were not. If y e t free men, with the power to
defend our freedom, we must be permitted to
continue our v o y a g e on the sea without let or
hindrance. If not free men, we had first to be
disarmed. I seized my gun, and motioned them
again to depart. With a loud, scornful c ry they
caught up their spears and shields, and prepared
to launch their weapons. T o be saved, we must
act quickly, and I fired over their heads; and
as th ey fell back from the boat, I bade my men
pull away. Forming a line on each side o f us,
about 30 yards off, they flung their spears, which
the boat’s crew avoided b y dropping into the
bottom o f the boat. T h e canoes astern clapped
their hands gleefully, showing me a large bunch
o f M utunda beads which had been surreptitiously
abstracted from the stern o f the boat. I
seized my repeating rifle and fired in earnest,
to right and left. T h e fellow with the beads
was doubled up, and the boldest o f those nearest
to us was disabled. T h e big rifle, aimed
at the water-line o f two or three o f the canoes,
perforated them through and through, which
compelled the crews to p a y attention to their
sinking crafts, and permitted us to continue our
v o y a g e into Napoleon Channel and to examine
the Ripon Falls.* . On an uninhabited point o f
*A more detailed account of this part of the lake will be
given in later chapters, as I paid three visits to the Ripon
Falls, and during the third visit photographed them.
Usoga, near the falls, we encamped; and on the
29th March crossed the channel, and coasted
along Uganda between numerous islands,, the
largest o f which are densely inhabited.
A t Kiwa Island we rested for the d a y , and
were received with the greatest cordiality b y the
chief, who sent messengers to the island o f
Kerenge, a distance o f three miles, to purchase
bananas and jars o f maramba wine, for the guest,
as he said, o f the Kabaka Mtesa. A s it was the
first time for twenty-two days that w e had lived
with natives since leaving K a g eh y i we celebrated,
as we were in duty bound, our arrival among
friends.
T h e next d a y , guided and escorted b y the
chief, we entered Ukafu, where we found a tall
handsome young Mtongoleh in command o f the
district, before whom the chief o f K iw a Island
made obeisance as before a great lord. T he
young Mtongoleh, though professing an ardent
interest in us, and voluble o f promises, treated
us only to Barmecide fare after waiting twenty-
four hours. Perceiving that his courtesies,'though
suavely proffered, failed to satisfy the cravings
o f our jaded stomachs, w e left him still protesting
enormous admiration for us, and still volub
ly assuring us that he was preparing grand
hospitalities in our honour.
I was staggered when I understood in its full
extent the perfect art with which we had been