arrival in TJsili, and. “wish to visit him. The handkerchief
I had given Irungü at Usüi to present as a letter to Mtósa
he had snatched away from him, and given, himself, to
his king, who no sooner received it than he bound it
round his head and said, in ecstasies of delight, “ Oh, the
Mzungü, the Mzungü! he does indeed want to see me.”
Then giving him four cows as a return letter to take to
me, he said, “ Hurry off as quickly as possible and bring
him here.” “ The cows,” said N’yamgundü, “ have gone
on to Kisüéré by another route, hut I will bring them
here ; and then, as Maúla is taking you, I will go and
fetch Grant.” I then told him not to be in such a hurry.
I had turned off Maúla for treating me like a dog, and I
would not be escorted by him again. He replied that his
orders would not be fully accomplished as long as any
part of my establishment was behind; so he would, if I
wished it, leave part of his children to guide me on to
Mtésa’s, whilst he went to fetch Grant. An officer, I
assured him, had just gone on to fetch Grant, so he need
not trouble his head on that score; at any rate, he might
reverse his plan, and send his children for Grant, whilst
he went on with me, by which means he would fully accomplish
his mission. Long arguments ensued, and I at
length turned the tables by asking who was the greatest
—myself or my children; when he said, “As I see you are
the greatest, I will do as you wish; and after fetching the
cows from Kisüéré, we will march to-morrow at sunrise.”
The sun rose, but N’yamgundu did not appear. I was
To Mashoudé, greatly annoyed lest Maúla should come and
try to drive him away. I waited, restraining
my impatience until noon, when, as I could stand it no
longer, I ordered Bombay to strike my tent, and commence
the march. A scene followed, which brought out
my commander-in-chief s temper in a rather surprising
shape. “ How can we go?” said Bombay. “ Strike the
tent,” said I. “Who will guide us ?” said Bombay. “Strike
the tent,” I said again. “ But Riimanika’s men have all
gone away, and there is no one to show us the way.”
“ Never mind; obey my orders, and strike the tent.”
Then, as Bombay would not do it, I commenced myself,
assisted by some of my other men, and pulled it down
over his head, all the women who were assembled under
it, and all the property. On this, Bombay flew into a
passion, abusing the men who were helping me, as there
were fires and powder-boxes under the tent. I of course
had to fly into a passion and abuse Bombay. He, in a
still greater rage, said he would pitch into the men, for
the whole place would be blown up. “ That is no reason
why you should abuse my men,” I said, “ who are better
than you by obeying my orders. If I choose to blow up
my property, that is my look-out; and if you don’t do
your duty, I will blow you up also.” Foaming and roaring
with rage, Bombay said he would not stand being
thus insulted. I then gave him a dig on the head with
my fist. He squared up, and pouted like an enraged
chameleon, looking savagely at me. I gave him another
dig, which sent him staggering. He squared again: I
gave him another; till at last, as the claret was flowing,
he sulked off, and said he would not serve me any more.
I then gave Nasib orders to take Bombay’s post, and
commence the march; but the good old man made Bom-
bay give in, and off we went, amidst crowds of Waganda,
who had. collected to witness this comedy, and were all
digging at one another’s heads, showing off in pantomime
the strange ways of the white man. N’yamgundu then
joined us, and begged us to halt only one more day, as
some of his women were still at Kistiere; but Bombay,
showing his nozzle rather flatter than usual, said, “No; I
got this on account of your lies. I won’t tell Bana any
more of your excuses for stopping; you may tell him
yourself if you like.” N’yamgundu, however, did not
think this advisable, and so wre went on as we were