"The next morning we went to deliver the presents, having received notice that his majesty was ready to receive us. We found him in the open space in front of his audience-hall, accompanied by his wives and court officials—about fifty of the latter, and at least a hundred of the former. Fred and I thought that a hundred wives was a good many, but Abdul said there were at least as many more whom we did not see.
"M'tesa is a very pleasant man when in the midst of his family, and he laughed and talked with them as freely as if he had not been king at all, but only an ordinary citizen. Of course we could not understand what he said, as we don't know ten words of the language; but, to judge by the laughter that followed his remarks, there must have been a good deal of fun in them.
"Our porters deposited the presents in a spot indicated by the prime-minister and then retired. We opened the parcels, and Doctor Bronson gave the things to M'tesa one after the other as the wrappings were removed.
"He was particularly desirous to obtain fire-arms, and we gave him a double-barrelled sporting gun of the Remington system, loading at the breech, and capable of being fired very rapidly. Then we gave him a rifle, with a case of explosive balls, which he immediately proceeded to test by firing one of them into a tree, where it exploded with great force and threw splinters of wood in every direction.
THE KING'S MUSICIANS.
"A music-box was wound and set in operation. The king was familiar with music-boxes, as they had been brought by previous travellers. His wives showed the greatest delight at the sound which the instrument produced, and two or three of his little daughters could hardly remain quiet while the tunes were being played.
"We couldn't show the magic lantern, as it was in the daytime, but we brought out the telephone, and stretched about a hundred yards of wire from one side of the open space to the other. When the connections had been made and everything was ready, we asked his majesty to make an experiment with the strange machine.
"Doctor Bronson and Abdul went with the king to one end of the line, while Fred and I stood by the prime-minister at the other, with Ali to serve as our interpreter.