226 CONDESCENSION OF HER MAJESTY. 
most heartily, and welcomed us with great cordiality, 
telling us to sit in front of and near her. She seemed 
to me like a Tartar woman, being fair-skinned, stout, 
and short. Her head was shaved, and had a cord tied 
round it. Conversation was kept up briskly for an 
hour or so, during which she fondled in her lap a 
plaything the size and shape of a hedgehog, studded 
with cowries and beads. She sipped at wine, looked 
at herself in a small mirror, smoked, and, like any 
housewife at home, gave orders to her domestics. 
Quantities of plantain neatly tied up and arranged 
in line, several basketfuls of boiled beef also tied 
round with leaves, were laid out as a present for 
Mariboo and myself. Each basket of beef was tasted 
by one of her officers tearing a bit away with his 
teeth, and we took our leave, very much pleased with 
her good-humour and homeliness. Many other calls 
were made upon her by invitation; but although we 
sat waiting the dowager for hours amongst steaming 
natives, she did not always give us an interview, saying 
she was too busy or too tired. Her brother, Katoon- 
zee, an officer of high rank, and with a most distingue 
Uganda air, pointing his toes and showing off his 
high instep as he walked, was treated with as much 
ceremony as ourselves, generally being obliged to sit so 
far distant from her that he had to bawl out to make 
himself heard. However, the dowager would allow 
him to whisper jokes into her ear, and be familiar 
enough when few were present. Any wine intended 
for us her majesty always tasted before it was pre- 
sented. This was a condescension on her part not 
shown to every one. 
The people of Uganda require to have the permis- 
