Suleiman upon his first arrival at Masindi, the
young king had certainly ordered their disarmament, but he had himself
retained their arms and ammunition, in addition to a goatskin bag with
about 300 rounds of ball-cartridge. This had never been reported to me.
The mendacious young king had the audacity to deny this, in face of
several witnesses; and he would at once have retired from the divan (and
probably I should never have seen him again) had I not insisted upon his
remaining until the affair had been thoroughly explained.
It was then discovered that he had returned all the muskets to
Abd-el-Kader, except five; which were not forthcoming.
I requested him in future to adhere more strictly to the truth; as it
was a disgrace for a man in his position to tell a falsehood, which
would render it impossible for me to place implicit confidence in him;
at the same time I insisted upon the immediate return of the guns,
together with the cartouche-belts and ammunition.
The young king retired in great confusion and stilled anger, with a
promise that everything should be restored!
In the afternoon he sent five wretched old muskets that had been injured
in the stocks, and repaired with the raw hide of crocodiles.
