17th. - My Respite, However, Was Not Long.

At the earliest possible hour in the morning the king sent begging for things one hundred times refused, supposing, apparently, that I had some little reserve store which I wished to conceal from him.

18th and 19th. - I sent Bombay to the palace to beg for pombe, as it was the only thing I had an appetite for, but the king would see no person but myself. He had broken his rifle washing-rod, and this must be mended, the pages who brought it saying that no one dared take it back to him until it was repaired. A guinea- fowl was sent after dark for me to see, as a proof that the king was a sportsman complete.

20th. - The king going out shooting borrowed my powder-horn. The Wanguana mobbed the hut and bullied me for food, merely because they did not like the trouble of helping themselves from the king's garden, though they knew I had purchased their privilege to do so at the price of a gold chronometer and the best guns England could produce.

21st. - I now, for the first time, saw the way in which the king collected his army together. The highroads were all thronged with Waganda warriors, painted in divers colours, with plantain- leaf bands round their heads, scanty goat-skin fastened to their loins, and spears and shield in their hands, singing the tambure or march, ending with a repetition of the word Mkavia, or Monarch. They surpassed in number, according to Bombay, the troops and ragamuffins enlisted by Sultain Majid when Sayyid Sweni threatened to attack Zanzibar; in fact, he never saw such a large army collected anywhere.

Bombay, on going to the palace, hoping to obtain plantains for the men, found the king holding a levee, for the purpose of despatching this said army somewhere, but where no one would pronounce. The king, then, observing my men who had gone to Unyoro together with Kamrasi's, questioned them on their mission; and when told that no white men were there, he waxed wrathful, and said it was a falsehood, for his men had seen them, and could not be mistaken. Kamrasi, he said, must have hidden them somewhere, fearful of the number of guns which now surrounded him; and, for the same reason, he told lies, yes, lies - but no man living shall dare tell himself lies; and now, as he could not obtain his object by fair means, he would use arms and force it out. Then, turning to Bombay, he said, "What does your master think of this business?" upon which Bombay replied, according to his instructions, "Bana wishes nothing done until Grant arrives, when all will go together." On this the king turned his back and walked away.

22d. - Kitunzi called on me early, because he heard I was sick. I asked him why the Waganda objected to my sitting on a chair; but, to avoid the inconvenience of answering a troublesome question, without replying, he walked off, saying he heard a noise in the neighbourhood of the palace which must be caused by the king ordering some persons to be seized, and his presence was so necessary he could not wait another moment. My men went for plantains to the palace and for pombe on my behalf; but the king, instead of giving them anything, took two fez caps off their heads, keeping them to himself, and ordered them to tell Bana all his beer was done.

23d. - Kidgwiga called on me to say Kamrasi so very much wanted the white men at Gani to visit him, he had sent a hongo of thirty tusks to the chief of that country in hopes that it would insure their coming to see him. He also felt sure if I went there his king would treat me with the greatest respect. This afforded an opportunity for putting in a word of reconciliation. I said that it was at my request that Mtesa sent Kamrasi a present; and so now, if Kamrasi made friends with the Waganda, there would be no difficulty about the matter.

24th. - The army still thronged the highways, some going, others coming, like a swarm of ants, the whole day long. Kidgwiga paid another visit, and I went to the palace without my gun, wishing the king to fancy all my powder was done, as he had nearly consumed all my store; but the consequence was that, after waiting the whole day, I never saw him at all. In the evening pages informed me that Grant had arrived at N'yama Goma, one march distant.

25th. - I prepared twenty men, with a quarter of mutton for Grant to help him on the way, but they could not go without a native officer, lest they should be seized, and no officer would lead the way. The king came shooting close to my hut and ordered me out. I found him marching Rozaro about in custody with four other Wanyambo, who, detected plundering by Kitunzi, had set upon and beaten him severely. The king, pointing them out to me, said, he did not like the system of plundering, and wished to know if it was the practice in Karague. Of course I took the opportunity to renew my protest against the plundering system; but the king, changing the subject, told me the Wazungu were at Gani inquiring after us, and wishing to come here. To this I proposed fetching them myself in boats, but he objected, saying he would send men first, for they were not farther off to the northward than the place he sent boats to, to bring Grant. He said he did not like Unyoro, because Kamrasi hides himself like a Neptune in the Nile, whenever his men go on a visit there, and instead of treating his guests with respect, he keeps them beyond the river. For this reason he had himself determined on adopting the passage by Kidi.

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