724 LIFE OF DAY ID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



ever to see the generous monarch ; and in the afternoon, Mtesa, having 

 prepared beforehand for my reception, sent to say that he was ready to wel- 

 come me. Issuing out of my quarters I found myself in a broad street eighty 

 feet wide and half a mile long, which was lined by his personal guards and 

 attendants, his captains and their respective retinues, to the number of about 

 three thousand. At the extreme end of this street, and fronting it, was the 

 king's audience house, in whose shadow I saw dimly the figure of the king 

 sitting in a chair. As I advanced towards him the soldiers continued to fire 

 their guns. The drums, sixteen in number, beat out a fearful tempest of 

 sound, and the flags waved, until I became conscious that all this display was 

 far beyond my merits, and consequently felt greatly embarrassed by so flat- 

 tering a reception. Arrived before the audience house, the king rose — a tall 

 and slender figure, dressed in Arab costume — approached me a few paces, 

 held out his hand mutely, while the drums continued their terrible noise, and 

 we stood silently gazing at each other during a few minutes, I indeed more 

 embarrassed than ever. But soon relieved from the oppressive noise of the 

 huge drums and the hospitable violence of the many screaming discordant 

 fifes, I was invited to sit, Mtesa first showing the example, followed by his 

 great captains, about one hundred in number. 



" More at ease, I now surveyed the figure and features of this powerful 

 monarch. Mtesa is about thirty -four years old, and tall and slender in build, 

 as I have already stated, but with broad shoulders. His face is very agree- 

 able and pleasant, and indicates intelligence and mildness. His eyes are 

 large, his nose and mouth are a great improvement upon those of the com- 

 mon type of negro, and approach to the same features in the Muscat Arab, 

 when slightly tainted with negro blood. His teeth are splendid, and gleam- 

 ing white. As soon as Mtesa began to speak, I became captivated by his 

 manner, for there was much of the polish of a true gentleman about it — it 

 was at once amiable, graceful, and friendly. It tended to assure me that in 

 this potentate I had found a friend, a generous king, and an intelligent 

 ruler. He is not personally inferior to Seyd Burghash, the Arab Sultan of 

 Zanzibar, and indeed appears to me quite like a coloured gentleman who has 

 visited European Courts, and caught a certain ease and refinement of man- 

 ner, with a large amount of information. If you will recollect, however, 

 that Mtesa is a native of Central Africa, and that he had seen but three 

 white men until I came, you will, perhaps, be as much astonished at all this 

 as I was. And if you will but think of the enormous extent of country he 

 rules, extending from E. long. 34° to E. long. 31°, and from N. lat. 1° to S. 

 lat. 3° 30', you will further perceive the immense influence he could wield 

 towards the civilisation of Africa. Indeed, I could not regard this king, or 

 look at him in any other light than as the possible Ethelbert by whose means 

 the light of the Gospel may be brought to benighted Middle Africa. Un- 



