310 
THE KING. 
[chap. X. 
dressed in a long robe of bark-cloth most gracefully 
folded. The nails of his hands and feet were carefully 
attended, and his complexion was about as dark a 
brown as that of an Abyssinian. He sat upon a copper 
stool placed upon a carpet of leopard skins, and he was 
surrounded by about ten of his principal chiefs. 
Our interpreter, Bacheeta, now informed him who I 
was, and what were my intentions. He said that he 
was sorry I had been so long on the road, but that he 
had been obliged to be cautious, having been deceived 
by Debono's people. I replied, that I was an English¬ 
man, a friend of Speke and Grant—that they had 
described the reception they had met with from him, 
and that I had come to thank him, and to offer him a 
few presents in return for his kindness, and to request 
him to give me a guide to the lake Luta N'zige. He 
laughed at the name, and repeated it several times with 
his chiefs;—he then said, it was not Luta , but M-wootan 
N'zige—but that it was six months’ journey from 
Mrooli, and that in my weak condition I could not 
possibly reach it; that I should die upon the road, 
and that the king of my country would perhaps imagine 
that I had been murdered, and might invade his terri¬ 
tory. I replied, that I was weak with the toil of years 
in the hot countries of Africa, but that I was in search 
of the great lake, and should not return until I had 
succeeded; that I had no king, but a powerful 
Queen who watched over all her subjects, and that no 
Englishman could be murdered with impunity; there¬ 
fore he should send me to the lake without delay, and 
there would be the lesser chance of my dying in his 
country. 
I explained that the river Nile flowed for a distance 
of two years' journey through wonderful countries, 
and reached the sea, from which many valuable articles 
would be sent to him in exchange for ivory, could I 
only discover the great lake. As a proof of this, I had 
brought him a few curiosities that I trusted he would 
accept, and I regretted that the impossibility of pro- 
