104 TAVETA AND MOUNTS KILIMANJARO AND MEEU 



were, in consequence, to be boycotted, starved out, wliich 

 is tlie usual revenge taken amongst all negroes wlien they are 

 annoyed. We rejoiced in tlie one day's quiet, and were not 

 sorry tliat our men, wlio were getting spoiled with good living 

 again, should have sliort commons for a bit ; ljut for all that 

 we set to work the same evening to try and set matters right 

 again. The ten elders of Taveta were invited to our camp, 

 and after making them a little present, we assured them that if 

 they on their part would look better after their wives and 

 daughters, we on ours would take care they had no further 

 cause for complaint. Peace was restored, and tlie next morning 

 we had more visitors tlian ever. 



Soon after our arrival at Taveta we had taken the guns and 

 ammunition away from the men. We were no longer in such 

 dread of desertion, so one fine day we decided to relieve our 

 captives of their chains. When tlie time for taking their fetters 

 off arrived, all the gangs of four were assembled in front of Count 

 Teleki's tent. Chisels, files, hammers, and pincers were brought; 

 but before they could be used one Jibu wadi Kombo, who was 

 much beloved in camp for his oratorical powers, suddenly 

 cried, ' But why all this fuss, Bwana ? The chains would not 

 have kept me from running away from you again if I had 

 wanted to.' With that he bit through a scrap of thin thread, 

 and sprang up, full of joy at being completely free once more. 

 His fetters had long since been broken ! 



We were now fairly settled in camp, and there was not so 

 much for the men to do in one way ; but we had now to see to 

 all the equipments of the caravan for the further journey, and 

 everything had to be overhauled and repacked. The beads, 

 for instance, which so far had been carried loosely in sacks, 

 and were most of them very badly strung on rotten thread, had 

 to be re-threaded in lengths of some twenty-one or twenty-two 

 inches, and with the quantities we had Avitli us this would take 



