XIII.] A HOST OF CLAIMANTS. 1G5 



The excitement having subsided, we again turned our atten- February, 

 tion to the knotty question of the amount to be paid for cross- ^^'^^• 

 ing the river. And knotty it was, for no sooner had I settled 

 one demand than others were brought forward. 



The people must have exercised their ingenuity to the ut- 

 most, for I received claims from the following officials, their 

 wives, and relations : first, the mutwale ; second, his wife ; 

 third, head mteko or councilor ; fourth, his wife ; fifth, mwari, 

 or head canoe -man; sixth, his wife; seventh, mut wale's re- 

 lations ; eighth, people who make the palaver ; ninth, to buy 

 rope ; tenth, canoe-paddlers. 



I objected strongly to the charge for rope, as it had been 

 specially mentioned and paid for at Itambara ; although when 

 or why it was required I could not ascertain. I also made a 

 stand against many other items, especially wives and relatives. 

 At last, being thoroughly tired of argument, I rose and said, 

 " If we go on like this, we shall remain here till the end of the 

 world ;" and went away, leaving them in a state best described 

 by the last word of the marriage-service. 



My action brought the claimants to their senses, and the 

 mutwale and mteko soon followed me, offering to settle the 

 whole business for less than I had already consented to pay, 

 and promising that canoes should be at the ferry early the next 

 morning. 



At the appointed time I went down to the river, a swift, 

 swirling, brown stream, running between four and five knots, 

 and about thirty yards wide. But not a canoe was there. 

 Summoning my patience, already sorely tried, I sat down a 

 short distance from the stream, when presently a head and 

 shoulders appeared gliding along just above the grassy river- 

 bank, and then another, and another. 



These were the all-important canoes, six in all. Four were 

 the roughest specimens of naval architecture I ever came across, 

 being merely hollow logs about eighteen feet long by two 

 wide ; the others were constnicted of a single strip of bark 

 sewed up at the ends, and were rather narrower and longer than 

 the logs. They were each manned by two men, one of whom 

 squatted down and used a paddle, while the other stood up and 

 punted along with a pole. 



