found a large court, where the Wakungu caught yesterday,
and sentenced to execution, received their reprieve
on paying fines of cattle and young damsels—their daughters.
A variety of charms, amongst which were some
bits of stick strung on leather and covered with serpent-
skin, were presented and approved of. Kaggao, a large
district officer, considered the second in rank here, received
permission for me to call on him with my medicines.
I pressed the king again to send men with mine
to Kamrasi’s, to call Petherick. At first he objected that
they would be killed, but finally he yielded, and appointed
Budja, his Unyoro ambassador, for the service. Then,
breaking up the court, he retired with a select party of
Wakungfi, headed by the Kamraviona, and opened a con-1
versation on the subject which is ever uppermost with
the king and his courtiers.
18 ¿A—To-day I visited Kaggao with my medicine-
chest. He had a local disease, which he said came to him
by magic, though a different cause was sufficiently obvious,
and wanted medicine such as I gave Mkuenda, who reported
that I gave him a most wonderful draught. Unfortunately
I had nothing suitable to give my new patient,
but cautioned him to have a care lest contagion should
run throughout his immense establishment, and explained
the whole of the circumstances to him. Still he was not
satisfied; he would give me slaves, cows, or ivory, if I
would only cure him. He was a very great man, as I
could see, with numerous houses, numerous wives, and
plenty of everything, so that it was ill-becoming of him
to be without his usual habits. Rejecting his munificent
offers, I gave him a cooling dose of calomel and jalap,
which he drank like pombe, and pronounced beautiful—
holding up his hands, and repeating the words “ Beautiful,
beautiful! they are all beautiful together! There is Bana
beautiful! his box is beautiful ! and his medicine beautiful
! ”—and, saying this, led us in to see his women, who
at my request were grouped in war apparel—viz., a dirk
fastened to the waist by many strings of coloured beads.
There were from fifty to sixty women present, all very
lady-like, but none of them pretty. Kaggao then informed
me the king had told all his Wakungii he would
keep me as his guest four months longer to see if Petherick
came; and should he not by that time, he would give
me an estate, stocked with men, women, and cattle, in perpetuity,
so that, if I ever wished to leave Uganda, I should
always have something to come back to ; so I might now
know what my fate was to be. Before leaving, Kaggao
presented us with two cows and ten baskets of potatoes.
19 ih.-r-li sent a return present of two wires and twelve
fundo of beads of sorts to Kaggao, and heard that the
king had gone to show himself off to his mother dressed
Bana fashion. In the evening Katunzi, N’yamasore’s
brother, just returned from the Unyoro plunder, called
on me whilst I was at dinner. Not knowing who he was,
and surprised at such audacity in Uganda, for he was the
first officer who ever ventured to come near me in this
manner, I offered him a knife and fork, and a share in
the repast, which rather abashed him; for, tahing it as
a rebuff, he apologised immediately for the liberty he had
taken, contrary to the etiquette of Uganda society, in
coming to a house when the master was at dinner; and
he would have left again had I not pressed him to remain.
Katunzi then told me the whole army had returned
from Unyoro, with immense numbers of cows,
women, and children, but not men, for those who did not
run away were killed fighting. He offered me a present
of a woman, and pressed me to call on him
20th.—-Still I found that the king would not send his
Wakungu for the Unyoro expedition, so I called on him
about it. Fortunately he asked me to speak a sentence
in English, that he might hear how it sounds; and this
gave me an opportunity of saying, if he had kept his