"I believe in your good faith; I am sure of you, but I have not the same confidence in your warriors. If you were to die I should find myself at their mercy, and, as they are far more numerous than we are, I wish to retain over them the advantage which my arms give me. Would you like the Sultana—when you were no longer at hand to protect her—to be at the mercy of your troops."
This last argument touched Munza, who appeared to be lost in thought, and said not a word. But de Morin, who, by his firm, frank manner, his judicious concessions and adroit flattery, was beginning to have as much influence over the King as he had over our escort, thought it wise to add—
"To show you that I do not put you in the same category with your officers, nor with your soldiers, and that I have thorough confidence in you, I concede to you what I have thought it right to refuse to others. I will give you the best rifle I have, and, meanwhile, allow me to present you with a weapon equally formidable. I have no need to be armed whilst in your palace, and under your protection."
So saying, he drew his revolver from his belt and handed it to the
King.
Munza could not conceal his delight. He seized the pistol, turned it over and over again; his hands trembled, his eyes glistened, and the powerful African monarch was a child again; the negro reappeared and asserted his rights.
De Morin took advantage of this unguarded moment to broach, in a very summary manner, a delicate subject. He told the King that the Monbuttoos were reported in the north to eat the enemies they killed in battle, and he added that he wished to spare his sister a sight so odious and repugnant to all white people.
Munza, feeling, perhaps, that he himself was personally guilty of this charge, replied, with some confusion, that it was difficult to expect a sudden transformation in the customs of his subjects, but that he would take good care that the Sultana should be spared any shock to her feelings.
Driven into a corner by de Morin, he confessed that a Monbuttoo soldier did not think himself invulnerable until he had eaten the flesh of one of his foes.
This confession did not surprise us in the least, for Baker states that the soldiers of his personal escort, the Forty Thieves, as he calls them, tried soldiers, brave and semi-civilized, practised the same custom as the Monbuttoos. We could, therefore, neither be astonished nor complain, if in these regions, more barbarous than those bordering on the Nile, we should be called upon to witness scenes of a similar description.
On the contrary, we ought to congratulate ourselves on the precautions taken by Munza to avoid our prejudices being shocked. His soldiers will continue to eat their enemies—that gratification cannot be withheld from them—but they will eat them with closed doors, like discreet and delicate-minded people, who respect the opinions of their neighbours.