t know what a "savage" king would do in case I carried out my
threat; whilst the Waganda, lost in amazement at what seemed little less
than blasphemy, saw me walk away homeward, leaving Bombay to leave the
present on the ground and follow.

Mtesa thought of leaving his toilet room to catch me up, but sent
Wakungu running after me. Poor creatures! They caught me up, fell upon
their knees and implored I would return at once, for the king had not
tasted food, and would not till he saw me. I felt grieved, but simply
replied by patting my heart and shaking my head, walking, if anything,
all the faster. My point gained I cooled myself with coffee and a pipe,
and returned, advancing into the hut where sat the king, a good-looking,
well-figured young man of twenty-five, with hair cut short, and wearing
neat ornaments on his neck, arms, fingers and toes. A white dog, spear,
shield, and woman--the Uganda cognizance--were by his side. Not knowing
the language, we sat staring at each other for an hour, but in the
second interview Maula translated. On that occasion I took a ring from
my finger and presented it to the king with the words:

"This is a small token of friendship; please inspect it, it is made
after the fashion of a dog collar, and being the king of metals, gold,
is in every respect appropriate to your illustrious race."

To which compliment he replied: "If friendship is your desire, what
would you say if I showed you a road by which you might reach your home
in a month?"

I knew he referred to the direct line to Zanzibar across the Masai. He
afterwards sent a page with this message:

"The king hopes you will not be offended if required to sit on it--a
bundle of grass--before him, for no person in Uganda, however high in
office, is ever allowed to sit upon anything raised above the ground but
the king."

To this I agreed, and afterwards had many interviews with his queen,
fair, fat and forty-five, to whom I administered medicine and found her
the key to any influence with the king. She often sat chattering,
laughing and smoking her pipe in concert with me.

I found that Mtesa was always on the look-out for presents, and set his
heart upon having my compass. I told him he might as well put my eyes
out and ask me to walk home as take away that little instrument, which
could be of no use to him as he could not read or understand it. But
this only excited his cupidity. He watched it twirling round and
pointing to the