The Discovery of the Source of the Nile Part 12

It remains to speak of the separation of Uddu from Unyoro, the present kingdom of Uganda--which, to say the least of it, is extremely interesting, inasmuch as the government there is as different from the other surrounding countries as those of Europe are compared to Asia.

In the earliest times the Wahuma of Unyoro regarded all their lands bordering on the Victoria Lake as their garden, owing to its exceeding fertility, and imposed the epithet of Wiru, or slaves, upon its people, because they had to supply the imperial government with food and clothing. Coffee was conveyed to the capital by the Wiru, also mbugu (bark-cloaks), from an inexhaustible fig-tree; in short, the lands of the Wiru were famous for their rich productions.

Now Wiru in the northern dialect changes to Waddu in the southern; hence Uddu, the land of the slaves, which remained in one connected line from the Nile to the Kitangule Kagera until eight generations back, when, according to tradition, a sportsman from Unyoro, by name Uganda, came with a pack of dogs, a woman, a spear, and a shield, hunting on the left bank of Katonga valley, not far from the lake. He was but a poor man, though so successful in hunting that vast numbers of the Wiru flocked to him for flesh, and became so fond of him as to invite him to be their king, saying, "Of what avail to us is our present king, living so far away that when we sent him a cow as a tributary offering, that cow on the journey gave a calf, and the calf became a cow and gave another calf, and so on, and yet the present has not reached its destination?"

At first Uganda hesitated, on the plea that they had a king already, but on being farther pressed consented; when the people hearing his name said, "Well, let it be so; and for the future let this country between the Nile and Katonga be called Uganda, and let your name be Kimera, the first king of Uganda."

The same night Kimera stood upon a stone with a spear in his hand, and a woman and dog sitting by his side; and to this day people a.s.sert that his footprints and the mark left by his spear-end, as well as the seats of the woman and dog, are visible. The report of these circ.u.mstances soon reached the great king of Unyoro, who, in his magnificence, merely said, "The poor creature must be starving; allow him to feed there if he likes." The kings who have succeeded Kimera are: 1. Mahanda; 2.

Katereza; 3. Chabago; 4. Simakokiro; 5. Kamanya; 6. Sunna; 7. Mtesa, not yet crowned.

These kings have all carried on the same system of government as that commenced by Kimera, and proved themselves a perfect terror to Unyoro, as we shall see in the sequel. Kimera, suddenly risen to eminence, grew proud and headstrong--formed a strong clan around him, whom he appointed to be his Wakunga, or officers--rewarded well, punished severely, and soon became magnificent. Nothing short of the grandest palace, a throne to sit upon, the largest harem, the smartest officers, the best dressed people, even a menagerie for pleasure--in fact, only the best of everything--would content him. Fleets of boats, not canoes, were built for war, and armies formed, that the glory of the king might never decrease. In short, the system of government, according to barbarous ideas was perfect. Highways were cut from one extremity of the country to the other, and all rivers bridged. No house could be built without its necessary appendages for cleanliness; no person, however poor, could expose his person; and to disobey these laws was death.

After the death of Kimera, the prosperity of Uganda never decreased, but rather improved. The clan of officers formed by him were as proud of their emanc.i.p.ation from slavery, as the king they had created was of his dominion over them. They buried Kimera with state honours, giving charge of the body to the late king's most favourite consort, whose duty it was to dry the corpse by placing it on a board resting on the mouth of an earthen open pot heated by fire from below. When this drying process was completed, at the expiration of three months, the lower jaw was cut out and neatly worked over with beads; the umbilical cord, which had been preserved from birth, was also worked with beads. These were kept apart, but the body was consigned to a tomb, and guarded ever after by this officer and a certain number of the king's next most favourite women, all of whom planted gardens for their maintenance, and were restricted from seeing the succeeding king.

By his large establishment of wives, Kimera left a number of princes or Warangira, and as many princesses. From the Warangira the Wakunga now chose as their king the one whom they thought best suited for the government of the country--not of too high rank by the mother's side, lest their selection in his pride should kill them all, but one of low birth. The rest were placed with wives in a suite of huts, under charge of a keeper, to prevent any chance of intrigues and dissensions. They were to enjoy life until the prince-elect should arrive at the age of discretion and be crowned, when all but two of the princes would be burnt to death, the two being reserved in case of accident as long as the king wanted brother companions, when one would be banished to Unyoro, and the other pensioned with suitable possessions in Uganda. The mother of the king by this measure became queen-dowager, or N'yamasore.

