32 WITH THE ADVANCE GUARD TO THE TANA part i 



dunes which separate it from the ocean. Its mouth, moreover, 

 is continually being silted up by the tide, and reopened on new 

 lines by freshets. The sandbanks, therefore, constantly shift 

 their position in the struggle between the waters of the river 

 and of the sea. 



All this renders the mouth of the Tana very difficult of 

 navigation. The Ozi, on the other hand, has a fine broad open 

 estuary, and the water over the bar at its mouth is usually deep 

 enough to be crossed by the shallow draught dhows that do 

 most of the coasting trade. In order that the Ozi might 

 become the port of the Tana, the rivers were connected by 

 a canal ; this was cut by forced Pokomo labour under the 

 direction of Sultan Hamad, the great-grandfather of the present 

 chief of the Witu rebels. The channel was originally lo feet 

 wide and 6 feet deep, but it is now much less. 



Owing to the high level of the Tana a powerful torrent poured 

 along the canal from that river to the Ozi ; the two canoemen had 

 only to push aside the stems of the water plants and the current 

 carried us along. As we swept through the rushes we raised 

 crowds of mosquitoes, which had their revenge for being dis- 

 turbed in their afternoon nap. So we were not sorry when, 

 after a passage of three-quarters of an hour, the canoe shot out 

 into the quiet waters of the Ozi. At six o'clock I reached 

 Kau, where my old friend Suleiman the Akida, or headman of 

 the town, urged me to stay the night. We had a chat, but, as 

 usual, neither of us understood what the other was saying. He 

 showed me a paper which he said was a testimonial or " chit " 

 given him by the superintendent of the district. It was, however, 

 a letter from Mr. Rogers to one of the members of the Borabini 

 Mission ; but as it referred to matters then of ancient history, 

 I did not destroy the Arab's faith in the value of his treasure. 



The Akida provided me with a man to ferry me across the 

 Kirimanda, a river that had to be crossed on the way, and also 

 with two Arab soldiers or " Kiroboto " as an escort against 

 lions. One of them was armed with a picturesque sword, and the 

 other with a rusty muzzle-loader. They scornfully refused to 

 carry my mackintosh or satchel, so that they were useless ; and 

 as the gunner would occasionally point his gun at me, I was 

 more afraid of him than of all the lions in the district. 



Tichborne, Harris, Lovatelli and Gleave were all in Witu. 



