king, Mtesa, as an earnest that I was a prince most desirous of seeing
him. No one, I said, but myself could tell what dangers and difficulties
I had encountered to come thus far for the purpose, and all was owing to
his great fame, as the king of kings, having reached me even as far off
as Zanzibar. The ambassador would not take the rifle, lest his master,
who had never seen such a wonderful weapon before, should think he had
brought him a malign charm, and he would be in danger of losing his
head. I then tried to prevail on him to take a knife and some other
pretty things, but he feared them all; so, as a last chance--for I
wished to send some token, by way of card or letter, for announcing
my approach and securing the road--I gave him a red six-penny
pocket-handkerchief, which he accepted; and he then told me he was
surprised I had come all this way round to Uganda, when the road by the
Masai country was so much shorter. He told me how, shortly after the
late king of Uganda, Sunna, died, and before Mtesa had been selected
by the officers of the country to be their king, an Arab caravan came
across the Masai as far as Usoga, and begged for permission to enter
Uganda; but as the country was disturbed by the elections, the officers
of the state advised the Arabs to wait, or come again when the king
was elected. I told him I had heard of this before, but also heard that
those Arabs had met with great disasters, owing to the turbulence of the
Masai. To which he replied: "That is true; there were great difficulties
in those times, but now the Masai country was in better order; and as
Mtesa was most anxious to open that line, he would give me as many men
as I liked if I wished to go home that way."

This was pleasant information, but not quite new, for the Arabs had told
me Mtesa was so anxious to open that route, he had frequently offered to
aid them in it himself. Still it was most gratifying to myself as I had
written to the Geographical Society, on leaving Bogue, that if I found
Petherick in Uganda, or on the northern end of the N'yanza, so that the
Nile question was settled, I would endeavour to reach Zanzibar via the
Masai country. In former days, I knew, the kings of Uganda were in the
habit of sending men to Karague when they heard that Arabs wished to
visit them--even as many as two hundred at a time--to carry their kit;
so I now begged Irungu to tell Mtesa that I should want at least sixty
men; and then, on his pr