24th. - Hoping To Keep The King To His Promise, I Went To The
Palace Early, But Found He Had Already Gone To See His Brothers,
So Followed Him Down, And Found Him Engaged Playing On A
Harmonicon With Them.
Surprised at my intrusion, he first asked
how I managed to find him out; then went on playing for
A while;
but suddenly stopping to talk with me, he gave me an opportunity
of telling him I wished to send Grant off to Karague, and start
myself for Usoga and the Salt Lake in the morning. "What! going
away?" said the king, as if he had never heard a word about it
before; and then, after talking the whole subject over again,
especially dwelling on the quantity of powder I had in store at
Karague, he promised to send the necessary officers for escorting
us on our respective journeys in the morning.
The brothers' wives then wished to see me, and came before us,
when I had to take off my hat and shoes as usual, my ready
compliance inducing the princes to pass various compliments of my
person and disposition. The brothers then showed me a stool made
of wood after the fashion of our sketching-stool, and a gun-cover
of leather, made by themselves, of as good workmanship as is to
be found in India. The king then rose, followed by his brothers,
and we all walked off to the pond. The effect of stimulants was
mooted, as well as other physiological phenomena, when a second
move took us to the palace by torchlight, and the king showed a
number of new huts just finished and beautifully made.
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