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He took the opportunity of visiting an hospitable old lady, who treated him and his attendants to the last drop of pomba in her house, smoking her pipe with him, and did not hesitate to speak of the horrors of the Uganda punishments. When his servant told her that he had saved the life of one of the women, she seemed astonished at the daring of the stranger and at the leniency of the monarch.
Next day he sent some pomba, fowls, and plantains as a present. They were, however, after this still kept waiting several days. At last Speke sent to say that if the king did not wish to see the white men, they would proceed on their journey to Gani. This had the desired effect; and, in their usual style, with the Union Jack floating above their heads, they approached the palace.
This fatiguing work being at last finished, I returned to the house, where I took a good dejeuner a la fourchette in company with the priest, and then set out with my black guide. We rode for some time through a broad valley between splendid woods, and had to cross two rivers, the Parahyby and the Pomba, in trunks of trees hollowed out.
On another occasion Speke, when introduced, found her surrounded by her ministers, when a large wooden trough was brought in and filled with pomba. The queen put her head in and drank like a pig from it, her ministers following her example.
He was evidently, however, very angry at receiving no presents, and, getting up, walked straight out of the hut. No pomba was sent by him next day. They, however, presented him with a gun. At first he was much afraid of firing it off, and called one of Speke's men to do it for him.
Speke gave the king the bottle and gauge, which delighted him amazingly, and the old doctor, who begged for pomba, got a goat for his trouble."
Pomba is a sort of spirituous liquor, produced from a kind of grain grown in the country, which is cultivated by women, who nearly entirely superintend the preparation of the drink. They received a visit from Sultan Ukulima, of Unyamuezi, a fine hale old man, who was especially fond of this beverage, drinking it all day long.
News reached them soon after this of the death of Budja, one of the officers who had attended them, and who it was said had died from being bewitched by a charm put into a pot of pomba by one of Kamrasi's frontier officers, the poor fellow having evidently been poisoned. The travellers were now in some anxiety about Bombay, who had not returned from Gani.
They being dismissed, a band of musicians came in, when pomba was drunk by the queen, and handed to her visitor and high officers and attendants. She smoked her pipe, and bid Speke to smoke his.
These people, covered with war paint something like clowns in a fair rushed down the hill with their spears full tilt, and, performing various evolutions, conducted them to the governor, who advanced, attended by his familiar he holding a white hen, the latter a gourd of pomba and a little twig.
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