Nine days elapsed before the suspicions of the king
would permit of our seeing him. Our servants had
many interviews before his highness would grant us
an audience. But it was at last brought about by
informing him that, as he seemed to prefer black to
white men, we would shave our heads and beards,
blacken our faces, and present ourselves! His messengers
at once brought a reply, that we must not do
so, for the king was preparing a house and throne
where the reception would shortly take place.
His excuses were, that he had heard many bad
reports of us through Waganda, who said we required
several men and women for our daily food; that we
drank up rivers and ate up mountains; that he did
not know exactly what to believe; but we must have
patience, and we should be gratified. He had some
Wanyamuezi guests whom he made swear, by stepping
over their arms (bows and spears), that we did not do
these things. They became answerable for us, consenting,
as a punishment, to be circumcised if we
should commit a fault. Although the king, from suspicion
and timidity, took these precautions, he would
daily inquire for our health, sending provisions occasionally;
and on being asked what he would do if the
Waganda carried out their intention of rescuing us
from him, he replied, seizing a stick and holding it
like a spear, that he would not allow them to touch a
hair of the white men’s heads. If they came, he would
put us in boats, and send us away to our own country.
He was lost in admiration of our hardihood in coming
to such a far-away land. We must be devils; we
must fight his rebel brother, and also fight the Kidi
—a race of people who constantly annoyed him.
His highness’s residence, for the last seven years,
had been where we now saw him, in a naturally strong
position, on the point of low flat land between the
Nile and the Kuffo. About three hundred huts of
grass stood here, covering an área of two square miles.
One dwelling was conspicuous amongst the rest, from
its size, and in it his highness resided, with his cattle
and followers around him. This station had been
chosen in preference to his proper residence, three
marches south, as a greater security against the attacks
of his rebel brother Beonga, living upon an island
down the Nile.
In appearance the king was fair for an African, of
slender figure, nearly six feet high, and about forty
years of age. ' His features were good, with soft gentle
eyes; in sitting he would often rest his head upon his
hand, with his elbow on his knee, and having long
arms, this position did not seem constrained. As was
the custom of the natives of his country, all the lower
incisors and eye-teeth had been extracted in his youth,
and the dentist to his father received the handsome
sum of one hundred cows for the operation. The
teeth are probably taken out by the head of a spear
or small knife, as no more refined weapon, such
as a dentist’s key or pinchers, was observed in the
country. His forehead was disfigured by black
patches where it had been burned or cauterised for
headache or other ailments; on his nose he had a
similar mark, which he wished us to take off because
it disfigured him. We never saw him wear any calico
or silks; a bark-cloth covering, tied round his body
tightly from above the waist to his heels, was his only
raiment. It was the usual salmon colour, but had