Mtesa
Appeared Quite Confused With The Various Wonders As He Handled
Them, Made Silly Remarks, And Pondered Over Them Like A Perfect
Child, Until It Was Quite Dark.
Torches were then lit, and guns,
pistols, powder, boxes, tools, beads - the whole collection, in
short - were tossed together topsy-turvy, bundled into mbugus, and
carried away by the pages.
Mtesa now said, "It is late, and time
to break up; what provisions would you wish to have?" I said, "A
little of everything, but no one thing constantly." "And would
you like to see me to-morrow?" "Yes, every day." "Then you
can't to-morrow, for I have business; but the next day come if
you like. You can now go away, and here are six pots of
plantain-wine for you; my men will search for food to-morrow."
21st. - In the morning, whilst it rained, some pages drove in
twenty cows and ten goats, with a polite metaphorical message
from their king, to the effect that I had pleased him much, and
he hoped I would accept these few "chickens" until he could send
more, - when both Maula and N'yamgundu, charmed with their
success in having brought a welcome guest to Uganda, never ceased
showering eulogiums on me for my fortune in having gained the
countenance of their king. The rain falling was considered at
court a good omen, and everybody declared the king mad with
delight. Wishing to have a talk with him about Petherick and
Grant, I at once started off the Wakungu to thank him for the
present, and to beg pardon for my apparent rudeness of yesterday,
at the same time requesting I might have an early interview with
his majesty, as I had much of importance to communicate; but the
solemn court formalities which these African kings affect as much
as Oriental emperors, precluded my message from reaching the
king. I heard, however, that he had spent the day receiving
Suwarora's hongo of wire, and that the officer who brought them
was made to sit in an empty court, whilst the king sat behind a
screen, never deigning to show his majestic person. I was told,
too, that he opened conversation by demanding to know how it
happened that Suwarora became possessed of the wires, for they
were made by the white men to be given to himself, and Suwarora
must therefore have robbed me of them; and it was by such
practices he, Mtesa, never could see any visitors. The officer's
reply was, Suwarora would not show the white men any respect,
because they were wizards would did not sleep in houses at night,
but flew up to the tops of hills, and practised sorcery of every
abominable kind. The king to this retorted, in a truly African
fashion, "That's a lie; I can see no harm in this white man; and
if he had been a bad man, Rumanika would not have sent him on to
me." At night, when in bed, the king sent his pages to say, if I
desired his friendship I would lend him one musket to make up six
with what I had given him, for he intended visiting his relations
the following morning. I sent three, feeling that nothing would
be lost by being "open-handed."
22d. - To-day the king went the round of his relations, showing
the beautiful things given him by the white man - a clear proof
that he was much favoured by the "spirits," for neither his
father nor any of his forefathers had been so recognised and
distinguished by any "sign" as a rightful inheritor to the Uganda
throne: an anti-Christian interpretation of omens, as rife in
these dark regions now as it was in the time of King
Nebuchadnezzar. At midnight the three muskets were returned, and
I was so pleased with the young king's promptitude and honesty, I
begged he would accept them.
23d. - At noon Mtesa sent his pages to invite me to his palace. I
went, with my guard of honour and my stool, but found I had to
sit waiting in an ante-hut three hours with his commander-in-
chief and other high officers before he was ready to see me.
During this time Wasoga minstrels, playing on tambira, and
accompanied by boys playing on a harmonicon, kept us amused; and
a small page, with a large bundle of grass, came to me and said,
"The king hopes you won't be offended if required to sit on it
before him; for no person in Uganda, however high in office, is
ever allowed to sit upon anything raised above the ground, nor
can anybody but himself sit upon such grass as this; it is all
that his throne is made of. The first day he only allowed you to
sit on your stool to appease your wrath."
On consenting to do in "Rome as the Romans do," when my position
was so handsomely acknowledged, I was called in, and found the
court sitting much as it was on the first day's interview, only
that the number of squatting Wakungu was much diminished; and the
king, instead of wearing his ten brass and copper rings, had my
gold one on his third finger. This day, however, was cut out for
business, as, in addition to the assemblage of officers, there
were women, cows, goats, fowls, confiscations, baskets of fish,
baskets of small antelopes, porcupines, and curious rats caught
by his gamekeepers, bundles of mbugu, etc., etc., made by his
linen-drapers, coloured earths and sticks by his magician, all
ready for presentation; but, as rain fell, the court broke up,
and I had nothing for it but to walk about under my umbrella,
indulging in angry reflections against the haughty king for not
inviting me into his hut.
When the rain had ceased, and we were again called in, he was
found sitting in state as before, but this time with the head of
a black bull placed before him, one horn of which, knocked off,
was placed alongside, whilst four living cows walked about the
court.
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