and at the same time regretted, much to his amusement,
that he, as one of the old stock of Abyssinians, -who are
the oldest Christians on record, should have forgotten
this rite; but I hoped the time would come when, by
making it known that his tribe had lapsed into a state
of heathenism, white teachers would be induced to set it
all to rights again. At this time some Wahaiya traders
(who had been invited at my request by Rumanika)
arrived. Like the Waziwa, they had traded with Kidi,
and they not only confirmed what the Waziwa had said,
but added that, when trading in those distant parts, they
heard of Wanguana coming in vessels to trade to the
north of Unyoro; but the natives there were so savage,
they only fought with these foreign traders. A man of
Ruanda now informed us that the cowrie-shells, so plentiful
in that country, come there from the other or western
side, but he could not tell whence they were originally
obtained. Rumanika then told me Sfiwarora had been so
frightened by the Watuta, and their boastful threats to
demolish Usui bit by bit, reserving him only as a tit-bit
for the end, that he wanted a plot of ground in Karague
to preserve his property in.
26th, 27th, and 28th.—Some other travellers from the
north again informed us that they had heard of Wangfiana
who attempted to trade in Gani and Chopi, but were
killed by the natives. I now assured Rumanika that in
two or three years he would have a greater trade with
Egypt than he ever could have with Zanzibar; for when
I opened the road, all those men he heard of would
swarm up here to visit him. He, however, only laughed
at my folly in proposing to go to a place of which all I
heard was merely that every stranger who went there was
killed. He began to show a disinclination to allow my
going there, and though from the most friendly intention,
this view was alarming, for one word from him could
have ruined my projects. As it was, I feared my followers
might take fright and refuse to advance with me.
I thought it good policy to talk of there being many roads
leading through Africa, so that Rumanika might see he
had not got, as he thought, the sole key to the interior.
I told bim again of certain views I once held of coming
to see him from the north up the Nile, and from the east
through the Masai. He observed that, “ To open either
of those routes, you would require at least two hundred
guns.” He would, however, do something when we returned
from Uganda; for as Mtdsa followed his advice
in everything, so did Kamrasi, for both held the highest
opinion of him.
The conversation then turning on London, and the
way men and carriages moved up the streets like strings
of ants on their migrations, Rumanika said the villages
in Ruanda were of enormous extent, and the people great
sportsmen, for they turned out in multitudes, with small
dogs on whose necks were tied bells, and blowing horns
themselves, to hunt leopards. They were, however, highly
superstitious, and would not allow any strangers to enter
their country; for some years ago, when some Arabs went
there, a great drought and famine set in, which they attributed
to evil influences brought by them, and, turning
them out of their country, said they would never admit
any of their like amongst them again. I said, in return,
I thought his Wanyambo just as superstitious, for I observed,
whilst walking one day, that they had placed a
gourd on the path, and on inquiry found they had done
so to gain the sympathy of all passers-by to their crop
close at hand, which was blighted, imagining that the
voice of the sympathiser heard by the spirits would induce
them to relent, and restore a healthy tone to the
crop.
During this time an interesting case was brought before
us for judgment. Two men having married one woman,
laid claim to her child, which, as it was a male one, be