14th. - -Kamrasi Sent Me Four Parcels Of Coffee, Very Neatly
Enclosed In Rush Pith.
15th. - Getting more impatient, and desirous to move on at any
sacrifice, I proposed giving up all claims to my muskets, as well
as the present of cows from Mtesa, if Kamrasi would give us boats
to Gani at once; but the reply was simply, Why be in such a
hurry?
16th. - The Kamraviona was sent to us with a load of coffee, which
Kamrasi had purchased with cowries, and to inquire how we had
slept. Very badly, was the reply, because we knew Bombay would
have been back long ago if Kamrasi was not concealing him
somewhere, and we did not know what he was doing with deserters
and Waganda. Kamrasi then wanted us to paint his mbugu cloths in
different patterns and colours; but we sent him instead six
packages of red-ink powder, and got abused for sauciness. He
then wanted black ink, else how could he put on the red with
taste; but we had none to give him. Next, he asked leave for my
men to shoot cows, before his Kidi visitors, which they did to
his satisfaction, instructing him at the same time to fire powder
with his own rifle; when, triumphant with his success, he
protested he would never use anything but guns again, and threw
away his spear as useless. Bombay, we learned, had reached Gani,
and ought to return in eight days.
17th and 18th. - A large party of Chopi people arrived, by
Kamrasi's orders, to tell the reason which induced them to apply
for guns to the white men at Gani, as it appeared evident they
must have wished to fight their king. The Kidi visitors got
broken heads for helping themselves from the Wanyoro's fields,
and when they cried out against such treatment, were told they
should rob the king, if they wished to rob at all.
19th. - Nothing was done because Kamrasi was dismissing his Kidi
guests, 200, with presents of cows and women.
20th. - Having asked Kamrasi to return my pictures, he sent the
book of birds, but not of animals; and said he could not see us
until a new hut was built, because the old one was flooded by the
Kafu, which had been rising several days. We must not, he said,
talk about Bombay any more, because everybody said he was
detained by the N'yanswenge (Petherick's party), and would return
here with the new moon. I would not accept the lie, saying, How
can my "children" at Gani detain my messengers, when they have
received strict orders from me by letter to send an answer
quickly? It was all Kamrasi's doing, for he had either hidden
Bombay, or ordered his officers to take him slowly, as he did us,
stopping four days at each stage.
Frij again told me he was present when Said Said, the Sultan of
Zanzibar, sent an army to assist the Wagunya at Amu, on the
coast, against the incursions of the Masai. These Amu people
have the same Wahuma features as Kamrasi, whom they also resemble
both in general physical appearance, and in many of them having
circular marks, as if made by cautery, on the forehead and
temples. These marks I took not to be tatooing or decorative,
but as a cure for disease - cautery being a favourite remedy with
both races.
The battle lasted only two days, though the Masai brought a
thousand spears against the Arabs' cannon. But this was not the
only battle Said Said had to fight on those grounds; for some
years previously he had to subdue the Waziwa, who live on very
marshy land, into respect for his sovereignty, when the battle
lasted years, in consequence of the bad nature of the ground, and
the trick the Waziwa had of staking the ground with spikes. The
Wasuahili, or coast-people, by his description, are the bastards
or mixed breeds who live on the east coast of Africa, extending
from the Somali country to Zanzibar. Their language is Kisuahili;
but there is no land Usuahili, though people talk of going to the
Suahili in the same vague sense as they do of going to the
Mashenzi, or amongst the savages. The common story amongst the
Wasuahili at Zanzibar, in regard to the government of that
island, was, that the Wakhadim, or aborigines of Zanzibar, did
not like the oppressions of the Portuguese, and therefore allied
themselves to the Arabs of Muscat - even compromising their
natural birthright of freedom in government, provided the Arabs,
by their superior power, would secure to them perpetual equity,
peace and justice. The senior chief, Sheikh Muhadim, was the
mediator on their side, and without his sanction no radial
changes compromising the welfare of the land could take place;
the system of arbitration being, that the governing Arab on the
one side, and the deputy of the Wakhadim on the other, should
hold conference with a screen placed between them, to obviate all
attempts at favour, corruption, or bribery.
The former report of the approach of my men, with as many Waganda
and cows for me, turned out partly false, inasmuch as only one of
my men was with 102 Waganda, whilst the whole of the deserters
were left behind in Uganda with cows; and Kamrasi hearing this,
ordered all to go back again until the whole of my men should
arrive.
21st. - I was told how a Myoro woman, who bore twins that died,
now keeps two small pots in her house, as effigies of the
children, into which she milks herself every evening, and will
continue to do so five months, fulfilling the time appointed by
nature for suckling children, lest the spirits of the dead should
persecute her. The twins were not buried, as ordinary people are
buried, under ground, but placed in an earthenware pot, such as
the Wanyoro use for holding pombe. They were taken to the jungle
and placed by a tree, with the pot turned mouth downwards.
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