tion having the sanction of the Government was about
to be formed; and soon, by twos and threes, men came
to my agents, received three months’ wages in advance,
and signed on as porters. Each man brought with him,
as sponsor, some responsible
person, who was held answer-
able for his appearance on the
day set for our departure from
i Zanzibar.
It may have interest
for some to state the
wages paid these porters
— each man received
twelve rupees
per month. At this
time the rupee was low,
and the equivalent
of twelve rupees
was somewhat
less than $4.°°, a
sum which is there
considered very
good pay. If the
porter is a free-
t y p e o f p o r t e r man, he retains
the entire amount received; if a slave, he must give
one-half to his master.
In the course of one month I secured 130 men
though “ man ” is a term which could be properly applied
to but few; for, owing to the scarcity of material,
in many instances I was compelled to accept mere
youths and men of inferior physique.
As all readers of African travel are aware, the most
important of the porters of a caravan is the headman. I
had hoped to engage the headman of my former journey,
who had also accompanied Royal Phelps Carroll
upon his shooting expedition to Masai Land. Unfortunately,
he, being a slave, was at that time away upon a
trading journey up-country in the service of his master.
I deemed myself fortunate, however, in being able to secure
the man who had performed the duties of second
headman on my former journey— by name, Hamidi.
He was a young and intelligent native of the Comoro
Islands; he had served in many up-country expeditions,
and had behaved, as far as my experience and the testimony
of others went, in an efficient and trustworthy
manner upon all occasions. To him I left the choice of
three under-headmen.
As his first lieutenant he chose one Mohamadi, who
had been second headman on the unfortunate expedition
which resulted in the death of Captain Stairs. The
other two headmen were unknown to me, but I was
assured by Hamidi that they were capable and trustworthy.
I succeeded in getting but one porter who had accompanied
me on my former journey, but was more fortunate
in the matter of tent-boys, employed as body
servants. Two of these are worthy of some mention —
I refer to those attached to my own person, Sururu and
Baraka. Sururu had served with Mr. Stanley three
years on the Congo, and had been engaged in any number
of missionary caravans. He had on one occasion
seen his master-shot before his eyes during an Arab uprising,
had travelled more miles on foot than I care to