134 ACEOSS AFEICA. [Chap. 



December, The following day I visited Mnrpliy, who was camped about 

 i^*^'^- a mile and a half to the eastward of me, and found him very 

 comfortable, and seeming much better than he had been since 

 his arrival at Bagamoyo. He showed me much kindness on 

 this occasion of meeting, giving me his water-proof coat and in- 

 dia-rubber sheet, which proved of great value to me afterward. 



Acting on Issa's advice, Livingstone's men liad packed the 

 corpse in bark, and so lashed it up as to have the appearance of 

 a bale of cloth, in order to smuggle it past the eyes of the pry- 

 ing Wagogo. Had they suspected what the package really con- 

 tained, they would never have allowed the caravan with its bur- 

 den to pass through their country. 



A rumor now reached me that Asmani, whom I had dis- 

 patched in search of pagazi, was in the jungle unable to come, 

 in having been stripped naked by some Ruga-ruga. I sent a 

 piece of cloth to this unfortunate individual by some men, but, 

 instead of Asmani, they brought back a deserter, who confess- 

 ed that it was he who was guilty of stealing the cloth which 

 Murphy had lost. He had been instigated to commit the theft 

 by a half-caste Arab resident, who threw physic to the dogs to 

 prevent their making a noise when the thief entered Murphy's 

 tent. For providing this magical medicine, the Arab had re- 

 ceived the greater part of the stolen goods, while the poor tool, 

 in trying to skulk back to Taborah, had been robbed of every 

 thing. 



On inquiring into the case, and after patient investigation 

 and hearing much cross-swearing, I considered that the weight 

 of the evidence was against the Arab, who had connived at the 

 theft and received the goods. I therefore ordered him to make 

 good Murphy's loss, under penalty of being sent in chains to 

 Said ibn Salim for punishment. 



After some little resistance and arguing, he preferred paying 

 to being delivered over to Said ibn Salim, who would probably 

 either have shot him, or forwarded him to the coast to be dealt 

 with by the Sultan at Zanzibar. 



He greatly feared being sent to Said ibn Salim ; for the 

 news had spread — although I was not aware of it till afterward 

 — that he and Abdallah ibn Nassib had on several occasions 

 very nearly resorted to force to prevent the more disreputable 



