Several people died; and,
to make matters worse, they insisted upon inoculating themselves and all
their slaves; thus the whole camp was reeking with this horrible
disease.
Fortunately my camp was separate and to windward. I strictly forbade my
men to inoculate themselves, and no case of the disease occurred among
my people, but it spread throughout the country. Small-pox is a scourge
among the tribes of Central Africa, and it occasionally sweeps through
the country and decimates the population.
Among the natives of Obbo, who had accompanied us to Latooka, was a man
named Wani, who had formerly travelled far to the south, and had offered
to conduct Ibrahim to a country rich in ivory that had never been
visited by a trader: this man had accordingly been engaged as guide arid
interpreter. In an examination of Wani I discovered that the
cowrie-shells were brought from a place called "Magungo." This name I
had previously heard mentioned by the natives, but I could obtain no
clue to its position. It was most important that I should discover the
exact route by which the cowries arrived from the south, as it would be
my guide to that direction. The information that I received from Wani at
Latooka was excessively vague, and upon most slender data I founded my
conclusions so carefully that my subsequent discoveries have rendered
most interesting the first scent of the position which I eventually
followed with success.
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