I was roused up, and had
him conveyed to my tent. I examined him, and I assured myself he
was not suffering from fever of any kind; and in reply to my
inquiries as to how he felt, he said he could neither walk nor
ride, that he felt such extreme weakness and lassitude that he was
incapable of moving further. After administering a glass of port
wine to him in a bowlful of sago gruel, we both fell asleep.
We arrived early the following morning at Mfuto, the rendezvous
of the Arab army. A halt was ordered the next day, in order to
make ourselves strong by eating the beeves, which we freely
slaughtered.
The personnel of our army was as follows:
Sheikh Sayd bin Salim . . . . . . 25 half caste
" Khamis bin Abdullah . . . . 250 slaves
" Thani bin Abdullah . . . . 80 "
" Mussoud bin Abdullah . . . . 75 "
" Abdullah bin Mussoud . . . . 80 "
" Ali bin Sayd bin Nasib . . . 250 "
" Nasir bin Mussoud . . . . . 50 "
" Hamed Kimiami . . . . . . 70 "
" Hamdam . . . . . . . . 30 "
" Sayd bin Habib . . . . . . 50 "
" Salim bin Sayf . . . . . 100 "
" Sunguru . . . . . . . . 25 "
" Sarboko . . . . . . . . 25 "
" Soud bin Sayd bin Majid . . . 50 "
" Mohammed bin Mussoud . . . . 30 "
" Sayd bin Hamed . . . . . . 90 "
" The 'Herald' Expedition . . . 50 soldiers
" Mkasiwa's Wanyamwezi . . . 800 "
" Half-castes and Wangwana . . 125 "
" Independent chiefs and their
followers . . . . . . . 300 "
These made a total of 2,255, according to numbers given me by
Thani bin Abdullah, and corroborated by a Baluch in the pay of
Sheikh bin Nasib. Of these men 1,500 were armed with guns -
flint-lock muskets, German and French double-barrels, some
English Enfields, and American Springfields - besides these muskets,
they were mostly armed with spears and long knives for the
purpose of decapitating, and inflicting vengeful gashes in
the dead bodies. Powder and ball were plentiful: some men were
served a hundred rounds each, my people received each man sixty
rounds.
As we filed out of the stronghold of Mfuto, with waving banners
denoting the various commanders, with booming horns, and the roar
of fifty bass drums, called gomas - with blessings showered on us
by the mollahs, and happiest predications from the soothsayers,
astrologers, and the diviners of the Koran - who could have foretold
that this grand force, before a week passed over its head, would be
hurrying into that same stronghold of Mfuto, with each man's heart
in his mouth from fear?
The date of our leaving Mfuto for battle with Mirambo was the
3rd of August. All my goods were stored in Mfuto, ready for the
march to Ujiji, should we be victorious over the African chief,
but at least for safety, whatever befel us.
Long before we reached Umanda, I was in my hammock in the
paroxysms of a fierce attack of intermittent fever, which did
not leave me until late that night.
