Much Delighted, He Said He Would
Be Very Glad To Give Me Two Boys For That Purpose.
Then, changing the subject, I pressed Rumanika, as he said he had
no idea of a God or future state, to tell me what advantage he
expected from sacrificing a cow yearly at his father's grave.
He
laughingly replied he did not know, but he hoped he might be
favoured with better crops if he did so. He also place pombe and
grain, he said, for the same reason, before a large stone on the
hillside, although it could not eat, or make any use of it; but
the coast-men were of the same belief as himself, and so were all
the natives. No one in Africa, as far as he knew, doubted the
power of magic and spells; and if a fox barked when he was
leading an army to battle, he would retire at once, knowing that
this prognosticated evil. There were many other animals, and
lucky and unlucky birds, which all believed in.
I then told him it was fortunate he had no disbelievers like us
to contend with in battle, for we, instead of trusting to luck
and such omens, put our faith only in skill and pluck, which
Baraka elucidated from his military experience in the wars in
British India. Lastly, I explained to him how England formerly
was as unenlightened as Africa, and believing in the same sort of
superstitions, and the inhabitants were all as naked as his skin-
wearing Wanyambo; but now, since they had grown wiser, and saw
through such impostures, they were the greatest men in the world.
He said, for the future he would disregard what the Arabs said,
and trust to my doctrines, for without doubt he had never seen
such a wise man as myself; and the Arabs themselves confirmed
this when they told him that all their beads and cloths came from
the land of the Wazungu, or white men.
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