CHAPTER XI 



UNCANNY COOKERY 



One evening Salem told me of his home in far-away 

 Zanzibar, and I was surprised to hear him speak of 

 Beira in Portuguese East Africa. He had been down 

 there some years ago as a sailor on a coastal steamer, and 

 had seen many white Askaris (soldiers). 



" When did you first reach Uganda ? " I asked. 



" Bwana, it was a long time ago. I came to Mom- 

 basa with several white men and a great many carriers, 

 at that time I was a carrier myself ; we had to walk to 

 the lake in those days, and many died from not having 

 any water to drink for two days and more. The natives 

 used to attack us, the country was bad, and the journey 

 from Mombasa to the Lake Victoria Nyanza, where 

 Kisumu now is, took us nearly five months, and to-day 

 we come by the railway in two days. Ah ! it is wonderful. 

 Then in those days we had to cross the lake in canoes, 

 and great storms would come on us ; the people on the 

 islands were trying to kill us when we came to sleep at 

 night. I was at Zanzibar when the guns on the ship 

 fired at the buildings ashore, that is many years ago." 



Salem was now enthusiastic and gabbled away at 

 such a rate that I found it impossible to keep pace with 

 him, and thus lost what must have been a very interesting 

 account of his life. Like the Congo people in one respect 

 he would, if you asked him about one incident connected 

 with his life, give you the whole history from the beginning 



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