318 
THE KING TAKES LEAVE. 
[chap. XI. 
He almost immediately commenced tlie conversation 
by asking for a pretty yellow muslin Turkish hand¬ 
kerchief fringed with silver drops that Mrs. Baker wore 
upon her head : one of these had already been given 
to him, and I explained that this was the last remain¬ 
ing, and that she required it.He “ must ” have it. 
.... It was given. He then demanded other hand¬ 
kerchiefs. We had literally nothing but a few most 
ragged towels; he would accept no excuse, and in¬ 
sisted upon a portmanteau being unpacked, that he 
might satisfy himself by actual inspection. The 
luggage, all ready for the journey, had to be un¬ 
strapped and examined, and the rags were displayed 
in succession; but so wretched and uninviting was the 
exhibition of the family linen, that he simply returned 
them, 'and said “they did not suit him.” Beads he 
must have, or I was “ his enemy.” A selection of the 
best opal beads was immediately given him. I rose 
from the stone upon which I was sitting, and declared 
that we must start immediately. “ Don't be in a 
hurry,” he replied, “ you have plenty of time ; but you 
have not given me that watch you promised me.” . . . 
This was my only watch that, he had begged for, and 
had been refused every day during my stay at M rooli. 
So pertinacious a beggar I had never seen. I explained 
to him that, without the watch, my journey would be 
useless, but that I would give him all that I had except 
the watch when the exploration should be completed, 
as I should require nothing on my direct return to 
Gondokoro. At the same time, I repeated to him the 
arrangement for the journey that he had promised, 
begging him not to deceive me, as my wife and I 
should both die if we were compelled to remain another 
year in this country by losing the annual boats in 
Gondokoro. The understanding was this: he was to 
give me porters to the lake, where I was to be furnished 
with canoes to take me to Magungo, which was 
situated at the junction of the Somerset. From Ma¬ 
gungo he told me that I should see the Nile issuing from 
