Manwa Sera and Kacheche, had discovered the
p lo t, and Frank and Fred Barker, after sounding
Kaduma, had distributed ammunition, with
e v e ry intention o f employing their best abilities
to resist the attack. Prince Kaduma’s loyalty
to his absent friend, and Frank and Fred’s bold
conduct, with the sudden death o f the chief of
Igusa, bad caused Kipingiri to abandon the
wicked conspiracy.
Frank informed me also that he had suffered
one or two slight attacks o f fever, but that he
had easily shaken them off.” The angwana
were wonderfully recovered from the miserable
attenuation which the scant fare o f U gogo and
Urimi had wrought in their frames, and some
were so robust and fat that I scarcely knew
them. Upon examining the stock o f goods left
^ the store-room, I was gratified to discover
that Frank had been extremely economical. I
found him in perfect accord with Prince Kaduma,
g o o d friends with Sungoro, and respected by
the Wangwana; and on inspecting his work there
was nothing in his conduct that did not deserve
hearty approval and commendation.
Our return to K a g eh y i was followed b y
Sabbath repose and rest, fairly earned and much
needed. When I placed myself under the spring-
balance scales, I found I weighed only 115 lbs.,
ju s t 63 lbs. less than when leaving Zanzibar.
Frank P o co ck weighed 162 lbs.! I owed this
r e s t ! 5
excessive reduction o f flesh to scant fare and
days o f hunger, not to sickness.
Sweet were those first days o f rest! Frank
was eager to hear all that had befallen us in
our 1000 miles’ sail round the lake, and the
Wangwana formed circles many deep, to hear
the Iliad o f our woes. What hearty sympathizers
those poor, black, untutored men were! Kaduma
was all amazement, and Sungoro never ceased
to express his wonder as to how we managed
to go round the lake in the “ little boat.” T he
Wasukuma extemporized songs in her honour,
which they sang in the evenings; and the naked
urchins made miniature boats out o f the stem
of the banana, with twigs as masts and leaves
, for sails. T h e influence o f one example had,
f it seemed to me, already produced fruit here,
and the efforts o f the little ones proved to me
■ that the natives needed but one or two more
such examples to stimulate them to similar enterprises.
Future'explorers will find many ready
to imitate bold Saramba’s conduct as guides,
and the Wasukuma may become in future as
docile boatmen as th ey are capable porters and
steady travellers on land.
Then came sickness. T h e African fever having
found my frame weakened from privations attacked
me vigorously one day after another.
Three fevers reduced me 7 lbs. in weight. But
1 quininized myse lf thoroughly from dawn o f