A Native Incident 



occurred to one of the porters who had been up the 

 day before to the village to ask for brushwood. It 

 is usual on " safari " to burn a large fire in the centre 

 of the camp throughout the night, and two special 

 porters were always detailed for this purpose. 



When my wretched Shensi appeared in the 

 village, he was roughly handled by an "askari" 

 (soldier) belonging to the chief, and only escaped a 

 la Joseph^ by leaving his scanty apparel in the latter's 

 grip. The porter was very sore, not so much from 

 the loss of his garment, but because, it being their 

 usual custom to tie up any spare rupees they may 

 have in a corner of these loin clothes, all his 

 savings had disappeared also. I demanded from 

 the orderly why he had not seized the offender, but 

 he replied with great truth, that v/henever the 

 soldiers mishandled the natives, there was always a 

 " muktub kebir," or, in plain words, the Commissioner 

 would soon want to know the reason why. Rightly 

 or wrongly, I had the offender caught and marched 

 off with my "safari" as a prisoner. I had hardly 

 accomplished the first mile of the day's journey 

 when a runner overtook me and told me that the 

 chief wished to apologise for the misdoings of his 

 man, and asking me to let him off. I took no 

 notice, however, and soon after the headman 

 appeared in person, having run a considerable 

 distance, which I felt quite certain he had not done 

 for years. I purposely argued with him, telling him 

 I was determined to march the man to Mbarara and 

 place him before the Commissioner for his disposal. 



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