A
wonderful report came that the king put two tops of powder into
his Whitworth rifle to shoot a
Cow, and the bullet not only
passed through the cow, but through the court fence, then through
the centre of a woman, and, after passing the outer fence, flew
whizzing along no one knew where.
2d. - Calling on the queen early, she admitted me at once,
scolding me severely for not having come or sent my men to see
her after she had taken the pills. She said they did her no
good, and prevailed on me to give her another prescription. Then
sending her servant for a bag full of drinking-gourds, she made
me select six of the best, and begged for my watch. That, of
course, I could not part with; but I took the opportunity of
telling her I did not like my residence; it was not only far away
from everybody, but it was unworthy of my dignity. I came to
Uganda to see the king and queen, because the Arabs said they
were always treated with great respect; but now I could perceive
those Arabs did not know what true respect means. Being poor
men, they thought much of a cow or goat given gratis, and were
content to live in any hovels. Such, I must inform her, was not
my case. I could neither sit in the sun nor live in a poor man's
hut. When I rose to leave for breakfast, she requested me to
stop, but I declined, and walked away. I saw, however, there was
something wrong; for Maula, always ordered to be in attendance
when anybody visits, was retained by her order to answer why I
would not stay with her longer. If I wanted food or pombe, there
was plenty of it in her palace, and her cooks were the cleverest
in the world; she hoped I would return to see her in the morning.
3d. - Our cross purposes seemed to increase; for, while I could
not get a satisfactory interview, the king sent for N'yamgundu to
ascertain why I had given him good guns and many pretty things
which he did not know the use of, and yet I would not visit him
to explain their several uses. N'yamgundu told him I lived too
far off, and wanted a palace. After this I walked off to see
N'yamasore, taking my blankets, a pillow, and some cooking-pots
to make a day of it, and try to win the affections of the queen
with sixteen cubits bindera, three pints peke, and three pints
mtende beads, which, as Waganda are all fond of figurative
language, I called a trifle for her servants.
I was shown in at once, and found her majesty sitting on an
Indian carpet, dressed in a red linen wrapper with a gold border,
and a box, in shape of a lady's work-box, prettily coloured in
divers patters with minute beads, by her side.
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