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I gave Msalima a letter in the Kisuahili or coast language to convey to Rumanika, ordering all my property to be sent here, his account of the things as they left him to be given to Msalima to convey to the coast, while I sent him one pound of gunpowder as a sort of agency fee.
The first greetings of the king, delivered in good Kisuahili, were warm and affecting, and in an instant we both felt and saw we were in the company of men who were as unlike as they could be to the common order of the natives of the surrounding districts. They had fine oval faces, large eyes, and high noses, denoting the best blood of Abyssinia.
As K'yengo was supposed to know all about me, and spoke fluently both in Kiganda and Kisuahili, he had to speak first; but K'yengo, to everybody's surprise, said, "One white man wishes to go to Kamrasi's, whilst the other wishes to return through Unyamuezi."
A Kisuahili grammar, written by Dr. Krapf, will exemplify what I mean. There is one peculiarity, however, to which I would direct the attention of the reader most particularly, which is, that Wa prefixed to the essential word of a country, means men or people; M prefixed, means man or individual; U, in the same way, means place or locality; and Ki prefixed indicates the language.
The Wasuahili, or coast-people, by his description, are the bastards or mixed breeds who live on the east coast of Africa, extending from the Somali country to Zanzibar. Their language is Kisuahili; but there is no land Usuahili, though people talk of going to the Suahili in the same vague sense as they do of going to the Mashenzi, or amongst the savages.
Now were brought in some thirty-odd women for punishment and execution, which the king, who of late had been trying to learn Kisuahili, in order that we might be able to converse together, asked me, in that language, if I would like to have some of these women; and if so, how many? On my replying "One," he begged me to have my choice, and a very pretty one was selected.
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.
I found him sitting with his brothers, all playing in concert on flutes. I asked him, in Kisuahili, if he knew where Grant was? On replying in the negative, I proposed sending a letter, which he approved of; and Budja was again ordered to go with an army for Petherick. 22d. Mabruki and Bilal, with Budja, started to meet Petherick, and three more men, with another letter to Grant.
All slaves learn the coast language, called at Zanzibar Kisuahili; and therefore the traveller, if judicious in his selections, could find there interpreters to carry him throughout the eastern half of South Africa. To the north of the equator the system of language entirely changes.
It was granted, and he took a $50 letter on the coast, and a letter of emancipation for himself and family, besides an order, written in Kisuahili, for ten fundo of beads on Rumanika, which made him very happy.
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