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Unfortunately the rifle was too well aimed, and the man
fell to the ground, shot between the two shoulders.
I was forced to accept the Balook Bashi’s statement,
though unsupported by corroborative testimony of others.
As it happened that this man had not only continually
boasted that he would desert, but also had made repeated
attempts to do so, and was in fact the man who had
loaded his rifle on the previous day, I cannot say that
my pity for the poor wretch was as great as it certainly
would otherwise have been. However, I took this opportunity
to break the Balook Bashi to the ranks, and punished
him severely. I then made Ramazan chief of the
Soudanese, in his stead.
From this time on, Lieutenant von Hohnel left the
canoes and marched with the caravan. I put four of
my best men with the river column, and arranged to
meet them about four days’ journey up the river, at a
place called Malkakofira — the first village of the Galla.
The Tana River has on its shores three distinct tribes.
At the coast, in the neighbourhood of Kau, there are
some four or five hundred Galla; then for 100 miles
the Pokomo inhabit both banks; then comes a reach
of about sixty miles, uninhabited, with the exception of
small and scattered bands of people, who live by hunting
and fishing. These people are called Wasania,
and are not akin to either the Galla or Pokomo. From
Malkakofira to the district of Korokoro, the country is
inhabited by both Galla and Pokomo. The Galla
inhabiting this portion of the river are a finer type
than those who live near the coast, and much more
numerous. They keep the Pokomo in a state of subjection,
forcing them to give them a certain portion of