About two o'clock in the morning my men returned, having carried
Shaw on their backs the entire distance. 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.
At Umanda, six hours from Mfuto, our warriors bedaubed themselves
with the medicine which the wise men had manufactured for them - a
compound of matama flour mixed with the juices of a herb whose
virtues were only known to the Waganga of the Wanyamwezi.
At 6 A.M. on the 4th of August we were once more prepared for the
road, but before we were marched out of the village, the "manneno,"
or speech, was delivered by the orator of the Wanyamwezi:
"Words! words! words! Listen, sons of Mkasiwa, children of
Unyamwezi! the journey is before you, the thieves of the forest
are waiting; yes, they are thieves, they cut up your caravans,
they steal your ivory, they murder your women. Behold, the Arabs
are with you, El Wali of the Arab sultan, and the white man are
with you. Go, the son of Mkasiwa is with you; fight; kill, take
slaves, take cloth, take cattle, kill, eat, and fill yourselves!
Go!"
"A loud, wild shout followed this bold harangue, the gates of the
village were thrown open, and blue, red, and white-robed soldiers
were bounding upward like so many gymnasts; firing their guns
incessantly, in order to encourage themselves with noise, or to
strike terror into the hearts of those who awaited us within the
strong enclosure of Zimbizo, Sultan Kolongo's place.
As Zimbizo was distant only five hours from Umanda, at 11 A.M.
we came in view of it. We halted on the verge of the cultivated
area around it and its neighbours within the shadow of the forest.
Strict orders had been given by the several chiefs to their
respective commands not to fire, until they were within shooting
distance of the boma.
Khamis bin Abdullah crept through the forest to the west of the
village. The Wanyamwezi took their position before the main
gateway, aided by the forces of Soud the son of Sayd on the right,
and the son of Habib on the left, Abdullah, Mussoud, myself, and
others made ready to attack the eastern gates, which arrangement
effectually shut them in, with the exception of the northern side.
Suddenly, a volley opened on us as we emerged from the forest
along the Unyanyembe road, in the direction they had been
anticipating the sight of an enemy, and immediately the attacking
forces began their firing in most splendid style. There were some
ludicrous scenes of men pretending to fire, then jumping off to one
side, then forward, then backward, with the agility of hopping
frogs, but the battle was none the less in earnest. The
breech-loaders of my men swallowed my metallic cartridges much
faster than I liked to see; but happily there was a lull in the
firing, and we were rushing into the village from the west, the
south, the north, through the gates and over the tall palings
that surrounded the village, like so many Merry Andrews; and
the poor villagers were flying from the enclosure towards the
mountains, through the northern gate, pursued by the fleetest
runners of our force, and pelted in the back by bullets from
breech-loaders and shot-guns.
