ii6 UNDER THE AFRICAN SUN 



the civil war by getting Mbogo to abdicate in favour of 

 Mwanga. To prevent a fresh outbreak of hostilities, the 

 Government had removed Mbogo to the coast. Here he 

 became homesick, and petitioned to be sent back to Uganda. 

 As there appeared to be no reason to fear any further trouble 

 his request was granted. 



To take ex-King Mbogo along with me was easier said than 

 done, and I had a pretty lively time of it from start to finish. 

 He had a dozen wives, and with his followers he numbered 

 sixty souls. The wants of all had to be anticipated and provided 

 for. Then one hitch after another arose and had to be over- 

 come. The Government had fixed the number of porters he 

 was to be allowed ; thereupon he informed me that his followers 

 one and all had refused to carry any sort of load on the journey. 

 It was no use to try and reason with him, that Government had 

 fixed the number and was not likely to treble it in order to 

 gratify the laziness of his followers. Mbogo was obstinate ; his 

 men were servants, he declared, not slaves. For a while 1 did 

 not know how to get on, then an inspiration came. I told 

 Mbogo that there was no help for it, but we would have to 

 dismiss all his servants who refused to work, and that not one 

 of them would be allowed to accompany my caravan. I asked 

 for a list of the names, in order that I might stop at once the 

 daily allowance of food issued to them bv the Government, and 

 compel them to earn their food where and how they liked. In 

 less than half-an-hour Mbogo professed to have ascertained that 

 every one of his followers was most willing to carry a light 

 load, rather than be left at Mombasa or have his food allow- 

 ance stopped. Fortunately Mbogo did not know that the 

 Government did not want any of his followers on any account 

 to be left behind at Mombasa. 



Other similar trivial matters, and yet sufficient to prevent 

 the caravan from moving, were of constant occurrence, but 

 by good luck I managed to get over them. The following 

 may serve as an illustration. As we were about to start from 

 Mombasa, I saw that a poor little boy had been given a weight 

 of over 70 lbs. to carry, and some of Mbogo's favourites, big 

 strapping fellows, had already passed with trifling bundles of 

 10 lbs. weight. Every caravan leader knows what it means 

 when porters break down on the march, and here was a boy 

 given by Mbogo to carry 70 lbs. for the next 800 miles. I at 



