had been killed, a Mr. Hamilton, who had been
placed in charge of a body of Arab soldiery at Kis-
mayu. His men had mutinied, and after killing their
leader, had fled by sea back to Arabia. There had
also been a little fighting in the neighbourhood of
Witu with Fumo Omari; but although a few Europeans
had been wounded in this fight, yet the issue
had been successful, inasmuch as Fumo Omari had
been driven out of his fastnesses, and his men scattered.
My men were fond of dwelling upon the rumours
about one of the most ardent revolutionists, named
Suliman Kemenya. For the past fifteen years he had
caused great trouble to the European inhabitants on
the coast, and had been exiled by the British authorities
to Muscat. A few years before the time of our
visit he had returned to Zanzibar, and was at this
time engaged in gathering as large a force as possible,
in order to harass the Europeans stationed in the
towns of Lamoo, Malinde, and Khalifi. In the eyes
of my porters this man was a great hero; and they
said that, now he had returned, the Europeans would
find out that the Arabs . could do something besides
sleep. Not only did the bearing of these men cause
me disappointment, but their number was much in
excess of my requirements, and the length of time
they had taken in the journey from the coast had
almost entirely exhausted the supply of trading-goods,
which I had ordered for use on a continued journey.
Moreover; few of them were armed, and such as were,
had weapons different from those carried by my other
men; besides, their supply of ammunition was a very
small one.