The Discovery of The Source of the Nile [140]
of time; but as the last one, only wounded, turned sharply upon me, I gave him the fifth and settled him. Great applause followed this wonderful feat, and the cows were given to my men. The king now loaded one of the carbines I had given him with his own hands, and giving it full-cock to a page, told him to go out and shoot a man in the outer court; which was no sooner accomplished than the little urchin returned to announce his success, with a look of glee such as one would see in the face of a boy who had robbed a bird's nest, caught a trout, or done any other boyish trick. The king said to him, "And did you do it well?" "Oh, yes, capitally." He spoke the truth, no doubt, for he dared not have trifled with the king; but the affair created hardly any interest. I never heard, and there appeared no curiosity to know, what individual human being the urchin had deprived of life.
The Wakungu were not dismissed, and I asked to draw near, when the king showed me a book I had given to Rumanika, and begged for the inspiring medicine which he had before applied for through the mystic stick. The day was now gone, so torches were lit, and we were ordered to go, though as yet I had not been able to speak one word I wished to impart about Petherick and Grant; for my interpreters were so afraid of the king they dared not open their mouths until they were spoken to. The king was now rising to go, when, in great fear and anxiety that the day would be lost, I said, in Kisuahili, "I wish you would send a letter by post to Grant, and also send a boat up the Kitangule, as far as Rumanika's palace, for him, for he is totally unable to walk." I thus attracted his notice, though he did not understand one word I uttered. The result was, that he waited for the interpretation, and replied that a post would be no use, for no one would be responsible for the safe delivery of the message; he would send N'yamgundu to fetch him, but he thought Rumanika would not consent to his sending boats up the Kitangule as far as the Little Windermere; and then, turning round with true Mganda impetuosity, he walked away without taking a word from me in exchange.
24th.--Early this morning the pages came to say Mtesa desired I would send him three of my Wanguaga to shoot cows before him. This was just what I wanted. It had struck me that personal conferences with me so roused the excitable king, that there was no bringing plain matters of business home to him; so, detaching seven men with Bombay, I told him, before shooting, to be sure and elicit the matter I wanted--which was, to excite the king's cupidity by telling him I had a boat full of stores with two white men at Gani, whom I wished to call to me if he would furnish some guides to accompany my men; and further, as Grant could not walk, I wished boats sent for him, at least as far as the ferry on the Kitangule, to which place Rumanika, at any rate, would slip him down in canoes. At once, on arriving, Mtesa admitted the men, and ordered them to shoot at some cows; but Bombay, obeying my orders to first have his talk out, said, No-- before he could shoot he must obey master and deliver his message; which no sooner was told than the king, in a hurry, excited by the prospects of sport, impatiently said, "Very good; I will send men either by water or overland through Kidi,[FN#19] just as your master likes; only some of his men had better go with mine: but now shoot cows, shoot cows; for I want to see how the Waguana shoot." They shot seven, and all were given to them when they were dismissed. In the evening the pages came to ask me if I would like to shoot kites in the palace with their king; but I declined shooting anything less than elephants, rhinoceros, or buffaloes; and even for these I would not go out unless the king went with me; --a dodge I conceived would tend more than any other to bring us together, and so break through those ceremonial restraints of the court, which at present were stopping all pans of progression.
25th.--The king invited me to shoot with him--really buffaloes--
The Wakungu were not dismissed, and I asked to draw near, when the king showed me a book I had given to Rumanika, and begged for the inspiring medicine which he had before applied for through the mystic stick. The day was now gone, so torches were lit, and we were ordered to go, though as yet I had not been able to speak one word I wished to impart about Petherick and Grant; for my interpreters were so afraid of the king they dared not open their mouths until they were spoken to. The king was now rising to go, when, in great fear and anxiety that the day would be lost, I said, in Kisuahili, "I wish you would send a letter by post to Grant, and also send a boat up the Kitangule, as far as Rumanika's palace, for him, for he is totally unable to walk." I thus attracted his notice, though he did not understand one word I uttered. The result was, that he waited for the interpretation, and replied that a post would be no use, for no one would be responsible for the safe delivery of the message; he would send N'yamgundu to fetch him, but he thought Rumanika would not consent to his sending boats up the Kitangule as far as the Little Windermere; and then, turning round with true Mganda impetuosity, he walked away without taking a word from me in exchange.
24th.--Early this morning the pages came to say Mtesa desired I would send him three of my Wanguaga to shoot cows before him. This was just what I wanted. It had struck me that personal conferences with me so roused the excitable king, that there was no bringing plain matters of business home to him; so, detaching seven men with Bombay, I told him, before shooting, to be sure and elicit the matter I wanted--which was, to excite the king's cupidity by telling him I had a boat full of stores with two white men at Gani, whom I wished to call to me if he would furnish some guides to accompany my men; and further, as Grant could not walk, I wished boats sent for him, at least as far as the ferry on the Kitangule, to which place Rumanika, at any rate, would slip him down in canoes. At once, on arriving, Mtesa admitted the men, and ordered them to shoot at some cows; but Bombay, obeying my orders to first have his talk out, said, No-- before he could shoot he must obey master and deliver his message; which no sooner was told than the king, in a hurry, excited by the prospects of sport, impatiently said, "Very good; I will send men either by water or overland through Kidi,[FN#19] just as your master likes; only some of his men had better go with mine: but now shoot cows, shoot cows; for I want to see how the Waguana shoot." They shot seven, and all were given to them when they were dismissed. In the evening the pages came to ask me if I would like to shoot kites in the palace with their king; but I declined shooting anything less than elephants, rhinoceros, or buffaloes; and even for these I would not go out unless the king went with me; --a dodge I conceived would tend more than any other to bring us together, and so break through those ceremonial restraints of the court, which at present were stopping all pans of progression.
25th.--The king invited me to shoot with him--really buffaloes--