_August 24._—The next day at the usual levee hour of Mtesa—8 A.M.—the drums announced the levee as begun, and half an hour later the pages came to conduct me to the presence of Mtesa. The imperial quarters covered an area of about 200 yards square, and though but temporarily put up, few Europeans could have constructed such commodious houses and neat courts with such means, as the Waganda had prepared for their sovereign. The gates of the outer court were thronged with representatives of many countries, anxious to get a glimpse of the great monarch in his state; but the guards were merciless, and with gunstock and baton rudely thrust or beat back the intrusive nameless, and were as flint-hearted in their office as London policemen are on a similar occasion. For me the pages sufficed. Their presence cleared a broad road to the gate, which was drawn widely open to allow our procession to go by. One court was passed, and when the gate of the levee court was drawn back, a most picturesque scene was disclosed. In the centre rose a conical hut, at the broad doorway of which sat a silent figure; on either side were standard-bearers and the hereditary guards, while, forming a broad crescent in the front rank, were the chiefs and important captains of the Empire seated on mats. In the background the bodyguards of Mtesa stood at “shoulder arms” in double ranks; in one corner were arranged the drummers and musicians, while scattered here and there in the open space before the monarch stood groups of claimants and courtiers. As I advanced, Mtesa rose, and came to the edge of the leopard-rug, on which his feet rested while seated, and there was even greater warmth in this greeting than on the former occasion at Usavara. After a short pause, Sabadu, the chief who had conducted me from Bumbireh, was called forward to relate the incidents of our meeting, our fight with Bumbireh, and other events of the journey, which he did with a most wonderful minuteness of detail. He then in my name presented the captives of Bumbireh to the king, with an intercession that he would not slay them, but keep them in durance until their ransom was paid by Antari. Mtesa was then informed of the purpose of my coming, which was to obtain the guides he had promised me on my first visit, to show me the road to Muta Nzigé; and I begged he would furnish them without much delay, as I had already lost considerable time from his canoes having failed me. Mtesa replied that he was now engaged in a war with the rebellious people of Uvuma, who insolently refused to pay their tribute, harassed the coast of Chagwé, and abducted his people, “selling them afterwards for a few bunches of bananas,” and that it was not customary in Uganda to permit strangers to proceed on their journeys while the _Kabaka_ was engaged in war, but that the war would soon be over, when, if I would wait, he would send a chief with an army to conduct me to the Nyanza (Muta Nzigé) by the shortest road.