Then For A
Coat He Had An Indian Kizbow, And For Trousers A Yellow Woollen
Doti; Whilst In His Hand, In Imitation Of Myself, He Kept Running
His Ramrod Backwards And Forwards Through His Fingers.
As I
advanced and doffed my hat, the king, smiling, entered the court,
followed by a budding damsel dressed in red bindera, who carried
the chair I had presented to him, and two new spears.
He now took his seat for the first time upon the chair, for I had
told him, at my last interview, that all kings were expected to
bring out some new fashion, or else the world would never make
progress; and I was directed to sit before him on my grass
throne. Talking, though I longed to enter into conversation, was
out of the question; for no one dared speak for me, and I could
not talk myself; so we sat and grinned, till in a few minutes the
queen, full of smirks and smiles, joined us, and sat on a mbugu.
I offered the medicine-chest as a seat, but she dared not take
it; in fact, by the constitution of Uganda, no one, however high
in rank, not even his mother, can sit before the king. After
sundry jokes, whilst we were all bursting with laughter at the
theatrical phenomenon, the Wakungu who were present, some twenty
in number, threw themselves in line upon their bellies, and
wriggling like fish, n'yanzigged, n'goned, and demaned, and
uttered other wonderful words of rejoining - as, for instance,
"Hai Minange!
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