I Found It Necessary To Fly At Once Into A Rage, Called The Pages A Set Of Deceiving Young Blackguards, Turned Upon My Heel, And Walked Straight Back Through The Courts, Intending To Leave The Palace.

Everybody was alarmed; information of my retreat at once reached the king, and he sent his Wakungu to prevent my egress.

These officers passed me, as I was walking hurriedly along under my umbrella, in the last court, and shut the entrance-gate in front of me. This was too much, so I stamped, and, pointing my finger, swore in every language I knew, that if they did not open the gate again, as they had shut it at once, and that, too, before my face, I would never leave the spot I stood upon alive. Terror-stricken, the Wakungu fell on their knees before me, doing as they were bid; and, to please them, I returned at once, and went up to the king, who, now sitting on his throne, asked the officers how they had managed to entice me back; to which they all replied in a breath, n'yanzigging heartily, "Oh, we were so afraid - he was so terrible! but he turned at once as soon as we opened the gate." "How? what gate? tell us all about it." And when the whole story was fully narrated, the matter was thought a good joke. After pausing a little, I asked the king what ailed him, for I was sorry to hear he had been sick; but instead of replying, he shook his head, as much as to say, I had put a very uncouth question to his majesty - and ordered some men to shoot cows.

Instead of admiring this childish pastime, which in Uganda is considered royal sport, I rather looked disdainful, until, apparently disappointed at my indifference, he asked what the box I had brought contained. On being told it was the medicine he desired, he asked me to draw near, and sent his courtiers away. When only the interpreters and one confidential officer were left, besides myself, he wished to know if I could apply the medicine without its touching the afflicted part. To give him confidence in my surgical skill, I moved my finger, and asked him if he knew what gave it action; and on his replying in the negative, I have him an anatomical lecture, which so pleased him, he at once consented to be operated on, and I applied a blister accordingly. The whole operation was rather ridiculous; for the blister, after being applied, had to be rubbed in turn on the hands and faces of both Bombay and Nasib, to show there was no evil spirit in the "doctor." Now, thought I to myself, is the right time for business; for I had the king all to myself, then considered a most fortunate occurrence in Uganda, where every man courts the favour of a word with his king, and adores him as a deity, and he in turn makes himself as distance as he can, to give greater effect to his exalted position. The matter, however, was merely deferred: for I no sooner told him my plans for communicating quickly with Petherick and Grant, than, after saying he desired their coming even more than myself, he promised to arrange everything on the morrow.

26th. - In the morning, as agreed, I called on the king, and found the blister had drawn nicely; so I let off the water, which Bombay called the malady, and so delighted the king amazingly. A basket of fruit, like Indian loquots, was then ordered in, and we ate them together, holding a discussion about Grant and Petherick, which ended by the king promising to send an officer by water to Kitangule, and another with two of my men, via Usoga and Kidi, to Gani; but as it was necessary my men should go in disguise, I asked the king to send me four mbugu and two spears; when, with the liberality of a great king, he sent me twenty sheets of the former, four spears, and a load of sun-dried fish strung on a stick in shape of a shield.

27th. - At last something was done. One Uganda officer and one Kidi guide were sent to my hut by the king, as agreed upon yesterday, when I detached Mabruki and Bilal from my men, gave them letters and maps addressed to Petherick; and giving the officers a load of Mtende to pay their hotel bills on the way, I gave them, at the same time, strict orders to keep by the Nile; then, having dismissed them, I called on the king to make arrangements for Grant, and to complain that my residence in Uganda was anything but cheerful, as my hut was a mile from the palace, in an unhealthy place, where he kept his Arab visitors. It did not become my dignity to live in houses appropriated to persons in the rank of servants, which I considered the ivory merchants to be; and as I had come only to see him and the high officers of Uganda, not seeking for ivory or slaves, I begged he would change my place of residence to the west end, when I also trusted his officers would not be ashamed to visit me, as appeared to be the case at present. Silence being the provoking resort of the king, when he did not know exactly what to say, he made no answer to my appeal, but instead, he began a discourse on geography, and then desired me to call upon his mother, N'yamasore, at her palace Masorisori, vulgarly called Soli Soli, for she also required medicine; and, moreover, I was cautioned that for the future the Uganda court etiquette required I should attend on the king two days in succession, and every third day on his mother the queen-dowager, as such were their respective rights.

Till now, owing to the strict laws of the country, I had not been able to call upon anybody but the king himself.

Enter page number Go  Previous Next
Page 104 of 207
Words from 105300 to 106315 of 210958