LIFE AND MANNERS IN UGANDA. 
295 
must pass through, a multitude of sharp-eyed, jealously 
watchful guards, pages, and executioners, thronging the 
court of the audience-hall, into the private courts, many 
of which they will find apparently of no use whatever 
except to ensure privacy, and to confuse a stranger. 
In one they may see Mtesa drilling his Amazons and 
playing at soldiers with his pets. They are all comely 
and brown, with fine virginal bosoms. But what strikes 
us most is the effect of discipline. Those timid and 
watchful eyes which they cast upon the monarch to dis- 
cover his least wish prove that, though they may be 
devoted to him, it is evident that they have witnessed 
other scenes than those of love. 
In another court, perhaps, they may find Mtesa just 
sitting down to eat a slight noon 
meal, consisting of ripe bananas and 
curded milk ; or they may find him 
laughing and chatting with his 
favourite wives and female children, 
who all sit around him, seeming to 
govern their faces according to the 
despot’s humour ; or perhaps he may 
happen to be found with a favourite 
page examining the contents of the 
treasure-house, where the gifts of 
various travellers, European, Turkish, 
and Arabic, are stored ; or he may be engaged with 
Tori, his factotum, planning some novelty, in the shape 
of a waggon, carriage, ship, or boat, or whatever the 
new fancy may be which has taken possession of his 
mind. 
THE LAND. 
Having learned somewhat through these sketches of 
the character of the peasant, the chief, and the monarch, 
it now remains for us to take a view of the land in order 
to understand its extent, nature, and general aspect. 
The form of the Empire governed by Mtesa may be 
best described as a crescent. Its length is about 300 
geographical miles, and its breadth about 60, covering 
■WOMAN S BREASTS. 
