The Turks Had Only Arrived In The Latooka Country In The Preceding Year.
They Had Not Introduced The Cowrie Shell; But I Observed That Every
Helmet Was Ornamented With This Species; It Therefore Occurred To Me
That They Must Find Their Way Into The Country From Zanzibar.
In reply to my inquiries, Commoro pointed to the south, from which he
said they arrived in his country, but he had no idea from whence they
came.
The direction was sufficient to prove that they must be sent from
the east coast, as Speke and Grant had followed the Zanzibar traders as
far as Karagwe, the 2 degrees S. lat.
Commoro could not possibly understand my object in visiting the Latooka
country; it was in vain that I attempted to explain the intention of my
journey. He said, "Suppose you get to the great lake; what will you do
with it? What will be the good of it? If you find that the large river
does flow from it, what then? What's the good of it?"
I could only assure him, that in England we had an intimate knowledge of
the whole world, except the interior of Africa, and that our object in
exploring was to benefit the hitherto unknown countries by instituting
legitimate trade, and introducing manufactures from England in exchange
for ivory and other productions. He replied that the Turks would never
trade fairly; that they were extremely bad people, and that they would
not purchase ivory in any other way than by bartering cattle, which they
stole from one tribe to sell to another.
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