I said further, that should Mtesa act up to my desires, I would then know he was my friend, and other white men would not fear to enter Uganda; but if he acted otherwise, they would fear lest he should imprison them, or seize their property of their men.

If these deserters escaped punishment, no white men would ever dare trust their lives with such men again.

The officer said he should be afraid to deliver such a message to Mtesa direct; but he certainly would tell the queen every word of it, which would be even more efficacious.
4th .-- I bullied Kamrasi by telling him we must go with this moon, for the benefit of its light whilst crossing the Kidi wilderness; as if we did not reach the vessels in time for seasonable departure down the Nile, we should have to wait another year for their return from Khartum.
"What!" said Kamrasi, "does Bana forget my promised appointment that I would either see him to-day or to-morrow?
I cannot do so to-day, and therefore to-morrow we will certainly meet and bid good-bye." The Gani men, who came with Bombay, said they would escort us to their country, although, as a rule, they never cross the Kidi wilderness above once in two years, from fear of the hunting natives, who make gave of everybody and everything they see; in other words, they seize strangers, plunder them, and sell them as slaves.

To cross that tract, the dry season is the best, when all the grass is burnt down, or from the middle of December to the end of March.

I gave them a cow, and they at once killed it, and, sitting down, commenced eating her flesh raw, out of choice.
5th .-- The Kamraviona came to inform us that the king was ready for the great interview, where we could both speak what we had at heart, for as yet he had only heard what our servants had to say; and there was a supplement to the message, of the usual kind, that he would like a present of a pencil.