where my companion was; but if I retired for two
marches, and halted there, he would ask leave from
his king. In the afternoon he anticipated my wish to
send ten men into Unyoro to demand a reply from
Kamarasi. To dispel the anxiety we both felt we
went out shooting — Budja having dressed himself
very smartly in cow and antelope skins.
At night I assembled all the men to explain our
difficulties, and to intimate to them that our rations
of butcher-meat must be curtailed, otherwise there
would be disgrace and starvation for us. They agreed
to my proposals.
17th.—Halt. Having now been twenty-two days
without a message from the king, as a last resource
I sent a dozen men ahead, carrying some wires as a
bribe, to ask why we had received no definite reply.
In the mean time I went shooting some distance off,
and had a shot at a leucotis buck standing knee-deep
in water—the tall grasses almost concealing him. This
animal is always to be found in ground of that nature,
though he has not the hoofs of a waterboc. Rain
commencing, we returned shortly before the sun had
set, twenty-five villagers having accompanied us, and
been entertained by my burning some powder in the
bare palm of my hand. They told me it was no use
sending men so often to Kamarasi, as he had determined
on not seeing us.
18 th.—Halt. My men all return from the Unyoro
frontier, bringing back the presents of wire I had
sent. The district officer said, “How can I receive
these gifts if the king, my master, refuses to see the
white man ? ” and he added, that if I stayed ten years
where I was the road would not be open to me. So,
after a dismal day, I determined—having been attempting
this route since the 26th ult.—not to stay a
moment longer, but to make search for Speke, whom
we had heard nothing of for thirty days, and to try
the route to Unyoro vid Karague.
19ith.—Marched eight miles south, crossing a bog
five hundred yards wide, and knee-deep, and camping
on the second crest of land beyond it. No sooner
settled down than Bombay and three Seedees arrive
with a note from Speke, who had that morning reached
the ground we passed! I at once walked joyfully
over to his camp. He had gone out shooting. His
servants were got up like M’tessa’s pages—heads all
shaved, except cockade-like tufts left to grow above
each ear, giving them a knowing look. In the absence
of their master they gave me a cordial greeting. I
waited in the camp till Speke arrived, and I need not
attempt to describe our joy at meeting once more.
III. Our Camps un it ed .
Each of us had met with a reverse. But Speke had
accomplished his object, and seen the first cataract of
the Nile at the point where it flows from the Victoria
Nyanza. He had been attended by only a dozen
Seedees under Bombay, himself a host, and a few
Waganda. Our further plans could not now be decided
upon without a conference with Budja. It was
proposed, if everything else failed, to induce M’tessa,
by enormous bribes, to give a thousand men, and with
this force try the Kilimanjaro route to the east coast.
20 th.—Return to my yesterday’s ground along with
Speke. Having discussed whether we could again
send messengers into Unyoro, the plan was considered