Northwest enterprise. [volume] (Anacortes, Wash. Ter.) 1882-1887, 1883-09-15
KING MTESA.
Death of u Friendly African king--A
Ruler Who Sent His Watches to Europe
to be Mended.

The death of King Mtesa of Ugan-
da removes an African potentate of
whom the record of trsvelers in the
Dark Continent gives rather a pie
turesque glimpse than complete
and satisfying description. The most
striking account of this parsonage is
certainly that given by nj. Linant, a
Lieutenant of Gordon Pasha, by
whom he was sent to that Princes
capital on the shores of Lake Victo-
ria. Mtesa's chair used to be placed
on a leopard's skin in the hall of
audience, so that the hind claws
served as kind of footstool, while
the tail stretched along the floor in
front of him. A number of charms
and large tusk were piled up in a
heap beside him, and his Grand
Vizier and other courtiers were con
stantly employed in smoothing down
the creases in his trousers''--a unique,
AMI perhaps. the strangest mode of
expressing complete servility ever
devised by barbarous despot.
Another traveller, Col. Long of the
Khedivial army, brought hack such n
favorable description Of Mtesa, al
although he only saw him once, that
Ismail wished to send him a magnifi-
cent carriage, which Gen. Gordon,
with his usual good sense, intercept
ed en- route. The late Khedive also
sent two sheikhs to convert Mtesa to
Mohammedanism; but they do not
seem to have had much success, as
he was strongly opposed to the doc
trines of Islam. He described him
self in a letter to Gordon Pasha as
'the son of Suna, King of Uganda -
and he also said he wanted to be
good friends with the English" AT
ter this letter, introducing himself
as it were, he showed every desire
to keep on amicable terms with
Egypt, and those travellers and mis-
sionaries who reached his State were
generally well treated by him. His
later correspondence consisted prin-
cipally of requests for the articles
of Europe which had either caught
his fancy or seemed most suitable to
his wants.
A looking glass gold and silver
lace, a stamp with his name on it,
and some gold and silver coins, such
as soversigns, napoleons, and dollars,
he asked for repeatedly, and gener-
ally managed to obtain. He even
sent some of the watches he had re-
ceived as presents to Europe to be
mended, and showed in many other
little ways his desire to learn more
of the great world he had heard of
in regions milder than his torrid
kingdom round Lakes Albert and
Victoria, and to establish some
friendly relations with the Europeans
who had reached his territory in
their search for the sources of the
Nile. One incident in connection
with his Government has been pre-
served, and as it throws some light
on the mode of waging war in that
part Of Africa, itmay be quoted. An
island called Sasse was the particular
object of his ambition; but its in
habitants preferred their liberty, and.
being expert divers, whenever Mtesa's
war canoes approached, they dived
underneath them, and, cutting the
withes, sank boats and crews to-
gether. As Mtesa was 'corpulent
and consumptive" ten years ago, his
death is not surprising, and the ces
sation of Egyptian activity in the
equatorial region will leave his peo-
pie free to arrange the questions Of
succession without any foreign inter
ference.-IL London Times.