“Are you not a slave?” M’Rua asked.
“The great master did not seize Kali, neither did he buy him; he only saved his life; therefore Kali is conducting the ‘Good Mzimu’ and the master to the country of the Wahimas in order that the Wahimas and Fumba should pay honors to them and give them great gifts.”
“Let it be as you say and let M’Rua eat a small piece of Kali and Kali a small piece of M’Rua.”
“Let it be so,” repeated the warriors.
“Where is the fetish-man?” the king asked.
“Where is the fetish-man? Where is the fetish-man? Where is Kamba?” numerous voices began to call.
Then something occurred which might change entirely the state of affairs, embroil the friendly relations, and make the negroes enemies of the newly arrived guests. From the hut standing apart and surrounded by a separate stockade, there suddenly resounded an infernal din. It was like the roar of a lion, like thunder, like the rumbling of a drum, like the laughter of a hyena, the howling of a wolf, and like the shrill creaking of rusty iron hinges. The King hearing these dreadful sounds, began to trumpet, Saba barked, the donkey, on which Nasibu sat, brayed. The warriors leaped as if scalded, and pulled the spears out of the ground. Confusion ensued. Stas’ ears were assailed by the uneasy shouts of: “Our Mzimu! Our Mzimu!” The esteem and favor, with which they looked at the arrivals, vanished in one moment. The eyes of the savages began to cast suspicious and hostile glances. Threatening murmurs began to rise among the crowd and the horrible noise in the isolated hut increased more and more.
Kali was terrified and, approaching Stas quickly, said in a voice broken with emotion:
“Master! the fetish-man has awakened the wicked Mzimu, who fears that he will lose gifts and is roaring in a rage. Master, quiet the fetish-man and the wicked Mzimu with great gifts, for otherwise these men will turn against us.”
“Quiet them?” Stas asked.
And suddenly he was possessed by anger at the perversity and greed of the fetish-man; and the unexpected danger roused him to the bottom of his soul. His swarthy face assumed the same expression which it had when he shot Gebhr, Chamis, and the Bedouins. His eyes glittered ominously; his lips were compressed and his cheeks paled.
“Ah! I’ll quiet them!” he said.
And without any reflection he drove the elephant towards the hut.
Kali, not desiring to remain alone among the negroes, ran after him. From the breasts of the savage warriors there came a shout — it was not known whether of alarm or of rage, but, before they recovered their wits, the stockade under the pressure of the elephant’s head crashed and tumbled; after that the clay walls of the hut crumbled and amid dust the roof flew up in the air; and after a while M’Rua and his men saw the black trunk raised high and at the end of the trunk the fetish-man, Kamba.
And Stas, observing on the floor a big drum made of the hollowed trunk of a tree with monkey skin stretched over it, ordered Kali to hand it to him and, returning, stopped directly among the amazed warriors.
“Men!” he said in a loud voice, “it is not your Mzimu who roars; it is this rogue who makes the noise on the drum to wheedle gifts out of you, and whom you fear like children!”
Saying this, he seized the rope drawn through the dried-up skin of the drum and began to twirl it around with all his strength. The same sounds which had previously so startled the negroes resounded now, and even more shrilly, as they were not muffled by the walls of the hut.
“Oh, how stupid are M’Rua and his children!” shouted Kali.
Stas gave the drum back to Kali while the latter began to make a noise with it with such zeal that for a while a word could not be heard. When finally he had enough, he flung the drum at M’Rua’s feet.
“This is your Mzimu,” he exclaimed, with great laughter.
After which he began with the usual negro exuberance of words to address the warriors; at which he was not at all sparing of jeers at them and at M’Rua. He declared to them, pointing at Kamba, that “that thief in the cap made of rat’s skin” cheated them through many rainy and dry seasons and they fed him on beans, flesh of kids, and honey. Is there another king and nation as stupid in the world? They believed in the power of the old deceiver and in his charms, and look now, how that great fetish-man hangs from the elephant’s trunk and is crying “Aka!” to arouse the pity of the white master. Where is his power? Where are his charms? Why does not any wicked Mzimu roar in his defense? Ah! What is this, their Mzimu? A clout of monkey skin and piece of wood hollowed through decay which the elephant will tread to pieces. Among the Wahimas, neither the women nor the children would be afraid of such a Mzimu, and M’Rua and his men fear him. There is only one genuine Mzimu and one really great and powerful master. Let them pay honors to them; let them bring as many gifts as they possibly can, as otherwise calamities, of which they hitherto have not heard, will befall them.
