his head must be wrong, and, according to local science, should be set right again by actual cautery of the temples; and as Grant dreamt a letter came from Gani which I opened and ran away with, he thought it would turn out no letter at all, and therefore Kamrasi had been humbugging us. We heard that Bombay had shot a cow before Kamrasi, and would not be allowed to return until he had eaten it.

7th.

At last we made a move, but only of two hours' duration, Change ground, through the usual forest, in which elephants walked about as if it were their park. We hoped at starting to reach the palace, but found we must stop here until the king should send for us. We were informed that doubtless he was looking into his uganga, or magic horn, to discover what he had to expect from us; and he seemed as yet to have found no ground for being afraid of us. Moreover, it is his custom to keep visitors waiting on him in this way, for is he not the king of kings, the King of Kittara, which includes all the countries surrounding Unyoro?

CHAPTER XVII.

UNYORO.

Invitation to the Palace at last.-Journey to it.-Bombay's Visit to King Kamrasi. -Our Reputation as Cannibals.-Reception at Court.-Acting the Physician again. Royal Mendicancy.

To Chaguzi, on

the left bank of

the Kafu River, 8th.

WE halted again, but in the evening one of Dr. K'yengo's men came to invite us to the palace. He explained that Kamrasi was in a great rage because we only received seven goats instead of thirty, the number he had ordered Kwibéya to give us, besides pombé and plantains without limitation. I complained that Bombay had been shown more respect than 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 Uzinza. Here Kajunju, 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. Recollecting Mtésa'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 Kajunju returned with pombé, and showed us to a small, dirty set of huts beyond the Kafu River-the trunk of the Mwérango 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 caused a few of the usual anathemas in which our countrymen give vent to their irritation.

Two loads of flour, neatly packed in long strips of rush-pith, were sent for us "to consume at once," as more would be given on the morrow. To keep us amused, Kidgwiga informed us that Kamrasi and Mtésa-in fact, all the Wahuma-came originally from a stock of the same tribe dwelling beyond Kidi. All bury their dead in the same way, under ground; but the kings are toasted first for months till they are like sun-dried meat, when the lower jaw is cut out and preserved, covered with beads. The royal tombs are put under the charge of special officers, who occupy huts erected over them. The umbilical cords are preserved from birth, and, at death, those of men are placed within the doorframe, while those of women are buried without-this last act corresponding, according to Bombay, with the custom of the Wahiyow. On the death of any of the great officers of state, the finger-bones and hair are also preserved; or, if they have died shaven, as sometimes occurs, a bit of their mbŭgă dress is preserved in place of the hair. Their families guard their tombs.

The story we heard at Karagué, about dogs with horns in Unyoro, was confirmed by Kidgwiga, who positively assured us that he once saw one in the possession of an official person, but it died.

The horn then was stuffed with magic powder, and, whenever an army was ordered for war, it was placed on the war-track for the soldiers to step over, in the same way as a child is sacrificed to insure victory in Unyamŭézi. Of the Karagué story, according to which all the Kidi people sleep in trees, Kidgwiga gave me a modified version. He said the bachelors alone do so, while the married folk dwell in houses. As most of these stories have some foundation in fact, we presumed that the people of Kidi sometimes mount a tree to sleep at night when traveling through their forests, where lions are plentiful, but not otherwise.

10th. I sent Kidgwiga with my compliments to the king, and a request that his majesty would change my residence, which was so filthy that I found it necessary to pitch a tent, and also that he would favor me with an interview after breakfast. The return was a present of twenty cows, ten cocks, two bales of flour, and two pots of pombé, to be equally divided between Grant and myself, as Kamrasi recognized in us two distinct camps, because we approached his country by two different routes--a smart method for expecting two presents from us, which did not succeed, as I thanked for all, Grant being "my son" on this occasion. The king also sent his excuses, and begged pardon for what happened to us on entering his country, saying it could not have taken place had we come from Rumanika direct. His fear of the Waganda gave rise to it, and he trusted we would forget and forgive. Tomorrow our residence should be changed, and an interview follow, for he desired being friends with us just as much as we did with him.

At last Bombay came back. He reported that he had not been allowed to leave the palace earlier, though he pleaded hard that I expected his return; and the only excuse that he could extract from the king was, that we were coming in charge of many wakungu, and he had found it necessary to retard our approach in consequence of the famine at Chaguzi. His palace proper was not here, but three marches westward: he had come here and pitched a camp to watch his brothers, who were at war with him. Bombay, doing his best to escape, or to hurry my march, replied that he was very anxious on our account, because the Waganda wished to snatch us away.

It was no doubt this hint that brought the messenger to our relief yesterday, as otherwise we might have been kept in the jungle longer. When told by Bombay of our treatment on the

Nile, the king first said he did not think we wished to see him, else we would have come direct from Rumanika; but when asked if Baraka's coming with Rumanika's officers was not sufficient to satisfy him on this point, he hung down his head and evaded the question, saying he had been the making of King Mtésa of Uganda; but he had turned out a bad fellow, and now robbed him right and left.* The Gani letter, supposed to be from Petherick, was now asked for, and a suggestion made about opening a trade with Gani, but all with the provoking result we had been so well accustomed to. No letter like that referred to had ever been received, so that Frij's interpretation about Grant's letterdream was right; and if we wished to go to Gani, the king would send men traveling by night, for his brothers at war with him lay upon the road. As to the Uganda question, and my desiring him to make friends with Mtésa, in hopes that the influence of trade would prevent any plundering in future, he merely tossed his head. He often said he did not know what to think about his guests, now he had got them; to which Bombay, in rather successful imitation of what he had heard me say on like occasions, replied, "If you do not like them after you have seen them, cut their heads off, for they are all in your hands."

11th. With great apparent politeness Kamrasi sent in the morning to inquire how we had slept. He had "heard our cry”—an expression of regal condescension--and begged we would not be alarmed, for next morning he would see us, and after the meeting change our residence, when, should we not approve of wading to his palace, he would bridge all the swamps leading up to it; but for the present he wanted two rounds of ball cartridge—one to fire before his women, and the other before his officers and a large number of Kidi men who were there on a visit. To please this childish king, Bombay was sent with two other of my men, and no sooner arrived than a cow was placed before them to be shot. Bombay, however, thinking easy compliance would only lead to continued demands on our short store of powder, said he had no order to shoot cows, and declined. A strong debate ensued, which Bombay, by his own account, turned to advantage by say ing, "What use is there in shooting cows? we have lots of meat; what we want is flour to eat with it." To which the great king

*This obviously was an allusion to the way in which the first king of Uganda was countenanced by the great king of Kittara, according to the tradition given in Chapter IX.