The next day my men came from Kaze with letters
tt i. ' , from Sheikh Snay and Musa. They had been n a lt seven days, -i . • -i i detained there some days after arrival, as
those merchants’ slaves had gone to Utambara to settle
some quarrel there; but as soon as they returned, Musa
ordered them to go and assist us, giving them beads to
find rations for themselves on the way, as the whole
country about Kazd had been half-starved by famines,
though he did send a little rice and tobacco for me. The
whole party left Kazd together; but on arrival at Tiira the
slaves said they had not enough beads and would return
for some more, when they would follow my men. This
bit of news was the worst that could have befallen u s ;
my men were broken-hearted enough before, and this
drove the last spark of spirit out of them. To make the
best of a bad job, I now sent Bombay with two other men
off to Musa to see what he could do, and ordered my other
men to hire Wakimbu from village to village. On the
7th, a nervous excitement was produced in the camp by
some of my men running in and calling all to arm, as
the fugitive chief Manua Sera was coming, with thirty
armed followers carrying muskets. Such was the case:
and by the time my men were all under arms, with their
sword-bayonets fixed, drawn up by my tent, the veritable
“ Tippler” arrived; but, not liking the look of such a formidable
array as my men presented, he passed on a short
way, and then sent back a deputation to make known his
desire of calling on me, which was no sooner complied
with than he came in person, attended by a body-guard.
On my requesting him to draw near and sit, his wooden
stool was placed for him. He began the.conversation by
telling me he had heard of my distress from want of porters,
and then offered to assist me with some, provided I
would take him to Kaze, and mediate between him and
the Arabs; for, through their unjustifiable interference in
his government affairs, a war had ensued, which terminated
with the Arabs driving him from his possessions a
vagabond. Manila Séra, I must say, , was as fine a young
man as ever I looked upon. He was very handsome, and
looked as I now saw him the very picture of a captain of
the banditti of the romances. I begged him to tell me
his tale, and, in compliance, he gave me the following
narrative
“ Shortly after you left Kazé for England, my old
father, the late chief Fundi Kira, died, and by his desire
I became lawful chief ; for, though the son of a slave girl,
and not of Filndi Kira’s wife, such is the law of inheritance—
a constitutional policy established to prevent any
chance of intrigues between the sons bom in legitimate
wedlock. Well, after assuming the title of chief, I gave
presents of ivory to all the Arabs with a liberal hand, but
most so to Musa, which caused great jealousy amongst
the other merchants. Then after this I established a property
tax on all merchandise that entered my country.
Fundi Kira had never done so, but I did not think that
any reason why I should not, especially as the Arabs were
the only people who lived in my country exempt from
taxation. This measure, however, exasperated the Arabs,
and induced them to send me hostile messages, to the
effect that, if I ever, meddled with them, they would dethrone
me, and place Mkisiwa, another illegitimate son,
on the throne in my stead. This,” Manila Séra continued,
“ I could not stand ; the merchants were living on sufferance
only in my country. I told them so, and defied
them to interfere with my orders, for I was not a ‘woman,’
to be treated with contempt ; and this got up a quarrel.
Mkisiwa, seizing at the opportunity of the prize held out
to him by the Arabs as his supporters, then commenced a
system of bribery. Words led to blows ; we had a long
and tough fight ; I killed many of their number, and they