dressed in red, with his
Wakungu in front and women behind, travelling along in the confused
manner of a pack of hounds, occasionally firing his rifle that I might
know his whereabouts. He had just, it seems, mingled a little business
with pleasure; for noticing, as he passed, a woman tied by the hands to
be punished for some offence, the nature of which I did not learn, he
took the executioner's duty on himself, fired at her, and killed her
outright.

On this occasion, to test all his followers, and prove their readiness
to serve him, he had started on a sudden freak for the three days'
excursion on the lake one day before the appointed time, expecting
everybody to fall into place by magic, without the smallest regard to
each one's property, feelings, or comfort. The home must be forsaken
without a last adieu, the dinner untasted, and no provision made for the
coming night, in order that his impetuous majesty should not suffer one
moment's disappointment. The result was natural; many who would have
come were nowhere to be found; my guns, bed, bedding, and note-books,
as well as cooking utensils, were all left behind, and, though sent for,
did not arrive till the following day.

On arriving at the mooring station, not one boat was to be found, nor
did any arrive until after dark, when, on the beating of drums and
firing of guns, some fifty large ones appeared. They were all painted
with red clay, and averaged from ten to thirty paddles, with long prows
standing out like the neck of a syphon or swan, decorated on the head
with the horns of the Nsunnu (lencotis) antelope, between which was
stuck upright a tuft of feathers exactly like a grenadier's plume. These
arrived to convey us across the mouth of a deep rushy swamp to the
royal yachting establishment, the Cowes of Uganda, distant five hours'
travelling from the palace. We reached the Cowes by torchlight at 9
p.m., when the king had a picnic dinner with me, turned in with his
women in great comfort, and sent me off to a dreary hut, where I had to
sleep upon a grass-strew floor. I was surprised we had to walk so far,
when, by appearance, we might have boated it from the head of the creek
all the way down; but, on inquiry, was informed of the swampy nature of
the ground at the head of the creek precluded any approach to the
clear water there, and hence the long overland journey, which, though
fatiguing to the unfortunate women, who had to trot the whole way behind
Mt