first year, as well as tlie terms of the agreement made
with them, by the kind consent of Colonel Eigby were
now entered in the Consular Office books, as a security
to both parties, and a precaution against disputes on the
way.* Any one who saw the grateful avidity with which
they took the money, and the warmth with which they
pledged themselves to serve me faithfully through all
dangers and difficulties, would, had he had no dealings
with such men before, have thought that I had a firsts
rate set of followers. I lastly gave Sheikh Said a double-
barrelled rifle by Blissett, and distributed fifty carbines
among the seniors of the expedition, with the condition
that they would forfeit them to others more worthy if
they did not behave well, but would retain possession of
them for ever if they carried them through the journey
to my satisfaction.
On the 21st, as everything was ready on the island, I
sent Sheikh Said and all the men, along with the Hottentots,
mules, and baggage, off in dhows to Bagamoyo, on
the opposite mainland. Colonel Eigby, with Captain
Grant and myself, then called on the Sultan, to bid him
adieu, when he graciously offered me, as a guard of honour
to escort me through Uzaramo, one jemadar and twenty-
five Belüch soldiers. These I accepted, more as a government
security in that country against the tricks of the
natives, than for any accession they made to our strength.
His highness then placed his 22-gun corvette, “ Secundra
Shah, at our disposal, and we went all three over to Bagamoyo,
arriving on the 25th. Immediately on landing,
Ladha and Sheikh Said showed us into a hut prepared for
us, and all things looked pretty well. Ladha’s hundred
loads of beads, cloths, and brass wire were all tied up for
the march, and seventy-five pagazis (porters from the Moon
country) had received their hire to carry these loads to Kazé,
in the land of the Moon. Competition, I found, had raised
* In Appendix A. will be found a detailed list.
these men’s wages, for I had to pay, to go even as far as
Kaze, nine and a quarter dollars a-head!—as Masudi and
some other merchants were bound on the same line as
myself, and all were equally in a hurry to be off and avoid
as much as possible the famine we knew we should have
to fight through at this late season. Little troubles, of
course, must always be expected, else these blacks would
not be true negroes. Sheikh Said now reported it quite
impossible to buy anything at a moderate ra te ; for, as I
was a | big man,” I ought to “ pay a big price f and my
men had all been obliged to fight in the bazaar before
they could get even tobacco at the same rate as other men,
because they were the servants of the big man, who could
afford to give higher wages than any one else. The Hottentots,
too, began to fall sick, which my Wanguana
laughingly attributed to want of grog to keep their spirits
up, as these little creatures, the “ Tots,” had frequently at
Zanzibar, after heavy potations, boasted to the more sober
free men, that they “were strong, because they could stand
plenty drink.” The first step now taken was to pitch
camp under large shady mango-trees, and to instruct every
man in his particular duty. At the same time, theWan-
guana, who had carbines, were obliged to be drilled in
their use and formed into companies, with captains of ten,
headed by General Baraka, who was made commander-
in-chief.
On the 30th September, as things were looking more
Bagamoyo to orderly, I sent forward half of the properly,
ogsni. and all the men I had then collected, to
Ugeni, a shamba, or garden, two miles off; and on the
2d October, after settling with Ladha for my “ African
money,”* as my pagazis were completed to a hundred and
one, we wished Eigby adieu, and all assembled together
at Ugffiii, which resembles the richest parts of Bengal.
* See Appendix B.