74 



THROUGH JUNGLE AND DESERT 



CHAP. 



a portion of our caravan could with safety and advan- 

 tage be left behind, it was Hameye. Many of our men 

 were sick before our arrival at Hameye. Within a 

 few days after, three died from dysentery, and one 

 who had been an opium eater, and had taken with 

 him but sufficient opium for six weeks, died from the 

 lack of it soon after the exhaustion of his store. 



At Hameye the Soudanese again attempted to assert 

 their independence. One day some of the natives came 

 to me, and complained that some of my men were plun- 

 dering their plantations. Investigation discovered that 

 the culprits were four of my Soudanese ; these four men 

 I promptly punished. After receiving their punishment 

 they went to their cjuarters, but in a few minutes the 

 whole body of them appeared, drawn up in line in front 

 of my house. I went out to them, and was immediately 

 informed by their new Balook Bashi, Ramazan, that he 

 recjretted to state that his brethren wished to return at 

 once to Massowah. They said they were tired of the 

 severe work they had been compelled to perform (up to 

 this point their work had consisted of marching only — 

 even their mats and extra clothing had been carried by 

 the donkeys) ; they said they had signed on with the 

 expedition in the expectation of fighting and glory, and 

 they had imagined they would receive the treatment of 

 soldiers. They also stated (and this I found to be the 

 real cause of their irritation) that they could not stay 

 in the same camp with the Somali. Undoubtedly there 

 was a great deal of jealousy between these two races. 

 The Somali were rigorous Mohammedans, but the Sou- 

 danese, although they professed that religion, made no 

 practice of it. For this laxity they had been twitted by 



