est delight, and afterwards went into a discourse on geography
with considerable perspicacity, seeming fully to
comprehend that if I got down the Nile it would afterwards
result in making the shores of the N’yanza like
that of the coast at Zanzibar, where the products of his
country could be exchanged, without much difficulty, for
cloths, beads, and brass wire. I gave him a present ; then
a letter was brought to me from Sheikh Said, announcing
Musa’s death, and the fact that Manda Séra was still
holding out at Kigdé ; in answer to which I desired the
sheikh to send me as many of Musa’s slaves as would
take service with me, for they ought now, by the laws of
the Koran, to he all free.
On packing up to leave Ghiya’s, all the men of the
j TT ^ village shut the bars of the entrance, wishing ToUngBrtiffs, 8 t h . & ° to extract some cloths from me, as I had not
given enough, they said, to their chief. They soon, however,
saw that we, being inside their own. fort, had the
best of it, and they gave way. We then pushed on to
Ungìirué’s, another chief of the same district. Here the
men and women of the place came crowding to see me,
the fair sex all playfully offering themselves for wives,
and wishing to know which I admired most. They were
so importunate, after a time, that I was not sorry to hear
an attack was made on their cattle because a man of the
village would not pay his dowry-money to his father-in-
law, and this set everybody flying out to the scene of
action.
After this, as Bombay brought up the last of my
skulking men, I bade him good-bye again, and made
an afternoon - march on to Takina, in the district of
Msalala, which we no sooner approached than all the
inhabitants turned out and fired their arrows at us. They
did no harm, however, excepting to create a slight alarm,
which some neighbouring villagers took advantage of to
run off with two of my cows. My men followed after
the thieves until these entered a boma and shut the gate
in their faces. They called out for the cows to be returned
to them, but called in vain, as the scoundrels said, “ Findings
are keepings, by the laws of our country; and as we
found your cows, so we will keep them.” For my part
I was glad they were gone, as the Wanghana never yet
kept anything I put under their charge; so, instead of
allowing them to make a fuss the next morning, X marched
straight on for M’yonga’s, the chief of the district, who
was famed for his infamy and great extortions, having
pushed his exactions so far as to close the road.
On nearing his. palace, we heard war-drums beat in
To M’yongas, every surrounding village, and the kirangozi
Wl- would go no farther until permission was
obtained from M’yonga. This did not take long, as the
chief said he was most desirous to see a white man, never
having been to the coast, though his father-in-law had,
and had told him that the Wazungii were even greater
people than the sultan reigning there. On our drawing
near the palace, a small, newly-constructed boma was
shown for my residence; but as I did not wish to stop
there, knowing how anxious Grant would be to have his
relief, I would not enter it, but instead sent Baraka to
pay the hongo as quickly as possible, that we might move
on again; at the same time ordering him to describe the
position both Grant and myself were in, and explain that
what I paid now was to frank both of us, as the whole of
the property was my own. Should he make any remarks
about the two cows that were stolen, I said he must know
that I could not wait for them, as my brother would die
of suspense if we did not finish the journey and send, back
for him quickly. Off went Baraka with a party of men,
stopping hours, of course, and firing volleys of ammunition
away. He did not return again until the evening,
when the palace-drums announced that the hongo had
been settled for one barsati, one lugoi, and six yards