conduct and faithlessness, and prevented the
wreck of the Expedition.
It must not be supposed that I was more
unfortunate than other travellers; for to the
faithlessness of his people may be attributed
principally the long wanderings of poor Livingstone.
Cameron also lost a great number at
Unyanyembe, as well as at Ujiji. Experience
had taught me on my first' journey to Central
Africa that Wangwana would desert at every
opportunity, especially in the vicinity of the
Arab depots. It was to lessen these opportunities
for desertion that I had left the Unyanyembe
road, and struck through Ituru and Iramba; and
though my losses in men were great from famine,
the ferocity of the natives, and sickness, they
did not amount to half of what they certainly
would have been had I touched at Unyanyembe.
By adopting this route, despite the calamities
that we were subjected to for a short season,
I had gained time, and opened new countries,
hitherto unexplored.
Desertion had also been checked by voyaging
Lake Victoria,, instead of pursuing our journey
by land, and troubles with Rwoma and the king
of Usui had also been avoided. But when we
received a check at the Muta Nzige, it became
necessary to visit Ujiji, and the long-sought-for
opportunity to desert was thus presented to the
disaffected, and those who had enlisted only for
the sake of the advance-money given to them
at Zanzibar. Among these cunning ones was
Msenna, the terror of Zanzibar and the coast.
He was renowned as a murderer, robber, and
ruffian when he took service with me. This man
was among the deserters at Ujiji.
Unless the traveller in Africa exerts himself
to keep his force intact, he cannot hope to
perform satisfactory service. If he relaxes his
watchfulness, it is instantly taken advantage of
by the weak-minded and the indolent. Livingstone
lost at least six years of time, and finally
his life, by permitting his people to desert. If
a follower left his service, he even permitted
him to remain in the same village with him,
without attempting to reclaim him, or to compel
that service which he had bound himself to render
at Zanzibar. The consequence of this excessive
mildness was that he was left at last with only
seven men, out of nearly seventy. His noble
character has won from us a tribute of affection
and esteem, but it has had no lasting good effect
on the African. At the same time over-Severity
is as bad as over-gentleness in dealing with
these men. What is required is pure, simple
justice between man and man.
The general infidelity and instability of the
Wangwana arises, in great part, from their weak
minds becoming a prey to terror of imaginary
dangers. Thus, the Johanna men deserted Living