Kidgwiga's Party Sacrificed Two Kids, One On Either Side The
River, Flaying Them With One Long Cut Each Down Their Breasts And
Bellies.
These animals were then, spread-eagle fashion, laid on
their backs upon grass and twigs, to be steeped over
By the
travellers, that their journey might be prosperous; and the spot
selected for the ordeal was chosen in deference to the Mzimu, or
spirit - a sort of wizard or ecclesiastical patriarch, whose
functions were devoted to the falls.
After a soaking night, we were kept waiting till noon for the
forty porters ordered by Kamrasi, to carry our property to the
vessels wherever they might be. Only twenty-five men arrived,
notwithstanding the wife and one slave belonging to a local
officer, who would not supply the men required of him, were
seized and confiscated by Ukero, of Wire. We now mustered twenty
Wanguana, twenty-five country porters, and thirty-one of
Kidgwiga's "children" - making a total, with ourselves, of
seventy-eight souls. By a late arrival a message came from
Kamrasi. Its import was, that we must defer the march, as it was
reported the refractory brother Rionga harboured designs of
molesting us on the way, and therefore the king conceived it
prudent to clear the road by first fighting him. Without heeding
this cunning advice, we made a short march across swamps, and
through thick jungle and long grasses, which proved anything but
pleasant - wet and labouring hard all the way.
It was a rainy day, and we had still to toil on fighting with the
grasses.
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