MAKTUBU'S INSOLENCE 



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red flag of the Sultan, and we were told that General Matthews 

 had been to Mombasa and summoned to his presence James 

 Martin, then engaged on Kilimanjaro, and a deputation of 

 Wataveta. The latter had been dismissed with presents of 

 guns, &c, and went back to Taveta with Martin, soon after 

 which the red flag was hoisted and the settlement thus declared 

 to be under the protection of the Sultan, The very first 

 evening after our return we sat in judgment on Nassid wadi 

 Ferhan, and he was condemned to degradation to the rank of a 

 porter and thirty stripes beneath the Sultan's flag, after which 

 he was to be sent back to Zanzibar in chains, for we would 

 have nothing more to do with him. He was bound to the 

 flag-staff in the centre of our camp and the lashes were duly 

 inflicted. 



Another bit of news we heard this same day delighted us 

 greatly. Some weeks before our men had written without our 

 knowledge, to ask the Sultan whether they should desert, as 

 usual, and leave the Europeans in the lurch. The Sultan had 

 replied with, the threat that every defaulter would receive 

 twenty-five lashes every Friday until the return of the Expedi- 

 tion. I must go back a little to explain this letter to the 

 Sultan, which emanated from Manwa Sera and Maktubu. 

 After our return from Mount Meru Maktubu had behaved in 

 a very arrogant manner, especially towards Qualla, with whom 

 he quarrelled perpetually, worrying him so much that he at 

 last complained to Count Teleki. Maktubu followed him, in 

 a great rage, and in spite of repeated injunctions to control 

 himself went on screaming and gesticulating in the Count's 

 presence, looking like some wild animal, with his great promi- 

 nent eyes flashing with indignation as he shook his fists and 

 hurled out one accusation after another against Qualla. The 

 Count told him to be silent again and again, and at last, losing 

 patience, he seized him by his curly hair and laid him flat on 



