As Soon As This Was Settled, Against My Wish And Opinion, A
Special Messenger Arrived From Suwarora, To Inquire Of Musa What
Truth There Was In The Story Of The Arabs Having Allied
Themselves To The Watuta.
He had full faith in Musa, and hoped,
if the Arabs had no hostile intentions towards him, he, Musa,
would send him two of theirs; further, Suwarora wished Musa would
send him a cat.
A black cat was then given to the messenger for
Suwarora, and Musa sent an account of all that I had done towards
effecting a peace, saying that the Arabs had accepted my views,
and if he would have patience until I arrived in Usui, the four
men required would be sent with me.
In the evening my men returned again with Cyclops, who said, for
his master, that Manua Sera desired nothing more than peace, and
to make friends with the Arabs; but as nothing was settled about
deposing Mkisiwa, he could not come over here. Could the Arabs,
was Manua Sera's rejoinder, suppose for a moment that he would
voluntarily divide his dominion with one whom he regarded as his
slave! Death would be preferable; and although he would trust
his life in the Mzungu's hands if he called him again, he must
know it was his intention to hunt Mkisiwa down like a wild
animal, and would never rest satisfied until he was dead. The
treaty thus broke down; for the same night Cyclops decamped like
a thief, after brandishing an arrow which Manua Sera had given
him to throw down as a gauntlet of defiance to fight Mkisiwa to
death. After this the Arabs were too much ashamed of themselves
to come near me, though invited by letter, and Musa became so ill
he would not take my advice and ride in a hammock, the best
possible cure for his complaint; so, after being humbugged so
many times by his procrastinations, I gave Sheikh Said more
letters and specimens, with orders to take the Tots down to the
coast as soon as practicable, and started once more for the
north, expecting very shortly to hear of Musa's death, though he
promised to follow me the very next day or die in the attempt,
and he also said he would bring on the four men required by
Suwarora; for I was fully satisfied in my mind that he would have
marched with me then had he had the resolution to do so at all.
Before I had left the district I heard that Manua Sera had
collected a mixed force of Warori, Wagogo, and Wasakuma, and had
gone off to Kigue again, whilst the Arabs and Mkisiwa were
feeding their men on beef before setting out to fight him. Manua
Sera, it was said, had vast resources. His father, Fundi Kira,
was a very rich man, and had buried vast stores of property,
which no one knew of but Manua Sera, his heir. The Wanyamuezi
all inwardly loved him for his great generosity, and all alike
thought him protected by a halo of charm-power so effective
against the arms of the Arabs that he could play with them just
as he liked.
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