The Party Of Turks Were Now Completely In My Power.
I sent for Eddrees,
and also for the king:
The latter had already heard from the natives of
the approach of the armed Turks, and of my interference. He refused to
appear in person, but sent his brother M'Gambi, who was, as usual, the
cat's-paw. M'Gambi was highly offended, and declared that Kamrasi had
forbidden Eddrees ever to appear again in his presence. I insisted upon
Eddrees apologizing, and it was resolved that all future negotiations
should be carried on through me alone.
I suggested that it would be advisable for all parties that a message
should be sent without delay to Ibrahim at Shooa, as it was highly
necessary that he should be present, as I should not continue
responsible for the conduct of the Turks. When I arrived in Unyoro it
was with the intention of visiting the lake, and returning immediately.
I had been delayed entirely through Kamrasi's orders, and I could not be
held responsible for Eddrees; - my agreement had been to guarantee the
conduct of the Turks under Ibrahim, who was the commander of the party.
Eddrees, who, being without ammunition, was now excessively humble and
wished for reinforcements, offered to send five men to Shooa, provided
that Kamrasi would allow some natives to accompany them. This did not
suit the ideas of the suspicious M'Gambi, who suspected that he intended
to misrepresent Kamrasi's conduct to prejudice Ibrahim against him.
Accordingly, he declined his offer, but agreed to give porters and
guides, should I wish to send any of my men with a letter. This suited
my views exactly; I longed to quit Kamrasi's country, as Kisoona was a
prison of high grass and inaction, and could I only return to Shooa, I
could pass my time pleasantly in a fine open country and healthy
climate, with the advantage of being five days' march nearer home than
Unyoro. Accordingly, I instructed my vakeel to write a letter to
Ibrahim, calling him immediately to Kisoona, informing him that a large
quantity of ivory was collected, which, should Eddrees create a
disturbance, would be lost. On the following morning, four of my men
started for Shooa, accompanied by a number of natives.
Kisoona relapsed into its former monotony-the war with Fowooka being
over, the natives, free from care, passed their time in singing and
drinking; it was next to impossible to sleep at night, as crowds of
people all drunk were yelling in chorus, blowing horns and beating drums
from sunset until morning. The women took no part in this amusement, as
it was the custom in Unyoro for the men to enjoy themselves in laziness,
while the women performed all the labour of the fields. Thus they were
fatigued, and glad to rest, while the men passed the night in uproarious
merriment. The usual style of singing was a rapid chant delivered as a
solo, while at intervals the crowd burst out in a deafening chorus
together with the drums and horns; the latter were formed of immense
gourds which, growing in a peculiar shape, with long bottle necks, were
easily converted into musical (?) instruments. Every now and then a cry
of fire in the middle of the night enlivened the ennui of our existence;
the huts were littered deep with straw, and the inmates, intoxicated,
frequently fell asleep with their huge pipes alight, which, falling in
the dry straw, at once occasioned a conflagration. In such cases the
flames spread from hut to hut with immense rapidity, and frequently four
or five hundred huts in Kamrasi's large camp were destroyed by fire, and
rebuilt in a few days. I was anxious concerning my powder, as, in the
event of fire, the blaze of the straw hut was so instantaneous that
nothing could be saved: should my powder explode, I should be entirely
defenceless. Accordingly, after a conflagration in my neighbourhood, I
insisted upon removing all huts within a circuit of thirty yards of my
dwelling: the natives demurring, I at once ordered my men to pull down
the houses, and thereby relieved myself from drunken and dangerous
neighbours.
Although we had been regularly supplied with beef by the king, we now
found it most difficult to procure fowls; the war with Fowooka had
occasioned the destruction of nearly all the poultry in the
neighbourhood of Kisoona, as Kamrasi and his kojoors (magicians) were
occupied with daily sacrifices, deducing prognostications of coming
events from the appearances of the entrails of the birds slain. The king
was surrounded by sorcerers, both men and women; these people were
distinguished from others by witch-like chaplets of various dried roots
worn upon the head; some of them had dried lizards, crocodiles' teeth,
lions' claws, minute tortoise-shells, &c. added to their collection of
charms. They could have subscribed to the witches' cauldron of Macbeth:
"Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork and blindworm's sting,
Lizard's leg and owlet's wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble."
On the first appearance of these women, many of whom were old and
haggard, I felt inclined to repeat Banquo's question: "What are these,
so withered and so wild in their attire, that look not like the
inhabitants o' the earth, and yet are on't? Live you? or are you aught
that man may question?"
In such witches and wizards Kamrasi and his people believed implicitly.
Bacheeta, and also my men, told me that when my wife was expected to die
during the attack of coup de soleil, the guide had procured a witch, who
had killed a fowl to question it, "Whether she would recover and reach
the lake?" The fowl in its dying struggle protruded its tongue, which
sign is considered affirmative; after this reply the natives had no
doubt of the result. These people, although far superior to the tribes
on the north of the Nile in general intelligence, had no idea of a
Supreme Being, nor any object of worship, their faith resting upon a
simple belief in magic like that of the natives of Madi and Obbo.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 141 of 175
Words from 143039 to 144074
of 178435
