224 
THE NEW AFBICA 
messenger that came to us on our first arrival, who advise him in 
everything. The principal of his attendants does the talking, and 
is always addressed on behalf of the king, as it is not etiquette 
to address his Majesty directly. On my attempting to greet the 
king, I was told to hold my tongue. While we looked at each 
other without passing a word, one of the king’s pages brought 
two flat wooden dishes of beer. The one he handed to me, and 
the other to the king, who told me to drink. I personally gave 
the king to understand that the usual custom of tasting the beer 
had not been complied with, by pointing to the boy and holding 
the vessel towards him; for poor Franz, whom I told to mention 
the subject, was so utterly demoralised with fear that all he 
could stammer in a hoarse whisper was, ‘ Drink, baas, drink. Oh, 
don’t offend the king! ’ As I would not drink without the beer 
being tasted first, I set it down, when the king kicked the vessel 
over with his foot, spilling the contents on the floor. He must 
have had reasons of his own for not ordering the boy to taste 
the beer at my request; probably it was poisoned. 
I then compelled Franz to ask the king why he had sent for 
me, a question that had to go through three interpreters before 
it reached his ears. The message had to travel from Makololo 
to Mashubia, Mashubia to Mombokooshu, and then, as it was not 
etiquette to address the king directly, the message was passed 
to his ‘ talker,’ who cringingly conveyed its meaning to the 
king, and who also received all the ‘words of wisdom,’ as 
Indala’s utterances were grandiloquently styled, in return, and 
passed them on to me- by the same devious channel through 
which my words had previously travelled. 
After this request had been duly passed on and apparently 
understood, the king demanded to know my nationality, asking 
at the same time if I was not a Boer. The answer that I was 
English seemed in no way to better affairs. Then Indala, who 
of course had been informed by his spies of our conversation 
with Gonsalvus, warned me against the Mambarri, and authori¬ 
tatively told me to have nothing to do with him and to go 
nowhere with him, as he would certainly lead us into trouble. 
