or not it came off those smaller lakes I had seen on the road the day
before I crossed the river; but no one would listen to my project. They
all said I must have the king's sanction first, else people, from not
knowing my object, would accuse me of practising witchcraft, and would
tell their king so. They still all maintained that the river did come
out of the lake, and said, if I liked to ask the king's leave to visit
the spot, then they would go and show it me. I gave way, thinking it
prudent to do so, but resolved in my mind I would get Grant to see it
in boats on his voyage from Karague. There were not guinea-fowls to be
found here, nor a fowl, in any of the huts, so I requested Rozaro to
hurry off to Mtesa, and ask him to send me something to eat. He simply
laughed at my request, and said I did not know what I was doing. It
would be as much as his life was worth to go one yard in advance of this
until the king's leave was obtained. I said, rather than be starved to
death in this ignominious manner, I would return to Karague; to which he
replied, laughing, "Whose leave have you got to do that? Do you suppose
you can do as you like in this country?"

Next day (17th), in the evening, N'yamgundu returned full of smirks
and smiles, dropped on his knees at my feet, and, in company with his
"children," set to n'yanzigging, according to the form of that state
ceremonial already described. [17] In his excitement he was hardly able
to say all he had to communicate. Bit by bit, however, I learned that he
first went to the palace, and, finding the king had gone off yachting
to the Murchison Creek, he followed him there. The king for a long
while would not believe his tale that I had come, but, being assured, he
danced with delight, and swore he would not taste food until he had
seen me. "Oh," he said, over and over again and again, according to my
informer, "can this be true? Can the white man have come all this way to
see me? What a strong man he must be too, to come so quickly! Here are
seven cows, four of them milch ones, as you say he likes milk, which you
will give him; and there are three for yourself for having brought him
so quickly. Now, hurry off as fast as you can, and tell him I am more
delighted at the prospect of seeing him than he can be to see me. There
is no place here fit for his reception. I was on a pilgrimage which
would have kept me here seven days longer but as I am so impatient to
see him, I will go off