formed when the land was low, but has now been elevated,
making these hills the axis of the centre of the continent,
and therefore probably the oldest of all.
"When within a few miles of the palace we were ordered
to stop and wait for Kachtichti’s return; but we no sooner
put up in a plantain grove, where pomb^ was brewing,
and our men were all taking a suck at it, than the worthy
arrived to call us on the same instant, as the king was
most anxious to see us. The love of good beer of course
made our men all too tired to march again; so I sent off
Bombay with Nasib to make our excuses, and in the
evening found them returning with a huge pot of pombd
and some royal tobacco, which Rtimanika sent with a
notice that he intended it exclusively for our own use, for
though there was abundance for my men, there was
nothing so good as what came from the palace; the royal,
tobacco was as sweet and strong as honey-dew, and the
beer so strong it required a strong man to drink it.
After breakfast next morning, we crossed the hill-spur
To Weranhanjs, called Weranhanj«*, the grassy tops of which
2&a~ were 5500 feet above the sea. Descending a
little, we came suddenly in view of what appeared to us
a rich clump of trees, in S. lat. 1° 42r 42", and E. long.
31° 1' 49"; and, 500 feet below it, we saw a beautiful
sheet of water lying snugly within the folds of the hills.
We were not altogether unprepared for it, as Musa of old
had described it, and Bombay, on his return yesterday,
told us he had seen a great pond. The clump, indeed, was
the palace enclosure. As to the lake, for want of a native
name, I christened it the Little Windermere, because
Grant thought it so like our own English lake of that
name. It was one of many others which, like that of
Urigi, drains the moisture of the overhanging hills, and
gets drained into the Victoria N’yanza through the Kitan-
gtile river.
To do royal honours to the king of this charming land,
I ordered my men to put down their loads and fire a
volley. This was no sooner done than, as we went to the
palace gate, we received an invitation to come in at once,
for the king wished to see us before attending to anything
else. Now, leaving our traps outside, both Grant and
myself, attended by Bombay and a few of the seniors
of my Wangtiana, entered the vestibule, and, walking
through extensive enclosures studded with huts of kingly
dimensions, were escorted to a pent-roofed baraza, which
the Arabs had built as a sort of government office, where
the king might conduct his state affairs.
Here, as we entered, we saw sitting cross-legged on the
ground Rtimanika the king, and his brother Nnanaji, both
of them men of noble appearance and size. The king
was plainly dressed in an Arab’s black choga, and wore,
for ornament, dress stockings of rich-coloured beads, and
neatly - worked wristlets of copper. Nnanaji, being a
doctor of very high pretensions, in addition to a check
cloth wrapped round him, was covered with charms. At
their sides lay huge pipes of black clay. In their rear,
squatting quiet as mice, were all the king’s sons, some six
or seven lads, who wore leather middle-coverings, and
little dream-charms tied under their chins. The first
greetings of the king, delivered in good Kisuahili, were
warm and affecting, and in an instant we both felt and
saw we were in the company of men who were as unlike
as they could be to the common order of the natives of
the surrounding districts. They had fine oval faces, large
eyes, and high noses, denoting the best blood of Abyssinia.
Having shaken hands in true English style, which is the
peculiar custom of the men of this country, the ever-
smiling Rtimanika begged us to be seated on the ground
opposite to him, and at once wished to k n ow what we
thought of Karagtid, for it had struck him his mountains
were the finest in the world; and the lake, too, did we
not admire it ? Then laughing, he inquired—for he knew