Will you walk to our village, and rest yourselves
under the shade of our trees until we can send messengers to Kawanga?"
"No; the sun is but an hour high, and we have far to travel;
but, in order to show you we do not seek to pass through your
country without doing that which is right, we will rest where we
now stand, and we will send with your messengers two of our
soldiers, who will show you the man to whom we paid the cloth."
The messengers departed; but, in the meantime, the handsome youth,
who turned out to be the nephew of the King, whispered some order
to a lad, who immediately hastened away, with the speed of an
antelope, to the cluster of villages which we had just passed. The
result of this errand, as we saw in a short time, was the approach
of a body of warriors, about fifty in number, headed by a tall,
fine-looking man, who was dressed in a crimson robe called Joho,
two ends of which were tied in a knot over the left shoulder; a
new piece of American sheeting was folded like a turban around his
head, and a large curved piece of polished ivory was suspended to
his neck. He and his people were all armed with spears, and bows
and arrows, and their advance was marked with a deliberation that
showed they felt confidence in any issue that might transpire.
We were halted on the eastern side of the Pombwe stream, near the
village of Lukomo, in Kimenyi, Uhha. The gorgeously-dressed chief
was a remarkable man in appearance. His face was oval in form,
high cheek-bones, eyes deeply sunk, a prominent and bold forehead,
a fine nose, and a well-cut mouth; he was tall in figure, and
perfectly symmetrical.
When near to us, he hailed me with the words,
"Yambo, bana? - How do you do, master?" in quite a cordial
tone.
I replied cordially also, "Yambo, mutware? - How do you do, chief?"
We, myself and men, interchanged "Yambos" with his warriors; and
there was nothing in our first introduction to indicate that the
meeting was of a hostile character.
The chief seated himself, his haunches resting on his heels, laying
down his bow and arrows by his side; his men did likewise.
I seated myself on a bale, and each of my men sat down on their
loads, forming quite a semicircle. The Wahha slightly outnumbered
my party; but, while they were only armed with bows and arrows,
spears, and knob-sticks, we were armed with rifles, muskets,
revolvers, pistols, and hatchets.
All were seated, and deep silence was maintained by the assembly.
The great plains around us were as still in this bright noon as if
they were deserted of all living creatures.
