possible by those officers who love their king, and delight
in promptly carrying out his orders. Young virgins, the
daughters of Wakungft, stark naked, and smeared with
grease, but holding, for decency’s sake, a small square of
mbugu at the upper comers in both hands before them,
are presented by their fathers in propitiation for some
offence, and to fill the harem. Seizing-officers receive
orders to hunt down WakungO. who have committed
some indiscretions, and to confiscate their lands, wives,
children, and property. An officer observed to salute
informally is ordered for execution, when everybody near
him rises in an instant, the drums beat, drowning his cries,
and the victim of carelessness is dragged off, bound by
cords, by a dozen men at once. Another man, perhaps,
exposes an inch of naked leg whilst squatting, or has his
mbiigii tied contrary to regulations, and is condemned to
the same fate.
Fines of cows, goats, and fowls are brought in and
presented ; they are smoothed down by the offender’s
hands, and then applied to his face, to show there is no
evil spirit lurking in the g ift; then thanks are proffered
for the leniency of the king in letting the presenter off
so cheaply, and the pardoned man retires, full of smiles,
to the ranks of the squatters. Thousands of cattle, and
strings of women and children, sometimes the result of
a victorious plundering hunt, or else the accumulated
seizures from refractory Wakungti, are brought in; for
there is no more common or acceptable offering to appease
the king’s wrath towards any refractory or blundering
officer than a present of a few young beauties, who
may perhaps be afterwards given as the reward of good
service to other officers.
Stick-charms, being pieces of wood of all shapes, supposed
to have supernatural virtues, and coloured earths,
endowed with similar qualities, are produced by the royal
magicians. The master of the hunt exposes his spoils—
such as antelopes, cats, porcupines, curious rats, &c., all
caught in nets, and placed in baskets—zebra, lion, and
buffalo skins being added. The fishermen bring their
spoils; also the gardeners. The cutlers show knives and
forks made of iron inlaid with brass and copper; the furriers,
most beautifully-sewn patchwork of antelopes’ skins;
the habit-maker, sheets of mbfigii bark-cloth; the blacksmith,
spears; the maker of shields, his productions;—and
so forth; but nothing is ever given without rubbing it
down, then rubbing the face, and going through a long
form of salutation for the gracious favour the king has
shown in accepting it.
When tired of business, the king rises, spear in hand,
and, leading his dog, walks off without word or comment,
leaving his company, like dogs, to take care of themselves.
Strict as the discipline of the exterior court is, that
of the interior is not less severe. The pages all wear
turbans of cord made from aloe fibres. Should a wife
commit any trifling indiscretion, either by word or deed,
she is condemned to execution on the spot, bound by the
pages and dragged out. Notwithstanding the stringent
laws for the preservation of decorum by all male attendants,
stark-naked full-grown women are the valets.
On the first appearance of the new moon every month,
the king shuts himself up, contemplating and arranging
his magic horns—the horns of wild animals stuffed with
charm-powder—for two or three days. These may be
counted his Sundays or church festivals, which he dedicates
to devotion. On other days he takes his women,
some hundreds, to bathe or sport in ponds;. or, when tired
of that, takes long walks, his women running after him,
when all the musicians fall in, take precedence of the
party, followed by the Wakungti and pages, with the king
in the centre of the procession, separating the male company
from the fair sex. On these excursions no common