The Discovery of The Source of the Nile by John Hanning Speke  






 -   He
thus assisted me in the protractions of the map, to the countries
which lie east and west of the - Page 138
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He Thus Assisted Me In The Protractions Of The Map, To The Countries Which Lie East And West Of The Route.

Shortly after starting this morning, we were summoned by the last officer on the Urigi to take breakfast with him, as he could not allow us to pass by without paying his respects to the king's guests.

He was a man of most affable manners, and loth we should part company without one night's entertainment at least; but as it was a matter of necessity, he gave us provisions to eat on the way, adding, at the same time, he was sorry he could not give more, as a famine was then oppressing the land. We parted with reiterated compliments on both sides; and shortly after, diving into the old bed of the Urigi, were constantly amused with the variety of game which met our view. On several occasions the rhinoceros were so numerous and impudent as to contest the right of the road with us, and the greatest sport was occasioned by our bold Wanguana going at them in parties of threes and fours, when, taking good care of themselves at considerable distances, they fired their carbines all together, and whilst the rhinoceros ran one way, they ran the other. Whilst we were pitching our tents after sunset by some pools on the plain, Dr K'yengo arrived with the hongo of brass and copper wires sent by Suwarora for the great king Mtesa, in lieu of his daughter who died; so next morning we all marched together on to Uthenga.

Rising out of the bed of the Urigi, we passed over a low spur of beef-sandwich clay sandstones, and descended into the close, rich valley of Uthenga, bound in by steep hills hanging over us more than a thousand feet high, as prettily clothed as the mountains of Scotland; whilst in the valley there were not only magnificent trees of extraordinary height, but also a surprising amount of the richest cultivation, amongst which the banana may be said to prevail. Notwithstanding this apparent richness in the land, the Wanyambo, living in their small squalid huts, seem poor. The tobacco they smoke is imported from the coffee-growing country of Uhaiya. After arrival in the village, who should we see but the Uganda officer, Irungu! The scoundrel, instead of going on to Uganda, as he had promised to do, conveying my present to Mtesa, had stopped here plundering the Wanyambo, and getting drunk on their pombe, called, in their language, marwa - a delicious kind of wine made from the banana. He, or course, begged for more beads; but, not able to trick me again, set his drummers and fifers at work, in hopes that he would get over our feelings in that way.

Henceforth, as we marched, Irungu's drummers and fifers kept us alive on the way. This we heard was a privilege that Uganda Wakungu enjoyed both at home and abroad, although in all other countries the sound of the drum is considered a notice of war, unless where it happens to accompany a dance or festival.

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