Munza

“ It is ever the delight of African potentates on occasions of unusual pomp to present themselves to their subjects in some new aspect. Munza’s opportunities in this way were almost unlimited, as he had a house full of skins and feathers of every variety: he had now attired his head in the skin of a great black baboon, giving him the appearance of wearing a grenadier’s bearskin; the peak of this was dressed up with a plume of waving feathers. Hanging from his arms were the tails of genets, and his wrists were encircled by great bundles of tails of the guinea-hog. ”

“ The African monarch, on reaching the hut, was received by Delange, who held out his hand and begged him to enter our dwelling.
CHAPTER XXXIV. In truth, if Munza is the greatest potentate in these regions, he is also the most civilized of savages. He seated himself on a bench, and, without displaying any excessive curiosity, glanced at the various objects displayed for the purpose of attracting his attention and affording him pleasure. ”

“ I hardly know why the Nubians should have drawn my attention, as though to something quite new, to the wooden Monbuttoo scimitar that he wore in his girdle. His jokes and pranks seemed never-ending, and he was permitted to take liberties with every one, not excepting even Munza himself; and amongst other tricks he would approach the king with his right hand extended, and just as Munza had got hold of it, would start backwards and make off with a bound. A short time before he appeared, some freshly baked ears of maize, the first of the season, had been laid before me ”

“ When we reflect that this people, old as the hills, has stood still for centuries—nay, that, on the contrary, it has gone backward to the utmost extreme of barbarism! For one man possessed of intelligence, and displaying more civilization than the remainder, such as Munza, for instance, we see every moment of our lives scores of brutes, neither more nor less. From a tribe like that of the Monbuttoos, considerably ahead of their neighbours, we pass suddenly to the Domondoos, who differ from animals simply in their power of speech. ”

“ Sickness, also, instinctively repels them; accustomed to look down upon a woman and to regard her as a beast of burden, she becomes to them a useless incumbrance and devoid of existence from the moment she succumbs to bodily suffering. I am persuaded that Munza, infatuated yesterday, and ready to become so again to-morrow, is to-day so calm and tranquil in mind that, if it were not for his pride and obstinacy, he would let us proceed on our journey without opposition. ”

“ Munza never leaves his residence without being accompanied by several hundred of his retinue, and, in token of his dignity, a long array of drummers, trumpeters, and couriers with great iron bells are sent at the head of the procession. The harem, in the immediate vicinity of the palace, consists of eighty young ladies, who, with their attendant women slaves, occupy as many huts erected in a wide circuit within the precincts of the royal halls and private apartments. ”

“ Munza would have scarcely thought the joke a good one, and he would have been right. But keep your eyes open all round, my dear fellow, whilst I look after the escort. At this very moment our reply is being communicated to the King, and he knows by this time that we are going away. He will be furious, and we have every reason to be afraid."
"That is so," said I. "A man accustomed to bend every will to his own, the demi-god of more than a million souls, will hardly believe that a handful of foreigners dare to refuse all obedience to him, and brave him even within the walls of his palace." ”

“ We had foreseen some such message, feeling sure that Munza, whatever might be his motive, would not show his teeth, if such a vulgar expression may be used in connection with so powerful a monarch. But, in our own interest, and to retain our reputation as white men and important personages, we were determined to stand on our dignity.
The courier was therefore commissioned to convey to Munza, as literally as possible, the following message:—
"The King having refused the white people the entrée into his palace, the latter cannot, after such an affront, present themselves immediately before him. ”

“ How entirely, on the other hand, would the situation be changed if Munza should make common cause with us, and accompany us as an ally! We should no longer be merely fifty; we should be two thousand, five thousand, any number, in fact. Our handful of men would become an army led and commanded by Europeans, supported by our escort, and strengthened by the possession of fire-arms. No African tribe could stand against us, and nothing would prevent our reaching the eastern extremity of the continent and the Indian ocean. ”

“ From this category we are possibly called upon to exclude in this quarter (as perchance in every other region [Pg 84] of Africa) those isolated races of dwarfs, familiarly known as “Pygmies,” of which the Akka, who reside in the S.S.W., and have their abodes close to the confines of the kingdom of Munza, may be quoted as examples. The bulk of this apparently thickly-peopled race is subject to independent chieftains, but there is one section which is tributary to Munza in so far as this, that it makes its contributary payments to Mummery, as being Munza’s vicegerent. ”

“ To put the former difficulty to the test, Mohammed despatched his nephew with the conduct of an expedition just sufficiently large to venture the attempt. For three days this expedition pressed on, until upon the River Nomayo, an affluent of the Welle, they reached the residence of one of Munza’s sub-chieftains, whose name was Mummery. Halfway upon their route they had rested at the dwelling-place of another chieftain, named Nooma. Both Mummery and Nooma, it should be said, were Munza’s own brothers ”

“ In the villages our task is still more difficult, owing to the gross immorality which prevails throughout the kingdom of Munza, but, nevertheless, by dint of continually struggling against the powers of nature and the passions of man, we contrive to traverse the tract which separates us from the district governed by Degberra, and encounter that chief on his way to meet us. ”

“ If he were described as young, Munza might begin by suspecting, and end by finding out the truth. But when a man's age is under consideration, the ideas of equatorial tribes differ from ours; amongst them a man is old at fifty, and, as the Baron de Guéran attained his fortieth year in 1872, Degberra would not dream of exhibiting him as a young man. ”

“ All the inward shadows of the creatures of Munza-mulgar are N [=o=o] manossi's; all their phantoms, spirits, or Meermuts are Tishnar's. And so there is a never-ending changeableness and strife in their short lives. The leopard (or Roses, as they call her, for the beauty of her clear black spots) is Meermut to her cubs, N [=o=o] ma to the dodging Skeetoes she lies in wait for, stretched along a bough. Her beauty is Tishnar's; the savagery of her claws is Nōōmanossi's. So Munza's children are dark or bright, lovely or estranging, according as Meermut or Nōōma prevails in their natures. ”