For the negroes even these words were unnecessary as the fetish-man, together with his wicked Mzimu, appeared so vastly weaker than the new divinity and the white master, that it sufficed most fully to make them desert him and load him with contempt. So they commenced anew to “yancig” with even greater humility and haste. But as they were angry at themselves because they had allowed Kamba to cheat them for so many years, they wanted, by all means, to kill him. M’Rua himself begged Stas to allow him to bind and keep him until he could devise a sufficiently cruel death. Nell, however, was determined to spare his life, and as Kali had announced that wherever the “Good Mzimu” sojourns human blood cannot be shed, Stas consented only to the expulsion of the hapless fetish-man from the village.
Kamba, who expected that he would die in the most ingeniously devised tortures, fell on his face before the “Good Mzimu” and, blubbering, thanked her for saving his life. From beyond the stockade women and children poured, for the news of the arrival of the extraordinary guests had already spread over the whole village, and the desire to see the white Mzimu overcame their terror. Stas and Nell for the first time saw a settlement of real savages, which even the Arabs had not succeeded in reaching. The dress of these negroes consisted only of heath or skins tied around their hips; all were tattooed. Men as well as women had perforated ears, and in the opening, chunks of wood or bone so big that the expanded lobes reached the shoulders. In the lower lips they carried “peleles,” that is, wooden or bony rings as large as saucers. The more distinguished warriors and their wives had around their throats collars of iron or brass wire so high and stiff that they could barely move their heads.
They apparently belonged to the Shilluk tribe, which extends far into the east, for Kali and Mea understood their speech excellently and Stas partly. They did not have, however, limbs as long as their kindred living on the overflowing banks of the Nile; they were broader in the shoulders, not so tall, and generally less like wading birds. The children looked like fleas and, not being yet disfigured by “peleles,” were, without comparison, better looking than the older people.
The women, having first from a distance sated their eyes with looking at the “Good Mzimu,” began to vie with the warriors in bringing gifts to her, consisting of kids, chickens, eggs, black beans, and beer brewed of millet. This continued until Stas stopped the afflux of supplies; as he paid for them liberally with beads and colored percale, and Nell distributed between ten and twenty looking-glasses inherited from Linde, immense joy reigned in the whole village; and around the tent, in which the little travelers sought shelter, shouts, happy and full of enthusiasm, continually resounded. After that, the warriors performed a war-dance in honor of the guests and fought a sham battle, and finally they proceeded to form a blood brotherhood between Kali and M’Rua.
Owing to the absence of Kamba, who for this ceremony was usually indispensable, his place was taken by an old negro sufficiently conversant with the adjuration. The latter, having killed a kid and extracted its liver, divided it into fair-sized morsels; after which he began to turn a kind of spinning-wheel with
his hand and foot and, gazing now at Kali and then at M’Rua, addressed them in a solemn voice:
“Kali, son of Fumba, do you desire to eat a piece of M’Rua, the son of M’Kuli, and you, M’Rua, son of M’Kuli, do you desire to eat a piece of Kali, the son of Fumba?”
“We do,” announced the future brethren.
“Do you desire that the heart of Kali should be the heart of M’Rua and the heart of M’Rua the heart of Kali?”
“We do.”
“And the hands and the spears and the cows?”
“And the cows!”
“And everything which each one possesses and will possess?”
“And what he possesses and will possess.”
“And that there should not be between you falsehood, nor treachery, nor hatred?”
“Nor hatred!”
“And that one shall not pilfer from the other?”
“Never!”
“And that you shall be brethren?”
“Yes!”
The wheel turned more and more rapidly. The warriors, gathered around, watched its revolutions with ever-increasing interest.
