A White King in East Africa: The Remarkable Adventures of John Boyes, Trader and Soldier of Fortune, Who Became King of the Savage Wa-KikuyuBoyes, John
History
A White King in East Africa: The Remarkable Adventures of John Boyes, Trader and Soldier of Fortune, Who Became King of the Savage Wa-Kikuyu
Boyes, John
Africa, East; Kikuyu (African people)
After some discussion it was arranged that Olomondo should make blood
brotherhood with me at the same time as the other chiefs, and the
difficulty then arose as to where the ceremony should take place.
Wagombi, being the biggest chief, naturally wanted it to take place at
Mount Kenia, but on messages being sent to Karkerrie and Muga-wa-diga,
they refused to come to Wagombi’s, saying that they were enemies of each
other, and that they had no guarantee that they would not be murdered on
the way. I then suggested to Wagombi that he should send them each a
present of a goat or a sheep, but he said that he would sooner eat them
himself. He was a bigger man than either of the other chiefs, and it was
for them to send him a present first. For some time there was a
deadlock, but I finally got out of the difficulty by asking Wagombi if
he would give me the presents. He replied, “Certainly, you can have a
hundred if you like. My place is yours, take anything you want.” I said
that I did not want anything out of the ordinary; if he would give me
one or two sheep, that was all that I wanted; so he had the sheep
brought in. I then said, “All right, you have given me these sheep, I
can do anything I like with them.” He replied, “Yes, they are yours, I
have given them to you.” So I then told him that I intended to send one
sheep to Karkerrie and one to Muga-wa-diga, telling them that they were
presents from him and myself, and I also arranged with them that we
should meet about half-way, and selected a place for the ceremony.
Eventually they all agreed to this and the day was fixed.
The site I had chosen formed a natural amphitheatre, and was a spot I
had noted on my way to Wagombi’s from Tato. It was an open space, which
I was told was used at certain times as a market-place, and I had an
opportunity later on of seeing one of these markets held. On that
occasion hundreds of natives collected there for the purpose of
exchanging their various goods. The noise of haggling and bargaining was
terrific. One thing I noticed was that there was no livestock in the
market, but all other kinds of produce were to be seen, and it was
amusing to watch a couple of old women arguing as to how many sweet
potatoes ought to be exchanged for so many beans. One crowd would have
loads of calabashes, while another would be selling piles of
cooking-pots made of a sort of clay, only to be found in certain parts
of the country, which was especially suitable for that purpose; while in
another part of the market large quantities of the red ochre—or
_siriga_, as it is called—which the natives used for painting their
bodies was to be had. Another peculiar thing I noticed was the selling
of the native drink njohi, in exchange for a hornful of which I saw a
native pay over a hornful of beans. Having no money, everything was
bought and sold by means of a system of barter, which was not
accomplished without much arguing and haggling, everybody gesticulating
and shouting at once.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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