or anything they had, for a few pounds of it. Owing
to the friendly relations which George had maintained
with them, and doubtless also to the plentiful supply
of meat which they had procured from him, the Dait-
cho had behaved in the most friendly manner; and
after my arrival I held a levee of the principal men
of the tribe, when. I met many people who had not
theretofore come to our camp.
The day after my arrival was spent in ease which
the men who had accompanied me from Seran appreciated
as much as I did. They were allowed as
much food as they could eat, and of as great variety
as the markets of Daitcho afforded. Their campfires
seemed never to go out. A t all times they
were thoroughly filled, and they revelled in the greatest
pleasure a Zanzibari is capable of experiencing —
a gorged stomach.
During my stay at Daitcho the men who had remained
behind with George performed their daily
labours but indifferently well. Their minds were not
upon their work, and all their thoughts were centred
upon the moment when the drum should sound,
and they should be released from their tasks, to
gather around the men who had accompanied me,
and from them hear marvellous tales of what had
befallen them.
Most of their tales I never heard, but from a few
snatches which reached my ears I gathered the impression
that Munchausen would have produced a
much more interesting work had he been a native
of Zanzibar. To impart an idea of the boundless
genius of the Zanzibari in the field of imagination,
I will relate one of the stories current in our camp
at Daitcho within a day after our arrival. It was a
propos of the Rendile. The Rendile were said to be,
one and all, mounted upon coal-black steeds, clad in
garments of the finest texture, and armed with Arab
scimitars, upon the blades of which verses from the
Koran were inscribed. They were also said to possess
thousands of slaves. And the authors of this
tale assured their hearers that it was simply owing to
my ability in magic that they had escaped from the
clutches of the Rendile. A t first this story was received
with a measure of incredulity; but constant
repetition of even the most improbable lie is sufficient
to stamp it as truth in the minds of these simple
negroes.
George’s stay at Daitcho had been free from any
unusual or surprising occurrences, except those customarily
attendant upon the sojourn of a white man
in Africa. However, one of his experiences may be
worthy of mention. Our camp had become so infested
with fleas that he was unable’ to sleep in the zeriba
at night; and so had acquired the habit of placing
his bed without the palisade, taking care, however,
to build a rousing fire near him to frighten away
beasts of prey. I had left with him one of the
puppies we had raised upon our journey; the other
two we had taken along with us. It was the wont
of this puppy to sleep at the foot of George’s bed.
Upon one occasion, while George was sleeping without
the palisade, a loud yelp from the pup awakened
him. Leaping from his bed, he saw, by the light of
the dying fire, a large hyena bearing his guardian