disgraced their red cloth—and had inflicted on me a
greater insult than I could bear. I was ashamed to show
my face. Just as the door was closed, other pages from
the king brought the Whitworth rifle to be cleaned, and
demanded an admittance; but no one dared approach
me, and they went on their way again.
6 th.— I still continued to do penance. Bombay, by my
orders, issued from within, prepared for a visit to the king,
to tell him all that had happened yesterday, and also to
ascertain if the orders for sending my men on a plundering
mission had really emanated from himself, when the
bothering pages came again, bringing a gun and knife to
be mended. My door was found shut, so they went to
Bombay, asked him to do it, and told him the king desired
to know if I would go shooting with him in the
morning. The reply was, “ No; Bana is praying to-day
that Mtdsa’s sins might be forgiven him for having committed
such an injury to him, sending'his soldiers on a
mission that did not become them, and without his
sanction too. He is very angry about it, and wishes to
know if it was done by the king’s orders.” The boys said,
“ Nothing can be done without the king’s orders.” After
further discussion, Bombay intimated that I wished the
king to send me a party of five elderly officers to counsel
with, and set all disagreeables to rights, or I would not go
to the palace again; but the boys said there were no
elderly gentlemen at court, only boys such as themselves.
Bombay now wished to go with them before the king, to
explain matters to him, and to give him all the red cloths
of my men, which I took from them, because they defiled
their uniform when plundering women and children; but
the boys said the king was unapproachable just then, being
engaged shooting cows before his women. He then wished
the boys to carry the cloth; but they declined, saying it
was contrary to orders for anybody to handle cloth, and
they could not do it.
C H A P T E B XII.
PALACE, UGANDA—Continued.
CONTINUED DIPLOMATIC DIFFICULTIES — NEGRO CHAFFING — THE
KING IN A NEW COSTUME—'ADJUTANT AND HERON SHOOTING
AT . COURT— MY RESIDENCE CHANGED-— SCENES AT COURT—
THE . KAMRAVIONA, OR COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF— QUARRELS—CONFIDENTIAL
COMMUNICATIONS WITH THE KING— COURT EXECUTIONS
AND EXECUTIONERS—ANOTHER DAY WITH THE QUEEN.
7th.—T h e farce continued, and how to manage these
haughty capricious blacks puzzled my brains considerably ;
but I felt that if I did not stand up now, no one would
ever be treated better hereafter. I sent Nasib to the
queen, to explain why I had not been to see her. I desired
to do so, because I admired her wisdom; but before
I went I must first see the king, to provide against any
insult being offered to me, such as befell Bombay when I
sent him with medicine. Having despatched him, I repaired
again to the palace. In the ante-chamber I found
a number of Wakungii, as usual, lounging about on the
ground, smoking, chatting, and drinking pombe, whilst
Wasoga amused them singing and playing on lap-harps,
and little boys kept time on the harmonicon.
These Wakungu are naturally patient attendants, being
well trained to the duty; for their very lives depend upon
their presenting themselves at court a certain number of
months every year, no matter from what distant part of