ARRIVAL IN KARAGWE. 787 



open to the severest penalties. My letter of complaint was no sooner received 

 by the emperor, than a force of musketeers were despatched under Saruti, 

 its chief, who despoiled ' General ' Samboozi of cattle, wives, children, slaves, 

 and every article he possessed ; and the 'General' himself was seized, bound, 

 and carried in chains to the emperor. Mtesa also sent a series of messages 

 after me, imploring me to return, and promising me Sekibobo with fifty thou- 

 sand men, and Mquenda with forty thousand more, to escort me back again 

 to Lake Albert, giving me at the same time a solemn assurance that these 

 chiefs should defend the camp until I returned from my voyage of explor- 

 ation. But, though I almost wept from sheer vexation, and was extremely 

 sorry to refuse such a generous offer, I respectfully declined relying upon the 

 Waganda any more ; and wrote back to that effect as fast as each message 

 came in. Besides, I was too far south, being encamped on the north banks 

 of the Kagera River, when I first learned Mtesa's intentions ; and to return 

 from the Kagera to the Katonga, and then march back again to Lake Albert, 

 would have occupied three months, while, should Sekibobo and Mquenda 

 prove as faithless as Samboozi, I might find, on my return to Unyampaka 

 from the Lake, that the Waganda and the Expedition had flown. I had 

 many other strong reasons for persisting in my refusal ; and though I pro- 

 secuted my march to Karagwe, it was with a sad heart I bade farewell to my 

 hopes of exploring Lake Albert from the east side. 



" Until I arrived in Karagwe I was daily encouraged with the reports of 

 simple natives that a country lay behind Mpororo, where we would be received 

 as friends ; but on inquiry of the gentle, sweet-tempered Rumanika, I was 

 informed that the friendly country was Utumbi, which was quite inaccessible, 

 owing to the people of Mpororo, who would not even let his own people enter 

 their territory. On asking if Ruanda was accessible to travellers, I was in- 

 formed that at five different times Arabs had endeavoured to open intercourse 

 with them, but each time had been repulsed, and some had been murdered 

 by the treacherous people. I then inquired if there were no road between 

 Ruandi and Urundi by which I could reach Uzige. The old king smiled at 

 the question, and said that the Warandi were worse than the natives of 

 Ruanda. Not quite satisfied with his replies, I questioned Hamed Ibrahim, 

 an Arab gentleman, who has done business in Karagwe twelve years, as to 

 the possibility of penetrating anywhere westward from any point near Kar- 

 agwe. His replies, though more definite and explicit, swept away almost all 

 hope of ever again reaching Lake Albert from the east side. To test Ruman- 

 ika's friendship, I then requested he would permit me to explore the frontier 

 of Karagwe as far north as Mpororo, and south to Ugufu, a distance of eighty 

 geographical miles, and that he would lend me guides and a native escort. 

 To my surprise, the gentle old king not only gave me guides and escort, but 

 canoes and the freedom of Karagwe, or, in other words, he promised that so 



