JOE A NNA VALUE OF LIFE. 369 



out of them. Then this failed, and I had to resort to a still more persuasive 

 argument. The stealing was becoming past endurance. A culprit was 

 caught, and a long threatened operation (which for brevity's sake we will 

 call c two dozen ') was to be his lot, as soon as he was tied up and a proper 

 person found to administer the corrective. That a follower of the Prophet 

 should be struck by the 'Kaffre' was out of the question, and a loud protest, 

 founded on this theory, at last had its hearing. I relented, but a second 

 impossibility took its place. Still more unheard of was it that ' dog should 

 eat dog,' or Moslem thrash Mussulman ! However, of these two evils, the faith- 

 ful decided it was the least, not without a bias, as I discovered very soon. 

 The reason became apparent as the brotherly consideration which came to 

 the front in the attempt to mitigate, if not prevent, the flagellation. Moosa 

 himself consented to wield an impromptu and very mild sort of 'cat.' I 

 had the culprit properly fastened to the rigging to receive his whipping, and 

 took my station to see it justly administered. All was ready ; Moosa, with a 

 stern sense of justice and self-sacrifice for principle's sake manifested on his 

 countenance, handled the ' cat ' in the most approved fashion. Great was 

 the preparation for the blow, and AH Baba must evidently be cut in twain at 

 the first go off ! Not so : the well feigned uplifted vengeance in the lash 

 came down to a modification in the fall, which left the tawny skin of the 

 marauder merely tickled. This would not do ; defeat was ruin, or at least 

 plunder more pertinacious than ever. 



" Coming up behind M. Moosa with a rope's end, I told him that it was 

 evident he was at a loss to know exactly how hard he was to hit — an 

 excusable failing considering his scanty knowledge of plain English — and 

 I could furnish him with a simple but sure guidance. So it was 'Now Moosa' 

 (thwack) pass that on to AH Baba ! The result was marvellous, and although 

 Moosa never could exactly see why he could not pass on just what he received, 

 I broke up a cabal which made detection and punishment aHke a burden to our 

 otherwise sorely tried Hfe with these Johanna men." 



The Johanna men, Hke all Mohammedans, showed themselves careless of 

 life and selfish to a degree. Mr. Charles Livingstone relates an incident 

 which occurred in the Zambesi illustrative of this : — 



" Once, when they were all coming to the ship after sleeping ashore, 

 one of them walked into the water with the intention of swimming off to the 

 boat, and while yet hardly up to his knees, was seized by a horrid crocodile, 

 and dragged under ; the poor fellow gave a shriek, and held up his hand for 

 aid, but none of his countrymen stirred to his assistance, and he was never 

 seen again. On asking his brother-in-law why he did not help him, he 

 replied, ' Well, no one told him to go into the water. It was his own fault 

 that he was killed.' " 



The grave doubts as to the truth of the Johanna men, expressed by 

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