The Discovery of the Source of the Nile

by John Hanning Speke

To make the best of a bad bargain, and as N'yakinyama was "eaten up," we repaired to Grant's camp to consult with Budja; but Budja was found firm and inflexible against sending men up to Unyoro. His pride had been injured by the rebuffs we had sustained. He would wait here three or four days as I proposed, to see what fortune sent us, if I would not be convinced that Kamrasi wished to reject us, and he would communicate with his king in the meantime, but nothing more. Here was altogether a staggerer: I would stop for three or four days, but if Kamrasi would not have us by that time, what was to be done? Would it be prudent to try Kisuere now Baraka had been refused the Gani route? or would it not be better still for me to sell Kamrasi altogether, by offering Mtesa five hundred loads of ammunition, cloth and beads, if he would give us a thousand Waganda as a force to pass through the Masai to Zanzibar, this property to be sent back by the escort from the coast? Kamrasi would no doubt catch it if we took this course, but it was expensive.

Thus were we ruminating, when lo, to our delight, as if they had been listening to us, up came Kidgwiga, my old friend, who, at Mtesa'a place, had said Kamrasi would be very glad to see me, and Vittagura, Kamrasi's commander-in-chief, to say their king was very anxious to see us, and the Waganda might come or not as they liked. Until now, the deputation said, Kamrasi had doubted Budja's word about our friendly intentions, but since he saw us withdrawing from his country, those doubts were removed. The N'yamswenge, they said—meaning, I thought, Petherick—was still at Gani; no English or others on the Nile ever expressed a wish to enter Unyoro, otherwise they might have done so; and Baraka had left for Karague, carrying off an ivory as a present from Kamrasi.

21st.—I ordered the march to Unyoro; Budja, however, kept brooding over the message sent to the Waganda, to the effect that they might come or not as they liked, and considering us with himself to have all been treated "like dogs," begged me to give him my opinion as to what course he had better pursue; for he must, in the first instance, report the whole circumstances to the king, and could not march at once. This was a blight on our prospects, and appeared very vexatious, in the event of Budja waiting for an answer, which, considering Mtesa had ordered his Wakungu to accompany us all the way to Gani, might stop our march altogether.

I therefore argued that Kamrasi's treatment of us was easily accounted for: he heard of us coming by two routes from an enemy's country, and was naturally suspicious of us; that had now been changed by our withdrawing, and he invited us to him. Without doubt, his commander-in-chief was never very far away, and followed on our heels. Such precaution was only natural and reasonable on Kamrasi's part, and what had been done need not alarm any one. "If you do your duty properly, you will take us at once into Unyoro, make your charge over to these men, and return or not as you like; for in doing so you will have fulfilled both Mtesa's, and Kamrasi's orders at once." "Very good," says Budja, "let it be so; for there is great wisdom in your words: but I must first send to my king, for the Waganda villagers have struck two of your men with weapons" (this had happened just before my arrival here), "and this is a most heinous offence in Uganda, which cannot be overlooked. Had it been done with a common stick, it could have been overlooked; but the use of weapons is an offence, and both parties must go before the king." This, of course, was objected to on the plea that it was my own affair. I was king of the Wanguana, and might choose to dispense with the attendance. The matter was compromised, however, on the condition that Budja should march across the border to-morrow, and wait for the return of these men and for further orders on the Unyoro side.

The bait took. Budja lost sight of the necessity there was for his going to Gani to bring back a gun, ammunition, and some medicine—that is to say, brandy—for his king; and sent his men off with mine to tell Mtesa all our adventures—our double repulse, the intention to wait on the Unyoro side for further orders, and the account of some Waganda having wounded my men. I added my excuses for Kamrasi, and laid a complaint against Mtesa's officers for having defrauded us out of ten cows, five goats, six butter, and sixty mbugu. It was not that we required these things, but I knew that the king had ordered them to be given to us, and I thought it right we should show that his officers, if they professed to obey his orders, had peculated. After these men had started, some friends of the villager who had been apprehended on the charge of assailing my men, came and offered Budja five cows to overlook the charge; and Budja, though he could not overlook it when I pleaded for the man, asked me to recall my men. Discovering that the culprit was a queen's man, and that the affair would cause bad blood at court should the king order the man's life to be taken, I tried to do so, but things had gone too far.

