60 ACKOSS AFRICA. [Chap. 



May, The village was situated at the entrance to a rocky gorge 



^^'^- leading into the mountains of Usagara, and I at once saw it 

 would not prove a suitable place for a j)ermanent camp, on ac- 

 count of its low-lying position. I therefore selected the sum- 

 mit of a small hill for the site, and was carried there, and had 

 my tent pitched. 



Only half a dozen men hutted themselves that night, owing 

 to their very great fear of wild beasts. Indeed, they were so 

 timid that, when I wanted water to drink after sunset, I could 

 not persuade any man to fetch some from a stream some four 

 hundred yards oif. 



Dillon arrived the next day very ill, and I had the camp 

 properly laid out for a long halt if necessary. 



The men's huts formed a large outer circle, and in the centre 

 a plot was fenced in for our tents, the guard-room, and store- 

 house; the space between the men's huts and our own com- 

 pound was used for picketing the donkeys at night. During 

 the day they were allowed to roam about and graze, under the 

 charge of a couple of men detailed for this duty. In addition 

 to fever, Dillon had an attack of dysentery, and was confined 

 to his bed until the 20th of May, having arrived on the 2d ; 

 and I continued very lame, the swelling of my foot proving to 

 have been caused by a large abscess which formed on my instep. 



To add to our troubles, a strike occurred among the men di- 

 rectly after our arrival, as they wanted extravagant amounts of 

 cloth in lieu of rations. I was obliged to be firm, even at the 

 risk of losing many by desertion ; for had I yielded to their re- 

 quest, the whole stock of cloth of which we were possessed 

 would very soon have been exhausted. I could purchase eight- 

 een days' rations for one man for two yards ; yet each man 

 wanted two yards for every five days, and the smallest conces- 

 sion on my part would only have induced them to increase 

 their demands. 



My usual daily routine during Dillon's illness was to hobble 

 round the camp after morning cocoa and visit the donkeys be- 

 fore seeing them turned out to graze, dressing with carbolized 

 oil any that had sores. Then I mustered the men, inspected 

 arms, and heard any complaints ; after which the camp was 

 cleared up, rations served out, and parties sent to the surround- 