“Ao!” exclaimed the aged negro, “if one of you deceives the other by lies, if he betrays him, if he steals from him, if he poisons him, may he be accursed!”
“May he be accursed!” repeated all the warriors.
“And if he is a liar and is plotting treason, let him not swallow the blood of his brother, and let him spit it out before our eyes.”
“Oh, before our eyes!”
“And let him die!”
“Let him die!”
“Let him be torn to pieces by a wobo!”
“Wobo!”
“Or a lion!”
“Or a lion!”
“May he be trampled upon by an elephant and a rhinoceros and a buffalo!”
“Oh — and a buffalo!” repeated the chorus.
“May he be bit by a snake!”
“Snake!”
“And may his tongue become black!”
“Black!”
“And his eyes sink to the back of his head!”
“To the back of his head!”
“And may he walk on his heels upward!”
“Ha! on his heels upward!”
Not only Stas but Kali bit his lips in order not to burst out laughing. In the meantime adjurations were repeated, more and more horrible, and the wheel kept spinning so quickly that the eyes could not keep pace with its whirl. This continued until the old negro entirely lost his strength and breath.
Then he squatted on the ground, and for some time nodded his head in both directions in silence. After a while, however, he rose and taking a knife, cut with it the skin at Kali’s shoulder and smearing a piece of kid’s liver with his blood, shoved it into M’Rua’s mouth; the other piece smeared in the king’s blood he shoved into Kali’s mouth. Both swallowed so quickly that their wind-pipes began to play, and their eyes bulged out; after which they grabbed hold of hands in sign of loyal and everlasting friendship.
The warriors on the other hand began to shout with glee:
“Both swallowed; neither spat it out; therefore they are sincere and there is no treachery between them.”
And Stas in his soul thanked Kali that he had acted as his proxy at this ceremony, for he felt that at the swallowing of “a piece” of M’Rua he undoubtedly would have given proof of insincerity and treachery.
From that moment, however, the little travelers were not threatened on the part of the savages with deceit or any unexpected attacks; on the contrary they were treated with a hospitality and an esteem almost god-like. This esteem increased when Stas, after making an observation on a barometer, a great heritage from Linde, predicted rain, and when rain fell that very same day quite copiously, as though the massica* [*The spring rainy season, which had just passed.] desired to shake off the rest of its supplies upon the earth, the negroes were convinced that this downpour was the gift of the “Good Mzimu” and their gratitude to Nell was unbounded. Stas joked with her about this, saying that since she had become a negro divinity he would proceed alone on his further journey and leave her in M’Rua’s village, where the negroes would erect for her a chapel of ivory, and would bring beans and bananas to her.
But Nell had no uncertainty, and, standing on her little toes, whispered in his ear, according to her custom, only four words: “You won’t leave me!” After which she began to leap from joy, saying that since the negroes were so kind, the whole journey to the ocean would be easy and quick. This happened in front of the tent and in the presence of the crowd, so old M’Rua, seeing a jumping Mzimu, began at once to leap as high as he could with his crooked shanks in the conviction that through that act he gave proof of his piety. In emulation of their superior “the ministers” started to leap, and after them the warriors, and later the women and children; in a word, the whole village for some time was jumping as if all had lost their wits.
This example given by the divinity amused Stas so much that he lay down and roared with laughter. Nevertheless, during the night-time he rendered to the pious king and his subjects a real and enduring service, for when the elephants made depredations upon their banana field he drove towards them on the King and shot a few rockets among the herd. The panic caused by the “fiery snakes” surpassed even his expectation. The huge beasts, seized by a frenzy of terror, filled the jungle with a roar and the noise of hoofs, and, escaping blindly, tumbled down and trampled upon one another. The mighty King chased after his flying companions with extraordinary alacrity, not sparing blows of his trunk and tusks. After such a night one could be certain that not an elephant would appear in the banana and doom-palm plantations belonging to the village of old M’Rua.