She halved with her son all the wives of the deceased king not stationed at his grave, taking second choice; kept up a palace only little inferior to her son's with large estates, guided the prince-elect in the government of the country, and remained until the end of his minority the virtual ruler of the land; at any rate, no radical political changes could take place without her sanction. The princesses became the wives of the king; no one else could marry them.

Both mother and son had their Ktikiros or commander-in-chief, also t.i.tled Kamraviona, as well as other officers of high rank. Amongst them in due order of gradation are the Ilmas, a woman who had the good fortune to have cut the umbilical cord at the king's birth; the Sawaganzi, queen's sister and king's barber; Kaggao, Polino, Sakibobo, Kitunzi, and others, governors of provinces; Jumab, admiral of the fleet; Kasugu, guardian of the king's sister; Mkuenda, factor; Kunsa and Usungu, first and second cla.s.s executioners; Mgemma, commissioner in charge of tombs; Seruti, brewer; Mfumbiro, cook; numerous pages to run messages and look after the women, and minor Wakungu in hundreds. One Mkungu is always over the palace, in command of the Wanagalali, or guards which are changed monthly; another is ever in attendance as seizer of refractory persons. There are also in the palace almost constantly the Wanangalavi, or drummers; Nsase, pea-gourd rattlers; Milele, flute-players; Mukonderi, clarionet-players; also players on wooden harmonicons and lap-harps, to which the players sing accompaniments; and, lastly, men who whistle on their fingers--for music is half the amus.e.m.e.nt of these courts. Everybody in Uganda is expected to keep spears, shields and dogs, the Uganda arms and cognisance; whilst the Wakungu are ent.i.tled to drums. There is also a Neptune Mgussa, or spirit, who lives in the depths of the N'yanza, communicates through the medium of his temporal Mkungu, and guides to a certain extent the naval destiny of the king.

It is the duty of all officers, generally speaking, to attend at court as constantly as possible; should they fail, they forfeit their lands, wives, and all belongings. These will be seized and given to others more worthy of them; as it is presumed that either insolence or disaffection can be the only motive which would induce any person to absent himself for any length of time from the pleasure of seeing his sovereign.

Tidiness in dress is imperatively necessary, and for any neglect of this rule the head may be the forfeit. The punishment for such offences, however, may be commuted by fines of cattle, goats, fowls, or bra.s.s wire. All acts of the king are counted benefits, for which he must be thanked; and so every deed done to his subjects is a gift received by them, though it should a.s.sume the shape of flogging or fine; for are not these, which make better men of them, as necessary as anything? The thanks are rendered by gravelling on the ground, floundering about and whining after the manner of happy dogs, after which they rise up suddenly, take up sticks--spears are not allowed to be carried in court--make as if charging the king, jabbering as fast as tongues can rattle, and so they swear fidelity for all their lives.

This is the greater salutation; the lesser one is performed kneeling in an att.i.tude of prayer, continually throwing open the hands, and repeating sundry words. Among them the word "n'yanzig" is the most frequent and conspicuous; and hence these gesticulations receive the general designation n'yanzig--a term which will be frequently met with, and which I have found it necessary to use like an English verb. In consequence of these salutations, there is more ceremony in court than business, though the king, ever having an eye to his treasury, continually finds some trifling fault, condemns the head of the culprit, takes his liquidation-present, if he has anything to pay, and thus keeps up his revenue.

No one dare stand before the king whilst he is either standing still or sitting, but must approach him with downcast eyes and bended knees, and kneel or sit when arrived. To touch the king's throne or clothes, even by accident, or to look upon his women is certain death. When sitting in court holding a levee, the king invariably has in attendance several women, Wabandwa, evil-eye averters or sorcerers. They talk in feigned voices raised to a shrillness almost amounting to a scream. They wear dried lizards on their heads, small goat-skin ap.r.o.ns trimmed with little bells, diminutive shields and spears set off with c.o.c.k-hackles--their functions in attendance being to administer cups of marwa (plantain wine). To complete the picture of the court, one must imagine a crowd of pages to run royal messages; they dare not walk for such deficiency in zeal to their master might cost their life. A further feature of the court consists in the national symbols already referred to--a dog, two spears, and shield.

