Page:Two kings of Uganda.djvu/87

I was the bearer of a handsome present of some fine scarlet cloth, which the Church Missionary Society had sent to the king. This Mr. O'Flaherty presented, at the same time dilating upon my virtues, dignity and importance; though I of course was quite ignorant of what was passing.

After a little, a skilled male dancer appeared, and went through the surprising evolutions and contortions of the strange body dance, which I had seen the women of Unyamwesi performing. However, whether it was watching the mazy motion of the dance, or whether it was my own weariness coupled with the heat of the reception-hall, I became intolerably drowsy, and was only awakened to the realities of my position by being addressed directly by the sovereign. I felt like a person at church suddenly conscious of having been caught napping, and tried to look as if I were quite wide awake. I did not of course know what Mutesa said, but my companion explained that he was commanding me to turn round that he might get a better view of me. This I did. "Now to the other side." I did so. And then his majesty pronounced the pleasing verdict that I was "Mulungi," a word which means good or beautiful, to which all the chiefs assented cordially, as they would have done had the monarch been pleased to say the reverse.

I have no doubt that important business of the kingdom was transacted at this Lukiko, but the language was utterly unintelligible to me, so that I was not sorry