They
Are All Now Taking Presents Of Cows From Kamrasi, And Going To
Their Homes, And, As Soon As They Are Disposed Of, Your Turn Will
Come."
16th. - We kept quiet all day, to see what effect that would have
upon the king.
Kidgwiga told us that, when he was a lad, Kamrasi
sent him with a large party of Wanyoro to visit a king who lived
close to a high mountain, two months' journey distant, to the
east or south-east of this, and beg for a magic horn, as that
king's doctor was peculiarly famed for his skill as a magician.
The party carried with them 600 majembe (iron spades), two of
which expended daily paid for their board and lodgings on the
way. The horn applied for was sent by a special messenger to
Kamrasi, who, in return, sent one of his horns; from which date,
the two kings, whenever one of them wishes to communicate with
the other, sends, on the messenger's neck, the horn that had been
given him, which both serves for credentials and security, as no
one dare touch a Mbakka with one of these horns upon his neck.
A common source of conversation among our men now was the
desertion of their comrades, all fancying how bitterly they would
repent it when they heard how we had succeeded, eating beef every
day; and Uledi now, in a joking manner, abused Mektub for having
urged him to desert. He would not leave Bana, and if he had not
stopped, Mektub would have gone, for they both served one master
at Zanzibar, and therefore were like brothers; whilst Mektub,
laughing over the matter as if it were a good joke, said, "I
packed up my things to go, it is true; but I reflected if I got
back to the coast Said Majid would only make a slave of me
again." M'yinzuggi, the head of Rumanika's party, gave me to-day
a tippet monkey-skin in return for the cow I had given him on the
14th.
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