With the company squatting in large half-circle or three sides of a square many deep before him, in the hollow of which are drummers and other musicians, the king, sitting on his throne in high dignity, issues his orders for the day much to the following effect:--"Cattle, women, and children are short in Uganda; an army must be formed of one to two thousand strong, to plunder Unyoro. The Wasoga have been insulting his subjects, and must be reduced to subjection: for this emergency another army must be formed, of equal strength, to act by land in conjunction with the fleet. The Wahaiya have paid no tribute to his greatness lately and must be taxed." For all these matters the commander-in-chief tells off the divisional officers, who are approved by the king, and the matter is ended in court. The divisional officers then find subordinate officers, who find men, and the army proceeds with its march. Should any fail with their mission, reinforcements are sent, and the runaways, called women, are drilled with a red-hot iron until they are men no longer, and die for their cowardice., All heroism, however, ensures promotion. The king receives his army of officers with great ceremony, listens to their exploits, and gives as rewards, women, cattle, and command over men--the greatest elements of wealth in Uganda--with a liberal hand.

As to the minor business transacted in court, culprits are brought in bound by officers, and reported. At once the sentence is given, perhaps awarding the most torturous, lingering death--probably without trial or investigation, and, for all the king knows, at the instigation of some one influenced by wicked spite. If the accused endeavour to plead his defence, his voice is at once drowned, and the miserable victim dragged off in the roughest manner possible by those officers who love their king, and delight in promptly carrying out his orders. Young virgins, the daughters of Wakungu, stark naked, and smeared with grease, but holding, for decency's sake, a small square of mbugu at the upper corners in both hands before them, are presented by their fathers in propitiation for some offence, and to fill the harem. Seizing-officers receive orders to hunt down Wakungu who have committed some indiscretions, and to confiscate their lands, wives, children, and property. An officer observed to salute informally is ordered for execution, when everybody near him rises in an instant, the drums beat, drowning his cries, and the victim of carelessness is dragged off, bound by cords, by a dozen men at once. Another man, perhaps, exposes an inch of naked leg whilst squatting, or has his mbugu tied contrary to regulations, and is condemned to the same fate.

Fines of cows, goats, and fowls are brought in and presented; they are smoothed down by the offender's hands, and then applied to his face, to show there is no evil spirit lurking in the gift; then thanks are proferred for the leniency of the king in letting the presenter off so cheaply, and the pardoned man retires, full of smiles, to the ranks of the squatters. Thousands of cattle, and strings of women and children, sometimes the result of a victorious plundering hunt, or else the acc.u.mulated seizures from refractory Wakungu, are brought in; for there is no more common or acceptable offering to appease the king's wrath towards any refractory or blundering officer than a present of a few young beauties, who may perhaps be afterwards given as the reward of good service to other officers.

Stick-charms, being pieces of wood of all shapes, supposed to have supernatural virtues, and coloured earths, endowed with similar qualities, are produced by the royal magicians. The master of the hunt exposes his spoils--such as antelopes, cats, porcupines, curious rats, etc., all caught in nets, and placed in baskets--zebra, lion, and buffalo skins being added. The fishermen bring their spoils; also the gardeners. The cutlers show knives and forks made of iron inlaid with bra.s.s and copper; the furriers, most beautifully-sewn patchwork of antelopes' skins; the habit-maker, sheets of mbugu barkcloth; the blacksmith, spears; the maker of shields, his productions;--and so forth; but nothing is ever given without rubbing it down, then rubbing the face, and going through a long form of salutation for the gracious favour the king has shown in accepting it.

When tired of business, the king rises, spear in hand, and, leading his dog, walked off without word or comment leaving his company, like dogs, to take care of themselves.

Strict as the discipline of the exterior court is, that of the interior is not less severe. The pages all wear turbans of cord made from aloe fibres. Should a wife commit any trifling indiscretion, either by word or deed, she is condemned to execution on the spot, bound by the pages and dragged out. Notwithstanding the stringent laws for the preservation of decorum by all male attendants, stark-naked full-grown women are the valets.

