298 FROM ISHOQO TO ASHANGO-LAND. Chap. XV. 



they would settle accounts with him if he came back 

 to their village, as he was the cause of the Ibamba's 

 not remaining with them, and of their not getting 

 beads enough. It required some firmness on our 

 part to keep them all in order ; so, as our porters 

 were ready, I ordered Igala to lead the van, gun in 

 hand, and one by one we filed through the street, I 

 bringing up the rear. 



We had hardly cleared the village when we com- 

 menced the ascent of a steep hill called Madombo. 

 It was so steep in some places that we had to help 

 ourselves up by the aid of the bushes. In many 

 parts recently fallen trees lay across the path, and 

 these had to be climbed over. Thorny climbers and 

 briars tore our clothes, and the porters struggled on, 

 venting curses against the many obstacles that lay 

 in their way. The summit formed an extensive 

 table-land, the mean altitude of which, according to 

 my aneroids, was 1226 feet. We marched over this 

 elevated plateau for about three miles, and then 

 descended a little, stopping for breakfast on the 

 banks of a rivulet called Mandjao. 



Before we resumed our loads, the porters came to 

 me in a body, and mildly asked me to give them 

 each a few beads to enable them to purchase ground- 

 nuts in the Ashango villages, I told them that I 

 was willing to have given them beads at Magonga, 

 and I opened my bags and distributed a few amongst 

 them ; but I was not a little surprised immediately 

 afterwards to find that a mutiny had been resolved 

 upon. They began to complain that I had been 

 more liberal to the Aponos than to them — that I had 