“ Very remarkable is the fact that as the traveller in Central Africa proceeds south he finds the people less nomadic and more inclined to regular rule, and therefore to civilization. King Munza and his chiefs and great officers of state and hosts of wives, all painted in different patterns, cannibals though they be, form a polity much more approaching a regular government than the Dinkas, the Mittoos, the Bongos, and even the Niam Niam. ”

“ Munza shut his eyes to conjure up the figure thus presented to him. Did he succeed? We never knew, for he did not again utter a word on the subject. All the Europeans who have ever attempted to give the central tribes an idea of the ocean have failed. It has been often remarked that their imagination cannot grasp the notion. De Morin would, possibly, have done better, had he taken the sky as his point of comparison, and endeavoured to explain that the sea was a sky turned upside down, whose limits the eye is powerless to reach, and which lies ahead instead of being above. ”

“ The elder matrons occupy villages built for their accommodation at some distance from the residence; their number amounts to several hundred, for, besides his own wives of the first and second rank, Munza is bound to maintain the ladies inherited from his father, and even those belonging to a deceased brother. It is a long-established African custom that at a king’s death his wives should fall to the lot of his successor, who never fails to annex to their number a large addition of his own. ”

“ The envoy steps to the front and speaks, Nassar interprets, and we learn that the sovereign of the Monbuttoos demands the hand of our sister in marriage.
CHAPTER XXXVII. We are really alarmed. The demand has its ludicrous aspect, but, preferred by Munza, whose character we know, it is formidable as well. How are we to decline the honour he thinks he is doing us, without wounding beyond redress his pride both as a man and a king? ”

“ These measures of precaution having been put in force, we set ourselves to wait. It was clear to us that Munza would communicate with us in some way or other during the evening; a black man cannot wait, and he never puts anything off until to-morrow, except, indeed, his work. ”

“ Not knowing in which direction to be going in order to seek for a path or pass whereby to scale Arakkaboa, they were at a loss what to be doing. Even the Munza-mulgars detest being more than the height of the loftiest forest-tree above their shadows on the ground; more especially, therefore, did these Mulla-mulgars, who never, or very rarely, as I have said many times already, climb trees at all. So they determined to stay awhile here and rest and eat until some Mulgar should come along of whom they could ask [160] the way. ”

“ The king’s private residence consists of a group of several large huts, each of which is set apart for one of his daily occupations. They are enclosed, like a Seriba, with a palisade, and are shaded by plantations of well-kept trees. The [Pg 98] king’s food is always prepared by one of his wives, who perform the office in turn, relieving one another at stated intervals. Munza invariably takes his meals in private; no one may see the contents of his dish, and everything that he leaves is carefully thrown into a pit set apart for that purpose. ”

“ Delange and I exchanged despairing glances. Our friend had evidently lost his head. Munza was quite as much astonished as we were; but in his case amazement and anger were blended.
"Your father is not with you," said he; "and, therefore, his consent cannot be obtained."
"In that case our sister cannot marry you," replied de Morin. "She is bound to respect the custom of her own country, and, as far as that goes, this custom prevails amongst all the tribes we came across before reaching the Monbuttoos. To gain the daughter, is it not always necessary to apply to the father?" ”

“ Nevertheless, as regards the structure of the body, we have come to the conclusion that the nearer we approach to the equator, the more perfect becomes the human form. The Niam-Niam have the advantage of the Bongos, and are in turn surpassed by the Monbuttoos, whilst the Domondoos are in advance of both.
"We are evidently drawing near," said Delange, "to that famous tribe of which we have heard so much. At last we shall see the dusky Venus of my dreams."
Munza appeared very grateful to the doctor for the visit. ”

“ As soon as the attack was thus diverted, and the front ranks of the enemy began to retreat, the negroes of our caravan, who had been placed in reserve immediately behind the soldiers, started off at full speed in pursuit of the fugitives, and their lances made far greater havoc than all the bullets of the Nubians. Before leaving Munza’s residence our bearers had all been provided with new weapons, and thus our little negro band was able to hold its own against greatly preponderating numbers of the enemy, who, I should imagine, were at least 10,000 strong. ”

“ As soon as it was light, the Negro, at my request, went to the Mansa's house, and brought away my spear. He told me that the Mansa was asleep, and lest this inhospitable chief should devise means to detain me, he advised me to set out before he was awake; which I immediately did; and about two o'clock reached Kamalia, a small town situated at the bottom of some rocky hills, where the inhabitants collect gold in considerable quantities. The Bushreens here live apart from the Kafirs, and have built their huts in a scattered manner, at a short distance from the town. ”

“ But, if I was much affected, the callant Mungo was a great deal more. From the days in which he had lain in his cradle, he had been brought up in a remote and quiet part of the country, far from the bustling of towns, and from man encountering man in the stramash of daily life; so that his heart seemed to pine within him like a flower, for want of the blessed morning dew; and, like a bird that has been catched in a girn among the winter snows, his appetite failed him, and he fell away from his meat and clothes. ”

“ But, soon after his arrival at Kamalia, he fell into a severe and dangerous fit of sickness, by which he was closely confined for upwards of a month. His life was preserved by the hospitality and benevolence of Karfa Taura, a Negro, who received him into his house, and whose family attended him with the kindest solicitude. The same excellent person, at the time of Park's last Mission into Africa, hearing that a white man was travelling through the country, whom he imagined to be Park, took a journey of six days to meet him ”