BEAUTIFUL UGANDA 133 



it had been cut down and sloped into those beautiful hills and dales 

 which now so much pleased the eye; for there were none of those 

 c[uartz dikes I had seen protruding through the same kind of aqueous 

 formations in Usui and Karagwe, nor were there any other sorts of 

 volcanic disturbance to distort the calm, quiet aspect of the scene." 



After a journey through the country, where they found every- 

 where similar evidences of civilized conditions, on the i8th of Feb- 

 ruary, 1862, they came within view of the king's court. 



"It was a magnificent sight. A whole hill was covered with 

 gigantic huts, such as I had never seen in Africa before. I wished 

 to go up to the palace at once, but the officers said 'No, that would be 

 considered indecent in Uganda; you must draw up your men and 

 fire your guns ofif, to let the king know you are here; we will then 

 show you your residence, and to-morrow you will doubtless be sent 

 for, as the king could not now hold a levee while it is raining.* 



"On the 19th the king sent his pages to announce his intention 

 of holding a levee in my honor. I prepared for my first presentation 

 at court, attired in my best, though in it I cut a poor figure in com- 

 parison with the display of the dressy Waganda. They wore neat 

 bark cloaks resembling the best yellow corduroy cloth, crimp and well 

 set, as if stififened with starch, and over that, as upper cloaks, a patch- 

 work of small antelope skins, which I observed were sewn together 

 as well as any English glovers could have pieced them; while their 

 head-dresses, generally, were abrus turbans, set off with highly pol- 

 ished boar-tusks, stick-charms, seeds, beads, or shells, and on their 

 necks, arms and ankles they wore other charms of wood, or small horns 

 stuffed with magic powder, and fastened on by strings generally cov- 

 ered with snake-skin. 



"The palace, or entrance, quite surprised me by its extraordinary 

 dimensions, and the neatness with which it was kept. The whole 

 brow and sides of the hill on which we stood were covered with gigan- 

 tic grass huts, thatched as neatly as so many heads dressed by a Lon- 

 don barber, and fenced all round with the tall yellow reeds of the 

 common Uganda tiger-grass; while wathin the enclosure the lines of 

 huts were joined together, or partitioned off into courts, with walls 

 of the same grass. It is here most of Mtesa's three or four hundred 



