to find them encamped on the bank waiting for
us. The general course of the river, though
very winding, was from south-west to north-east.
A few miles above its mouth it is filled with
snags, and becomes narrow, crooked, and swift,
and of an inky colour, from a particular tree,
whose branches droop in dense masses into the
stream.
About 2 P.M. we began to return, and, after
rowing hard for about an hour and a half, were
approaching our lonely camp when we heard
guns being fired rapidly. Unless as a measure
of defence there could be no earthly reason why
the men in the camp should fire their guns. We
therefore urged the crew to full speed, and in
a short time were astonished to see the mouth
of the Ruiki blocked with canoes filled with
savages, launching spears and shooting arrows.
With a loud shout we dashed down the last
straight reach of the Ruiki, which attracted the
attention of the savages, who immediately turned
and fled down stream, uttering in harmonious
but weird concord their strange war-cries.
After first learning that no one was wounded,
though there were several sheaves of iron-headed
and wooden spears, besides reed arrows, in
the camp, we inquired the cause of the attack,
and heard with astonishment that the people
of Kasongo’s had signalled to all the neighbouring
villages thaj the “ Nwema” (white chief)
was gone away, and had invited them to arm
and man their canoes to get meat before he
should return. About thirty canoes, manned by
a great number of savages, had entered the
Ruiki, and, without listening to warning, had
persisted in advancing on the camp, until fired
upon. They had been engaged only a few minutes
before I appeared.
Billali, the youth in charge of the heavy rifle,
and my factotum on hunting excursions, had
shot a man, who lay dead in the stream. When
asked how he dared to use my guns to shoot
people, he replied with alarm, “ I could not help
it, Sir, indeed I could not. If I had waited but
a little minute, he would have killed me, for he
was aiming with his spear only a few feet off!
Night came, but with it no tidings of the land
party. We listened all through the dark hours
for the sound of signal gun-shots, but none
cheered us. In the early morning I despatched
Uledi, the coxswain, and five of the younger
boatmen, through the jungles, with a caution to
observe the villages, and by no means to risk
an unequal contest with people, who would dog
them through the bushes like leopards. Uledi,
with a ralm smile, bade me rest assured: he
was Confident he would soon find them. They
set out, leaving us alone to indulge in gloomy
thoughts.
At 4 P.M. we heard the roar of a musket-shot