necessary arrangements. All this seemed most satisfactory.
My further supplies of rice and dried shark’s flesh for my
porters had all arrived, and I had also received five more
rifles, bringing up my number of guns to twenty-four.
Everything being thus settled, I bade farewell to the Liwali
of Lamu and Mze Saif, and after a hearty shake of the hand
with Rogers, I waded back again to Mattaroni, to start next
morning for the unknown country to the north.
CH A P T ER XXIII
JOURNEY TO PORT DURNFORD, continued— START FOR THE
INTERIOR
To Parts Unknown—Bajoni Villages— Rubu— Mohamed bin Saif—
Cotton Cultivation— Homwé— A Unique Event—Difficult Marching—-
Kionga—An Object of Curiosity— Shakan—A n Unexpected Delay—-
Ras Kiambone Wells— Ancient Ruins —Gomé la Hekwa— A Rocky
Coast— The Cape of the Pillar—An Alarming Report— Shakalasia—
The Dhow Ashore— Port Durqford— Shauris with the Natives— I
march Inland.
I STARTED from Mattaroni at 7 a.m. on May 28, 1893, the
path at first skirting the open sea-shore over low white sandy
ridges covered with thick clumps of fan palm. This- continued
for the distance, of a mile to the small village of Shwé,
situated close to the sea, mangroves being again met with
here. There was no cultivation around this village; the
shambas were some distance inland, where the people cultivated
metamah and cotton, the latter being of the same
description as that grown at Mattaroni. After obtaining a
fresh guide as arranged with Mze Saif, we continued our way,
skirting the mangrove-fringed edges of a deep and narrow
sea-creek running parallel to the coast to the north-east of
the village, the land side terminating in a steep ridge 8 to 9
feet high covered with thick bush, the soil being a light
friable chocolate or reddish loam. I shortly afterwards
reached a second Watiku village called Vundene, about three-
quarters of a mile from Shwé, which it much resembled, also
having its shambas inland. The path presently left the seashore,
crossing a white sandy flat covered with thick fan palms,
into thick bush with a reddish-yellow friable soil, on emerging