“Ah! good. Did you see anything else very
wonderful on your journey?”
Oh yes! There are monstrous large boa-
constrmtors m the forest of Uregga, suspended by
then- tails to the- branches, waiting for the passerby
or for a stray antelope. The ants in that
forest are not to be despised. You cannot
travel without your body being covered with
them when they sting you like wasps. The
eopards are sp numerous that you cannot go
very far Without seeing ope. Almost every
native wears a foopar4-skin cap. The Sokos
(gorillas), are m the woods, and woe befall the
man ° r Wi>man met alone by them; for they
nm up to you and sefee your hands, and bite
he fingers, off one by one, and as fast as they
rte one off, they spit it out. The Wasongora
Men© and Waregga are cannibals, and unless
the force is very strong, they never let strangers
pass, it ts nothing but constant fighting. Only
two years ago a party armed with three hundred
guns started north of Usongora Meno; they only
brought sixty guns back, and no ivory. If one
S r i0t ? ? hy the river’ there are falls after
falls, which carry the people over and drown
them. A party of thirty men, in three canoes,
went down the river half a day’s journey from
yangwe when the old white man was living
there. They were all drowned, and that was
the reason he did not go on. Had he done so,
[Oct. 21, 1876.1 TIPPU-Tie’S CONDITIONS. 13 7 L Tabanda. i- -
he would have been eaten, for what could he
have done? Ah, no. Master, the country is bad,
and the Arabs have given it up beyond Uregga.
They will not try the journey into that country
again, after trying it three times and losing
nearly five hundred men altogether.”
“ Your story is very interesting, Abedi,” said
I; “ some of it, I think, is true, for the old white
man said the same thing to me when I was at
Ujiji some four years ago. However, I want to
hear Tippu-Tib speak.”
During all the time that Abedi had related
his wonderful experiences, the other Arabs had
been listening, profoundly interested; but when
I turned inquiringly to Tippu-Tib, he motioned
all to leave the room, except his cousin Mohammed
bin Sayid.
When we were alone, Tippu-Tib informed me
that he had been consulting with his friends and
relatives, and that they were opposed to his adventuring
upon such a terrible journey ; but that, as
he did not wish to see me disappointed in my prospects,
he had resolved to accompany me a
distance of sixty camps, each camp to be four
hours’ march from the other, for the sum of
5000 dollars, on the following conditions:—
1. That the journey should commence from
Nyangwe in any direction I chose, and on any
day I mentioned.
2. That the journey should not occupy more