THE GREAT JOURNEY FROM SEA TO SEA. 297 



recoil on the donor. This ceremony is well enough when emplo3^ed 

 with articles of use or apparel; but w^hen meat, plantains, or other 

 articles of food are rubbed with the dirty hands and well-greased 

 face of the donor, the recipient, if he should happen to be a white 

 man, would be only too happy to dispense with the ceremony, and 

 run his risk of witchcraft. 



The officers of the court are required to shave off all their hair 

 except a single cockade at the back of the head, while the pages are 

 distinguished by two cockades, one over each temple, so that, even if 

 they happen to be without their turbans, their rank and authority 

 are at once indicated. When the king sends the pages on a mes- 

 sage, a most picturesque sight is presented. All the commands of 

 the king have to be done at full speed, and when ten or a dozen 

 pages start off in a body, their dresses streaming in the air behind 

 them, each striving to outrun the other, they look at a distance like 

 a flight of birds rather than human beings. 



HUMAN LIFE OF NO VALUE. 



Here, as in many other countries, human life, that of the king 

 excepted, is not of the least value. On one occasion Mtesa received 

 a new rifle with which he was much pleased. After examining it 

 for some time, he loaded it, handed it to one of his pages, and told 

 him to go and shoot somebody in the outer court. The page, a mere 

 boy, took the rifle, w^ent into the court, and in a moment the report 

 of the rifle showed that the king's orders had been obeyed. 



The urchin came back grinning with delight at the feat which 

 he had achieved, just like a schoolboy who has shot his first sparrow, 

 and handed back the rifle to his master. As to the unfortunate man 

 who was fated to be the target, nothing was heard about him, the 

 murder of a man being far too common an incident to attract notice. 



On one occasion, when Mtesa and his wives were on a pleasure 

 excursion, one of the favorites, a singularly good-looking woman, 

 plucked a fruit, and offered it to the king, evidently intending to 

 please him. Instead of taking it as intended, he flew^ into a violent 

 passion, declared that it v^as ^he f^st time ^hat a woman had ever 



