The Boy Travellers in the Far East, Part Fifth: Adventures of Two Youths in a Journey through AfricaKnox, Thomas Wallace
General
The Boy Travellers in the Far East, Part Fifth: Adventures of Two Youths in a Journey through Africa
Knox, Thomas Wallace
Africa -- Description and travel -- Juvenile literature; Africa, Central -- Description and travel -- Juvenile literature
"The above description will answer perfectly for to-day. Stanley saw
much more of the king than we have seen, not only in an official but in
a social way, and he makes a pleasing picture of the court of Ugunda at
the time of his visit.
"Stanley says the king could not sound the letter 'n' distinctly, and
consequently made the explorer's name into 'Stamlee.' Though pronouncing
the name of his guest repeatedly, he could never hit the proper sound.
But if the king has trouble with foreign words, he may console himself
with the thought that the foreigners have equal difficulty with the
language of Ugunda. It is full of consonant sounds, and its vowels are
few. The name of the king requires two consonants to be sounded
together, and it is no slight task for the European tongue to get
through "M'Tesa" without danger of choking. As far as we can observe,
there are many words in the language which present the same
difficulties, and Fred says anybody who comes to Ugunda to stay ought to
bring some iron clasps to hold his jaws in place while talking.
"When the king stepped from his throne he dropped his own language and
spoke in Arabic, and we saw at once there was no farther need of an
interpreter. In a few polite phrases he said he was glad we had come to
Ugunda, and hoped many of our countrymen would follow our example.
"'It is a long and difficult journey,' he added, 'and we have not much
besides our lakes and hills to show you. We appreciate it when you come
so far, and if there is anything you specially wish to see, it shall be
shown.'
"Doctor Bronson mastered all the Arabic he could speak, and thanked the
king for his offer.
"'We wish to see the Victoria N'yanza,' said the Doctor, 'and to learn
what we can about your majesty's country.'
"The king answered that we should have all we wished, nodded his head
just the least in the world, and looked away. Then he suddenly turned
around toward the Doctor again, and said he would send him any
provisions he might need for his men.
[Illustration: KING OF UGUNDA RETIRING.]
"He walked away, followed by his court officers. He has a dignified,
almost haughty, manner of walking, and reminded me of Captain Speke's
description of his striding off with two spears in his right hand, while
with his left he led his favorite dog, which seemed to imitate the walk
of his master. This peculiar step is supposed to represent the walk of
the lion, which is the beast to which the king loves to be compared.
"We walked slowly back to our zeriba, followed by a large crowd that
pressed curiously around us. Their attentions were sometimes
inconvenient, but nobody intentionally offered any affront.
"We had not reached our quarters more than ten or fifteen minutes before
the presents which the king had promised us began to arrive.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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