His Men Had Now Been Shot; To Go Within His
Reach Would Be Certain Death.
Argument was useless, boating
slow, to send messages worse; so I gave in, turned my back on the
Nile, and the following day (16th) came on the Luajerri.
Here, to my intense surprise, I heard that Grant's camp was not
far off, on its return from Kamrasi's. I could not, rather would
not, believe it, suspicious as it now appeared after my reverse.
The men, however, were positive, and advised my going to king
Mtesa's - a ridiculous proposition, at once rejected; for I had
yet to receive Kamrasi's answer to our Queen, about opening a
trade with England. I must ascertain why he despised Englishmen
without speaking with them, and I could not believe Kamrasi would
prove less avaricious than either Rumanika or Mtesa, especially
as Rumanika had made himself responsible for our actions. We
slept that night near Kari, the Waganda eating two goats which
had been drowned in the Luajerri; and the messenger-page, having
been a third time to the palace and back again, called to ask
after our welfare, on behalf of his king, and remind us about the
gun and brandy promised.
17th and 18th. - The two following days were spent wandering about
without guides, trying to keep the track Grant had taken after
leaving us, crossing at first a line of small hills, then
traversing grass and jungle, like the dak of India. Plantain-
gardens were frequently met, and the people seemed very
hospitably inclined, though they complained sadly of the pages
rudely rushing into every hut, seizing everything they could lay
their hands on, and even eating the food which they had just
prepared for their own dinners, saying, in a mournful manner, "If
it were not out of respect for you we should fight those little
rascals, for it is not the king's guest nor his men who do us
injury, but the king's own servants, without leave or licence."
I observed that special bomas or fences were erected to protect
these villages against the incursions of lions. Buffaloes were
about, but the villagers cautioned us not to shoot them, holding
them as sacred animals; and, to judge from the appearance of the
country, wild animals should abound, were it not for the fact
that every Mganda seems by instinct to be a sportsman.
At last, after numerous and various reports about Grant, we heard
his drums last night, but we arrived this morning just in time to
be too late. He was on his march back to the capital of Uganda,
as the people had told us, and passed through N'yakinyama just
before I reached it. What had really happened I knew not, and
was puzzled to think. To insist on a treaty, demanding an
answer, to the Queen, seemed the only chance left; so I wrote to
Grant to let me know all about it, and waited the result. He
very obligingly came himself, said he left Unyoro after stopping
there an age asking for the road without effect, and left by the
orders of Kamrasi, thinking obedience the better policy to obtain
our ends.
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