that Ehmanika had set his heart on the revolving rifle
I had brought for Mtésa—the one, in fact, which he had
prevented my sending on to Uganda in the hands of
Kachiichu, and he would have begged me for it before had
his high-minded dignity, and the principle he had established
of never begging for anything, not interfered. I
then said he should certainly have it ; for as strongly as
I had withheld from giving anything to those begging
scoundrels who wished to rob me of all I possessed in the
lower countries, so strongly now did I feel inclined to be
generous with this exceptional man Rumanika. We then
had another picnic together, and whilst I went home to
join Grant, Riimanika spent the night doing homage and
sacrificing a bullock at the tomb of his father Dagara,
Instead of paddling all down the lake again, I walked
over the bill, and, on crossing at its northern end, wished
to shoot ducks ; but the superstitious boatmen put a stop
to my intended amusement by imploring me not to do so,
lest the spirit of the lake should be roused to dry up the
waters.
4 th.—Rumanika returned in the morning, walking up
the hill, followed by a long train of his officers, and a
party of men carrying on their shoulders his state carriage,
which consisted of a large open basket laid on the top of
two very long poles. After entering his palace, I immediately
called on him to thank him for thè great treat he
had given me, and presented him, as an earnest of what
I thought, with the Colt’s revolving rifle and a fair allowance
of ammunition. His delight knew no bounds on becoming
the proprietor of such an extraordinary weapon,
and induced him to dwell on his advantages over his
brother Eogéro, whose antipathy to him was ever preying
on his mind. He urged me again to devise some plan for
overcoming him ; and, becoming more and more confidential,
favoured me with the following narrative, by
way of evidence how the spirits were inclined to show all
the world that he was the rightful successor to the throne:
—When Dagara died, and he, Nnanaji, and Rogero, were
the only three sons left in line of succession to the crown,
a small mystic drum of diminutive size was placed before
them by the officers of state. It was only feather weight
in reality, but, being loaded with charms, became so heavy
to those who were not entitled to the crown, that no one
could lift it but the one person whom the spirits were inclined
towards as the rightful successor. Now, of all the
three brothers, he, Rumanika, alone could raise it from
the ground; and whilst his brothers laboured hard, m
vain attempting to move it, he with his little finger held
it up without any exertion.
This little disclosure in the history of Karagiie led us
on to further particulars of Dagara’s death and burial,
when it transpired that the old kings bod}', after the
fashion of his predecessors, was sewn up in a cow-skin,
and placed in a boat floating on the lake, where it
remained for three days, until decomposition set in and
maggots were engendered, of which three were taken into
the palace and given in charge to the heir-elect; but
instead of remaining as they were, one worm was transformed
into a lion, another into a leopard, and the third
into a stick.. After this the body of the king was taken up
and deposited on the hill Moga-Namirinzi, where, instead
of putting him underground, the people erected a hut over
Viirrii and, thrusting in five maidens and fifty cows, enclosed
the doorway in such a manner that the whole of them
subsequently died from starvation.
This, as may naturally be supposed, led into further
genealogical disclosures of a similar nature, and I was told
by Rumanika that his grandfather was a most wonderful
man; indeed, Karagiie was blessed with more supernatural
agencies than any other country. Rohinda the
Sixth, who was his grandfather, numbered so many years
that people thought he never would die; and he even