but not so. Bombay’s Seedi nature came over
him, and be would not move a yard unless I gave
bim a month’s wages in clotb upon tbe spot. I
tbougbt bis demand an imposition, for be bad just
been given a clotb. His wages were originally fixed
at five dollars a-montb, to accumulate at Zanzibar
until our return there; but be was to receive daily
rations tbe same as all tbe other men, with an occasional
loin-cloth covering whenever bis sbukka might
wear out. All these strikes with tbe Belucbes and
Bombay for clotb were in consequence of their having
bought some slaves, whose whims and tastes they
could not satisfy without our aid; and they knew
these men would very soon desert them unless they
received occasionally alluring presents to make them
contented. But finessing is a kind of itch with all
Orientals, as gambling is with those who are addicted
to i t ; and they would tell any lie rather than gain
their object easily by the simple truth, on the old
principle that “ stolen things are sweetest.” Had Bombay
only opened his heart, the matter would have
been settled at once, for his motives were of a superior
order. He had bought, to be his adopted brother, a
slave of the Wahha tribe, a tall, athletic, fine-looking
man, whose figure was of such excellent proportions
that he would have been remarkable in any society;
and it was for this youth, and not himself, he had
made so much fuss and used so many devices to obtain
the cloths. Indeed, he is a very singular character,
not caring one bit about himself, how he dressed or
what he a te ; ever contented, and doing everybody’s
work in preference to his own, and of such exemplary
honesty, he stands a solitary marvel in the la n d : he
would do no wrong to benefit himself—to please anybody
else there is nothing he would stick at. I now
gave him five cloths at his request, to be eventually
deducted from his pay. Half of them he gave to a
slave called Mabruki, who had been procured by him
for leading Captain Burton’s donkey, but who had, in
consequence of bad behaviour, reverted to my service.
This man he also designated “ brother,” and was very
warmly attached to, though Mabruki had no qualifications
worthy of attracting any one’s affections to him.
He was a sulky, dogged, pudding-headed brute, very
ugly, but very vain; he always maintained a respectable
appearance, to cloak his disrespectful manners.
The remainder was expended in loin-cloths, some
spears, and a fez (red Turkish cap), the wearing of
which he shared by turns with his purchased brother,
and a little slave-child whom he had also purchased
and employed in looking after the general wardrobe,
and in cooking his porridge dinner, or fetching water
and gathering sticks. On the line of march the little
urchin carried Bombay’s sleeping-hide and water-gourd.
Before my departure from Kaze, Captain Burton
wrote the Royal Geographical Society to the following
effect:—“ I have the honour to transmit a copy of a
field-book with a map, by Captain Speke. Captain
Speke has volunteered to visit the Ukdrdwd Lake, of
which the Arabs give grand accounts.”