100 ACROSS AFRICA. [Chap. 



July, Taking our rifles, we went toward the village, whicli we 



^^^^- found prepared to resist attack, the gates closed, and guns and 

 spears protruding through the stockade by which it was sur- 

 rounded. 



A single accidental shot would now have been sufficient to 

 originate a fight which might have had disastrous consequences, 

 for the natives were all well under cover ; and had any of our 

 men been killed or wounded, it would have resulted in the re- 

 mainder bolting. 



At this critical moment, we decided to drive our men back 

 to the halting -place, and then directed Issa to inquire of the 

 chief the cause of the hostile attitude assumed by the village, 

 our men being in such a state of mingled fright and excitement 

 that no reliable explanation could be obtained from them. 



The chief's statement was that our second kirangosi, who had 

 come from Bagamoyo with Murphy, had taken ivory from this 

 village on the understanding that he would exchange it for 

 powder at Zanzibar ; but, being a Mnyamwezi, he had failed 

 to procure any ammunition for the village, orders having been 

 issued that no Mnyamwezi should be allowed to take powder 

 from the coast while the war continued between the Arabs and 

 Mirambo. To make amends, he had offered the chief some 

 cloth; but its value was not considered equal to that of the 

 ivory with which he had been intrusted. 



In order to arrive at an understanding, the chief and some of 

 the head-men w^anted to talk the matter over quietly with him. 

 To this he objected, and his chums commenced hustling the 

 chief, saying, " Don't you treat our kirangosi like that," and 

 then the row began. On our promising to investigate the case 

 and see justice done, peace was instantly restored. 



We then accepted the invitation of the chief to enter the vil- 

 lage, which was clean and tidy. The huts were flat-roofed and 

 built in the form of long parallelograms, the whole being sur- 

 rounded by a heavy stockade with only two entrances. Over 

 each of these was a sort of crow's nest, where the defenders of 

 the gate took up their position, and were furnished with a sup- 

 ply of large stones, to be used on the attacking party coming to 

 close quarters. 



After sitting and talking for some time, we were offered 



