chap, xiii.] THE BEAL KAMRASL 383 
first entrance to his territory. Speke when at Gon- 
dokoro had told me how he had been kept waiting for 
fifteen days before the king had condescended to see 
him. I now understood that this delay had been oc¬ 
casioned more by fear than pride, and that, in his 
cowardice, the king fell back upon his dignity as an 
excuse for absenting himself. 
"With the addition of the Turks’ party we were 
now twenty-four armed men. Although they had not 
seen the real king Kamrasi, they had been well treated 
since Ibrahim’s departure, having received each a 
present of a young slave girl as a wife, while, as a 
distinguishing mark of royal favour, the vakeel Edrees 
had received two wives instead of one; they had also 
received regular supplies of flour and beef-—the latter 
in the shape of a fat ox presented every seventh day, 
together with a liberal supply of plantain cider. 
On the following morning after my arrival atKisoona, 
M’Gambi appeared, beseeching me to go and visit the 
king. I replied that “ I was hungry and weak from 
“ want of food, and that I wanted to see meat, and 
“ not the man who had starved me.” In the afternoon 
a beautiful cow appeared with her young calf, also a 
fat sheep, and two pots of plantain cider, as a present 
from Kamrasi. That evening we revelled in milk, a 
luxury that we had not tasted for some months. The 
cow gave such a quantity that we looked forward to 
the establishment of a dairy, and already contemplated 
cheese-making. I sent the king a present of a pound 
of powder in canister, a box of caps, and a variety of 
trifles, explaining that I was quite out of stores and 
presents, as I had been kept so long in his country that 
I was reduced to beggary, as I had expected to have 
returned to my own country long before this. 
In the evening, M’Gambi appeared with a message 
from the king, saying that I was his greatest friend, 
and that he would not think of taking anything from 
me, as he was sure that I must be hard*up ; that he 
desired nothing, but would be much obliged if I would 
