must have been trampled down b y the rush of
such a vast number to escape the conflagration!
The wide-leaping, far-reaching tongues o f flame
voraciously eating the dry, tindery material of
the huts, and blown b y a strong breeze from
the lake, almost to o k my breath aw ay , and
several times I felt as i f my v e ry vitals were
being scorched; but with heads bent low we
charged on blindly, knowing no guide save the
instinct o f self-preservation.
A s soon as an opportunity permitted, I looked
after the laggards o f my party, and b y dint of
severity kept them together, but three or four
were more than half inclined to give in before
we breathed cooler air, and could congratulate
ourselves upon our safety.
Indignant at such a murderous course, for I
mentally taxed Mtesa with this criminal folly, I
marched my party far from the route o f the
'Waganda army, and though repeatedly urged
U y Mtesa to attach myself to his party, I declined
to do so until he should explain to me w h y he
had commanded the camp to be fired without
giving warning to his people or to myself, his
guest. His messenger at once acquitted him of
such gross recklessness, and declared that he had
arrested several persons suspected o f having
fired the camp, and that he himself had suffered
the loss o f go od s and women in tjie flames. I
I-Oct. 18, 1875] MTESA EXCULPATED.
I Ugungu. J
thereupon, glad that he was not the author o f
the catastrophe, sent my salaams, and a promise
to rejoin him at Ugungu, on the Uganda side
of the Ripon Falls, which I did on the 18th
October.