manika, the spoils were brought into court, and in utter
astonishment he said, “ Well, this must have been done
with something more potent than powder, for neither the
Arabs nor Nnanaji, although they talk of their shooting
powers, could have accomplished such a great feat as this.
It is no wonder the English are the greatest men in the
world.”
Neither the Wanyambo nor the Wahiima would eat the
rhinoceros, so I was not sorry to find all the Wanyamiibzi
porters of the Arabs at Kufro, on hearing of the sport,
come over and carry away all the flesh. They passed by
our camp half borne down with their burdens of sliced
flesh, suspended from poles which they carried on their
shoulders; but the following day I was disgusted by
hearing that their masters had forbidden their eating
“ the carrion,” as the throats of the animals had not been
cut; and, moreover, had thrashed them soundly because
they complained they were half starved, which was perfectly
true, by the poor food that they got as their pay.
12 th.—On visiting Rtimanika again, and going through
my geographical lessons, he told me, in confirmation of
Musa’s old stories, that in Ruanda there existed pigmies
who lived in trees, but occasionally came down at
night, and, listening at the hut doors of the men, would
wait until they heard the name of one of its inmates,
when they would call him out, and, firing an arrow into
his heart, disappear again in the same way as they came.
But, more formidable even than these little men, there
were monsters who could not converse with men, and
never showed themselves unless they saw women pass
b y ; then, in voluptuous excitement, they squeezed them
to death. Many other similar stories were then told,
when I, wishing to go, was asked if I could kill hippopotami.
Having answered that I could, the king graciously
said he would order some canoes for me next morning;
and as I declined because Grant could not accompany me,
as a terrible disease had broken out in his leg, he ordered
a pig-shooting party. Agreeably with this, the next day
I went out with his sons, numerously attended; but
although we beat the covers all day, the rain was so
frequent the pigs would not bolt.
1 4 th. After a long and amusing conversation with
Rümanika in the morning, I called on one of his sisters-
in-law, married to an elder brother who was bom before
Dagara ascended, the throne. She was another of those
wonders of obesity, unable to s t a n d .excepting on all fours.
I was desirous to obtain a good view of her, and actually
to measure her, and induced her to give me facilities for
doing so, by offering in return to show her a bit of my
naked legs and arms. The bait took as I wished it, and
after getting her to sidle and wriggle into the middle of
the hut, I did as I promised, and then took her dimensions,
as noted below."“’ All of these are exact except
the height, and I believe I could have obtained this
more accurately if I could have had her laid on the
floor. Not knowing what difficulties I should have to
contend with in such a piece of engineering, I tried to get
her height by raising her up. This, after infinite exertions
on the part of us both, was accomplished, when she sank
down again, fainting, for her blood had rushed into her
head. Meanwhile, the daughter, a lass of sixteen, sat
stark-naked before us, sucking at a milk-pot, on which the
father kept her at work by holding a rod in his hand, for
as fattening is the first duty of fashionable female life, it
must be duly enforced by the rod if necessary. I got up
a bit of flirtation with missy, and induced her to rise and
shake hands with me. Her features were lovely, but her
body was as round as a ball.
In the evening we had another row with my head men
—Baraka having accused Bombay of trying to kill him
* Round arm, 1 f t 11 in. ; chest, 4 f t 4 in. ; thigh, 2 ft. 7 in. ; calf, 1 f t
8 in. ; height, 5 ft. 8 m.