■aI f ii f llili I f i i l l i l l
On this occasion, to test all his followers, and prove
their readiness to serve him, he had started on a sudden
View of the
freak for the three days’ excursion on the lake one day
before the appointed time, expecting everybody to fall
into place by magic, without the smallest regard to each
one’s property, feelings, or comfort. The home must be
forsaken without a last adieu, the dinner untasted, and no
provision made for the coming night, in order that his
impetuous majesty should not suffer one moment’s disappointment.
The result was natural: many who would
have come were nowhere to he found; my guns, bed,
bedding, and note-books, as well as cooking utensils, were
all left behind, and, though sent for, did not arrive till
the following day.
On arrival at the mooring station, not one boat was to
be found, nor did any arrive until after dark, when, on
the beating of drums and firing of guns, some fifty large
ones appeared. They were all painted with red clay, and
averaged from ten to thirty paddles, with long prows
standing out like the neck of a syphon or swan, decorated
on the head with the horns of the Nsunnu (lencotis) antethe
lope, between which was stuck upright a tuft of feathers
exactly like a grenadier’s plume. These arrived to con-
M urchison Creek.
vey us across the mouth of a deep rushy swamp to the
royal yachting establishment, the Cowes of Uganda, distant
five hours’ travelling from the palace. We reached
C h a n d a Boat.
Cowes by torchlight at 9 p .m., when the king had
a picnic dinner with me, turned in with his women