Page:Two kings of Uganda.djvu/46
time you see it, it looks a most disgusting and degrading exhibition ; but in time one gets used to the sight. On this occasion it was performed by a number of young girls, who worked themselves up into an extraordinary state of excitement, and looked as if they were under the influence of some magician's spell. They gradually approach a stranger nearer and nearer, advancing slowly till they touch him with their hands. In my case, I broke the charm by giving them some beads, which sent them away quite satisfied, and left me even more pleased at their departure.
We now entered the Manonga "pori," or desert. A long tramp of eighteen miles brought us to the Manonga River, which some of our men told me was "mto mkubwa sana," "a very big river." I saw a fringe of tall trees — the invariable sign of a river — but on reaching the bank and looking down no water was visible. To adapt Hood —
" I saw instead but the river bed,
For the faithless stream was dry."
However, by digging about a foot we came to fairly good water. It is a common circumstance with many African rivers in the dry season to sink beneath the sand, though it gives the inexperienced traveller considerable disappointment.
Our next adventure was with the hostile natives of Samwe — the nearest inhabited district — with whom we had a long four-days' palaver, or "shauri," about the payment of hongo. In fact, things came to such a