I urged that it was as much his duty as mine to go
there; and said that unless he changed his present
resolution, I should certainly recommend the Government
not to pay the gratuity which the Consul had
promised him on condition that he worked entirely to
our satisfaction, in assisting the expedition to carry
out the Government’s plans.
The Jemadar of the Beluch guard, on seeing the
Sheikh hold hack, at first raised objections, and then
began to bargain. He fixed a pay of one gora or
fifteen cloths per man, as the only condition on which
I should get their services; for they all declared that
they had not only been to Ujiji, the place appointed
by Sultan Majid and their chief before leaving Zanzibar,
but that they had overstayed the time agreed
upon for them to be absent on these travels—namely,
six months. I acceded to this exorbitant demand,
considering the value of time, as the dry season had
now set in, and the Arabs at this period cease travelling
to Zanzibar, from fear of being caught by droughts
in the deserts between this place and the East Coast
Eange, where, if the ponds and puddles dry up, there
is so little water in the wells that travelling becomes
precarious.
Further, I had not only to go through a much
wilder country than we had travelled in before, two
and a half degrees oif, to discover and bring back full
particulars of the N’yanza, but had to purchase cattle
sufficient for presents, and food for the whole journey
down to the coast, within the limited period of six
weeks. Eamji’s slaves all came back to us here, and
begged we would take them into our service again. I
wanted to do so, as Snay not only strongly advised me
to have as strong an escort as possible, but thought that
their knowledge of treating with native chiefs would be
of the greatest value to me. Captain Burton, however,
would not listen to my request, as he insisted they
would only prove of more expense than profit to the expedition
; but instead, he employed them himself, after
I had gone, in repairing our damaged property, and in
laying in supplies for our future journey home. I
regretted the loss of these men the more, as they all so
warmly volunteered to go with me. The Arab dépôt
now came into play to satisfy this sudden and unexpected
call upon our store of cloths. There were ten
Beluches fit for service, and for each of them a gora
was bought at the dépôt, at a valuation of ten dollars
each, or a hundred the lot. In addition to this they
received an advance of fifteen maunds of white beads
in lieu of rations—a rate of 1 lb. per man per day for
six weeks. The Kirangozi now returned with many
excuses to escape the undertaking of guiding me to
the lake. He declared that all the roads were rendered
impassable by wars, and that it was impossible
for him to undertake the responsibility of escorting
me in so dangerous a country. After a good deal
of bothering and persuading he at length acceded,
and brought fifteen pagazis or porters from his own
and some neighbouring villages. To each of these
I gave five cloths as hire, and all appeared ready;