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Updated: May 27, 2025
Suwarora's hongo was turned out of court, and, if I desired it, I might bring my own chair with me, for he was very anxious to show me great respect although such a seat was exclusively the attribute of the king, no one else in Uganda daring to sit on an artificial seat. My point was gained, so I cooled myself with coffee and a pipe, and returned rejoicing in my victory, especially over Suwarora.
Tripping along over the hill, we descended to a deep miry watercourse, full of bulrushes, then over another hill, from the heights of which we saw Suwarora's palace, lying down in the Uthungu valley, behind which again rose another hill of sandstone, faced on the top with a dyke of white quartz.
So great, indeed, was Suwarora's desire to see us, that he had sent four men to invite us, and they would have been here now, only that one of them fell sick on the way, and the rest had to stop for him. I cannot say what pleasure this gave me; my fortune, I thought, was made; and so I told Baraka, and pretended he did not believe the news to be true.
At this levee sundry Wakungu of rank complained that the Wanyambo plundered their houses at night, and rough-handled their women, without any respect for their greatness, and, when caught, said they were Bana's men. Bombay, who was present, heard the complaint, and declared these were Suwarora's men, who made use of the proximity of my camp to cover their own transgressions.
They then all agreed to this view, and further assured me it went to Kamrasi's palace in Unyoro, where it joined the N'yanza, meaning the Nile. Pushing on again we arrived at N'yama Goma, where I found Irungu the great ambassador I had first met in Usui, with all his "children" my enemy Makinga, and Suwarora's deputation with wire, altogether, a collection of one hundred souls.
On the other hand, as he could not refute this, Makinga swore the mace was all a pretence, and set a-fighting with the Wasui and all the men in turn. To put a stop to this, I ordered a halt, and called on the district officer to assist us, on which he said he would escort us on to Suwarora's if we would stop till next morning.
At first Baraka said, "Do you wish to have us killed? Do you think if we went to Suwarora's you would ever see us back again? You would wait and wait for us, but we should never return." To which I replied, "Oh, Baraka, do not think so! Bombay, if he were here, would go in a minute.
I thought myself everything was going on as well as could be wished; but before entering the royal enclosures, I found, to my disagreeable surprise, that the men with Suwarora's hongo or offering, which consisted of more than a hundred coils of wire, were ordered to lead the procession, and take precedence of me.
Then Suwarora's deputation, who were also present, cringed forward, n'yanzigging like Waganda, and denied the accusation, when the king gave all warning that he would find out the truth by placing guards on the look-out at night. Till this time the king had not heard one word about the defeat of the party sent for Petherick.
This man no sooner received his orders than, proud of his office as the guide of such a distinguished caravan, he set to work to find us porters. Meanwhile my Wasui friends, who left on the 25th of August, returned, bearing what might be called Suwarora's mace a long rod of brass bound up in stick charms, and called Kaquenzingiriri, "the commander of all things."
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