On the first appearance of the new moon every month, the king shuts himself up, contemplating and arranging his magic horns--the horns of wild animals stuffed with charm-powder--for two or three days. These may be counted his Sundays or church festivals, which he dedicates to devotion. On other days he takes his women, some hundreds, to bathe or sport in ponds; or, when tired of that, takes long walks, his women running after him, when all the musicians fall in, take precedence of the party, followed by the Wakungu and pages, with the king in the centre of the procession, separating the male company from the fair s.e.x.

On these excursions no common man dare look upon the royal procession.

Should anybody by chance happen to be seen, he is at once hunted down by the pages, robbed of everything he possessed, and may count himself very lucky if nothing worse happens. Pilgrimages are not uncommon, and sometimes the king spends a fortnight yachting; but whatever he does, or wherever he goes, the same ceremonies prevail--his musicians, Wakungu, pages, and the wives take part in all.

But the greatest of all ceremonies takes place at the time of the coronation. The prince-elect then first seeks favour from the kings of all the surrounding countries, demanding in his might and power one of each of their daughters in marriage, or else recognition in some other way, when the Ilmas makes a pilgrimage to the deceased king's tomb, to observe, by the growth an other signs of certain trees, and plants, what destiny awaits the king. According to the prognostics, they report that he will either have to live a life of peace, or after coronation take the field at the head of an army to fight either east, west, or both ways, when usually the first march is on Kittara, and the second on Usoga. The Mgussa's voice is also heard, but in what manner I do not know, as all communication on state matters is forbidden in Uganda.

These preliminaries being arranged, the actual coronation takes place, when the king ceases to hold any farther communion with his mother. The brothers are burnt to death, and the king, we shall suppose, takes the field at the head of his army.

It is as the result of these expeditions that one-half Usogo and the remaining half of Uddu have been annexed to Uganda.

Chapter X. Karague and Uganda

Escape from Protectors--Cross the Kitangule, the First Affluent of the Nile--Enter Uddu--Uganda--A Rich Country--Driving away the Devil--A Conflict in the Camp--A Pretending Prince--Three Pages with a Diplomatic Message from the King of Uganda--Crime in Uganda.

Crossing back over the Weranhanje spur, I put up with the Arabs at Kufro. Here, for the first time in this part of the world, I found good English peas growing. Next day (11th), crossing over a succession of forks, supporters to the main spur, we encamped at Luandalo. Here we were overtaken by Rozaro, who had remained behind, as I now found, to collect a large number of Wanyambo, whom he called his children, to share with him the gratuitous living these creatures always look out for on a march of this nature.

After working round the end of the great spur whilst following down the crest of a fork, we found Karague separated by a deep valley from the hilly country of Uhaiya, famous for its ivory and coffee productions.

On entering the rich plantain gardens of Kisaho, I was informed we must halt there a day for Maula to join us, as he had been detained by Rumanika, who, wishing to give him a present, had summoned Rozaro's sister to his palace for that purpose. She was married to another, and had two children by him, but that did not signify, as it was found in time her husband had committed a fault, on account of which it was thought necessary to confiscate all his property.

At this place all the people were in a constant state of inebriety, drinking pombe all day and all night. I shot a montana antelope, and sent its head and skin back to Grant, accompanied with my daily report to Rumanika.

Maula having joined me, we marched down to near the end of the fork overlooking the plain of Kitangule--the Waganada drums beating, and whistles playing all the way we went along.

We next descended from the Mountains of the Moon, and spanned a long alluvial plain to the settlement of the so-long-heard-of Kitangule, where Rumanika keeps his thousands and thousands of cows. In former days the dense green forests peculiar to the tropics, which grow in swampy places about this plain, were said to have been stocked by vast herds of elephants; but, since the ivory trade had increased, these animals had all been driven off to the hills of Kisiwa and Uhaiya, or into Uddu beyond the river, and all the way down to the N'yanza.

To-day we reached the Kitangule Kagera, or river, which, as I ascertained in the year 1858, falls into the Victoria N'yanza on the west side. Most unfortunately, as we led off to cross it, rain began to pour, so that everybody and everything was thrown into confusion.

I could not get a sketch of it, though Grant was more fortunate afterwards; neither could I measure or fathom it; and it was only after a long contest with the superst.i.tious boatmen that they allowed me to cross in their canoe with my shoes on, as they thought the vessel would either upset, or else the river would dry up, in consequence of their Neptune taking offence at me. Once over, I looked down on the n.o.ble stream with considerable pride. About eight yards broad, it was sunk down a considerable depth below the surface of the land, like a huge ca.n.a.l, and is so deep, it could not be poled by the canoemen; while it runs at a velocity of from three to four knots an hour.

