420 



THROUGH JUNGLE AND DESERT 



CHAP. IX 



had been killed, a Mr. Hamilton, who had been 

 placed in charge of a body of Arab soldiery at Kis- 

 mayu. His men had mutinied, and after killing their 

 leader, had fled by sea back to Arabia. There had 

 also been a little fighting in the neighbourhood of 

 Witu with Fumo Omari ; but although a few Euro- 

 peans had been wounded in this fight, yet the issue 

 had been successful, inasmuch as Fumo Omari had 

 been driven out of his fastnesses, and his men scattered. 



My men were fond of dwelling upon the rumours 

 about one of the most ardent revolutionists, named 

 Suliman Kemenya. For the past fifteen years he had 

 caused great trouble to the European inhabitants on 

 the coast, and had been exiled by the British author- 

 ities to Muscat. A few years before the time of our 

 visit he had returned to Zanzibar, and was at this 

 time engaged in gathering as large a force as possi- 

 ble, in order to harass the Europeans stationed in the 

 towns of Lamoo, Malinde, and Khalifi. In the eyes 

 of my porters this man was a great hero ; and they 

 said that, now he had returned, the Europeans would 

 find out that the Arabs could do something besides 

 sleep. Not only did the bearing of these men cause 

 me disappointment, but their number was much in 

 excess of my requirements, and the length of time 

 they had taken in the journey from the coast had 

 almost entirely exhausted the supply of trading-goods, 

 which I had ordered for use on a continued journey. 

 Moreover, few of them were armed, and such as were, 

 had weapons different from those carried by my other 

 men; besides, their supply of ammunition was a very 

 small one. 



