the king first said he
did not think we wished to see him, else we would have come direct from
Rumanika; but when asked if Baraka's coming with Rumanika's officers was
not sufficient to satisfy him on this point, he hung down his head, and
evaded the question, saying he had been the making of Mtesa of Uganda;
but he had turned out a bad fellow, and now robbed him right and left.
[23] The Gani letter, supposed to be from Petherick, was now asked for,
and a suggestion made about opening a trade with Gani, but all with the
provoking result we had been so well accustomed to. No letter like that
referred to had ever been received, so that Frij's interpretation about
Grant's letter-dream was right; and if we wished to go to Gani, the king
would send men travelling by night, for his brothers at war with him lay
upon the road. As to the Uganda question, and my desiring him to make
friends with Mtesa, in hopes that the influence of trade would prevent
any plundering in future, he merely tossed his head. He often said he
did not know what to think about his guests, now he had got them; to
which Bombay, in rather successful imitation of what he had heard me say
on like occasions, replied, "If you do not like them after you have seen
them, cut their heads off, for they are all in your hands."

11th.--With great apparent politeness Kamrasi sent in the morning to
inquire how we had slept. He had "heard our cry"--an expression of regal
condescension--and begged we would not be alarmed, for next morning he
would see us, and after the meeting change our residence, when, should
we not approve of wading to his palace, he would bridge all the
swamps leading up to it; but for the present he wanted two rounds of
ball-cartridge--one to fire before his women, and the other before his
officers and a large number of Kidi men who were there on a visit. To
please this childish king, Bombay was sent with two other of my men, and
no sooner arrived than a cow was placed before them to be shot. Bombay,
however, thinking easy compliance would only lead to continued demands
on our short store of powder, said he had no order to shoot cows, and
declined. A strong debated ensued, which Bombay, by his own account,
turned to advantage, by saying, "What use is there in shooting cows? we
have lots of meat; what we want is flour to eat with it." To which the
great king retorted, "If you have not got flour, that is not my fault,
for I ordered your master to come