to fire my announcement at the palace; for he instantly
placed caps on the nipples, and let off one barrel by accident,
the contents of which stuck in the thatch. This
created a momentary alarm, for it was supposed the
thatch had taken fire; but it was no sooner suppressed
than the childish king, still sitting on his throne, to astonish
his officers still more, levelled the gun from his
shoulder, fired the contents of the second barrel into the
faces of his squatting Wakungu, and then laughed at his
own trick. In the meanwhile, cows were driven in,
which the king ordered his Wakungti to shoot with carbines
| and as they missed them, he showed them the way
to shoot with the Whitworth, never missing. The company
now broke up, hut I still clung to the king, begging
him to allow me to purchase food with heads, as I wanted
it, for my establishment was always more or less in a
starving state; but he only said, “ Let us know what you
want and you shall always have it |$j which, in Uganda, I
knew from experience only meant, Don’t bother me any
more, but give me your spare money, and help yourself
from my spacious gardens—Uganda is before you.
5 th.-“-“-To-day the king went on a visit to his mother,
and therefore neither of them could he seen by visitors.
I took a stroll towards the N’yanza, passing through the
plantain-groves occupied by the king’s women, where my
man Sangoro had been twice taken up by the Mgemma
and put in the stocks. The plantain gardens were beautifully
kept by numerous women, who all ran away from
fright at seeing me, save one who, taken by surprise, threw
herself flat on the ground, rolled herself up in her mbtigft,
and, kicking with her naked heels, roared murder and
help, until I poked her up, and reproached her for her
folly. This little incident made my fairies bolder, and,
sidling up to me one by one, they sat in a knot with me
upon the ground; then clasping their heads with their
hands, they woh-wohed in admiration of the white man ;
they never in all their lives saw anything so wonderful;
his wife and children must be like him ; what would not
Sunna have given for such a treat ?—but it was destined to
Mtdsa’s lot. What is the interpretation of this sign, if it
does not point to the favour in which Mtfea is upheld by
the spirits ? I wished to go, but no : “ Stop a little more,”
they said, all in a breath, or rather out of breath in their
excitement; “ remove the hat and show the h a ir; take off
the shoes and tuck up the trousers; what on earth is kept
in the pockets ? Oh, wonder of wonders!—-and the iro n ! ”
As I put the watch close to the ear of one of them, “ Tick,
tick, ticks—woh, woh, woh”—everybody must hear it; and
then the works had to be seen. “ Oh, fearful! ” said one,
“ hide your faces; it is the Lubari. Shut it up, Bana,
shut it u p ; we have seen enough; but you will come
again and bring us beads.” So ended the day’s work.
61 A—To-day I sent Bombay to the palace for food.
Though rain fell in torrents, he found the king holding a
levee, giving appointments, plantations, and women, according
to merit, to his officers. As one officer, to whom
only one woman was given, asked for more, the king called
him an ingrate, and ordered him to be cut to pieces on the
spot; and the sentence was,_ as Bombay told me, carried
into effect—not with knives, for they are prohibited, but
with slips of sharp-edged grass, after the executioners had
first dislocated his neck by a blow delivered behind the
head, with a sharp, heavy-headed club.
No food, however, was given to my men, though the
king, anticipating Bombay’s coming, sent me one load of
tobacco, one of butter, and one of coffee. My residence in
Uganda became much more merry now, for all the women
of the camp came daily to call on my two little girls ;
during which time they smoked my tobacco, chewed my
coffee, drank my pombd, and used to amuse me with
queer stories of their native land. Rozaro’s sister also
came, and proposed to marry me, for Maula, she said, was