want of guides, and misguided by the exclusive
ill-natured Wahuma who were here in great numbers tending their king's
cattle, we lost our way continually, so that we did not reach the
boat-station until the morning of the 21st.

Here at last I stood on the brink of the Nile; most beautiful was the
scene, nothing could surpass it! It was the very perfection of the kind
of effect aimed at in a highly kept park; with a magnificent stream from
600 to 700 yards wide, dotted with islets and rocks, the former occupied
by fishermen's huts, the latter by sterns and crocodiles basking in the
sun,--flowing between the fine high grassy banks, with rich trees and
plantains in the background, where herds of the nsunnu and hartebeest
could be seen grazing, while the hippopotami were snorting in the water,
and florikan and guinea-fowl rising at our feet. Unfortunately, the
chief district officer, Mlondo, was from home, but we took possession of
his huts--clean, extensive, and tidily kept--facing the river, and
felt as if a residence here would do one good. Delays and subterfuges,
however, soon came to damp our spirits. The acting officer was sent
for, and asked for the boats; they were all scattered, and could not be
collected for a day or two; but, even if they were at hand, no boat ever
went up or down the river. The chief was away and would be sent for, as
the king often changed his orders, and, after all, might not mean
what had been said. The district belonged to the Sakibobo, and no
representative of his had come here. These excuses, of course, would not
satisfy us. The boats must be collected, seven, if there are not ten,
for we must try them, and come to some understanding about them, before
we march up stream, when, if the officer values his life, he will let
us have them, and acknowledge Karoso as the king's representative,
otherwise a complaint will be sent to the palace, for we won't stand
trifling.

We were now confronting Usoga, a country which may be said to be the
very counterpart of Uganda in its richness and beauty. Here the people
use such huge iron-headed spears with short handles, that, on seeing
one to-day, my people remarked that they were better fitted for
digging potatoes than piercing men. Elephants, as we had seen by their
devastations during the last two marches, were very numerous in this
neighbourhood. Till lately, a party from Unyoro, ivory-hunting, had
driven them away. Lions were also described as very