204 WAR : CAMPAIGNING IN EAST AFRICA 



along the Lugenda river, a big tributary of the 

 Rovuma, rising near Nyassa. The great raid on 

 Portuguese East, or, as the Germans called it, the 

 " Opera " War, against our Allies had begun. 



My ruga-ruga had now unfortunately to be 

 disbanded, and sent, less rifles and equipment, 

 to their homes. I hated parting with Abdulla 

 and the others, and afterwards missed them very 

 considerably. They were willing to come on with 

 me, they said, if I wanted them, but orders were 

 to dismiss them, and perhaps they would hardly 

 have been so useful in a strange district, amongst 

 people whose language even was quite different 

 from theirs, as they had been in their own areas. 



