The King’s house is the only brick building at present in the country. It is two-storied, with walls two and a half feet thick. The staircase is roughly constructed of bricks and runs outside. On the ground floor are three rooms. The centre one, into which the front door opens, is the reception room. The walls and ceiling are gaily hung with bright printed calico strips of varied design and colouring, stitched together. Over these are large, coloured Bible pictures illustrating the life of Christ. On the floor are spread grass mats and leopards’ skins, which are the sign of royalty. An Indian rug is placed under a table and chair in one corner where His Majesty sits and receives his guests. The room is supplied with no other furniture. A waiting-room leads off from this, which is unfurnished, with the exception of a native divan made of reeds for important or sick attendants; the others lounge about on the fine, soft grass strewn on the floor. Kasagama’s study is on the other side of the reception-room, and that is where he does most of his business and carries on his correspondence. Upon the rows of shelves fixed to the wall are to be seen small piles of documents and letters received from his chiefs in the outlying districts, who are just learning to write. The boxes at the end of the room contain all his treasured presents received from the Government officials, missionaries and friends in England. If you call in any afternoon about five o’clock and are a friend of His Majesty you would perhaps be allowed into this sanctum, and there might find him working away at his typewriter or dictating to his typist, who can run his fingers very rapidly over the keyboard. Kasagama is now hard at work writing a history of the country. To prevent any unauthentic references to the past he has two old men, well versed in ancient lore, to refer to. [Illustration: KING DANDI KASAGAMA OF TORO AND HIS CHIEFS. _Photo by D. V. F. Figueira, Mombasa._] The Council Hall, in which Parliament assembles every Monday, is in an adjoining country, and this is a large reed structure decorated inside with coloured calicos like the reception room. The railed off partitions are intended for the King’s chair, and for the Queen Mother or Sister, either of whom is expected to attend each week. The Ministers of State are arranged in straight rows down the building, and the people involved in the various cases brought up for trial come and kneel in the wide aisle which leads up to the King’s seat.