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CHAPTEE IX. 



GAUARONGA, THE GREAT CHIEF. 



(DECEMBER 12-JANUARY 18.) 



When we awoke there was excitement In the air. It 

 was the first day of the fete, and even In our quiet 

 retreat, a mile from the town, there was a sense of 

 bustle and movement. We dressed ourselves In our 

 very best to do honour to the occasion, and found 

 after all that we had done wrong, for we had made 

 it unsuitable to ride. When Captain Lucas joined 

 us later, he was far too gallant to go on horseback 

 while we were on foot, and yet it was the first time 

 that the equestrian Bagirimi had seen a big man 

 walk. We had not appreciated the enormity of this, 

 or we would have risked slits in our dresses and falls 

 from our horses, or anything else — as we did later — 

 not to lower white prestige. 



We were fully resolved to miss nothing of the 

 ceremony, and were much grieved to hear that the 

 Salaam to Allah was already being made, a mile beyond 

 us, in a vast plain on the farther side from the town. 

 No doubt we had been told the wrong hour on purpose 

 that we unbelievers might not be there, so we had to 

 content ourselves with mental pictures of the Great 

 Chief, first paying homage himself to Allah, and then 



