“Mtesa takes his place on his throne, which is a wooden seat in the shape of an office arm-chair; his feet rest upon a cushion; the whole placed on a leopard’s skin spread over a Smyrna carpet. Before the king is a highly polished elephant’s tusk, and at his feet are two boxes containing fetishes; on either side the throne is a lance (one copper, the other steel), each held by a guard; these are the insignia of Uganda; the dog which Speke mentions has been done away with. Crouching at the foot of the king are the vizier and two scribes. “Mtesa is dignified in his manner, and does not lack a certain natural air of distinction; his dress is elegant: a white _couftan_ finished with a red band, stockings, slippers, vest of black cloth embroidered with gold, and a _tarbouche_ with a silver plate on the top. He wears a sword with ivory-inlaid hilt (a Zanzibar weapon), and a staff. “I exhibited my presents, which Mtesa scarcely pretended to see, his dignity forbidding him to show any curiosity. “I address the traveller, who sits in front of me, on the left of the king: ‘Have I the honour of speaking to Mr. Cameron?’ “STANLEY. ‘No, sir; Mr. Stanley.’ “MYSELF. ‘M. Linant de Bellefonds, member of the Gordon-Pasha Expedition.’ “We bow low to each other, as though we had met in a drawing-room, and our conversation is at an end for the moment. “This meeting with Mr. Stanley greatly surprises me. Stanley was far from my thoughts; I was totally ignorant of the object of his Expedition. “I take leave of the king, who meanwhile has been amusing himself by making my unlucky soldiers parade and flourish their trumpets. I shake hands with Mr. Stanley, and ask him to honour me with his presence at dinner. “I had scarcely been more than a few minutes in my hut when Mr. Stanley arrived. After having mutually expressed the pleasure our meeting gave us, Mr. Stanley informed me that Cameron had written from Ujiji that he was starting for the Congo. Mr. Cameron, he told me, must have been much embarrassed by the question of money, having exceeded the amount allowed by the Royal Geographical Society. At Ujiji, he would have lost all his companions, and would be actually alone. Mr. Stanley was loud in his praises of Cameron, and hoped that he would succeed in his expedition.”...