to the north: two days he is at peace, and five days
at war (curiously enough indicating the division of
time into weeks). Changing the subject, he commenced
to scold a swarm of boys who were naturally
peering in at the door. He ordered all but a few
listeners to withdraw, and now commenced begging
everything he saw in the hut. Pointing to his cheek,
head, and back, he said that all his children after a
certain age die; we must give him a cure for this.
A quantity of medicine was tied up in a veil, and he
left abruptly, saying to his men, “ Erokh togendeh ”
—Let us go. Although we accompanied him to
his canoe, he took no notice of us, and was paddled
across by some naked hoys. No influential persons
were around him, and when one of the scullers fell
overboard the canoe was not stopped. The creature
swam ashore, and commenced to scrub himself without
any ceremony before his highness the king of
Unyoro.
With all his apparent rudeness, Kamarasi was not
unkindly. Though his neighbour, M’tessa, ordered his
subjects to he butchered, no such savage custom prevailed
in Unyoro; men were admonished, and told
how fortunate they were under the king’s lenient rule.
Murderers, however, were flogged or speared, and
their bodies thrown into the river Kuffo. Scarcely a
day passed that we did not receive a little flour, some
drink (very coarse and had), sweet potato, or other
remembrance; but the great present was made soon
after our arrival, when we each had ten cows and five
fowls sent us, with an explanation that the king
thought it necessary to send us separate presents, as
we had approached him by different routes. Before
leaving, we solicited, and were presented with, a few
more cattle, and a tusk was offered to each of our
head-servants. In return for his presents, Kamarasi
received English and foreign goods to the value, in
England, of £150 sterling; this included a double
gun and rifle, a chronometer, &e. Besides these, he
obtained a considerable quantity of property left
behind at Karague; so that it is confidently hoped
he will treat all future white men with due hospitality.
Kamarasi was constantly visited by men of far
countries coming to trade with him for cattle, slaves,
and ivory. By his permission, the Waganda who had
accompanied Speke to the Ripon Falls arrived with a
message for us from their king. When they appeared,
in their beautifully clean dresses, our hearts quite
warmed towards them as old friends. Their orders,
they said, were to accompany us through fire and
water as far as we wished, only they were not to
go to England! Kamarasi would not hear of this,
telling them, until he heard farther from M’tessa, he
would not risk their lives amongst the wild people of
Kidi and Madi; so they had to return to their king
with a messenger from us in the form of a tin-lid,
which was supposed to convey our kind remembrances.
We gave them some salt, which they licked like
sugar. Unfortunately they would not eat our beef,
as it had not been killed by one of themselves, and
had been boiled in our pots ; however, they got some
porridge, some m’wengd, and a cow. Before leaving,
after having knelt to “ nyanzig ” (return thanks)
at our door, they expressed themselves devoted to u s ;
“ their lips had been sweetened and their hearts
T