A DELUSIVE VICTORY. 419 



A council of war was held, at which it was determined to fight Mirambo 

 and his followers, a decision which met with much applause from all engaged 

 in the trade of Central Africa. As Mr. Stanley was as much interested in 

 forcing a passage to the west as any of them, and a brush with a native chief 

 would give him a new experience, and gratify his adventurous spirit, he 

 agreed to join them with all his available force in men and fire-arms. 



"While preparations were being made for engaging in war with Mirambo, 

 Mr. Stanley was waited upon by the head man of the Livingstone caravan he 

 had seen at Bagamoyo, who showed him a packet of letters addressed to Dr. 

 Livingstone, Ujiji, bearing the date of leaving Zanzibar Nov. 1st, 1870, on it. 

 " From November 1st, 1870, to February 10th, 1871, just one hundred days 

 at Bagamoyo. A miserable, small caravan of thirty-three men, halting one 

 hundred days at Bagamoyo, only twenty-five miles by water from Zanzibar. 

 Poor Livingstone ! Who knows but he may be suffering for want of those 

 very supplies that were detained so long near the sea. The caravan arrived 

 in Unyanyembe some time about the middle of May. About the latter part 

 of May the first disturbance took place. Had this caravan arrived here in 

 the middle of March, or even the middle of April, they might have travelled 

 on to Ujiji without trouble." 



On the 7th of July, Mr. Stanley was insensible from an attack of fever, 

 and had only recovered his usual state of health on the 21st. Mr. Stanley 

 and the Arabs, and their forces, numbering in all 2,225 men, 1,500 of 

 whom were armed with guns and muskets of various kinds, marched to the 

 stronghold of Mfuto on the 29 th of July, and on the 3rd of August, they 

 marched out to do battle with Mirambo. At a village called Zimbizo they 

 encountered the enemy, and defeated him. On the morning of the fifth day 

 a small detachment went out to reconnoitre, and managed to capture a spy, 

 who was thrown on the ground, and his head cut off immediately. Growing 

 valiant over this little feat, a body of Arabs, under Soud, son of Said-bin- 

 Majid, volunteered to go and capture Wilyemkuru, where Mirambo was just 

 then with several of his principal chiefs. They were 500 in number, and 

 very ardent for the fight. I had suggested to the Governor, that the leader 

 of the 500 volunteers should deploy his men, and fire the long dry grass 

 before they went, that they might rout all the forest thieves out, and have a 

 clear field for action. But an Arab will never take advice, and they marched 

 out of Zimbizo without having taken this precaution. They arrived before 

 Wilyemkuru, and after giving a few volleys, rushed in at the gate, and 

 entered the village. While they rushed in at the gate, Mirambo took 400 of 

 his men out by another gate, and instructed them to lie down close to the 

 road by which the Arabs had come, and when they should return, to get up 

 at a given signal, and each to stab his man. 



The Arabs found a good deal of ivory, and captured a large number 



