314 
OATH OF ALLEGIANCE. 
unprotected camp-beds became pools of water. But 
notwithstanding these and other discomforts, in the 
midst of vivid lightning and bursts of thunder, our 
Seedees kept up a cross fire of shouts and songs. A 
sudden cry that our cattle were wandering away, put 
every one on the alert, as the beasts were to be our 
mainstay for the journey of six days which lay before 
us, through a country destitute of habitations. A fire 
was lit for the poor animals, and they enjoyed it like 
ourselves, till moonlight and the break of day. 
The evening before we ferried the Nile, our Wan- 
yoro escort got very tipsy, and came to salute us 
with presented spears, after the manner of the Wa- 
ganda, but not with such grace ; neither did they find 
such ready use of their tongues. After laying down 
their spears, they stepped over them, and back again, 
as much as to say that they were prepared to die for 
us ! This oA^er, while Kidjweega hopped a dance on 
his tiptoes, all his followers performed a Highland 
fling round him, to the music of a humming song. 
The effect, as seen by the light of a blazing grass fire, 
was ludicrous and wild. 
Kamarasi sent us, as his last request, that we 
should go and fight his brother, who was not more 
than a few hours' walk off our track ; but Kidjweega, 
his messenger, was not very pressing, and we marched 
under the guidance of an active little man of Chopeh, 
called Luendo. For three days we were in forest, 
broken occasionally by a serpentine bog, along which 
the path was a gutter with grass eight feet high, and 
so close on either side that we had to push our way 
through it. Emerging from this forest, the country 
to the north was covered with tall grass, undulating 
