of night. I called at the palace, hut saw nothing of the
king, though the court was full of officials; and there were
no less than 150 women, besides girls, goats, and various
other things, seizures from refractory state officers, who, it
was said, had been too proud to present themselves at
court for a period exceeding propriety.
All these creatures, I was assured, would afterwards he
giveñ away as return-presents for the hongos or presents
received from the king’s visitors. No wonder the tribes
of Africa are mixed breeds. Amongst the officers in waiting
was my friend Budja, the ambassador that had been
sent to Unyoro with Kidgwiga, Kamrasi’s deputy. He
had returned three days before, but had not yet seen the
king. As might have been expected, he said he had been
anything but welcomed in Unyoro. Kamrasi, after keeping
him half-starved and in suspense eight days, sent a
message—for he would not see him—that he did not desire
any communication with blackguard Waganda thieves,
and therefore advised him, if he valued his life, to return
by the road by which he came as speedily as possible.
Turning to Congow, I playfully told him that, as the road
through Unyoro was closed, he would have to go with me
through Usoga and Kidi; but the gallant colonel merely
shuddered, and said that would be a terrible undertaking.
2 7 th.—The king would not show, for some reason or
other, and we still feared to fire guns lest he should think
our store of powder inexhaustible, and so keep us here
until he had extorted the last of it. I found that the
Waganda have the same absurd notion here as the Wan-
yambo have in Karagüé, of Kamrasi’s supernatural power
in being able to divide the waters of the Nile in the same
manner as Moses did the Ked Sea.
28th.—The king sent a messenger-boy to inform us that
he had just heard from Unyoro that the white men were
still at Gani inquiring after u s ; but nothing was said of
Budja’s defeat. I sent Bombay immediately off to tell
him we had changed our plans, and now simply required
a large escort to accompany us through Usoga and Kidi
to Gani, as further delay in communicating with Petherick
might frustrate all chance of opening the Nile trade with
Uganda. He answered that he would assemble all his
officers in the morning to consult with them on the subject,
when he hoped we would attend, as he wished to
further our views. A herd of cows, about eighty in number,
were driven in from Unyoro, showing that the silly
king was actually robbing Kamrasi at the same time that
he was trying to treat with him. K’yengo informed us
that the king, considering the surprising events which had
lately occurred at his court, being very anxious to pry into
the future, had resolved to take a very strong measure for
accomplishing that end. This was the sacrifice of a child
by cooking, as described in the introduction—a ceremony
which it fell to K’yengo to carry out.
29 ¿A.—To have two strings to my bow, and press our
departure as hotly as possible, I sent first Frij off with
Nasib to the queen, conveying, as a parting present, a
block-tin brush-box, a watch without a key, two sixpenny
pocket-handkerchiefs, and a white towel, with an intimation
that we were going, as the king had expressed his
desire of sending us to Gani. Her majesty accepted the
present, finding fault with the watch for not ticking likp.
the king’s, and would not believe her son Mtdsa had been
so hasty in giving us leave to depart, as she had not been
consulted on the subject yet. Setting off to attend the
king at his appointed time, I found the Kamraviona
already there, with a large court attendance, patiently
awaiting his majesty’s advent. As we were all waiting
on, I took a rise out of the Kamraviona by telling him I
wanted a thousand men to march with me through Kidi
to Gani. Surprised at the extent of my requisition, he
wished to know if my purpose was fighting. I,made him
a present of the great principle that power commands