fidence in my surgical skill, I moved my finger, and asked
if lie knew what gave it action; and on his replying in
the negative, I gave him an anatomical lecture, which so
pleased him, he at once consented to be operated on, and
I applied a blister to him accordingly. The whole operation
Avas rather ridiculous; for the blister, after being
applied, had to be rubbed in turn on the hands and faces
of both Bombay and Nasib, to show there was no evil
spirit in the “ doctor.” Now, thought I to myself, is the
right time for business ; for I had the king all to myself,
then considered a most fortunate occurrence in Uganda,
where every man courts the favour of a word with his
king, and adores him as a deity, and he in turn makes
himself as distant as he can, to give greater effect to his
exalted position. The matter, however, was merely deferred;
for I no sooner told him my plans for communicating
quickly with Petherick and Grant, than, after saying he
desired their coming even more than myself, he promised
to arrange everything on the morrow.
2 6 ¿A.—In the morning, as agreed, I called on the king,
and found the blister had drawn nicely; so I let off the
water, which Bombay called the malady, and so delighted
the king amazingly. A basket of fruit, like Indian loquots,
was then ordered in, and we ate them together, holding a
discussion about Grant and Petherick, which ended by
the king promising to send an officer by water to Kitan-
giile, and another, with two of my men, vid Usoga and
Kidi, to Gani; but as it was necessary my men should
go in disguise, I asked the king to send me four mbugu
and two spears; when, with the liberality of a great king,
he sent me twenty sheets of the former, four spears, and
a load of sun-dried fish strung on a stick in shape of a
shield.
27th.—At last something was done. One Uganda
officer and one Kidi guide were sent to my hut by the
king, as agreed upon yesterday, when I detached Mabruki
and Bilal from my men, gave them letters and maps
addressed to Petherick; and giving the officers a load of
Mtende to pay their hotel bills on the way, I gave them,
at the same time, strict orders to keep by the Nile; then,
having dismissed them, I called on the king to make
arrangements for Grant, and to complain that my residence
in Uganda was anything but cheerful, as my hut
was a mile from the palace, in an unhealthy place, where
he kept his Arab visitors. It did not become my dignity
to live in houses appropriated to persons in the rank of
servants, which I considered the ivory-merchants to b e ;
and as I had come only to see him and the high officers
of Uganda, not seeking for ivory or slaves, I begged he
would change my place of residence to the west end,
when I also trusted his officers would not be ashamed
to visit me, as appeared to be the case at present. Silence
being the provoking resort of the king, when he did not
know exactly what to say, he made no answer to my
appeal, but instead, he began a discourse on geography,
and then desired me to call upon his mother, N’yamasorb,
at her palace Masorisori, vulgarly called Soli Soli, for she
also required medicine; and, moreover, I was cautioned
that for the future the Uganda court etiquette required I
should attend on the king two days in succession, and
every third day on his mother the queen-dowager, as such
were their respective rights.
Till now, owing to the strict laws of the country, I had
not been able to call upon anybody but the king himself.
I had not been able to send presents or bribes to any one,
nor had any one, except the cockaded pages, by the king’s
order, visited me; neither was anybody permitted to sell
me provisions, so that my men had to feed themselves by
taking anything they chose from certain gardens pointed
out by the king’s officers, or by seizing pombe or plantains
which they might find Waganda carrying towards the
palace. This non-interyentive order was part of the royal