o f the people o f Bumbireh, however, would not
permit me to entertain this feeling o f assurance.
Ab out 1 1 A.M. M’kwanga’s search expedition, j
consisting o f eight large canoes, accompanied by I
five o f a smaller size, under two chiefs o f Kyta-
wa, arrived at Mahyiga Island, containing about
25° Waganda and 50 Wazongora. Including the
crews o f Sabadu’s canoes, the garrison o f Mahyiga,
and the natives o f Komeh and Uke rewe ,
I had now a force o f 470 men. There was no
fear o f the issue o f an attack on the island now,
but a fear o f famine remained.
The king o f Iroba was appealed to , and for
an adequate remuneration he promised to supply
the Waganda with bananas; while we possessed
sufficient grain upon which the Wangwana might
.subsist for a few days longer. T he king o f
-Iroba again confirmed the information that A n ta r?
was collecting a large force o f canoes, and about
sunset a single canoe, powerfully manned, dashed
up opposite our camp, and one man stood up
with spear and shield, and delivered a stout
defiance, after which the canoe as hastily departed
for Bumbireh, without paying any attention
to K y taw a ’s chiefs.
It was apparent that our departure for Uganda
would be h o tly contested, but o f the result
there could be but one opinion. W h a t k in d o f
canoes Antari possessed, I knew b y the specimens
which Kytawa, who was neighbour to him,
[A u g u s t 2, 18 7 5 .1 PACIFIC intentions feigned. 55
[ M a h y ig a . J
sent to us at Mahyiga. Their number would
be probably a hundred, which, with a crew o f
ten men in each, would amount to a thousand.
Allowing s ix bowmen in each canoe, this would
make the fighting force about 600 strong, against
which I could offer 70 guns and about 350
effective spearmen o f Uganda.
However, it was my duty to persist in avoiding
the b lo od y conflict, as it would assuredly be
b y water, and employ all my efforts towards
bringing Antari and the natives o f Bumbireh to
a sense o f the inutility o f hostile demonstrations.
Messages o f a peaceful nature accordingly passed
between us. Antari’s elders visited us once more
on the 2nd August, this time with an assurance
that we should not be molested, as a p ro o f o f
which th ey said that Antari had given orders
to the people o f Bumbireh to sell us provisions
upon the condition that we should deliver Shekka,
Antari’s son, and two other chiefs to Kytawa,
the day we should arrive on the mainland.
This news was received with shouts o f applause
b y all, and no one was more sincerely
glad that the trouble was over than myself,
though there was something in the manner o f
the delivery, in the sly exchange o f lo o k s be tween
Antari’s-elders and the prisoners, that I
did not like. It may have been that a slight
suspicion still lurked in my mind, but I did not