UGANDA AND WEST SIDE OF VICTORIA NYANZA. 241 
conversations which I had begun with Mtesa were 
maintained in the presence of M. Linant de Bellefonds, 
who, fortunately for the cause I had in view, was a 
Protestant-.* For when questioned by Mtesa about the 
facts which I had uttered, and which had been faithfully 
transcribed, M. Linant, to Mtesa’s astonishment, em- 
ployed nearly the same words, and delivered the same 
responses. The remarkable fact that two white men, 
who had never met before, one having arrived from the 
south-east, the other having emerged from the north, 
should nevertheless both know the same things, and 
respond in the same words, charmed the popular mind 
without the burzali as a wonder, and was treasured in 
Mtesa’s memory as being miraculous. 
The period of my stay with Mtesa drew to a close, 
and I requested leave to depart, begging the fulfilment 
of a promise he had made to me that he would furnish 
me with transport sufficient to convey the Expedition 
by water from Kagehyi in Usukuma to Uganda. 
Nothing loth, since one white man would continue his 
residence with hi m till my return, and being eager 
to see the gifts I told him were safe at Usukuma, 
he gave his permission, and commanded Magassa 
to collect thirty canoes, and to accompany me to my 
camp. 
On the 15th of April, then, escorted by Magassa and 
his Watongolelis, and also by M. Linant and ten of his 
Nubian soldiers, we left Rubaga. 
We arrived at Usavara about 10 A. M., and I imagined, 
foolishly enough, that Magassa would be ready for the 
voyage. But the Magassa of the 15tli of April was 
several grades higher in his own estimation than the 
Magassa of the 1st of April. Fifteen days’ life in the 
Emperor’s favour and promotion to an admiralship had 
intoxicated the youth. Magassa could not be ready for 
two days. 
* In the original manuscript, which is in the possession of General 
C. P. Stone, Chief of the Staff in his Highness the Khedive’s service, 
M. Linant has alluded in the most flattering manner to these hours 
devoted to religious instruction. 
VOL. II. 
R 
