became so concerned himself abont it, reflecting that his
son Dagara would never enjoy the benefit of his position
as successor to the crown of Karagiie, that he took some
magic powders and charmed away his life. His remains
were then taken to Moga-Namirinzi, in the same manner
as were those of Dagara; but, as an improvement on the
maggot story, a young lion emerged from the heart of the
corpse and kept guard over the hill, from whom other
lions came into existence, until the whole place has become
infested by them, and has since made Karagiid a power
and dread to all other nations; for these lions became
subject to the will of Dagara, who, when attacked by
the countries to the northward, instead of assembling an
army of men, assembled his lion force, and so swept all
before him.
Another test was then advanced at the instigation of
K’yengo, who thought Rflmanika not quite impressive
enough of his right to the throne; and this was, that each
heir in succession, even after the drum dodge, was required
to sit on the ground in a certain place of the country,
where, if he had courage to plant himself, the land would
gradually rise up, telescope-fashion, until it reached to the
skies, when, if the aspirant was considered by the spirits
the proper person to inherit Karagiie, he would gradually
be lowered again without any harm happening; but,
otherwise, the elastic hill would suddenly collapse, and he
would be dashed to pieces. Now, Rtimanika, by his own
confession, had gone through this ordeal with marked
success; so I asked him if he found the atmosphere cold
when so far up aloft, and as he said he did so, laughing
at the quaintness of the question, I told him I saw he
had learnt a good practical lesson on the structure of the
universe, which I wished he would explain to me. In a
state of perplexity, K’yengo and the rest, on seeing me
laughing, thought something was wrong; so, turning
about, they thought again, and said, “ No, it must have