amazement; the Kidi visitors, all terror-stricken, crying
out, as they clasped their breasts, “ Oh, great king, do
allow us to return to our country, for you have indeed
got a new species of man with you, and we are greatly
afraid! ”—a lot of humbug and affectation to flatter the
king, which pleased him greatly. It was not sufficient,
however, to make him forget his regal pride; for though
Bombay pleaded hard for our going to see him, and for a
change of residence, the immovable king, to maintain the
imperial state he had assumed as “ king of kings,” only
said, What difference does it make whether your master
sees me to-day or to-morrow ? If he wants to communicate
about the road to Gani, his property at Karagtie, or
his guns at Uganda, he can do so as well through the
medium of my officers as with me direct, and I will send
men whenever he wishes to do so. Perhaps you don’t
know, but I expect men from Gani every day, who took a
present of slaves, ivory, and monkey-skins to the foreigners
residing there, who, in the first instance, sent me a necklace
of beads [showing them] by some men who wore
clothes. They said white men were coming from Karague,
and requested the beads might be shown them should they
do so. They left this two moons before Baraka arrived
here, and I told them the white men would not come here,
as I heard they had gone to Uganda.”
Bombay then, finding the king very communicative,
went at him for his mhospitality towards us, his turning
us back from his country twice, and now, after inviting
us, treating us as Suwarora did. On this he gave, by
Bombay s account, the following curious reason for his
c o n d u c t—“ You don’t understand the matter. At the
time the white men were , living, in Uganda, many of the
people who had seen them there came and described them
as such monsters, they ate up mountains and drank the
Nyanza dry; and although they fed on both beef and
mutton, they were not satisfied until they got a dish of
the ‘ tender parts ’ of human beings three times a-day.
Now, I was extremely anxious to see men of such wonderful
natures. I could have stood their mountain-eating
and N’yanza-drinking capacities, but on no consideration
would I submit to sacrifice my subjects to their appetites,
and for this reason I first sent to turn them back; but
afterwards, on hearing from Dr K’yengo’s men that,
although the white men had travelled all through their
country, and brought all the pretty and wonderful things
of the world there, they had never heard such monstrous
imputations cast upon them, I sent a second time to call
them o n : these are the facts of the case. Now, with
regard to your accusation of my treating them badly, it
is all their own fault. I ordered them to advance slowly
and pick up food by the way, as there is a famine here;
but they, instead, hurried on against my wishes. That
they want to see and give me presents you have told me
repeatedly—so do I them; for I want them to teach me
the way to shoot, and when that is accomplished, I will
take them to an island near Kidi, where there are some
men [his refractory brothers] whom I wish to frighten
away with guns; but still there is no hurry,—they can
come when I choose to call them, and not before.” Bombay
to this said, “ I cannot deliver such a message to
Bana; I have told so many falsehoods about your saying
you will have an interview to-morrow, I shall only catch
a flogging; ” and forthwith departed.
13 th.—-More disgusted with Kamrasi than ever, I called
Kidgwiga up, and told him I was led to expect from Ru-
manika that I should find his king a good and reasonable
man, which I believed, considering it was said by an unprejudiced
person. Mtesa, on the contrary, told me Kamrasi
treated all his guests with disrespect, sending them
to the farther side of the N’yanza. I now found his
enemy more truthful than his friend, and wished him to
be told so. “ For the future, I should never,” I said, “men