158 



THROUGH JUNGLE AND DESERT 



CHAP. 



both their upper and lower eyehds red, and several had 

 adorned their cheek-bones with round red spots. In 

 appearance they were very warlike, and their bearing 

 was graceful and fearless. 



Upon nearing our zeriba, the crowd of natives grew 

 silent. They passed without deigning to favour our 

 camp with so much as a glance, but continued their 

 march to a point about 200 yards beyond us, where they 

 halted, and having seated themselves, engaged in excited 

 parley. The speakers were always old men, and but 

 one spoke at a time, while the others, gathered about 

 him in a circle, sat on their heels. In his right hand 

 the speaker invariably held a war-club, by wildly bran- 

 dishing which he added emphasis to his harangue. 

 Motio listened attentively to what they said, and his 

 face fell. He told us that he was afraid that the Wam- 

 sara would behave badly, and explained that they did 

 not seem to recognize any difference between our cara- 

 van and those of the Zanzibari, which occasionally vis- 

 ited them. He added, moreover, that no Zanzibari 

 caravan would dream of venturing into the Wamsara 

 country, unless several hundred in number; and that 

 the last caravan (numbering 200) which had visited 

 these people had all their goods stolen, and were cut 

 to pieces to a man. We asked why he had delayed in 

 telling us this ; to which question he made an evasive 

 reply. We told him to explain to the Wamsara that 

 our intentions in visiting them were of the most peace- 

 ful nature; that we had journeyed a long time in the 

 desert, had exhausted our food supply, and had come 

 to them for the simple purpose of purchasing from them 

 a sufficient quantity of grain to enable us to return to 



