The idea delighted him, and a few rockets having been brought, together with port-fires and blue lights, we exhibited the fireworks. There was no wind, thus the rockets did no damage, as they were inclined towards the north, in which direction there were no buildings. Kabba Rega himself ignited a rocket with a port-fire, and although rather nervous at the great rush of fire, he seemed interested at the fact that a town composed of straw huts could be destroyed from a distance . . . . On the following morning, Umbogo, the dragoman, told me that the natives had been very much frightened at the rockets, as they said, "the Pacha was going to set the sky on fire." The station was progressing rapidly. The soil was of such extraordinary richness that the seeds sprang up like magic. On the third day after sowing, the cucumbers, melons, pumpkins, and cotton seeds, showed themselves above ground. I had made a broad walk of red gravel from Kabba Rega's new divan, to the government house. The roads and approaches were finished, and all neatly laid with fresh gravel stamped firmly down. The borders of all paths and roads were sown with the best quality of Egyptian cotton, known in Egypt as galleen. My large tent was pitched beneath an immense banian-tree, close to which was the new government house. This grand-sounding name was given to a very solid construction of a most simple character. The divan was a building containing only one room twenty-eight feet long by fourteen wide, and about twenty feet high. It was carefully thatched with overhanging eaves, which formed a narrow verandah, and it was entered by a commodious porch; this was arched in the native fashion, and was so large that it formed a lobby, in which we sometimes dined. The inside walls of the divan were neatly made with canes closely lashed together. There was a back door to this public room which communicated with a separate house by a covered way. This was our private residence, which also consisted of only one room; but I had arranged it with extreme neatness, in order to excite the admiration of Kabba Rega and his chiefs, who would, I hoped, imitate the manners and customs of civilized life, and thus improve trade. The room was twenty-four feet long by thirteen wide. The walls were as usual made of canes, but these were carefully hung with scarlet blankets, sewn together and stretched to the ground, so as to form an even surface. The floor was covered with mats. Upon the walls opposite to each other, so as to throw endless reflection, were two large oval mirrors (girandoles) in gilt metal frames. A photograph of her Majesty the Queen stood on the toilet table.