I say I viewed it with pride, because I had formed my judgment of its being fed from high-seated springs in the Mountains of the Moon solely on scientific geographical reasonings; and, from the bulk of the stream, I also believed those mountains must obtain an alt.i.tude of 8000 feet [16] or more, just as we find they do in Ruanda. I thought then to myself, as I did at Rumanika's, when I first viewed the Mfumbiro cones, and gathered all my distant geographical information there, that these highly saturated Mountains of the Moon give birth to the Congo as well as to the Nile, and also to the Shire branch of the Zambeze.

I came, at the same time, to the conclusion that all our previous information concerning the hydrography of these regions, as well as the Mountains of the Moon, originated with the ancient Hindus, who told it to the priests of the Nile; and that all those busy Egyptian geographers, who disseminated their knowledge with a view to be famous for their long-sightedness, in solving the deep-seated mystery with enshrouded the source of their holy river, were so many hypothetical humbugs. Reasoning thus, the Hindu traders alone, in those days, I believed, had a firm basis to stand upon, from their intercourse with the Abyssinians--through whom they must have heard of the country of Amara, which they applied to the N'yanza--and with the Wanyamuezi or men of the Moon, from whom they heard of the Tanganyika and Karague mountains. I was all the more impressed with this belief, by knowing that the two church missionaries, Rebmann and Erhardt, without the smallest knowledge of the Hindus' map, constructed a map of their own, deduced from the Zanzibar traders, something on the same scale, by blending the Victoria N'yanza, Tanganyida, and N'yazza into one; whilst to their triuned lake they gave the name Moon, because the men of the Moon happened to live in front of the central lake. And later still, Mr Leon, another missionary, heard of the N'yanza and the country Amara, near which he heard the Nile made its escape.

Going on with the march we next came to Ndongo, a perfect garden of plantains. The whole country was rich--most surprisingly so. The same streaky argillaceous sandstones prevailed as in Karague. There was nothing, in fact, that would not have grown here, if it liked moisture and a temperate heat. It was a perfect paradise for negroes: as fast as they sowed they were sure of a crop without much trouble; though, I must say, they kept their huts and their gardens in excellent order.

As Maula would stop here, I had to halt also. The whole country along the banks of the river, and near some impenetrable forests, was alive with antelopes, princ.i.p.ally hartebeests, but I would not fire at them until it was time to return, as the villagers led me to expect buffaloes. The consequence was, as no buffaloes were to be found, I got no sport, though I wounded a hartebeest, and followed him almost into camp, when I gave up the chase to some negroes, and amused myself by writing to Rumanika, to say if Grant did not reach me by a certain date, I would try to navigate the N'yanza, and return to him in boats up the Kitangule river.

We crossed over a low spur of hill extending from the mountainous kingdom of Nkole, on our left, towards the N'yanza. Here I was shown by Nasib a village called Ngandu, which was the farthest trading depot of the Zanzibar ivory-merchants. It was established by Musa Mzuri, by the permission of Rumanika; for, as I shall have presently to mention, Sunna, after annexing this part of Uddu to Uganda, gave Rumanika certain bands of territory in it as a means of security against the possibility of its being wrested out of his hands again by the future kings of Unyoro. Following on Musa's wake, many Arabs also came here to trade; but they were so oppressive to the Waganda that they were recalled by Rumanika, and obliged to locate themselves at Kufro. To the right, at the end of the spur, stretching as far as the eye could reach towards the N'yanza, was a rich, well-wooded, swampy plain, containing large open patches of water, which not many years since, I was a.s.sured, were navigable for miles, but now, like the Urigi lake, were gradually drying up. Indeed, it appeared to me as if the N'yanza must have once washed the foot of these hills, but had since shrunk away from its original margin.

