not to use force; the upshot of which was, that my people
got nothing but a few arrows fired at them by the lurking
villagers, and I was abused for my squeamishness.
Moreover, the villagers, emboldened by my lenity, vaunt-
mgly declared they would attack the camp by night, as
they could only recognise in us such men as plunder their
houses and steal their children. This caused a certain
amount of alarm among my men, which induced them to
run up a stiff bush-fence round the camp, and kept them
talking all night.
This morning we marched on as usual, with one of
JoNaw mm mi, fhe Hottentots lashed on a donkey; for the
wretched creature, after lying in the sun
asleep, became so sickly that he could not move or do
anything for himself, and nobody else would do anything
for him. The march was a long one, but under ordinary
circumstances would have been very interesting, for we
passed an immense lagoon, where hippopotami were snort-
mg as if they invited an attack. In the larger tree-
jungles the traces of elephants, buffaloes, rhinoceros, and
antelopes were very numerous; while a rich variety of
small birds, as often happened, made me. wish I had
come on a shooting rather than on a long exploring expedition.
Towards sunset we arrived at New Mbumi, a very
pretty and fertile place, lying at the foot of a cluster of
steep hills, and pitched camp for three days to lay in
supplies for ten; as this was reported to be the only place
where we could buy com until we reached Ugogo, a span
of 140 miles. Mr Mbiimi, the chief of the place, a very
affable negro, at once took us by the hand, and said he
would do anything we desired, for he had often been to
Zanzibar. He knew that the English were the ruling
power in that land, and that they were opposed to
slavery, the terrible effects of which had led to his abandoning
Old Mbumi, on the banks of the Mukondokua
river, and residing here.
The sick Hottentot died here, and we buried him with
Halt, m, 10th, Christian honours. As his comrades said, he
and ink’. ’ ¿||e(j ]3ecauge he had determined to die,—an
instance of that obstinate fatalism in their mulish temperament
which no kind words or threats can cure. This
terrible catastrophe made me wish to send all the remaining
Hottentots back to Zanzibar; but as they all preferred
serving with me to returning to duty at the Cape,
I selected two of the most sickly, put them under Tabib,
one of Rigby’s old servants, and told him to remain with
them at Mbiimi until such time as he might find some
party proceeding to the coast; and, in the meanwhile, for
board and lodgings I gave Mbiimi beads and cloth. The
prices of provisions here being a good specimen of what
one has to pay at this season of the year, I give a short
list of them:—sixteen rations com, two yards cloth; three
fowls, two yards cloth; one goat, twenty yards cloth; one
cow, forty yards cloth,—the cloth being common American
sheeting. Before we left Mbiimi, a party of forty men
and women of the Waquiva tribe, pressed by famine, were
driven there to purchase food. The same tribe had, however,
killed many of Mbiimi’s subjects not long since, and
therefore, in African revenge, the chief seized them all,
Raying he would send them off for sale to the Zanzibar
market unless they could give a legitimate reason for the
cruelty they had committed. These Waquiva, I was given
to understand, occupied the steep hills surrounding this
place. They were a squalid-looking set, like the generality
of the inhabitants of this mountainous region.
This march led us over a high hill to the Mdtinhwi
To Mdtinhwi, river, another tributary to the Mukondokua.
i2th. i t is all clad in the upper regions with the
slender pole-trees which characterise these hills, intermingled
with bamboo; but the bottoms are characterised
by a fine growth of fig-trees of great variety, along with