Again the expedition marched on in the right direction. We reached the last village on the Uganda frontier, and there spent the night. Here Grant shot a nsunnu buck. The Wanguana mutinied for ammunition, and would not lift a load until they got it, saying, "Unyoro is a dangerous country," though they had been there before without any more than they now had in pouch. The fact was, my men, in consequence of the late issues on the river, happened to have more than Grant's men, and every man must have alike. The ringleader, unfortunately for himself, had lately fired at a dead lion, to astonish the Unyoro, and his chum had fired a salute, which was contrary to orders; for ammunition was at a low ebb, and I had done everything in my power to nurse it. Therefore, as a warning to the others, the guns of these two were confiscated, and a caution given that any gun in future let off, either by design or accident, would be taken.

To-day I felt very thankful to get across the much-vexed boundary-line, and enter Unyoro, guided by Kamrasi's deputation of officers, and so shake off the apprehensions which had teased us for so many days. This first march was a picture of all the country to its capital: an interminable forest of small trees, bush, and tall grass, with scanty villages, low huts, and dirty-looking people clad in skins; the plantain, sweet potato, sesamum, and ulezi (millet) forming the chief edibles, besides goats and fowls; whilst the cows, which are reported to be numerous, being kept, as everywhere else where pasture-lands are good, by the wandering, unsociable Wahuma are seldom seen. No hills, except a few scattered cones, disturb the level surface of the land, and no pretty views ever cheer the eye. Uganda is now entirely left behind; we shall not see its like again; for the further one leaves the equator, and the rain-attracting influences of the Mountains of the Moon, vegetation decreases proportionately with the distance.

Fortunately the frontier-village could not feed so large a party as ours, and therefore we were compelled to move farther on, to our great delight, through the same style of forest acacia, cactus, and tall grass, to Kidgwiga's gardens, where we no sooner arrived than Mtesa's messenger-page, with a party of fifty Waganda, dropped in, in the most unexpected manner, to inquire after "his royal master's friend, Bana." The king had heard of the fight upon the river, and thought the Wanguana must be very good shots. He still trusted we would not forget the gun and ammunition, but, above all, the load of stimulants, for he desired that above all things on earth. This was the fourth message to remind us of these important matters which we had received since leaving his gracious presence, and each time brought by the same page. While the purpose of the boy's coming with so many men was not distinctly known, the whole village and camp were in a state of great agitation, Budja fearing lest the king had some fault to find with his work, and the Wanyoro deeming it a menace of war, whilst I was afraid they might take fright and stop our progress.

But all went well in the end; Massey's log, which I have mentioned as a present I intended for Mtesa, was packed up, and the page departed with it. Some of Rumanika's men, who came into Unyoro with Baraka, with four of K'yengo's, were sent to call us by Kamrasi. Through Rumanika's men it transpired that he had stood security for our actions, else, with the many evil reports of our being cannibals and such-like, which had preceded our coming here, we never should have gained admittance to the country. The Wanyoro, who are as squalid-looking as the Wanyamuezi, and almost as badly dressed, now came about us to hawk ivory ornaments, brass and copper twisted wristlets, tobacco, and salt, which they exchanged for cowries, with which they purchase cows from the Waganda. As in Uganda, all the villagers forsook their huts as soon as they heard the Wageni (guests) were coming; and no one paid the least attention to the traveller, save the few head-men attached to the escort, or some professional traders.

25th to 28th.—I had no sooner ordered the march than Vittagura counter-ordered it, and held a levee to ascertain, as he said, if the Waganda were to go back; for though Kamrasi wished to see us, he did not want the Waganda. It was Kamrasi's orders that Budja should tell this to his "child the Mkavia," meaning Mtesa; for when the Waganda came the first time to see him, three of his family died; and when they came the second time, three more died; and as this rate of mortality was quite unusual in his family circle, he could only attribute it to foul magic. The presence of people who brought such results was of course by no means desirable. This neat message elicited with a declaration of the necessity of Budja's going to Gani with us, and a response from the commander-in-chief, probably to terrify the Waganda, that although Gani was only nine days' journey distant from Kamrasi's palace, the Gani people were such barbarians, they would call a straight-haired man a magician, and any person who tied his mbugu in a knot upon his shoulder, or had a full set of teeth as the Waganda have, would be surely killed by them. Finally, we must wait two days, to see if Kamrasi would see us or not. Such was Unyoro diplomacy.