"Why has he brought so many men with him?" inquired the people from the
canoe.
"There are so many presents for the M'Kamma (king) that he has many men
to carry them," shouted Bacheeta.
"Let us look at him!" cried the headman in the boat. Having prepared for
the introduction by changing my clothes in a grove of plantains for my
dressing- room, and altering my costume to a tweed suit, something
similar to that worn by Speke, I climbed up a high and almost
perpendicular rock that formed a natural pinnacle on the face of the
cliff, and waving my cap to the crowd on the opposite side, I looked
almost as imposing as Nelson in Trafalgar Square.
I instructed Bacheeta, who climbed up the giddy height after me, to
shout to the people that an English lady, my wife, had also arrived, and
that we wished immediately to be presented to the king and his family,
as we had come to thank him for his kind treatment of Speke and Grant,
who had arrived safe in their own country. Upon this being explained and
repeated several times the canoe approached the shore.
