policy, in order that the king might have the full fleecing
of his visitors.
To call upon the queen-mother respectfully, as it was
the opening visit, I took, besides the medicine-chest, a
present of eight brass and copper wire, thirty blue-egg
beads, one bundle of diminutive beads, and sixteen cubits
of chintz, a small guard, and my throne of royal grass.
The palace to be visited lay half a mile beyond the
k in g ’s, but the highroad to it was forbidden me, as it is
considered uncourteous to pass the king’s gate without
going in. So' after winding through back-gardens, the
slums of Bandowaroga, I struck upon the highroad close
to her majesty’s, where every tiling looked like the royal
palace on a miniature scale. A large cleared space divided
the queen’s residence from her Kamraviona’s. The outer
enclosures and courts were fenced with tiger-grass; and
the huts, though neither so numerous nor so large, were
constructed after the same fashion as the king’s. Guards
also kept the doors, on which large bells were hung to
give alarm, and officers in waiting watched the throne-
rooms. All the huts were full of women, save those kept
as waiting-rooms, where drums and harmonicons were
placed for amusement. On first entering, I was required
to sit in a waiting-hut till my arrival was announced; but
that did not take long, as the queen was prepared to
receive me ; and being of a more affable disposition than
her son, she held rather a levee of amusement than a stiff
court of show. I entered the throne-hut as the gate of
that court was thrown open, with my hat off, but umbrella
held over my head, and walked straight towards her till
ordered to sit upon my bundle of grass.
HUr majesty—fat, fair, and forty-five—was sitting,
plainly garbed in mbiigu, upon a carpet spread upon the
ground within a curtain of mbtigti, her elbow resting on a
pillow of the same bark material; the only ornaments on
her person being an abrus necklace, and a piece of mbugh
tied round her head, whilst a folding looking-glass, much
the worse for wear, stood open by her side. An iron rod like
a spit, with a cup on the top, charged with magic powder,
and other magic wands, were placed before the entrance,
and within the room, four Mabandwa sorceresses or devil-
drivers, fantastically dressed, as before described, and a
mass of other women, formed the company. For a short
while we sat at a distance, exchanging inquiring glances
at one another, when the women were dismissed, and a
band of music, with a court full of Wakungu, was ordered
in to change the scene. I also got orders to draw near
and' sit f ro n tin g her within the hut. Pomb^, the best in
Uganda, was then drunk by the queen, and handed to me
and to all the high officers about her, when she smoked her
pipe, and bade me smoke mine. The musicians, dressed
in long-haired Usoga goat-skins, were now ordered to
strike up, which they did, with their bodies swaying or
dancing like bears in a fair. Different drums were then
beat, and I was asked if I could distinguish their different
tones.
The queen, full of mirth, now suddenly rose, leaving
me sitting, whilst she went to another hut, changed her
mbiigu for a ddoffi, and came back again for us to admire
her, which was no sooner done to her heart’s content, than
a second time, by her order, the court was cleared, and,
when only three or four confidential Wakungu were left,
she took up a small faggot of well-trimmed sticks, and,
selecting three, told me she had three complaints. “ This
stick,” she says, “ represents my stomach, which gives me
much uneasiness ; this second stick my liver, which causes
shooting pains all over my body ; and this third one my
heart, for I get constant dreams at night about Sunna, my
late husband, and they are not pleasant.” The dreams
and sleeplessness I told her was a common widow’s complaint,
and could only be cured by her majesty making up
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