THREATENED DANGER. 763 



Usongoro. The next afternoon we camped at Makongo, and received an 

 apparent welcome from the natives, each of whom was engaged as we landed 

 in the grave occupation of imbibing pombe or beer by means of long straw 

 pipes, exactly as people take a sherry cobbler or a mint julep in the United 

 States. The chief slightly reeled as he came forward to salute me, and his 

 eyes had that uncertain gaze which seemed to hint that he saw two white 

 men when there was only one. However, he and his people were good-natured, 

 and well-contented with our arrival. 



" About ten p. u. we were all wakened from sleep by a furious drum- 

 ming, accompanied now and then by shrill yells. The Waganda said that 

 this was in honour of the white stranger. I did not believe them, and there- 

 fore put my people on their guard, ordered them to load their guns, place 

 them under their sleeping mats, and arranged all my own in a handy and 

 safe position. Except the continued uproar nothing, however, occurred dur- 

 ing the night, but at daybreak we found ourselves in presence of about five 

 hundred warriors, with bow, shield, and spear, who had crept quietly near 

 the camp, and then had stood up in a semicircle, preventing all escape save 

 by water. I was so astonished by this sudden apparition of such a large 

 body of armed men, that I could barely believe that we were still in Mtesa's 

 territory. There was also something very curious in their demeanour, for 

 there was no shouting, yelling, or frantic behaviour, as we had several times 

 witnessed on the part of savages, when about to commit themselves by a 

 desperate deed. They all wore a composed, though a stern and determined 

 aspect. It was a terrible moment to us. We knew not what to make of 

 these hundreds of savages, who persisted in being silent, and gave us no hint 

 as to their intentions, unless the forest of spears might be taken as a clear, 

 unmistakable, and explicit hint that their object was a bloody one. We feared 

 to make a movement lest it should precipitate a catastrophe which might 

 possibly be averted ; so we remained a few minutes surveying each other. 



" The silence was soon broken, however, by the appearance of the chief 

 who had welcomed us — though he was then inebriated — the evening before. 

 He had a long stick in his hands, which he flourished in the face of the sav- 

 ages, and by this means drove them several paces backwards. He then came 

 forward, and, striking the boat, ordered us to get off, he himself lending a 

 hand to shove the little craft into the lake. As it glided into the water an- 

 other chief came forward and asked us what we meant by drawing our boat 

 up so far on their beach. We replied that we had done it to protect it from 

 the surf, and were about to add more reasons, when the first chief cut the 

 matter short by ordering us to shove off and go and camp on Musira Island, 

 distant four miles, whither he would follow us with food, We were nothing 

 loth to obey such good counsel, and soon put a distance of one hundred yards 

 between ourselves and the hostile shore. As the Waganda were not yet out 



