A FRESH START 225 



a district devoid of inhabitants, though we were 

 close to the river and the land was fairly fertile. 

 We passed by an old deserted Portuguese fort 

 at Dmpati, apparently abandoned seven or eight 

 years ago. We saw the remains also of old villages 

 and the charred stakes of high poles that once 

 formed small stockades. According to Moosa, all 

 this district was formerly well populated (the 

 Portuguese seldom build a boma unless the 

 neighbourhood is populous), but had been for- 

 saken of late years simply through fear of the 

 lions. These daring beasts had taken such a toll 

 from the villages that the natives had abandoned 

 the district en masse. 



After following the river for a week, and being 

 then about a day from Quigeia, we came upon a 

 village where the Portuguese had a post (Msolu 

 boma) before the Germans arrived on the scene. 

 Finding there a couple of small bark canoes, we 

 decided to recross the river and go south, but it 

 was necessary to wait a few days first while 

 Corporal Abdulla went to some villages higher 

 up to procure a supply of native flour for the trip. 

 While we were waiting, one of our askaris, a man 

 with a most villainous squint, who afterwards 

 deserted, managed to shoot a big water-buck. 

 How he did it I cannot imagine ; perhaps it was 

 because of his squint, the bullet hitting the mark 

 when his cross-eyed sight aimed elsewhere. Squint 

 or no squint, the meat was mighty acceptable. 



It was during that halt that a most magnificent 

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