42 UGANDA AND TEE EGYPTIAN SOUDAN.

given as accurate. She says that her father sent her, together with several of his chiefs, to Eubaga, to ask Mtesa to send men to help him to fight and capture Baker ; who, followed by a large body of Kabrega's troops, had come for protection to Eionga's island, and had commanded Eionga to make friends with him and yield him protection. Mtesa consented, and sent off a large force, but they delayed a long time on the road.

Meanv/hile Baker, becoming impatient, told Eionga that he would wait no longer, and that he must make friends with him or fight. As Eionga was not strong enough to fight before his allies from Uganda arrived, he was obliged to make friends. When Mtesa found that his men had arrived too late, he craftily suppressed the fact that his troops had been sent to help Eionga, stating that his intention in sending them was to aid Baker. This is an interesting fact, as it throws a good deal of light on African politics and African cunning.

I left Mruli and arrived at Kodj, Eionga's headquarters and an Egyptian fort, on June 10. The voyage down the Nile was made in a native dugout canoe, in the bow of which they had kindly raised a covering, under which I could enjoy the grandeur of the scene, protected from the fierce rays of the sun. The river, which is about eight hundred yards broad at this point, flows rapidly between banks covered with gorgeous vegetation.