Gen. Baker on ascertaining this determined to act as though it were a compliment which he felt bound to return. He ordered the regimental band to strike up, and play their loudest. This nonchalance had its effect, for, after a short time, the bugles, drums, and clashing cymbals of his own band, were the only sounds heard; the tumult in Masindi had subsided, and soon Gen. Baker ordered his own musicians to cease playing, and all was again perfectly still.[227]
We close this account of the music of some of the savage tribes of the earth, with a description of a farewell dance, given to Stanley, by the Wanyamwezi of Singiri, which is well worthy of a place, as showing the powers of improvisation of the Africans.
“It was a wild dance, with lively music, four drums giving the sonorous accompaniment, being beaten with tremendous energy and strength. Everyone (even Stanley himself) danced with great fervor, and combined excited gesticulations, with their saltatory efforts. But after the close of this war-like music, came a total change; all dropped on their knees, and in sorrowful accents sang a slow and solemn refrain, of which the following is a literal translation,—
Solo:—‘Oh, oh, oh! the white man is going home.
Chorus:—Oh, oh, oh! going home! going home! oh, oh, oh!
Solo:—To the happy island on the sea,
Where the beads are plenty, oh, oh, oh!
Chorus:—Where the beads, etc.
Solo:—While Singiri has kept us, oh, very long
From our homes, very long, oh, oh, oh!