We slept under a tree, and this morning found a com-
Zungomfro, 23a. ^orta^ e residence under the eaves of a capacious
hut. The Wanyamuezi porters next came
in at their own time, and proved to us how little worth
are orders in a land where every man, in his own opinion,
is a lord, and no laws prevail. Zungomero, bisected by
the Mgeta, lies on flat ground, in a very pretty amphitheatre
of hills, S. la t 7° 26' 53", and E. long. 37° 36' 45".
It is extremely fertile, and very populous, affording everything
that man can wish, even to the cocoa and papwa
fruits; but the slave-trade has almost depopulated it, and
turned its once flourishing gardens into jungles. As I
have already said, the people who possess these lands are
cowardly by nature, and that is the reason why they are
M k am b ak u H ill, vie'wed from Zungomero.
so much oppressed. The Wasfiahili, taking advantage of
their timidity, flock here in numbers to live upon the
fruits of their labours. The merchants on the eoast, too,
though prohibited by their Sultan from interfering with
the natural course of trade, send their hungry slaves, as
touters, to entice all approaching caravans to trade with
their particular ports, authorising the touters to pay such
premiums as may be necessary for the purpose. Where
they came from we could not ascertain; but during our
residence, a large party of the Wasuahili marched past,
bound for the coast, with one hundred head of cattle, fifty
slaves in chains, and as many goats. Halts always end
disastrously in Africa, giving men time for mischief;—
and here was’ an example of it. During the target-prac-
tice, which was always instituted on such occasions to give
confidence to our men, the little pepper-box Eahan, my
head valet, challenged a comrade to a duel with carbines.
Being stopped by those around him, he vented his wrath
in terrible oaths, and swung about his arms, until his gun
accidentally went off, and blew his middle finger off.
Baraka next, with a kind of natural influence of affinity
when a row is commenced, made himself so offensive to
Bombay, as to send him running to me so agitated with excitement
that I thought him drunk. He seized my hands,
cried, and implored me to turn him off. What could this
mean? I could not divine; neither could he explain,
further than that he had come to a determination that I
must send either him or Baraka to the right-about; and
his first idea, was that he, and not Baraka, should be the
victim. Baraka’s jealousy about his position had not
struck me yet. I called them both together and asked
what quarrel they had, but could not extract the truth.
Baraka protested that he had never given, either by word
or deed, the slightest cause of rupture; he only desired
the prosperity of the march, and that peace should reign
throughout the camp; but Bombay was suspicious of him,
and malignantly abused him, for what reason Baraka
could not tell. When I spoke of this to Bombay, like a
bird fascinated by the eye of a viper, he shrank before the
slippery tongue of his opponent, and could only say, “ No,
Sahib-—oh no, that is not i t ; you had better turn me off,
for his tongue is so long, and mine so short, you never will
believe me.” I tried to make them friends, hoping it was
merely a passing ill-wind which would soon blow over;