me to be content with my lot for the present, after which the king, when he knew all about it, would do as I liked, he was sure, though no strangers had ever yet been allowed to reside within the royal inclosures. I gave way to this good man's appeal, and cleaned my hut by firing the ground, for, like all the huts in this dog country, it was full of fleas. Once ensconced there, the king's pages darted in to see me, bearing a message from their master, who said he was sorry the rain prevented him from holding a levée that day, but the next he would be delighted to see me. Irungu, with all Suwarora's men, then came to a collection of huts near where I was residing; and while I lay in bed that night, Irungu, with all his wives, came in to see me and beg for beads. CHAPTER XI. PALACE, UGANDA. Preparations for the Reception at the Court of Mtésa, King of Uganda.-The Ceremonial.-African Diplomacy and Dignity.-Feats with the Rifle.-Cruelty, and Wastefulness of Life.-The Pages.-The Queen-dowager of Uganda. -Her Court Reception. I negotiate for a Palace.-Conversations with the King and Queen. -The Queen's grand Entertainment.-Royal Dissipation. TO-DAY the king sent his pages to announce his intention of Halt, from 19th holding a levée in my honor. I prepared for my Feb. to 7th July. first presentation at court, attired in my best, though in it I cut a poor figure in comparison with the display of the dressy Waganda. They wore neat bark cloaks resembling the best yellow corduroy cloth, crimp and well set, as if stiffened with starch, and over that, as upper cloaks, a patchwork of small antelope skins, which I observed were sewn together as well as any English glovers could have pieced them; while their head-dresses, generally, were abrus turbans, set off with highly-polished boar-tusks, stick-charms, seeds, beads, or shells; and on their necks, arms, and ankles they wore other charms of wood, or small horns stuffed with magic powder, and fastened on by strings generally covered with snakeskin. N'yamgundu and Maŭla demanded, as their official privilege, a first peep; and this being refused, they tried to persuade me that the articles comprising the present required to be covered with chintz, for it was considered indecorous to offer any thing to his majesty in a naked state. This little interruption over, the articles enumerated below* were conveyed to the palace in solemn procession thus: With N'yamgundu, Maula, the pages, and myself on the flanks, the Union Jack, carried by the kirangozi guide, led the way, followed by, twelve men as a guard of honor, dressed in red flannel cloaks, and carrying their arms sloped, with fixed bayonets; while in their rear were the rest of my men, each carrying some article as a present. On the march toward the palace, the admiring courtiers, wonder-struck at such an unusual display, exclaimed, in raptures of astonishment, some with both hands at their mouths, and others clasping their heads with their hands, "Irungi! irungi!" which may be translated "Beautiful! beautiful!" I thought myself evcry thing was going on as well as could be wished; but, before entering the royal inclosures, I found, to my disagreeable surprise, that the men with Suwarora's hongo or offering, which consisted of more than a hundred coils of wire, were ordered to lead the procession, and take precedence of me. There was something specially aggravating in this precedence; for it will be remembered that these very brass wires which they saw I had myself intended for Mtésa; that they were taken from me by Suwarora as far back as Usui; and it would never do, without remonstrance, to have them boastfully paraded before my eyes in this fashion. My protests, however, had no effect upon the escorting wakungu. Resolving to make them catch it, I walked along as if ruminating in anger up the broad high road into a cleared square, which divides Mtésa's domain on the south from his kamraviona's, or commander-in-chief, on the north, and then turned * 1 block-tin box, 4 rich silk cloths, 1 rifle (Whitworth's), 1 gold chronometer, 1 revolver pistol, 3 rifled carbines, 3 sword-bayonets, 1 box ammunition, 1 box bullets, 1 box gun-caps, 1 telescope, 1 iron chair, 10 bundles best beads, 1 set of table-knives, spoons, and forks. into the court. The palace or entrance quite surprised me by its extraordinary dimensions, and the neatness with which it was kept. The whole brow and sides of the hill on which we stood were covered with gigantic grass huts, thatched as neatly as so many heads dressed by a London barber, and fenced all round with the tall yellow reeds of the common Uganda tiger-grass; while within the inclosure the lines of huts were joined together, or partitioned off into courts, with walls of the same grass. It is here most of Mtésa's three or four hundred women are kept, the rest being quartered chiefly with his mother, known by the title of N'yamasoré, or queen-dowager. They stood in little groups at the doors, looking at us, and evidently passing their own remarks, and enjoying their own jokes, on the triumphal procession. At each gate as we passed, officers on duty opened and shut it for us, jingling the big bells which are hung upon them, as they sometimes are at shop doors, to prevent silent, stealthy entrance. The first court passed, I was even more surprised to find the unusual ceremonies that awaited me. There courtiers of high dignity stepped forward to greet me, dressed in the most scrupulously neat fashions. Men, women, bulls, dogs, and goats were led about by strings; cocks and hens were carried in men's arms; and little pages, with rope turbans, rushed about, conveying messages, as if their lives depended on their swiftness, every one holding his skin cloak tightly round him lest his naked legs might by accident be shown. This, then, was the ante-reception court; and I might have taken possession of the hut, in which musicians were playing and singing on large nine-stringed harps, like the Nubian tambira, accompanied by harmonicons. By the chief officers in waiting, however, who thought fit to treat us like Arab merchants, I was requested to sit on the ground outside in the sun with my servants. Now I had made up my mind never to sit upon the ground as the natives and Arabs are obliged to do, nor to make my obeisance in any other manner than is customary in England, though the Arabs had told me that from fear they had always complied with the manners of the court. I felt that if I did not stand up for my social position at once, I should be treated with contempt during the remainder of my visit, and thus lose the vantageground I had assumed of appearing rather as a prince than a trader, for the purpose of better gaining the confidence of the king. To avert overhastiness, however-for my servants began |