this account I fancied that elephants are not uncommon
in these parts. Manua, who has charge of our
cattle, came crying, and bleeding from a jagged cut on
the back of his head. A Seedee, twice his size, had
struck him with a bludgeon for refusing to give up his
hut. The offender, who generally was well-behaved,
expressed great penitence. The truth of the story
could not be arrived a t; and after threatening the
Seedee with confinement in irons (which we hadn’t),
all seemed satisfied except Manua, who could not
brook the insult of having been taunted for being
“ °nly an Unyamuezi.” Blubbering most bitterly, he
said, “ It is not the wound that pains me, but here,
here,” violently beating his heart. Poor little fellow!
he felt his honour at stake, and swore he would take
the other’s life; but nothing further occurred.
We were to , receive the remainder of our present
of cows from M’tessa at this ground, which is on the
borders of Uganda. Some cows are brought, but
Budja pronounces them no better than goat. A particular
favourite of mine, Ooreymengo, the goat-boy,
reported having seen a . herd of Waganda villagers
sweep away all our goats. I ordered an armed party
of men to proceed in pursuit.. Half an hour afterwards
our goats were discovered grazing close by
camp;. no one had stolen them—the boy had invented
the story because he could not find them! He was
sentenced to receive twenty lashes, having lost three
goats for us some tune before. On his hearing my
order, he exclaimed, “ I don’t want to be f loggedbut
Mabruk tied him to a tree and gave it him well with
a long switch. On asking the latter, whose duty it
also was to keep count of the cattle, how many cows
were now left, he took a half-inch rope which he wore
on his head as a turban, and told me to count the
knots upon it; “ Chumsa-thillatheen”—35—all right.
23d!.—Halt. Budja, on seeing the baggage packed
for a march, says that if I go without receiving the
complement of cattle, his king will kill him for not
obeying orders. One of the women of camp being
unwell, this is also brought forward as an excuse for
halting. The district officer pays me a pleasant visit,
and afterwards sends a gourd full of m’wengd. Went
shooting from 9 till 12, wading up to the knees
through bogs after elephant or buffalo (Bogo): plenty
of their spoor, and several"large game-traps were seen
—also fish-cruives se t; but nothing was bagged. We
had a cow killed to-day. Although all its “ joints ”
were at my disposal, the Seedees cut- them so small,
and into such cross-grained-looking pieces, that when
served up they were very uninviting; there was no
carving them, because the meat was cut up while
warm. The Waganda, on the contrary, cut as neat
joints as we do at home, the Seedees calling their cooking
“ Kissoongoo,” or “ a l’Anglais,” meauing that solid
j oints are always cut. When boiled they are surrounded
by plantain leaf; a layer of peeled plantain is put in
a bundle at the top, and all placed in an open earthen
pot, which is covered with leaves as a lid. I took to
this cookery, and found it answered admirably.
24 th, a .m.— Halt. Cattle not yet arrived. Chief
officer ' presents another gourd of wine. Thunder,
lightning, and. heavy rain about noon. Leopard and
lion must be common about here, as one of the, former
was seen,by our men while fetching water, and.there
are three lion-traps (of logs) within a short distance.