We Were All
Three Kings To Do With Our Subjects As We Liked, And For This
Reason The Deserters Ought To Be Sent On Here; But If I Wished To
Speak To The Waganda, He Would Call Their Officer.
There was no
fear, he said, about Bombay; he was on his way; but the men who
were escorting him were spinning out the time, stopping at every
place, and feasting every day.
To-morrow, he added, some more
Gani people would arrive here, when we should know more about it.
I still advised Kamrasi to give the road to Mtesa provided he
gave up plundering the Wanyoro of women and cattle; but if my
counsel was listened to, I could get no acknowledgment that it
was so.
23d and 24th. - I sent to inquire what news there was of Bombay's
coming, and what measures Kamrasi had taken to call the Waganda's
chief officer and my deserters here; as also to beg he would send
us specimens of all the various tribes that visit him, in order
that me might draw them. He sent four loads of dried fish, with
a request for my book of birds again, as it contains a portrait
of king Mtesa, and proposed seeing us at the newly-constructed
Kafu palace to-morrow, when all requests would be attended to.
In the meanwhile, we were told that Bombay had been seen on his
way returning from Gani; and the Waganda had all run away
frightened, because they were told the Kidi and Chopi visitors,
who had been calling on Kamrasi lately, were merely the nucleus
of an army forming to drive them away, and to subdue Uganda.
Mtesa was undergoing the coronation formalities, and for this
reason had sent the deserters to Kari's hill, giving them cows
and a garden to live on, as no visitors can remain near the court
while the solemnities of the coronation were going on. The
thirty-odd brothers will be burnt to death, saving two or three,
of which one will be sent into this country - as was the case with
one of the late king Sunna's brothers, who is still in Unyoro -
and the others will remain in the court with Mtesa as playfellows
until the king dies, when, like Sunna's two brothers still living
in Uganda, one at N'yama Goma and one at Ngambezi, they will be
pensioned off. After the coronation is concluded, it is expected
Mtesa will go into Kittari, on the west of Uganda, to fight
first, and then, turning east, will fight with the Wasoga; but we
think if he fights anywhere, it will be with Kamrasi.
25th and 26th. - I sent Frij to the palace to inquire after
Bombay, and got the usual reply: "Why is Bana in such a hurry?
He is always for doing things quickly. Tell my 'brother' to keep
his mind at rest; Bombay is now on the boundary of Gani coming
here, and will in due course arrive." Both Rumanika's men and
those belonging to Dr K'yengo asked Kamrasi's leave to return to
their homes, but were refused, because the road was unsafe.
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