with magic. Bombay, who was so incessantly bullied by
Baraka’s officious attempts to form party cliques opposed
to the interests of the journey, and get him turned out of
the camp, indiscreetly went to one of K’yengo’s men, and
asked him if he knew of any medicine that would affect
the hearts of the Wanguana so as to incline them towards
him; and on the sub-doctor saying Yes, Bombay gave
him some beads, and bought the medicine required, which,
put into a pot of pombd, was placed by Baraka’s side.
Baraka in the meanwhile got wind of the matter through
K’yengo, who, misunderstanding the true facts of the case,
said it was a charm to deprive Baraka of his life. A court
of inquiry having been convened, with all the parties concerned
in attendance, K’yengo’s mistake was discovered,
and Bombay was lectured for his folly, as he had a thousand
times before abjured his belief in such magical follies;
moreover, to punish him for the future, I took Baraka,
whenever I could, with me to visit the king, which, little
as it might appear to others, was of the greatest consequence
to the hostile parties.
15 th and 16 th.—When I next called on Rumanika I
gave him a Vautier’s binocular and prismatic compass; on
which he politely remarked he was afraid he was robbing
me of everything. More compliments went round, and
then he asked if it was true we could open a man’s skull,
look at his brains, and close it up again; also if it was
true we sailed all round the world into regions where
there was no difference between night and day, and how,
when we ploughed the seas in such enormous vessels as
would carry at once 20,000 men, we could explain to the
sailors what they ought to do; for, although he had heard
of these things, no one was able to explain them to him
After all the explanations were given, he promised me
a boat-hunt after the nzo6 in the morning; but when the
time came, as difficulties were raised, I asked him to allow
us to anticipate the arrival of Kachiichu, and march on to
Kitanguto. He answered, with his usual courtesy, That he
would be very glad to oblige us in any way that we liked;
but he feared that, as the Waganda were such superstitious
people, some difficulties would arise, and he must decline
to comply with our request. “ You must not,” he added,
“ expect ever to find again a reasonable man like myself.”
I then gave him a book on “ Kafir laws,” which he said he
would keep for my sake, with all the rest of the presents,
which he was determined never to give away, though
it was usual for him to send novelties of this sort to
Mtosa, king of Uganda, and Kamrasi, king of Unyoro, as
a friendly recognition of their superior positions in the
world of great monarchies.
17th.—-Rumanika next introduced me to an old woman
who came from the island of Gasi, situated in the little
Liita Nzige. Both her upper and lower incisors had been
extracted, and her upper lip perforated by a number of
small holes, extending in an arch from one comer to the
other. This interesting but ugly old lady narrated the
circumstances by which she had been enslaved, and then
sent by Kamrasi as a curiosity to Rumanika, who had ever
since kept her as a servant in his palace. A man from
Ruanda then told us of the Wily an wan tu (men-eaters),
who disdained all food but human flesh; and Rumanika
confirmed the statement. Though 1 felt very sceptical
about it, I could not help thinking it a curious coincidence
that the position they were said to occupy agreed with
Petherick’s Nyam Nyams (men-eaters).
Of far more interest were the results of a conversation
which I had with another of Kamrasi’s servants, a man of
Amara, as it threw some light upon certain statements
made by Mr Leon of the people of Amara being Christians'
He said they bore single holes in the centres both of their
upper and lower lips, as well as in the lobes of both of
their ears, in which they wear small brass rings. They
live near the N’yanza—-where it is connected by a strait