The Guns, Of Course, I Shall Want Again At Some Other
Time, When I Will Send One Of My English
Children to visit him;
for now Kamrasi has opened his country to us, and given us leave
to come and
Purchase ivory, I never shall be very far away." I
gave them three pills for Budja, blistered two of the pages, and
started the whole merrily off, Kasoro asking me to send Mtesa
some pretty things from England such as he never saw.
1st. - Kamrasi sent his commander-in-chief to inquire after my
health, and to say Budja had left in fear and trembling lest
Mtesa should cut all their heads off for failing in the mission;
but he had sent Kidgwiga's brother with a pot of pombe to escort
the Waganda beyond his frontier, and cheer them on the way; for
the tin cartridge-box, he thought, would save their lives by
satisfying Mtesa they had seen me. The commander-in-chief then
told me Kamrasi did not wish them to accompany me through Kidi
for the Kidi people don't like the Waganda, and, discovering
their nationality by the fullness of their teeth, would bring
trouble on us whilst trying to kill them. I said I thanked
Kamrasi for his having treated the Waganda with such marked
respect, in allowing them to see me, and sending them back with
an escort; but I thought it would have been better if he had
spoken the truth plainly out, for then I could have told them I
feared to have them in company with me. In return for my
civilities, the king then send one of his chopi officers to see
me, who went four stages with Bombay, and he also sent some rich
beads which he wished me to look at. They were nicely kept in a
neat though very large casing of rush pith, and were those sent
as a letter from Gani, to inform him that we were expected to
come via Karague. After this, to keep us in good-humour, Kamrasi
sent to inform us that some Gani men, twenty-five in number, had
just arrived, and had given him a lion-skin, several tippet
monkey-skins, and some giraffe hair, as well as a stick of copper
or brass wire. Bombay was met by them on the confines of Gani.
2d. - The king sent me a pot of pombe to-day, inquiring after my
health, and saying he would like to take the medicine I gave him
if I would send Frij over to administer it, but he would be
ashamed to swallow pills before me. Hitherto he had not been
able to take the medicine from press of business in collecting an
army to fight his brothers; but as his troops would all leave for
war to-day, he expected to have leisure.
In plying the Kamraviona to try if we could get rid of the
annoying restraints which made our residence here a sort of
imprisonment, I discovered that the whole affair was not one of
blunder or accident, but that we actually were prisoners thus be
design.
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