Morning journal and courier., 1892-02-10
"What is thati" Baked beans, sir. !" fgyUho&tfi
NAKED OR CLOTHED.

Mere Matter of Convention-The
 Princess of Uganda Learns 10 be
 Modest.
 [Charles Chaille Long iu Cairo Correspondence.l
 The story of MTess, princess of Ugan- da, mention of whom is made in the wri- ters who entitled Central Africa; Naked Truths of Naked People" is singular and replete with romantic interest.
 In 1874 the writer, then an officer in the Egyptian army detached as chief-of-staff to General Gordon in' the Soudan, was charged by Ismail Pasha, khedive of Egypt, to undertake diplomatic mission to MTesa, king of Uganda, for the pur- pose of making a treaty with that potent monarch, and thus anticipate the Stanley expedition which Ismail shrewdly conclu- ded concealed British ambitions in the Nile sources. It is no part of this brief sketch to dwell upon the perils and incl dents of the journey south from Gindoe- mo, performed by our party of fye-my- self, two soldiers, Said and Abd-el, and two servants, nor to recount the daily oc- currence of massacre and horrid brutali ties which marked our sojourn of thirty days as the guest of the bloody minded | M'Tesa. It is sufficient to relate that the coveted treaty by which king and country were made subject to Epypt was concluded | in this interval. (Ten months later, in | April 1875, the Stanley Herald expedition reached Uganda, too late, however, to un- | furl the British flag.) June 1e, 1874, we bade adieu to king and court, and turned | our faces towards the Nile to return by
 the river if possible, and by the discovery | of the still unknown water way to the Nile sources, and thus to our diplomatic | laurels. August 14th we arrived st Urm- dogani, where we were to find boats for the prospective navigation of the river.
 It was there that his Uganda majesty sent me a present, which African etiquette re-
 auires and which noblesse obliges the &C., equation. The present consisted of eight
 femslesl the youngest of whom, about ten
 years of age, being none other than the
 daughter of the king-tne princess of
 Uganda, already presented to the reader.
 The dilemma in which this unexpected
 courtesy of the king placed us was embar.
 rassing in the extreme. We were half
 starved, without provisions, and five hun
 dred miles distant from Gindoemol To
 refuse a gift of this nature there is no
 greater offense to majesty and subjects the
 discarded creatures to certain death. Said
 proposed to quietly distribute the seven
 adults among the chiefs of the escort; the
 princess, of course, must be Kept, also a
 small boy who had accompanied her as a
 slave. The king, was informed, had
 added his daughter (to my Uganda wives)
 as a sure means to secure performance of
 certain terms of our treaty to which he
 attached special importance, to wit: "An
 officer shall be sent to reside at the court
 as king's councillor; four fkis or Moslem
 priests shall be attached to the king to
 teach him the principles of his recently
 adopted faith; @ coach of state shall be
 presented to his majesty"
 Said successfully disposed of my Ugan-
 da family, and much to their own mind, for they were quite distracted at the ides } of quitting Uganda. Not so, however,
 the princess and her companions, for they } babbled and laughed together and seemed l delighted at their prospective journey , MTesa and the boy were entirely nude
 but Abd-el, who was something of tail or, aided by Said, soon fashioned from my l worn linen, short waist trousers which l added to their personal appearance. M t Tesa was quite tall for her age and exceed I ingly slender, of bright coffee color, sh, |, was, in fact, & remarkable counterpart O 1 King MTesa. Her eyes, too, like his were of @ deep black color, and when an r eered they burned and glowed with savag ], ferocity. The perils and hardships at | tending the descent of the river, the dis :. coyery of Lake Ibrahim and the dssperst