232 



THROUGH JUNGLE AND DESERT 



CHAP. 



been willing to throw away such a quantity of our 

 supplies as would greatly weaken its efficiency. Hav- 

 ing carefully weighed the matter, we decided that the 

 step was not only well worth taking, but an absolute 

 necessity. 



I had sufficient confidence in my agent at the coast 

 to feel hopeful that he would give his best attention 

 to satisfying my wants. At the same time, I knew 

 that in Africa, at least, white men are much less apt 

 to be painstaking or particular in their regard for the 

 interests of a person who is far away in the interior 

 and perhaps may never return, than they are to per- 

 form creditably the commission of a person near at 

 hand, and in position to criticise their work. How- 

 ever, there was no alternative. 



I wrote a letter of instructions to my agent; and, 

 after explaining our wants to Hamidi at great length 

 and with much particularity, we got one of our men, 

 who was something of a scribe, to put the whole com- 

 mission in writing in the Swahili tongue, so that there 

 could be no mistake in the matter. 



The rains for the past ten days were not so heavy 

 as previously, but to prove that the rainy season was 

 not quite over, we had an occasional light shower. 

 During the heavy rains, not only the beasts, but also 

 my men, suffered continually from sickness. Six of the 

 porters died from pulmonary complaints ; for, as the 

 rainy season was prevailing at the time we arrived, we 

 had been unable to make a sufficiently healthy camp 

 by providing our men with good huts. We had done 

 our best, however, and before the rains ceased each 

 hut was well-thatched and water-proof ; but to do this 



