opinion one-third did not hesitate to confirm.
Such a spirit being most serious in these days
of scant food and hard toil— men, like beasts of
prey, being governed by the stomach—I invited
the people together to rehearse their grievances
and to describe their wrongs. They could say
nothing, except that they were tired and were
not going to work more. Death was in the
river; a wearisome repetition of frightful labour
waited for them each day on the rocks; their
stomachs were hungry, they had no strength.
Said I, ‘And I have none, my friends, I assure
you. I am as hungry as any of you. I could
get meat to make me strong, but it would be
robbing you. I am so tired and sorry that I
could lie down smiling and die. My white
brother, ,who was lost the other day, is far
happier than I. If you a.11 leave me, I am safe,
and there is no responsibility on me. I have
my boat, and it is in the river. The current is
swift, the fall is only a few yards off. My knife
can cut the rope, and I shall then go to sleep
for ever. There are the beads; take them, do
what you will. While you stay with me, I follow
this river until I come to the point where it is
known. If you don’t stay with me, I still will
cling to the river, and will die in it.’ I walked
away from them. One man, Safeni, the coxswain
at Bumbireh, on being asked by a disaffected
body of men what was best to be done, said,
U n e 20, 18770 WHOLESALE DESERTION. 167
I [ Zinga. J
L et us pack up and be gone. We shall die
janyhow, whether we stay here or whether we
[ravel.’ They were not long in following his
[counsel, and filed up the steep ascent to the
Lble-land, thirty-one in number. One of the
tent-boys came to announce the fact. On ascertaining
that the infection was not general, I
!then resolved that they should not endanger their
[own lives or the lives of the faithful, and called
Kacheche and Manwa Sera to follow and plead
[with them. They overtook them five miles from
[here, but only received a determined refusal to
[return, and the deserters persisted in continuing
' their journey. Meanwhile the faithful are at work.
“ June 21.— Despatched Kacheche and Manwa
Sera again early this morning to cut off the
fugitives, to inform the chiefs in advance that
my people were not to be permitted to pass
them, but, if they persisted in going beyond
them, to lay hands on them and bind them until
I could arrive on the scene. The chiefs seconded
me so well that they beat their war-drum, and
the mock excitement was so great that the
mutineers were halted, and I learn by my two
men that they already regret having left their
camp.
''''June 22.— Again Kacheche and Manwa Sera
1 returned to the mutineers, who were fifteen miles
away from here, and, promising them pardon
and complete absolution of the offence, succeeded,