ndred years, a tree lived many; but the earth
ought to be biggest, for it never died.

I then told him again I wished one of his sons would accompany me to
England, that he might learn the history of Moses, wherein he would find
that men had souls which live for ever, but that the earth would come
to an end in the fullness of time. This conversation, diversified by
numerous shrewd remarks on the part of Rumanika, led to his asking how I
could account for the decline of countries, instancing the dismemberment
of the Wahuma in Kittara, and remarking that formerly Karague included
Urundi, Ruanda, and Kishakka, which collectively were known as the
kingdom of Meru, governed by one man. Christian principles, I said,
made us what we are, and feeling a sympathy for him made me desirous of
taking one of his children to learn in the same school with us, who, on
returning to him, could impart what he knew, and, extending the same by
course of instruction, would doubtless end by elevating his country to
a higher position than it ever knew before,--etc., etc. The policy
and government of the vast possessions of Great Britain were then duly
discussed, and Rumanika acknowledged that the pen was superior to that
of the sword, and the electric telegraph and steam engine the most
wonderful powers he had ever heard of.

Before breaking up, Rumanika wished to give me any number of ivories
I might like to mention, even three or four hundred, as a lasting
remembrance that I had done him the honour of visiting Karague in his
lifetime, for though Dagara had given to coloured merchants, he would be
the first who had given to a white man. Of course this royal offer was
declined with politeness; he must understand that it was not the custom
of big men in my country to accept presents of value when we made visits
of pleasure. I had enjoyed my residence in Karague, his intellectual
conversations and his kind hospitality, all of which I should record
in my books to hand down to posterity; but if he would give me a cow's
horn, I would keep it as a trophy of the happy days I had spent in his
country. He gave me one, measuring 3 feet 5 inches in length, and 18 3/4
inches in circumference at the base. He then offered me a large sheet,
made up of a patchwork of very small N'yera antelope skins, most
exquisitely cured and sewn. This I rejected, as he told me it had been
given to himself, explaining that we prided ourselves on never parting
with the gifts