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One of my men, Sangoro, did not return to camp last night from foraging; and as my men suspect the Waganda must have murdered him, I told the Kamraviona, requesting him to find out; but he coolly said, "Look for him yourselves two days more, for Wanguana often make friends with our people, and so slip away from their masters; but as they are also often murdered, provided you cannot find him in that time, we will have the Mganga out."
Three goats were stolen, and suspicion falling on the king's cooks, who are expert foragers, we sent to the Kamraviona, and asked him to order out the Mganga; but his only reply was, that he often loses goats in the same way. He sent us one of his own for present purposes, and gave thirty baskets of potatoes to my men.
They use charms to keep off the evil eye, and believe in fortune-tellers. Their church is called Uganga, and the parson Mganga, the plural of which, priests, changes to Waganga.
The prefixes, U, M, and Wa, are used uniformly throughout this land from Zanzibar, to denote respectively, U, country or place, M, an individual, and Wa for plurality, as in tribe or people: thus, Uganga, Mganga, Waganga; or, Unyamuezi, Myamuezi, Wanyamuezi. The composition of this latter name is worthy of remark, as it differs from the former, and therefore must tend to perplex.
A deputation was now sent with our compliments to the king, Kimueri, soliciting an audience; and just before sunset they returned to say we must remain where we were for the present, as the king was in doubt about our intentions, regarding us with suspicion, as we had come through the territories of his enemies, the Wazegura, which was tantamount to a hostile declaration; and, moreover, he required leisure for his mganga or magic-man to divine what time would be propitious for an interview.
Grant then told me Baraka had been frightened at Mininga, by a blackguard Mganga to whom he would not give a present, into the belief that our journey would encounter some terrible mishap; for, when the M'yonga catastrophe happened, he thought that a fulfillment of the Mganga's prophecy. His dues for the present were four brass wires, and as many more when we reached the palace.
The Wavinza are worse than the Wagogo, and their greed is more insatiable. We got the donkey across with the aid of a mganga, or medicine man, who spat some chewed leaves of a tree which grows close to the stream over him. He informed me he could cross the river at any time, day or night, after rubbing his body with these chewed leaves, which he believed to be a most potent medicine.
Twice the king sent down a hasty message to say he was collecting all his men to make a search, and, if they do not succeed, the Mganga would be sent; but nothing was done. The Kamraviona was sharply rebuked by the king for allowing K'yengo to visit him before permission was given, and thus defrauding the royal exchequer of many pretty things, which were brought for majesty alone.
The Nganga of Congo-land, the Mganga of the Wasawahili and the Uganga of the Gaboon, exactly corresponds with M. Michelet's Sorciere of the Middle Ages, "physicienne," that is doctor for the people and poisoner; we cannot, however, apply in Africa the adage of Louis XIII.'s day, "To one wizard ten thousand witches."
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