1 8 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



sortment of wooden, brazen, horn, and ivory orna- 

 ments, cut in every shape of talismanic peculiarity. 

 Squatting by my side, the sultana at once shook 

 hands. Her nimble fingers then first manipulated 

 my shoes (the first point of notice in these bare-footed 

 climes), then my overalls, then my waistcoat, more 

 particularly the buttons, and then my coat this 

 latter article being so much admired, that she wished 

 I would present it to her, to wear upon her own fair 

 person. Then my hands and fingers were mumbled, 

 and declared to be as soft as a child's, and my hair 

 was likened to a lion's mane. " Where is he going ? " 

 was the all-important query. This, without my under- 

 standing, was readily answered by a dozen voices, 

 thus : " He is going to the Lake, to barter his cloth 

 for large hippopotami teeth." Satisfied with this 

 plausible story, she retired into privacy, and my 

 slave, taking the hint, soon followed with the kuh- 

 ongo, 1 duly presented it, and begged permission in 

 my name to depart. But as she had always given 

 a bullock to the Arabs who visited her, I also must 

 accept one from her, though she could not realise the 

 fact that so scurvy a present as mine could be intended 

 for her, whose pretensions were in no way inferior to 

 those of the Unyanyembe Sultan. An Arab could 

 not have offered less, and this was a rich Mzungu ! 

 Misfortunes here commenced anew : the bullock she 

 was desirous of giving was out grazing, and could not 

 1 Kuhongo present. 



