I felt so curious to find out, and so sure in my own
mind that the Victoria N’yanza would prove to be the
source of the Nile, I proposed going to see it at once,
instead of going on to Ujiji. The route, however,
to the northward was said to be dangerous—Usui
alone would seize all our property—and Captain Burton
preferred going west. How this even was to be
managed then seemed very dubious, for not one of
Bamji’s slaves would come near us, and the Beluches
were so tired of the journey they begged for their
discharge, crying it was their due, as they had served
their turn of service. They wanted no pay if we
would only give them certificates of satisfaction. We
would not do this ; and then they said, as they saw
we wanted them, they would not desert us.
We had now been at Kaze rather more than a
month, and I thought Captain Burton would die if we
did not make a move, so I begged him to allow me to
assume the command pro tem., and I would see what
I could do to effect a move. Accordingly, as he
agreed, I made arrangements with Snay, and transported
half our property to Zimbili, where I prepared
a house for Captain Burton’s reception on the 5th
December. Three days after he was carried over, and
he begged me to take account of his effects, as he
thought he would die. I cheered him up, and found
the change of air had the effect I desired. Still
Bamji’s men would not come out to camp, so I tried
with Bombay to see what they had at heart, and then
it transpired they had not been paid for carrying loads
on from the East Coast Bange to Kazd. In a minute
I recollected Captain Burton’s promise to them, brought
them into the camp, and paid them their dues.
Bit by bit we pushed on to Msdnd, another small
colony occupied chiefly by Wasuahili, and here we
ate our Christmas dinner. The country was rich
in the extreme, and well under rice cultivation.
Bamji’s men were quite in their element here, and
even Bombay became so love-sick we could hardly
tear him away. We broke ground on the 10th January
1858, but not until three days after did the whole
of our men join us. I saw now we had too many
mouths to feed ; and as Bamji’s men had been hired
more for show than work, their term of service had
just expired, and I did not think we should require
their guns any more, I begged Captain Burton to give
them a present each, with leave to go to their homes
—for it must be remembered they possess homes in
Unyamudzi as well as at Zanzibar. The men craved
to be allowed to go on with us, but I, more than any
one else, insisted we ought to get rid of them, for the
reasons stated above; and so they were discharged. I
found we were on a great decline of the country draining
to the westward ; the soil was deeper and richer,
and the vegetation proportionately richer as we went
on with the journey. Shortly we crossed the Mala-
garazi river in a bark canoe at the Mpdte ferry, and
found that, after having travelled along this decline
from Kazd about one hundred and fifty miles, we began
to ascend at the eastern horn of a large crescent