to find him
in his palace, our object being an eager wish to come to some speedy
understanding about the appointed journeys to the Salt Lake and Karague.
The toys produced the desired effect; for the king stopped and played
with them, making Bombay and the pages don the masks by turns. He
appointed the morrow for an interview, at the same time excusing himself
for not having seen us yesterday on the plea of illness. In the evening
Kahala absconded with another little girl of the camp in an opposite
direction from the one she took last time; but as both of them wandered
about not knowing where to go to, and as they omitted to take off all
their finery, they were soon recognised as in some way connected with my
party, taken up, and brought into camp, where they were well laughed at
for their folly, and laughed in turn at the absurdity of their futile
venture.

24th.--Hoping to keep the king to his promise, I went to the palace
early, but found he had already gone to see his brothers, so followed
him down, and found him engaged playing on a harmonicon with them.
Surprised at my intrusion, he first asked how I managed to find him out;
then went on playing for a while; but suddenly stopping to talk with me,
he gave me an opportunity of telling him I wished to send Grant off to
Karague, and start myself for Usoga and the Salt Lake in the morning.
"What! going away?" said the king, as if he had never heard a word
about it before; and then, after talking the whole subject over again,
especially dwelling on the quantity of powder I had in store at Karague,
he promised to send the necessary officers for escorting us on our
respective journeys in the morning.

The brothers' wives then wished to see me, and came before us, when I
had to take off my hat and shoes as usual, my ready compliance inducing
the princes to pass various compliments of my person and disposition.
The brothers then showed me a stool made of wood after the fashion of
our sketching-stool, and a gun-cover of leather, made by themselves,
of as good workmanship as is to be found in India. The king then rose,
followed by his brothers, and we all walked off to the pond. The effect
of stimulants was mooted, as well as other physiological phenomena, when
a second move took us to the palace by torchlight, and the king showed
a number of new huts just finished and beautifully made. Finally, he
settled down to a musical concert, in which he took the lead himself.
At eig