This Reduced The Expedition Establishment To My Men And
Kidgwiga's. With These, Now, As There Was No Letter From
Petherick, I Ordered A March For The Next Morning, But At Once
Met With Opposition.
Mahamed told me that there were no vessels
at Gondokoro; we must wait two months, by which time he expected
they would arrive there, and some one would come to meet him with
beads.
I said in answer, that Petherick had promised to have
boats there all the year round, so I would not wait. "Then,"
said Mahamed, "we cannot go with you, for there is a famine at
this season at Gondokoro." I said, "Never mind; do you give me
an interpreter, and I will go as I am." "No," said Mahamed, "that
will not do, as the Bari people are so savage, you could not get
through them with so small a force; besides which, just now there
is a stream which cannot be crossed for a month or more."
Unable to stand Mahamed's shifting devices with equanimity any
longer, I accused him of trying to trick me in the same way as
all the common savage chiefs had done wherever I went, because
they wished me to stop for their own satisfaction, quite
disregarding my wishes and interest; so I said I would not stop
there any longer I would raft over the river, and find my way
through the Bari, as I had through the rest of the African
savages. We talked and talked, but could make nothing of it.
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