96 ACROSS AFRICA. [Chap. 



July, he liad been to the junction of the Mdabiiru M'ith the Rnaha, 

 ^^'^^- as the iij^per portion of the Lufiji is called, and that the Rnaha 

 was also merely a chain of pools in the dry season, but a great 

 river during the rains. 

 • On the march, a pagazi deserted with his load, which was a 

 very serious matter, since our stores of cloth were melting away, 

 owing to the high price of provisions and the large tribute we 

 had so constantly been compelled to pay. I ordered Bihil, with 

 half a dozen askari, back to Khoko to look for the deserter, and 

 also sent to the chief of Mdaburn, telling him of the occurrence, 

 and requesting him to give directions for the return of the man 

 and his load ; but all our endeavors to trace him proved futile, 

 and the scoundrel got clear away. 



Times had evidently changed since Burton passed through 

 Ugogo; for, while he was able to buy sixty -four rations for 

 a doti, we could never get more than twenty, and rarely more 

 than ten ! Eggs were unattainable luxuries, and milk and hon- 

 ey were exorbitantly dear. Reckoning the doti at its Zanzibar 

 value only, eggs, butter, and milk were more expensive than in 

 England, and it was consequently necessary to exercise the most 

 rigid econom}'- in our living. 



In the afternoon a head-man and his retinue called upon us, 

 and squatted in my tent for a couple of hours, which was the 

 reverse of pleasant, all of them being anointed with rancid 

 ghee. 



The head-man informed me that, having been to Zanzibar, he 

 had already seen something of white men and their ways ; but, 

 now they had entered his own country, he wanted to see ever}- 

 thing they possessed, and we were obliged to satisfy his curios- 

 ity. Any thing he had previously seen he scarcely noticed, but 

 examined minutely each novelty. 



lie recognized some pictures of animals which we showed 

 him, but invariably looked at the back of the paper to see what 

 was there, and remarked that he did not consider them finished, 

 since they did not give the likeness of the other side of the 

 animal. Still, he was evidently .pleased with the entertainment, 

 and decided to detain us for three or four days for tlie benefit 

 of the people, who had never yet seen a white man, and were 

 anxious to have a look at us. 



