CAPTAIN TUCKEY'S NARRATIVE. 175 



above half a day'sjourneyfromlnga), and he was accordingly 

 brought forward. Depending on these assurances, I pro- 

 posed, as soon as the people should have dined, to set off, 

 but was now informed that I could not have a guide till the 

 morning. Exasperatedby this intolerable tergiversation, being 

 unable to buy a single fowl, and having but three day's pro- 

 visions, I remonstrated in the strongest manner, and deviated 

 a little from my hitherto patient and conciliating manners, 

 by telling them, that if they did not furnish a guide, I should 

 proceed in spite of them, ordering at the same time the ten 

 men with me to fall in under arms ; at the sight of which the 

 palaver broke up, and it was sauve quipeut. The women and 

 children, who had flocked to see while men for the first time, 

 disappeared, and the banza became a desert ; on enquiring 

 for the men Avho had come with me from Cooloo, I also 

 found that they had vanished with their masters ; in short, 

 I was left sole occupier of the banza. Finding that 

 this would not at all facilitate my progress, I sent my inter- 

 preter with a concihating message to the Macaya, whose 

 tenement was outside the banza, and which shortly produ- 

 ced the re-appearance of some men, but skulking behind 

 the huts with their musquets. After an hours delay, the re- 

 cency again appeared, attended by about fifty men, of whom 

 fourteen had musquets. The Mambom, or war minister 



