molesting you.” “ Then by whose orders are we kept
here ?” “ By Kamrasi’s.” “ Why does Kamrasi keep p
here ?” “ He thinks you are not so near, and men have
gone to tell him.” “ How did we come here from the
last ground T “ By Kamrasi’s orders; for nothing can
be done excepting by his orders.” “ Then he must know
we are here ?” “ He may not have seen the men we sent
to him; for unless he shows in public no one can see
him.” The whole affair gave us such an opinion of Kamrasi
as induced us to think it would have served him
right had we joined Mtdsa and given him a thrashing.
This, I said, was put in our power by an alliance with
his refractory brothers; but Kidgwiga only laughed and
said, “ Nonsense ! Kamrasi is the chief of all the countries
round here—Usoga, Kidi, Chopi, Gani, Ulega, everywhere
; he has only to hold up his hand and thousands
would come to his assistance.” Kwibdya, the officer of
the place, presented us with five fowls on the part of
the king, and some baskets of potatoes.
Mh.—We halted again, it was said, in order that
Kwibeya might give us all the king had desired him to
present. I sent Bombay off with a message to Kamrasi
explaining everything, and begging for an early interview,
as I had much of importance to communicate, and wished,
of all things, to see the letter he had from Gani, as it
must have come from our dear friends at home; Seven
goats, flour, and plantains, were now brought to u s ; and
as Kidgwiga begged for the flour without success, he flew
into a fit of high indignation because these things were
given and received without his having first been consulted.
He was the big man and appointed go-between,
and no one could dispute it. This was rather startling
news to us, for Yittagura said he was commander-in-chief;
Kajunjii thought himself biggest, so did Kwibdya, and
even Dr K’yengo’s men justified Budja’s speech.
5 th and 6 th.—Still another halt, with all sorts of excuses.
Frij, it appeared, dreamt last night that the king
of Uganda came to fight us for not complying with his
orders, and that all my men ran away except Ulddi and
himself. This, according to the interpretation of the coast,
would turn out the reverse, otherwise his head must be
wrong, and, according to local science, should be set right
again by actual cautery of the temples; and as Grant
dreamt a letter came from Gani which I opened and ran
away with, he thought it would turn out no letter at all,
and therefore Kamrasi had been humbugging us. We
heard that Bombay had shot a cow before K3.r1nra.si, and
would not be allowed to return until he had eaten it.
At last we made a move, but only of two hours’ dura-
Change ground, through the usual forest, in which eleltk
phants walked about as if it were their park.
We hoped at starting to reach the palace, but found we
must stop here until the king should send for us. We
were informed that doubtless he was looking into his
Uganga, or magic horn, to discover what he had to expect
from u s ; and he seemed as yet to have found no ground
for being afraid of us. Moreover, it is his custom to keep
visitors waiting on him in this way, for is he not the
king of kings, the king of Kittara, which includes all the
countries surrounding Unyoro ?
2 I