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 attitude 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 aprons trimmed with little bells,
diminutive shields and spears set off with cock-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.
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