I Then Wrote To Grant Another Letter To Be Delivered By These Men.

Lumeresi no sooner heard of the presents I had given them, than he flew into a passion, called them imposters, abused them for not speaking to him before they came to me, and said he would not allow them to go.

High words then ensued. I said the business was mine, and not his; he had no right to interfere, and they should go. Still Lumeresi was obstinate, and determined they should not, for I was his guest; he would not allow any one to defraud me. It was a great insult to himself, if true, that Suwarora should attempt to snatch me out of his house; and he could not bear to see me take these strangers by the hand, when, as we have seen, it took him so long to entice me to his den, and he could not prevail over me until he actually sent his copper hatchet.

When this breeze blew over, by Lumeresi's walking away, I told the Wasui not to mind him, but to do just as I bid them. They said they had their orders to bring me, and if Lumeresi would not allow them to go for Grant, they would stop where they were, for they knew that if Suwarora found them delaying long, he would send more men to look after them. There was no peace yet, however; for Lumeresi, finding them quietly settled down eating with my men, ordered them out of his district, threatening force if they did not comply at once. I tried my best for them, but the Wasui, fearing to stop any longer, said they would take leave to see Suwarora, and in eight days more they would come back again, bringing something with them, the sight of which would make Lumeresi quake. Further words were now useless, so I gave them more cloth to keep them up to the mark, and sent them off. Baraka, who seemed to think this generosity a bit of insanity, grumbled that if I had cloths to throw away it would have been better had I disposed of them to my own men.

Next day (26th), as I was still unwell, I sent four men to Grant with inquiries how he was getting on, and a request for medicines. The messengers took four days to bring back the information that Bombay had not returned from Kaze, but that Grant, having got assistance, hoped to break ground about the 5th of next month. They brought me at the same time information that the Watuta had invested Ruhe's, after clearing off all the cattle in the surrounding villages, and had proclaimed their intention of serving out Lumeresi next. In consequence of this, Lumeresi daily assembled his grey-beards and had councils of war in his drum-house; but though his subjects sent to him constantly for troops, he would not assist them.

Another caravan then arrived (31st) from Karague, in which I found an old friend, of half Arab breed, called Saim, who whilst I was residing with Sheikh Snay at Kaze on my former expedition, taught me the way to make plantain-wine. He, like the rest of the porters in the caravan, wore a shirt of fig-tree bark called mbugu. As I shall have frequently to use this word in the course of the Journal, I may here give an explanation of its meaning. The porter here mentioned told me that the people about the equator all wore this kind of covering, and made it up of numerous pieces of bark sewn together, which they stripped from the trees after cutting once round the trunk above and below, and then once more down the tree from the upper to the lower circular cutting. This operation did not kill the trees, because, if they covered the wound, whilst it was fresh, well over with plaintain- leaves, shoots grew down from above, and a new bark came all over it. The way they softened the bark, to make it like cloth, was by immersion in water, and a good strong application of a mill- headed mallet, which ribbed it like corduroy. [FN#10] Saim told me he had lived ten years in Uganda, had crossed the Nile, and had traded eastward as far as the Masai country. He thought the N'yanza was the sources of the Ruvuma river; as the river which drained the N'yanza, after passing between Uganda and Usoga, went through Unyoro, and then all round the Tanganyika lake into the Indian Ocean, south of Zanzibar. Kiganda, he also said, he knew as well as his own tongue; and as I wanted an interpreter, he would gladly take service with me. This was just what I wanted - a heaven-born stroke of luck. I seized at his offer with avidity, gave him a new suit of clothes, which made him look quite a gentleman, and arranged to send him next day with a letter to Grant.

1st and 2d. - A great hubbub and confusion now seized all the place, for the Watuta were out, and had killed a woman of the place who had formerly been seized by them in war, but had since escaped and resided here. To avenge this, Lumeresi headed his host, and was accompanied by my men; but they succeeded in nothing save in frightening off their enemies, and regaining possession of the body of the dead woman. Then another hubbub arose, for it was discovered that three Wahuma women were missing (2d); and, as they did not turn up again, Lumeresi suspected the men of the caravan, which left with Saim, must have taken them off as slaves. He sent for the chief of the caravan, and had him brought back to account for this business. Of course the man swore he knew nothing about the matter, whilst Lumeresi swore he should stop there a prisoner until the women were freed, as it was not the first time his women had been stolen in this manner.

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