212 ACKOSS AFEICA. [Chap. 



April, otlier boat under an awning doing nothing. He excused him- 



^^'^'^- self by saying, " What can I do ? The men say they won't go ; 



they are afraid." I rejDlied, " Bring me one who says no, and 



I'll punish him;" but his answer was, "I can't — they all say 



they won't." 



This was too much to bear ; so, bad legs or not, I was quickly 

 out of the boat, and, picking up the first bit of wood I saw, told 

 the men to pack. They began while I stood by them, but, im- 

 mediately I went to others, stopped again. It was evidently 

 time for action ; so I struck out right and left, and soon made 

 them clear out. Bombay was of no more service than a log of 

 wood — indeed, not half so useful as the persuasive piece I had 

 just fisted. 



After getting away, the men seemed in a very good humor and 

 much more jolly than usual ; and I began to think they enjoyed 

 their thrashing, although one or two got some shrewd knocks. 



Later in the day I ascertained the reason of the men not 

 wishing to move. They had heard of a trading-party on the 

 otlier side of the neck of land between Has Tembwe and the 

 main, and wanted to exchange visits. We saw the canoe of the 

 traders, and also a small party who had been away from Ujiji 

 for about six months to shoot elephants. 



The land about here was low, and the bearings I took were 

 not of much value. My expectations and hopes were now 

 greatly raised by the guides promising to show me the outlet 

 of the lake on the following day. It appears that Speke did 

 not get rpiite far enough down ; and Livingstone, coming from 

 Ma Kazembe's town, passed its mouth in a canoe without no- 

 ticing it, and, on going to Manyuema, did not come sufiiciently 

 far south. 



]No Arab at Ujiji seemed to have any knowledge of this out- 

 let, which appears to lie just between two of their routes, and 

 out of both. I thought, however, that the Wajiji had made no 

 mistake about iny questions, for they had noticed how particu- 

 lar I was in ascertaining the direction in which a stream fiowed 

 whenever there was any doubt on the matter. 



We now passed Kas Kalomwe, and the River Kavagwe, two 

 hundred yards wide and two fathoms deep in the middle, hav- 

 ing an almost imperceptible outward current. 



