r his constitution or his rank; but
he soon gave up this nonsense as I began to talk, inquired, amongst
other things, why I did not see the Waganda at my house, when I said
I should so much like to make acquaintance with them, and begged to be
introduced to the company who were present.

I was now enabled to enlarge the list of topics on which it is
prohibited to the Waganda to speak or act under pain of death. No one
even dare ever talk about the royal pedigree of the countries that have
been conquered, or even of any neighbouring countries; no one dare visit
the king's guests, or be visited by them, without leave, else the king,
fearing sharers in his plunder, would say, What are you plucking our
goose for? Neither can any one cast his eye for a moment on the women of
the palace, whether out walking or at home, lest he should be accused of
amorous intentions. Beads and brass wire, exchanged for ivory or slaves,
are the only articles of foreign manufacture any Mganda can hold in his
possession. Should anything else be seen in his house--for instance,
cloth--his property would be confiscated and his life taken.

I was now introduced to the company present, of whom one Mgema, an
elderly gentleman of great dignity, had the honour to carry Sunna the
late king; Mpungu, who cooked for Sunna, also ranks high in court; then
Usungu and Kunza, executioners, rank very high, enjoying the greatest
confidence with the king; and, finally, Jumba and Natigo, who traced
their pedigree to the age of the first Uganda king. As I took down a
note of their several names, each seemed delighted at finding his name
written down by me; and Kunza, the executioner, begged as a great favour
that I would plead to the king to spare his son's life, who, as I have
mentioned, was ordered out to execution on the last levee day. At first
I thought it necessary, for the sake of maintaining my dignity, to raise
objections, and said it would ill become one of my rank to make any
request that might possibly be rejected; but as the Kamraviona assured
me there would be no chance of failure, and everybody else agreed with
him, I said it would give me intense satisfaction to serve him; and the
old man squeezed my hand as if overpowered with joy.

This meeting, as might be imagined, was a very dull one, because the
company, being tongue-tied as regards everything of external interest,
occupied themselves solely on matters of home business, or indulged
their busy