were most warm and affecting. He gave us cows, rice,
and milk, with the best place he had to live in, and
looked after us as constantly and tenderly as if he had
been our father. It seemed quite unjust to harbour any
suspicion against him.
He gave the following account of h im se lf—He used to
trade in ivory, on account of some Arabs at Zanzibar. On
crossing Usiii, he once had a fight with one of the chiefs
of the country and killed him ; but he got through all right,
because the natives, after two or three of their number had
been killed, dispersed, and feared to come near his musket
again. He visited Uganda when the late king Sunna was
living, and even traded with Usoga; but as he was coming
down from these northern countries he lost all his property
by a fire breaking out in a village he stopped
in, which drove him down here a ruined man. As it
happened, however, he put up with the chief of this
district, Ugali-—Mr Paste—at a time when the Watttta
attacked the place and drove all the inhabitants away.
The chief, too, was on the point of bolting, when Sirboko
prevented him by saying, “ If you will only have courage
to stand by me, the Wattita shall not come near—at any
rate, if they do, let us both die together.” The Watuta at
that time surrounded the district, crowning all the little
hills overlooking i t ; but fearing the Arabs’ guns might be
many, they soon walked away, and left them in peace. In
return for this magnanimity, and feeling a great security
in firearms, Ugali then built the large enclosure, with huts
for Sirboko, we were now living in. Sirboko, afraid to
return to the coast lest he should be apprehended for debt,
has resided here ever since, doing odd jobs for other
traders, increasing his family, and planting extensively.
His agricultural operations are confined chiefly to rice,
because the natives do not like it enough to be tempted
to steal it.