In the village great joy also reigned, and the negroes passed the whole night in dancing and drinking beer of millet and palm wine. Kali learned from them, however, many important things; it appeared that some of them had heard of some great water lying east and surrounded by mountains. For Stas this was proof that the lake, of which no mention was made in the geography which he had studied, actually existed; also, that going in the direction which they had selected, they would finally encounter the Wahima people. Inferring from the fact that Mea’s and Kali’s speech differed very little from M’Rua’s speech, he came to the conclusion that the name of “Wahima” was in all probability the designation of a locality, and that the peoples living on the shores of “Bassa-Narok” belonged to the great Shilluk tribe, which begins on the Nile and extends, it is not known how far, to the east.
XVIII
The population of the whole village escorted afar the “Good Mzimu” and took leave of her with tears, begging vehemently that she would deign to come sometime to M’Rua, and to remember his people. Stas for some time hesitated whether he should point out to the negroes the ravine in which he had hidden the wares and supplies left by Linde, which owing to want of porters he could not take with him, but reflecting that the possession of such treasures might evoke envy and discord among them, awaken covetousness, and embroil the peace of their lives, he abandoned this design, and, instead, shot a big buffalo and left its meat for a farewell feast. The sight of such a large amount of “mama” also really delighted them.
For the following three days the caravan again proceeded through a desolate country. The days were scorching, but, owing to the high altitude of the region, the nights were so cold that Stas ordered Mea to cover Nell with two shaggy coverlets. They now often crossed mountainous ravines, sometimes barren and rocky, sometimes covered with vegetation so compact that they could force their way through it only with the greatest difficulty. At the brinks of these ravines they saw big apes and sometimes lions and panthers. Stas killed one of them at the entreaty of Kali, who afterwards dressed himself in its hide in order that the negroes might at once know that they had to do with a person of royal blood.
Beyond the ravines, on high table-lands, negro villages again began to appear. Some lay near together, some a
t the distance of a day or two. All were surrounded by high stockades for protection against lions, and these were so entwined with creepers that even close at hand they looked like clumps of a virgin forest. Only from the smoke rising from the middle of the village could one perceive that people dwelt there. The caravan was everywhere received more or less as at M’Rua’s village; that is, at first with alarm and distrust and afterwards with admiration, amazement, and esteem. Once only did it happen that the whole village, at the sight of the elephant, Saba, the horses, and the white people, ran away to an adjacent forest, so that there was no one to converse with. Nevertheless, not a spear was aimed against the travelers, for negroes, until Mohammedanism fills their souls with cruelties and hatred against infidels, are rather timid and gentle. So it most frequently happened that Kali ate a “piece” of the local king and the local king a “piece” of Kali, after which the relations were of the most friendly character. To the “Good Mzimu,” the negroes furnished evidence of homage and piety in the shape of chickens, eggs, and honey, extracted from wooden logs suspended from the boughs of great trees with the aid of palm ropes. The “great master,” the ruler of the elephant, thunder, and fiery snakes, aroused mainly fear, which soon, however, changed into gratitude when they became convinced that his generosity equaled his might. Where the villages were closer to one another the arrival of the extraordinary travelers was announced from one village to the other by the beating of drums, for the negroes give notice of everything with the aid of drumming. It happened also that the entire populace would come out to meet them, being well disposed in advance.
In one village, numbering one thousand heads, the local ruler, who was fetish-man and king in the same person, consented to show them “the great fetish,” which was surrounded by such extraordinary veneration and fear that the people did not dare to approach the ebony chapel, covered with a rhinoceros hide, and make offerings any nearer than fifty paces. The king stated that this fetish not long before fell from the moon, that it was white and had a tail. Stas declared that he himself at the command of the “Good Mzimu” sent it, and in saying that he did not deviate from the truth, for it appeared that the “great fetish” was plainly one of the kites, despatched from Mount Linde. Both children were pleased with the thought that other kites in a suitable wind might fly still further. They determined to fly others from heights in the farther course of time. Stas made and sent out one that very same night, which convinced the negroes that the “Good Mzimu” and the white master also came to earth from the moon, and that they were divinities who could not be served with sufficient humility.
Complete Works of Henryk Sienkiewicz Page 646