EMBASSY TO ENGLAND. 21

has no idea of his real insignificance as compared

with European sovereigns. Nothing we could say

seemed able to make him comprehend his inferiority,

and it was with the desire of enabling the Waganda

to see and judge for themselves, that Mr. Wilson

and I were willing to undertake the very difficult

and responsible task of escorting his envoys to

England.

Some may think that on their return to their own

land these men will not venture to give a truthful

account to Mtesa. Possibly they may not; but

though it is to be hoped they will, that is not the

most important point. In either case they will tell

the chiefs and their own friends what they have

seen in England' and on their journey; this report

will spread through the land, and both chiefs and

people are quite capable of understanding and form-

ing an opinion on the report the envoys will give of

the greatness and wonders of the civilised world.

In due course this knowledge will react on the king,

even if he should not be directly and immediately

influenced by the return of the men, as he is very much in the power of his principal chiefs. This is

the first time that Central Africans have visited

Europe ; and we shall be satisfied, and consider our

trouble well repaid, if others are induced to follow

their example". When once the idea is implanted in i i

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the minds of the chiefs that they are not so great

and powerful as they now imagine themselves to be

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