226 
AFRICA AND ITS EXPLORATION 
also admit that Mtesa can be politic, as, indeed, future 
pages will show, but he has also a child’s unstudied ease 
of manner. I soon saw that he was highly clever, and 
possessed of the abilities to govern, but his cleverness 
and ability lacked the mannerisms of a European. 
Whether or no I became Mtesa’s dupe will be seen 
in the chapters on Uganda. Meanwhile, he appeared 
to me to be a generous prince and a frank and intelli- 
gent man, and one whose character was well worth 
studying for its novel intensity and extreme originality, 
and also as one whom I judged could be made to sub- 
serve higher ends than he suspected he was fashioned 
for. I met his friendly advances with the utmost 
cordiality, and the burzali concluded at sunset, with the 
same ceremony that had inaugurated it, leaving Mtesa 
and myself mutually pleased and gratified with our 
acquaintance. 
A description of Mtesa’s person was written in my 
diary on the third evening of my visit to him, from 
which I quote : — 
£C April 7 . — In person Mtesa is tall, probably six feet 
one inch, and slender. He has vffry intelligent and 
agreeable features, reminding me of some of the faces of 
the great stone images at Thebes, and of the statues in 
the museum at Cairo. He has the same fulness of lips, 
but their grossness is relieved by the general expression 
of amiability blended with dignity that pervades his 
face, and the large, lustrous, lambent eyes that lend it a 
strange beauty, and are typical of the race from which 
I believe him to have sprung. His colour is of a dark 
red brown, of a wonderfully smooth surface. When 
not engaged in council, he throws off unreservedly the 
bearing that characterizes him when on the throne, and 
gives rein to his humour, indulging in hearty peals of 
laughter. He seems to be interested in the discussion 
of the manners and customs of European courts, and to 
be enamoured of hearing of the wonders of civilization. 
He is ambitious to imitate as much as lies in his power 
the ways of the white man. When any piece of infor- 
mation is given him, he takes upon himself the task of 
