up the river, as he had received no orders to do so.

In this fix I ordered a march back to the palace, mentioning the king's
last words, and should have gone, had not Budja ordered Kasoro to go
with me. A page then arrived from the king to ask after Bana's health,
carrying the Whitworth rifle as his master's card, and begging for a
heavy double-barrelled gun to be sent him from Gani. I called this lad
to witness the agreement I had made with Budja, and told him, if Kasoro
satisfied me, I would return by him, in addition to the heavy gun, a
Massey's patent log. I had taken it for the navigation of the lake,
and it was now of no further use to me, but, being an instrument of
complicated structure, it would be a valuable addition to the king's
museum of magic charms. I added I should like the king to send me the
robes of honour and spears he had once promised me, in order that I
might, on reaching England, be able to show my countrymen a specimen
of the manufactures of his country. The men who were with Kari were now
sent to the palace, under accusation of having led him into ambush, and
a complaint was made against the villagers, which we waited the reply
to. As Budja forbade it, no men would follow me out shooting, saying the
villagers were out surrounding our camp, and threatening destruction
on any one who dared show his face; for this was not the highroad to
Uganda, and therefore no one had a right to turn them out of their
houses and pillage their gardens.

13th.--Budja lost two cows given to his party last night, and seeing
ours securely tied by their legs to trees, asked by what spells we had
secured them; and would not believe our assurance that the ropes
that bound them were all the medicines we knew of. One of the Queen's
sisters, hearing of Kari's murder, came on a visit to condole with us,
bringing a pot of pombe, for which she received some beads. On being
asked how many sisters the queen had, for we could not help suspecting
some imposition, she replied she was the only one, till assured ten
other ladies had presented themselves as the queen's sisters before,
when she changed her tone, and said, "That is true, I am not the only
one; but if I had told you the truth I might have lost my head." This
was a significant expression of the danger to telling court secrets.

I suspected that there must be a considerable quantity of game in this
district, as stake-nets and other traps were found in all the huts,
as