tamus skin for whip making, together with the
various spoils of the chase. Last, but not least,
were numerous leathern pots of fat that had been
boiled down from elephants and hippopotami.
The camels were to return as soon as possible
with supplies of corn for our people and horses.
Another elephant-hunter was to be sent to us in
the place of Jali; but I felt that we had lost our
best man.*
Although my people had been in the highest
spirits up to this time, a gloom had been thrown
over the party by two causes—Jali’s accident, and
the fresh footmarks of the Basé that had been discovered
upon the sand by the margin of the river.
The aggageers feared nothing, and if the Basé had
been legions of demons they would have faced them,
sword in hand, with the greatest pleasure. But my
Tokrooris, who were brave in some respects, had been
so cowed by the horrible stories recounted of these
common enemies at the nightly camp-fires by the
Hamran Arabs, that they were seized with a panic,
and resolved to desert en masse, and return to .
Katariff, where I had originally engaged them, and
at which place they had left their families.
This desertion having been planned, they came
to me in a body, just as the camels and Jali were
about to depart, and commenced a series of absurd
excuses for their intended desertion. The old greyheaded
Moosa, by whose fortune-telling and sorcery
* I heard from Jali six weeks later; he was then well, and offered
to rejoin us shortly, hut I declined to risk the strength of his leg.
the party were invariably guided, had foretold evil.
This had confirmed them in their determination to
return home. They were not a bad set of fellows,
but, like most of their class, they required peculiar
management. If natives are driven, they invariably
hate their master, and turn sulky; if you give in
to them, they lose respect, and will never obey.
They are exceedingly subject to sudden impulses,
under the influence of which they are utterly
unreasonable. As the expedition depends for success
entirely upon the union of the party, it is highly
necessary to obtain so complete a control over every
individual, that the leader shall be regarded with
positive reverence, and his authority in all matters
accepted as supreme. To gain such a complete
ascendancy is a work of time, and is no easy matter,
as an extreme amount of tact and judgment is necessary,
combined with great kindness and common
sense, with, at times, great severity. The latter
should be avoided as long as possible.
In this instance, the desertion of my Tokrooris
would have been a great blow to my expedition, as
it was necessary to have a division of parties. I
had now Tokrooris, Jaleens, and Hamran Arabs.
Thus they would never unite together, and I was
certain to have some upon my side in a difficulty.
Should I lose the Tokrooris, the Hamran Arabs
would have the entire preponderance.
The whole of my Tokrooris formed in line before
me and my wife, just as the camels were about to