In Savage Africa / Or, The adventures of Frank Baldwin from the Gold Coast to Zanzibar.

by Verney Lovett Cameron

After the band came the great man himself, a young fellow of some four or five and twenty, who alone of all the natives present was dressed in cloth of European manufacture. He wore a kilt of gaudy red woollen cloth trimmed with yellow, and a sort of tunic of the same material, the front and back being of different colours, and the sleeves yet again differing from them. As apparently the material had run short, it was eked out by pieces of grass-cloth, and the whole was trimmed with the skins of the rare and beautiful tippet monkey, the effect being bizarre in the extreme. Round his neck, arms, and legs were masses of beads; while his kilt was secured by three strings of opal-coloured glass beads as large as pigeon’s eggs.

On his head most attention had been lavished. He had a very small beard twisted together, and, I believe, artificially lengthened; on it were strung three large beads like those round his waist, and the end was knotted to a cowry. From each ear hung the polished base of a shell, which is one of the most valued possessions of the inhabitants of the interior. Round his temples was bound a fillet some two inches wide, bordered with cowries and embroidered with beads, into which were stuck the scarlet feathers of a bird called the kuru-kuru, which only great chiefs are allowed to wear. His hair was divided into four parts, and crossed over a cushion of bark which was painted bright red. So far the effect was striking and handsome; but to be different from his neighbours he had a cap, made of the same stuff as his kilt, perched on the top of the other adornments, and looking most ridiculous and inappropriate.

He was followed by four dwarfs, two of whom were deformed and misshapen, and the other two were covered with huge wenlike blotches—whether natural or artificial I did not know. All carried huge rattles, and cried out shrilly the names of their masters.

Behind the dwarfs came a man carrying an idol about two feet high in his arms, and he was followed by three other men carrying gourds and baskets. Next came four women, and then a large body of armed men.

I thought this looked all very serious, and was astonished to see that Hatibu and his men had lost all appearance of anxiety; but I soon found that the presence of women in Mona Mkulla’s train meant that peace was decided on, and there was no danger of our being attacked.

Mona Mkulla and his train walked three times round the hut, into which he then came, and with one of his women danced seriously and gravely for over a quarter of an hour. He then seated himself on the stool which had been prepared for him, with two of his women on either side. The idol was placed on a lion’s skin which was spread in front of him, and on it was also heaped a quantity of charms and fetiches, produced out of the baskets and gourds carried by the companions of the bearer of the idol.

These men sat at the four corners of the skin, and the dwarfs squatted at their master’s feet. Each of the assembled chiefs now did homage to Mona Mkulla, and placed some small offering—a handful of cowries, a few shells, the feathers of the kuru-kuru, or something of the kind—on the lion-skin as an offering and symbol of their subjection to him.

Last of all Hatibu came and placed his present among the others, and then talking commenced. I was amused to see the vehemence of the orators as different chiefs urged what they thought should be the proper course to pursue with regard to what should be done to the strangers; for I saw before long that the ivory which had brought us here was a mere pretext, and that Mona Mkulla was more desirous of impressing upon us the extent and greatness of his power than of selling any quantity of ivory.

I watched Hatibu as he listened to the speakers, and from the variations of his countenance I could see when the debate was going for or against us. I afterwards found out that many of the chiefs had wished to kill us then and there, and bid defiance to the Arab traders, whom even then they were beginning to fear; but others were in favour of trading with them, and among the number was Mona Mkulla himself, who being desirous of more cloth and beads, was willing to be friendly.

Hatibu at last spoke, and both in manner and gesture did remarkably well. He urged upon Mona Mkulla that it was only by trading with the Arabs he could possibly obtain the things he longed for; and that though he might kill fifty, a hundred, or a thousand Arabs and their followers, others would still come, undeterred by danger. Instead of coming as friends, however, they would come as enemies, and the arms of the natives could not prevail against them.