290 
AFRICA AND ITS EXPLORATION. 
Being privileged, we also enter, and take a seat on 
the right-hand side, near the Ivatekiro, whence we can 
scrutinize the monarch at our leisure. 
The features, smooth, polished, and without a wrinkle, 
are of a young man, who might be of any age between 
twenty-five and thirty-five. His head is clean-shaven 
and covered with a fez, his feet are bare and rest on a 
leopard-skin, on the edge of which rests a polished white 
tusk of ivory, and near this are a pair of crimson Turkish 
slippers. The long fingers of his right hand grasp a 
gold-hilted Arab scimitar ; the left is extended over his 
left knee, reminding one of the posture of Rameses at 
Thebes. The only natural peculiarities of the face, 
causing it to differ from other faces around me, are the 
glowing, restless large eyes, which seem to take in 
everything at a glance. The character of the face, how- 
ever, is seen to change rapidly ; even in repose it lacks 
neither dignity nor power, but as cross thoughts flash 
through his mind the corners of the lips are drawn in, 
the eyes expand, the eyeballs project, his hands twitch 
nervously, and the native courtier begins to apprehend 
a volcanic outburst of rage. If pleased, however, the 
eyes appear to recede and contract, the lips relax their 
vigour, and soon a hearty laugh rings through the 
hall. 
But hush ! here advance some ten or twelve people 
along the centre, and prostrate themselves before the 
Emperor, and begin through a spokesman to tell him of 
something to which, strangely enough, he does not 
.seem to listen. 
By means of an interpreter we are informed that it is 
an embassy from the lawless bandit Mirambo, who, 
hearing that Mtesa was likely enough to send some 
50,000 sharp spears to hunt him up, has sent these men 
with propitiating gifts, and a humble declaration that 
he has no cause of quarrel with Uganda. The gifts are 
unrolled to view and counted. So many cloths, so much 
wire, some half-dozen dinner-plates of European make, 
an ample brass coffee tray, an Arab dagger silver-liilted, 
and a scarlet coat. 
