104 UNYAMUEZI. [1861.
along with Mkisiwa, invested the position of Manüa
Séra at Kigüé, and forced him to take flight again. Afterwards
the Arabs, returning to Kazé, found Müsa preparing
to leave. Angry at this attempt to desert them, they
persuaded him to give up his journey north for the present
; so that at the time Bombay left, Müsa was engaged
as public auctioneer in selling the effects of Snay, Jafü,
and others, but privately said he would follow me on to
Karagüé as soon as his rice was cut. Adding a little
advice of his own, Sheikh Said pressed me to go on with
the journey as fast as possible, because all the Arabs had
accused me of conspiring with Manüa Séra, and would
turn against me unless I soon got away.
2d to 30th.—Disgusted with Müsa’s vacillatory conduct,
on the 22d I sent him a letter containing a bit
of my mind. I had given him, as a present, sufficient
cloth to pay for his porters, as well as a watch and a
good sum of money, and advised his coming on at once,
for the porters who had just brought in my rear property
would not take pay to go on to Karagüé ; and so I was
detained again, waiting whilst his head man went to
Rungüa to look for more. Five days after this, a party
of Sangoro’s arrived from Karagüé, saying they had been
detained three months in Usüi by Süwarora, who had
robbed them of an enormous quantity of property, and
oppressed them so that all their porters ran away. Now,
slight as this little affair might appear, it was of vital
importance to me, as I found all my men shaking their
heads and predicting what might happen to us when we
got there ; so, as a forlorn hope, I sent Baraka with
another letter to Müsa, offering to pay as much money
for fifty men carrying muskets as would buy fifty slaves,
and, in addition to that, I offered to pay them what my
men were receiving as servants. Next day (23d) the
chief Ugali came to pay his respects to us. He was a
fine-looking young man, about thirty years old, the hus-
Apkil.] fu r th e r d e t e n t io n s a n d d if f ic u l t ie s . 105
band of thirty wives, but he had only three children.
Much surprised at the various articles composing our t,
he remarked that our “ sleeping-clothes”—blankets—
were much better than his royal robes; but of all things
that amused him most were our picture-books, especially
some birds drawn by Wolf.
Everything still seemed going against m e; for on the
following day (24th) Musa’s men came in from Rungiia
to say the Watuta were “ out.” They had just seized
fifty head of cattle from Rungua, and the people were
in such a state of alarm they dared not leave their homes
and families. I knew not what to do, for there was
no hope left but in what Baraka might bring; and
as that even would be insufficient, I sent MQsa’s men
into Kaze, to increase the original number by thirty men
more.
Patience, thank God, I had a good stock of, so I waited
quietly until the 30th, when I was fairly upset by the
arrival of a letter from Kazd, stating that Baraka had
arrived, and had been very insolent both to Musa and to
Sheikh Said. The bearer of the letter was at once to go
and search for porters at Rungua, but not a word was
said about the armed men I had ordered. At the same
time reports from the other side came in, to the effect
that the Arabs at Kazb and Msdne had bribed the Watuta
to join them, and overrun the whole country from Ugogo
to Ustii; and, in consequence of this, all the natives on
the line I should have to take were in such dread of that
terrible wandering race of savages, who had laid waste in
turn all the lands from N’yassa to Usui on their west
flank, that not a soul dared leave his home. I could now
only suppose that this foolish and hasty determination
of the Arabs, who, quite unprepared to carry out their
wicked alliance to fight, still had set every one against
their own interests as well as mine, had not reached
MQsa, so 1 made up my mind at once to return to Kaze,