On arrival at Ngambezi, I was immensely struck with the neatness and good arrangement of the place, as well as its excessive beauty and richness. No part of Bengal or Zanzibar could excel it in either respect; and my men, with one voice, exclaimed, "Ah, what people these Waganda are!" and pa.s.sed other remarks, which may be abridged as follows:--"They build their huts and keep their gardens just as well as we do at Unguja, with screens and enclosures for privacy, a clearance in front of their establishments, and a baraza or reception-hut facing the buildings. Then, too, what a beautiful prospect it has!--rich marshy plains studded with mounds, on each of which grow the umbrella cactus, or some other evergreen tree; and beyond, again, another hill-spur such as the one we have crossed over." One of king Mtesa's uncles, who had not been burnt to death by the order of the late king Sunna on his ascension to the throne, was the proprietor of this place, but unfortunately he was from home. However, his subst.i.tute gave me his baraza to live in, and brought many presents of goats, fowls, sweet potatoes, yams, plantains, sugarcane, and Indian corn, and apologised in the end for deficiency in hospitality. I, of course, gave him beads in return.

Continuing over the same kind of ground in the next succeeding spurs of the streaky red-clay sandstone hills, we put up at the residence of Isamgevi, a Mkungu or district officer of Rumanika's. His residence was as well kept as Mtesa's uncle's; but instead of a baraza fronting his house, he had a small enclosure, with three small huts in it, kept apart for devotional purposes, or to propitiate the evil spirits--in short, according to the notions of the place, a church. This officer gave me a cow and some plantains, and I in return gave him a wire and some beads.

Many mendicant women, called by some Wichwezi, by others Mabandwa, all wearing the most fantastic dresses of mbugu, covered with beads, sh.e.l.ls, and sticks, danced before us, singing a comic song, the chorus of which was a long shrill rolling Coo-roo-coo-roo, coo-roo-coo-roo, delivered as they came to a standstill. Their true functions were just as obscure as the religion of the negroes generally; some called them devil-drivers, other evil-eye averters; but, whatever it was for, they imposed a tax on the people, whose minds being governed by a necessity for making some self-sacrifice to propitiate something, they could not tell what, for their welfare in the world, they always gave them a trifle in the same way as the East Indians do their fakirs.

After crossing another low swampy flat, we reached a much larger group, or rather ramification, of hill-spurs pointing to the N'yanza, called Kisuere, and commanded by M'yombo, Rumanika's frontier officer.

Immediately behind this, to the northward, commenced the kingdom of Unyoro; and here it was, they said, Baraka would branch off my line on his way to Kamrasi. Maula's home was one march distant from this, so the scoundrel now left me to enjoy himself there, giving as his pretext for doing so, that Mtesa required him, as soon as I arrived here, to send on a messenger that order might be taken for my proper protection on the line of march; for the Waganda were a turbulent set of people, who could only be kept in order by the executioner; and doubtless many, as was customary on such occasions, would be beheaded, as soon as Mtesa heard of my coming, to put the rest in a fright. I knew this was all humbug, of course, and I told him so; but it was of no use, and I was compelled to halt.

On the 23d another officer, named Maribu, came to me and said, Mtesa, having heard that Grant was left sick behind at Karague, had given him orders to go there and fetch him, whether sick or well, for Mtesa was most anxious to see white men. Hearing this I at once wrote to Grant, begging him to come on if he could do so, and to bring with him all the best of my property, or as much as he could of it, as I now saw there was more cunning humbug than honesty in what Rumanika had told me about the impossibility of our going north from Uganda, as well as in his saying sick men could not go into Uganda, and donkeys without trousers would not be admitted there, because they were considered indecent.

If he was not well enough to move, I advised him to wait there until I reached Mtesa's, when I would either go up the lake and Kitangule to fetch him away, or would make the king send boats for him, which I more expressly wished, as it would tend to give us a much better knowledge of the lake.

Maula now came again, after receiving repeated and angry messages, and I forced him to make a move. He led me straight up to his home, a very nice place, in which he gave me a very large, clean, and comfortable hut--had no end of plantains brought for me and my men--and said, "Now you have really entered the kingdom of Uganda, for the future you must buy no more food. At every place that you stop for the day, the officer in charge will bring you plantains, otherwise your men can help themselves in the gardens, for such are the laws of the land when a king's guest travels in it. Any one found selling anything to either yourself or your men would be punished." Accordingly, I stopped the daily issue of beads; but no sooner had I done so, than all my men declared they could not eat plantains. It was all very well, they said, for the Waganda to do so, because they were used to it, but it did not satisfy their hunger.

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 a.s.sembly 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 b.u.mptious 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 s.n.a.t.c.hed 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 a.s.sured 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."