C H A P T E K XVII.
UNYORO.
INVITATION TO THE PALACE AT LAST— JOURNEY TO IT— BOMBAY’S
VISIT TO KING KAMRASI—1-OUR REPUTATION AS CANNIBALS__
RECEPTION AT COURT — ACTING THE PHYSICIAN AGAIN — ROYAL
MENDICANCY.
'We halted again, hut in the evening one of Dr K’you go's
To chagfizi, on men came to invite us to the palace. He ex- the left bank of i • j .-i . .
the Kafh river, pi8»1116(l t/118/fc "WclS ILL B, gT 6 c it TclgQ
because we only received seven goats instead
of thirty, the number he had ordered Kwibdya to give us,
besides pombe and plantains without limitation. I complained
that Bombay had been shown more respect tfra.n
myself, obtaining an immediate admittance to the king’s
presence. To this he gave two ready answers—that every
distinction shown my subordinate was a distinction to
myself, and that we must not expect court etiquette from
savages.
9th.—We set off for the palace. This last march differed
but little from the others. Putting Dr K’yengo’s
men in front, and going on despite all entreaties to
stop, we passed the last bit of jungle, sighted the Kidi
hills, and, in a sea of swampy grass, at last we stood in
front of and overlooked the great king’s palace, situated
N. lat. 1° 37' 43", and E. long. 32° 19' 49", on a low
tongue of land between the Kafu and Nile rivers. It was
a dumpy, large hut, surrounded by a host of smaller ones,
and the worst royal residence we had seen since leaving
King Kamrasi's Palace, from m y hut—U n y oro.
Uzinza. Here Kajunjh, coming from behind, overtook us,
and, breathless with running, in the most excited manner
abused Dr K’yengo’s men for leading us on, and ordered
us to stop until he saw the king, and ascertained the place
his majesty wished us to reside in. Eecollecting Mtesa’s
words that Kamrasi placed his guests on the N’yanza, I
declined going to any place but the palace, which I maintained
was my right, and waited for the issue, when
Kajunjii returned with pombe, and showed us to a small,
dirty set of huts beyond the Kafu river—the trunk of the
Mwdrango and N’yanza branches which we crossed in
Uganda—and trusted this would do for the present, as
better quarters in the palace would be looked for on the
morrow. This was a bad beginning, and^aused a few of
the usual anathemas in which our countrfmen give vent
to their irritation.
Two loads of flour, neatly packed in long strips of rush-