Through the Dark Continent, Vol. 1 (of 2) : $b or, The sources of the Nile around the Great Lakes of Equatorial Africa and down the Livingstone River to the Atlantic OceanStanley, Henry M. (Henry Morton)
History
Through the Dark Continent, Vol. 1 (of 2) : $b or, The sources of the Nile around the Great Lakes of Equatorial Africa and down the Livingstone River to the Atlantic Ocean
Stanley, Henry M. (Henry Morton)
Africa, Central -- Description and travel; Stanley, Henry M. (Henry Morton), 1841-1904 -- Travel -- Africa, Central
“My dear lord, Namujurilwa and Setuba are great chiefs, and stand in
your presence daily, but I am only a Mtongoleh under Sekebobo. I have
neither farm nor house, wife nor child, and my only wealth consists of
my spear and my shield, and my only cloth is this rotten _mbugu_.
Namujurilwa and Setuba brought slaves and cattle by hundreds, but the
_kopi_ Kasindula brings his thousands to Suna. Behold where they stand!
Kasindula brings them all to Suna.” And putting his hands together, he
cried aloud, “Twiyanzi, yanzi, yanzi, yanzi!” with all the fervour of
one having received a bountiful gift.
The Emperor, upon inquiring the number of the spoil, was told that it
amounted to 7000 slaves, 2000 cows and oxen, 3000 goats, and 500 sheep;
upon which he said, “Kasindula has spoken truly; he has brought more
than either Namujurilwa or Setuba. In return, I make him now a chief of
the first rank, with land, cattle, and slaves of his own.” And Kasindula
was immediately invested with white cloths, and with all the honours,
privileges, and greatness of a _Mkungu_ of Uganda.
After this turbulent epoch there were some months of tranquillity, when
one day there came a challenge from Kytawa, the mighty king of Uzongora,
who had made an alliance with the kings Kyozza, Kamiru, and Rugomero,
and with Antari, king of Ihangiro, against Suna.
The Emperor sent the messenger of Kytawa back to him with a bullet and a
hoe, saying, “Give these to Kytawa; tell him to choose whether he will
take the bullet and have war, or whether he will keep the hoe and
cultivate his fields in peace; and bring his answer to me.”
Kytawa imagined himself and his allies strong enough to meet Suna
in war, and kept the bullet. When the messenger returned with this
answer, Suna commanded his Katekiro to make up 300 man-loads of hoes
and old iron and to send them to Kytawa, and to say to him, “Suna
sends these hoes and iron to you, for may be that you are short of
spears, arrow-heads, and hatchets. Make war weapons for your people in
abundance during three months, and prepare for war, for in the fourth
month you shall see me and my people in your country, and I shall eat
it up clean, and there shall nothing be left alive in it.”
This was the last war in which Suna was engaged. After three days’
desperate fighting the Wazongora and their allies were defeated, and
Kytawa and the confederate kings were compelled to fly for refuge to the
island of Kishakka, where they were besieged, until all the kings
implored forgiveness, and swore to become tributary to him.
Falling ill from small-pox, the Emperor accepted their oaths, and,
raising the siege, departed for Uganda. When he perceived that he was
about to die, he called his chiefs together and commanded them to make
Kajumba, his eldest son, his successor.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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