11th.—To-day Viarungi, finding Rozaro's men had stolen thirty cows, twelve slaves, and a load of mbugu from the Waganda, laid hands on them himself for Rumanika, instead of giving them to King Mtesa. Such are the daily incidents among our neighbours.
12th.—At night a box of ammunition and a bag of shot, which were placed out as a reserve present for the king, to be given on our departure, were stolen, obviously by the king's boys, and most likely by the king's orders; for he is the only person who could have made any use of them, and his boys alone know the way into the hut; besides which, the previous box of bullets was found on the direct road to the palace, while it was well known that no one dared to touch an article of European manufacture without the consent of the king.
13th.—I sent a message to the king about the theft, requiring him, if an honest man, to set his detectives to work, and ferret it out; his boys, at the same time, to show our suspicions, were peremptorily forbidden ever to enter the hut again. Twice the king sent down a hasty message to say he was collecting all his men to make a search, and, if they do not succeed, the Mganga would be sent; but nothing was done. The Kamraviona was sharply rebuked by the king for allowing K'yengo to visit him before permission was given, and thus defrauding the royal exchequer of many pretty things, which were brought for majesty alone. At night the rascally boys returned again to plunder, but Kahala, more wakeful than myself, heard them trying to untie the door-handle, and frightened them away in endeavouring to awaken me.
14th and 15th.—Grant, doing duty for me, tried a day's penance at the palace, but though he sat all day in the ante-chamber, and musicians were ordered into the presence, nobody called for him. K'yengo was sent with all his men on a Wakungu-seizing expedition,—a good job for him, as it was his perquisite to receive the major part of the plunder himself.
16th.—I sent Kahala out of the house, giving her finally over to Bombay as a wife, because she preferred playing with dirty little children to behaving like a young lady, and had caught the itch. This was much against her wish, and the child vowed she would not leave me until force compelled her; but I had really no other way of dealing with the remnant of the awkward burden which the queen's generosity had thrown on me. K'yengo went to the palace with fifty prisoners; but as the king had taken his women to the small pond, where he has recently placed a tub canoe for purposes of amusement, they did no business.
17th.—I took a first convalescent walk. The king, who was out shooting all day, begged for powder in the evening. Uledi returned from his expedition against a recusant officer at Kituntu, bringing with him a spoil of ten women. It appeared that the officer himself had bolted from his landed possessions, and as they belonged to "the church," or were in some way or other sacred from civil execution, they could not be touched, so that Uledi lost an estate which the king had promised him. We heard that Ilmas, wife of Majanja, who, as I already mentioned, had achieved an illustrious position by services at the birth of the king, had been sent to visit the late king Sunna's tomb, whence, after observing certain trees which were planted, and divining by mystic arts what the future state of Uganda required, she would return at a specific time, to order the king at the time of his coronation either to take the field with an army, to make a pilgrimage, or to live a life of ease at home; whichever of these courses the influence of the ordeal at the grave might prompt her to order, must be complied with by the king.
18th.—I called at the palace with Grant, taking with us some pictures of soldiers, horses, elephants, etc. We found the guard fighting over their beef and plantain dinner. Bombay remarked that this daily feeding on beef would be the lot of the Wanguana if they had no religious scruples about the throat-cutting of animals for food. This, I told him, was all their own fault, for they have really no religion or opinions of their own; and had they been brought up in England instead of Africa, it would have been all the other way with them as a matter of course; but Bombay replied, "We could no more throw off the Mussulman faith than you could yours." A man with a maniacal voice sang and whistled by turns. Katumba, the officer of the guards, saw our pictures, and being a favourite, acquainted the king, which gained us an admittance.
We found his majesty sitting on the ground, within a hut, behind a portal, encompassed by his women, and took our seats outside. At first all was silence, till one told the king we had some wonderful pictures to show him; in an instant he grew lively, crying out, "Oh, let us see them!" and they were shown, Bombay explaining. Three of the king's wives then came in, and offered him their two virgin sisters, n'yanzigging incessantly, and beseeching their acceptance, as by that means they themselves would become doubly related to him. Nothing, however, seemed to be done to promote the union, until one old lady, sitting by the king's side, who was evidently learned in the etiquette and traditions of the court, said, "Wait and see if he embraces, otherwise you may know he is not pleased." At this announcement the girls received a hint to pass on, and the king commenced bestowing on them a series of huggings, first sitting on the lap of one, whom he clasped to his bosom, crossing his neck with hers to the right, then to the left, and, having finished with her, took post in the second one's lap, then on that of the third, performing on each of them the same evolutions. He then retired to his original position, and the marriage ceremony was supposed to be concluded, and the settlements adjusted, when all went on as before.
The pictures were again looked at, and again admired, when we asked for a private interview on business, and drew the king outside. I then begged he would allow me, whilst his men were absent at Unyoro, to go to the Masai country, and see the Salt Lake at the north-east corner of the N'yanza, and to lend me some of his boats for Grant to fetch powder and beads from Karague. This important arrangement being conceded by the king more promptly than we expected, a cow, plantains, and pombe were requested; but the cow only was given, though our men were said to be feeding on grass. Taking the king, as it appeared, in a good humour, to show him the abuses arising from the system of allowing his guests to help themselves by force upon the highways, I reported the late seizures made of thirty cows and twelve slaves by the Wanyambo; but, though surprised to hear the news, he merely remarked that there were indeed a great number of visitors in Uganda. During this one day we heard the sad voice of no less than four women, dragged from the palace to the slaughter-house.
19th.—To follow up our success in the marching question and keep the king to his promise, I called at his palace, but found he had gone out shooting. To push my object further, I then marched off to the queen's to bid her good-bye, as if we were certain to leave the next day; but as no one would dare to approach her cabinet to apprise her of our arrival, we returned home tired and annoyed.