ragamuffins enlisted by Sultain Majid when Sayyid
Sweni threatened to attack Zanzibar; in fact, he never
saw such a large army collected anywhere.
■Bombay, on going to the palace, hoping to obtain
plantains for the men, found the king holding a levee,
for the purpose of despatching this said army somewhere,
but where no one would pronounqe. The king, then,
observing my men who had gone to Unyoro together
with Kamrasi’s, questioned them on their mission ; and
when told that no white men were there, he waxed wrathful,
and said it was a falsehood, for his men had seen
them, and could not be mistaken. Kamrasi, he said,
must have hidden them somewhere, fearful of the number
of guns which now surrounded him; and, for the same
reason, he told lies, yes, lies—but no man living sbajl
dare tell himself lies; and now, as he could not obtain
his object by fair means, he would use arms and force it
out. Then, turning to Bombay, he said, “ What does your
master think of this business?” upon which Bombay
replied, according to his instructions, “Bana wishes nothing
done until Grant arrives, when all will go together.”
On this the king turned his back and walked away.
22d.—Kitunzi called on me early, because he heard I
was sick. I asked him why the Waganda objected to my
sitting on a chair; but, to avoid the inconvenience of
answering a troublesome question, without replying, he
walked off, saying he heard a noise in the neighbourhood
of the palace which must be caused by the king ordering
some persons to be seized, and his presence was so nieees-
sary he could not wait another moment. My men went
for plantains to the palace and for pombe on my behalf;
but the king, instead of giving them anything, took two
fez caps off their heads, keeping them to himself, and
ordered them to tell Bana all his beer was done.
23c?.—Kidgwiga called on me to say Kamrasi so very
much wanted the white men at Gani to visit him, he had
sent a hongo of thirty tusks to the chief of that country
in hopes that it would insure their coming to see him.
He also felt sure if I went there his king would treat me
with the greatest respect. This afforded an opportunity
for putting in a word of reconciliation. I said that it
was at my request that Mtdsa sent Kamrasi a present;
and so now, if Kamrasi made friends with the Waganda,
there would be no difficulty about the matter.
2ith.—The army still thronged the highways, some
going, others coming, like a swarm of ants, the whole day
long. Kidgwiga paid another visit, and I went to the
palace without my gun, wishing the king to fancy all my
powder was done, as he had nearly consumed all my store;
but the consequence was that, after waiting the whole
day, I never saw him at all. In the evening pages informed
me that Grant had arrived at ISPyama Goma, one
march only distant.
25th.—I prepared twenty men, with a quarter of mutton
for Grant to help him on the way, but they could not
go without a native officer, lest they should be seized, and
no officer would lead the way. The king came shooting
close to my hut and ordered me out. I found him marching
Bozaro about in custody with four other Wanyambo,
who, detected plundering by Kitunzi, had set upon and
beaten him severely. The king, pointing them out to me,
said, he did not like the system of plundering, and wished
to know if it was the practice in Karague. Of i course I
took the opportunity to renew my protest against the
plundering system; but the king, changing the subject,
told me the Wazungu were at Gani inquiring after us,
and wishing to come here. To this I proposed fetching
them myself in boats, but he objected, saying he would
send men first, for they were not farther off to the northward
than the place he sent boats to, to bring Grant. He
said he did not like Unyoro, because Kamrasi hides him-
2 D