For I no sooner told him my plans for
communicating quickly with Petherick and Grant, than, after
saying he desired their coming even more than myself, he promised
to arrange everything on the morrow.
26th. - In the morning, as agreed, I called on the king, and found
the blister had drawn nicely; so I let off the water, which
Bombay called the malady, and so delighted the king amazingly. A
basket of fruit, like Indian loquots, was then ordered in, and we
ate them together, holding a discussion about Grant and
Petherick, which ended by the king promising to send an officer
by water to Kitangule, and another with two of my men, via Usoga
and Kidi, to Gani; but as it was necessary my men should go in
disguise, I asked the king to send me four mbugu and two spears;
when, with the liberality of a great king, he sent me twenty
sheets of the former, four spears, and a load of sun-dried fish
strung on a stick in shape of a shield.
27th. - At last something was done. One Uganda officer and one
Kidi guide were sent to my hut by the king, as agreed upon
yesterday, when I detached Mabruki and Bilal from my men, gave
them letters and maps addressed to Petherick; and giving the
officers a load of Mtende to pay their hotel bills on the way, I
gave them, at the same time, strict orders to keep by the Nile;
then, having dismissed them, I called on the king to make
arrangements for Grant, and to complain that my residence in
Uganda was anything but cheerful, as my hut was a mile from the
palace, in an unhealthy place, where he kept his Arab visitors.
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