Chap. XV. MUTINY OF ISHOGO PORTERS. 299 



given them a great many things, for they saw 

 them ; and the chief spokesman, the same man who 

 had been the chief cause of our troubles at the last 

 village, had the impudence to say to his comrades, 

 "If he will not give us more beads, let us leave 

 him." The whole body then laid down their loads, 

 and said they would return to their homes. This 

 was a critical moment ; I felt that an energetic step 

 was necessary to put an end to such insubordination. 

 I gave the order to my Commi men to arm, and, in a 

 few moments, the resolute fellows stepped forward 

 and levelled their guns at the heads of the offenders. 

 I told them to go now, and they would see how many 

 would rea^h the other side of the brook alive. The 

 movement had its due effect — they all held out their 

 hands and begged to be forgiven. These little muti- 

 nies I found were all arranged beforehand ; they are 

 attempts at extortion, and the rascals in jDlanning 

 them agree not to proceed to extremities. In a short 

 time they had again taken up their loads, and we 

 marched off at a quick pace ; the porters becoming 

 quite cheerful, laughing and chattering as they 

 trudged along. 



In the course of an hour after this, we arrived at 

 a large Ashango village, called Oyego or Moyego, 

 through which we passed without stopping ; the 

 inhabitants, who seemed to be more astonished at 

 my boots than at anything else, cried out, " Look ! 

 he has feet like an elephant ! " The road all the 

 way was very hilly ; at one part I found the eleva- 

 tion 1486 feet, so that the land here was higher than 

 the plateau of Madombo. 



