Many Mendicant Women, Called By Some Wichwezi, By Others
Mabandwa, All Wearing The Most Fantastic Dresses Of Mbugu,
Covered With
Beads, shells, and sticks, danced before us, singing
a comic song, the chorus of which was a long shrill rolling
Coo-
roo-coo-roo, coo-roo-coo-roo, delivered as they came to a
standstill. Their true functions were just as obscure as the
religion of the negroes generally; some called them devil-
drivers, other evil-eye averters; but, whatever it was for, they
imposed a tax on the people, whose minds being governed by a
necessity for making some self-sacrifice to propitiate something,
they could not tell what, for their welfare in the world, they
always gave them a trifle in the same way as the East Indians do
their fakirs.
After crossing another low swampy flat, we reached a much larger
group, or rather ramification, of hill-spurs pointing to the
N'yanza, called Kisuere, and commanded by M'yombo, Rumanika's
frontier officer. Immediately behind this, to the northward,
commenced the kingdom of Unyoro; and here it was, they said,
Baraka would branch off my line on his way to Kamrasi. Maula's
home was one march distant from this, so the scoundrel now left
me to enjoy himself there, giving as his pretext for doing so,
that Mtesa required him, as soon as I arrived here, to send on a
messenger that order might be taken for my proper protection on
the line of march; for the Waganda were a turbulent set of
people, who could only be kept in order by the executioner; and
doubtless many, as was customary on such occasions, would be
beheaded, as soon as Mtesa heard of my coming, to put the rest in
a fright.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 343 of 767
Words from 94252 to 94543
of 210958
