On Inquiring How I
Could Best Deal With My Difficult Charge, I Was Told The Wahuma
Pride Was So Great, And Their Tempers So Strong, They Were More
Difficult To Break In Than A Phunda, Or Donkey, Though When Once
Tamed, They Became The Best Of Wives.
31st. - I wished to call upon the queen and thank her for her
charming present, but my hungry men drove me to the king's palace
in search of food.
The gun firing brought Mtesa out, prepared
for a shooting trip, with his Wakungu leading, the pages carrying
his rifle and ammunition, and a train of women behind. The first
thing seen outside the palace gate was a herd of cows, from which
four were selected and shot at fifty paces by the king, firing
from his shoulder, amidst thunders of applause and hand-shakings
of the elders. I never saw them dare touch the king's hand
before. Then Mtesa, turning kindly to me, said, "Pray take a
shot"; but I waived the offer off, saying he could kill better
himself. Ambitious of a cut above cows, the king tried his hand
at some herons perched on a tree, and, after five or six
attempts, hit one in the eye. Hardly able to believe in his own
skill, he stood petrified at first, and then ran madly to the
fallen bird, crying, "Woh, woh, woh! can this be? - is it true?
Woh, woh!" He jumped in the air, and all his men and women
shouted in concert with him.
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