These Two
Slaves, Both Of Whom Knew All The Chiefs And Languages Up To And
Including Uganda, Promised Me Faithfully They Would Go With
Bombay On To Usui, And Bring Back Porters In Sufficient Number
For Grant And Myself To Go On Together.
They laughed at the
stories I told them of the terror that had seized Baraka and all
the Wanguana,
And told me, as old Musa had often done before,
that those men, especially Baraka, had from their first leaving
Kaze made up their minds they would not enter Usui, or go
anywhere very far north.
I placed those men on the same pay as Bombay, and then tried to
buy some beads from the Arabs, as I saw it was absolutely
necessary I should increase my fast-ebbing store if I ever hoped
to reach Gondokoro. The attempt failed, as the Arabs would not
sell at a rate under 2000 per cent.; and I wrote a letter to
Colonel Rigby, ordering up fifty armed men laden with beads and
pretty cloths - which would, I knew, cost me œ1000 at the least -
and left once more for the north on the 5th.
Marching slowly, as my men kept falling sick, I did not reach
Grant again until the 11th. His health had greatly improved, and
he had been dancing with Ukulima, as may be seen by the
accompanying woodcut. So, as I was obliged to wait for a short
time to get a native guide for Bui, Nasib and Bombay, who would
show them a jungle-path to Usui, we enjoyed our leisure hours in
shooting guinea-fowls for the pot.
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