This
Man No Sooner Received His Orders Than, Proud Of His Office As
The Guide Of Such A Distinguished Caravan, He Set To Work To Find
Us Porters.
Meanwhile my Wasui friends, who left on the 25th of
August, returned, bearing what might be called Suwarora's mace
- A
long rod of brass bound up in stick charms, and called
Kaquenzingiriri, "the commander of all things." This they said
was their chief's invitation to see us, and sent this
Kaquenzingiriri, to command us respect wherever we went.
5th. - Without seeing us again, Lumeresi, evidently ashamed of the
power held over him by this rod of Suwarora's, walked off in the
night, leaving word that he was on his way to Ruhe's, to get back
my gun and all the other things that had been taken from Grant.
The same night a large herd of cattle was stolen from the boma
without any one knowing it; so next morning, when the loss was
discovered, all the Wahuma set off on the spoor to track them
down; but with what effect I never knew.
As I had now men enough to remove half our property, I made a
start of it, leaving Grant to bring up the rest. I believe I was
a most miserable spectre in appearance, puffing and blowing at
each step I took, with shoulder drooping, and left arm hanging
like a dead leg, which I was unable ever to swing. Grant,
remarking this, told me then, although fro a friendly delicacy he
had abstained from saying so earlier, that my condition, when he
first saw me on rejoining, gave him a sickening shock. Next day
(7th) he came up with the rest of the property, carried by men
who had taken service for that one march only.
Before us now lay a wilderness of five marches' duration, as the
few villages that once lined it had all been depopulated by the
Sorombo people and the Watuta. We therefore had to lay in
rations for those days, and as no men could be found who would
take service to Karague, we filled up our complement with men at
exorbitant wages to carry our things on to Usui. At this place,
to our intense joy, three of Sheikh Said's boys came to us with a
letter from Rigby; but, on opening it, our spirits at once fell
far below zero, for it only informed us that he had sent us all
kinds of nice things, and letters from home, which were packed up
in boxes, and despatched from the coast on the 30th October 1860.
The boys then told me that a merchant, nickname Msopora, had left
the boxes in Ugogo, in charge of some of those Arabs who were
detained there, whilst he went rapidly round by the south,
following up the Ruaha river to Usanga and Usenga, whence he
struck across to Kaze. Sheikh Said, they said, sent his
particular respects to me; he had heard of Grant's disasters with
great alarm.
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