Chap. XV. MUTINY OF ISHOGO POKTERS. 299 



given them a great many things, for they saw 

 them ; and the chief spokesman, the same man who 

 liad been the chief cause of onr troubles at the last 

 village, had the impudence to say to his comrades, 

 " If he will not give us more beads, let us leave 

 him." The whole body then laid down their loads, 

 and said they would return to their homes. This 

 was a critical moment ; I felt that an energetic step 

 was necessary to put an end to such insubordination. 

 I gave the order to my Commi men to arm, and, in a 

 few moments, the resolute fellows stepped forward 

 and levelled their guns at the heads of the offenders. 

 I told them to go now, and they would see how many 

 would reach the other side of the brook alive. The 

 movement had its due effect — they all held out their 

 hands and begged to be forgiven. These little muti- 

 nies I found were all arranged beforehand ; they are 

 attempts at extortion, and the rascals in planning 

 them agree not to proceed to extremities. In a short 

 time they had again taken up their loads, and we 

 marched off at a quick pace ; the porters becoming 

 quite cheerful, laughing and chattering as they 

 trudged along. 



In the course of an hour after this, we arrived at 

 a large Ashango village, called Oyt'go or Moyego, 

 through which we passed without stopping; the 

 inhabitants, who seemed to be more astonished at 

 my boots than at anything else, cried out, " Look ! 

 he has feet like an elephant ! " The road all the 

 way was very hilly ; at one part I found the eleva- 

 tion 1486 feet, so that the land here was higher than 

 the plateau of Madombo. 



