his country to us, and given us leave to come and purchase ivory, I never shall be very far away." I gave them three pills for Budja, blistered two of the pages, and started the whole merrily off, Kasoro asking me to send Mtesa some pretty things from England such as he never saw.

1st.--Kamrasi sent his commander-in-chief to inquire after my health, and to say Budja had left in fear and trembling lest Mtesa should cut all their heads off for failing in the mission; but he had sent Kidgwiga's brother with a pot of pombe to escort the Waganda beyond his frontier, and cheer them on the way; for the tin cartridge-box, he thought, would save their lives by satisfying Mtesa they had seen me. The commander-in-chief then told me Kamrasi did not wish them to accompany me through Kidi for the Kidi people don't like the Waganda, and, discovering their nationality by the fullness of their teeth, would bring trouble on us whilst trying to kill them. I said I thanked Kamrasi for his having treated the Waganda with such marked respect, in allowing them to see me, and sending them back with an escort; but I thought it would have been better if he had spoken the truth plainly out, for then I could have told them I feared to have them in company with me. In return for my civilities, the king then send one of his chopi officers to see me, who went four stages with Bombay, and he also sent some rich beads which he wished me to look at. They were nicely kept in a neat though very large casing of rush pith, and were those sent as a letter from Gani, to inform him that we were expected to come via Karague.

After this, to keep us in good-humour, Kamrasi sent to inform us that some Gani men, twenty-five in number, had just arrived, and had given him a lion-skin, several tippet monkey-skins, and some giraffe hair, as well as a stick of copper or bra.s.s wire. Bombay was met by them on the confines of Gani.