V 



TRAVELS IIV EASTERN AFRICA 



193 



friendly relations with onl}^ the people in the valley 

 in which we were encamped. He said that he had 

 learned during the day that the inhabitants of the 

 hills, and in fact nearly all the members of the Embe 

 tribe, regarded us with anything but friendly eyes, 

 and since our earliest arrival, had been busy with 

 preparations to gather a sufhcient force from the 

 Wamsara and neighbouring tribes to fall upon and 

 annihilate us. His advice was to get out of the 

 country at once ; in fact, he thought matters so seri- 

 ous that we should leave that night. But the state 

 of our wounded rendered this impossible ; moreover, 

 we had expected to buy many donkeys, for we had 

 seen large numbers of these animals during our 

 march through the Embe country. 



The next day not a native visited our camp until 

 late in the evening. All about the surrounding hills, 

 however, cries were heard, which Motio assured us 

 boded no a^ood. Towards sundown, about twelve old 

 men, including in their number those elders with whom 

 we had entered into blood-brotherhood, approached 

 camp, leading a female donkey and a ewe. Upon 

 seeing them, Motio told us that, judging from the 

 sounds heard during the day, a large gathering must 

 have taken place just behind one of the neighbouring 

 hills. The old men entered the camp with many 

 protestations of friendship, and presented us with a 

 pot of honey, which emitted so vile an odour that we 

 at once suspected poison, and so hid it in our tent. 



These wily old savages possessed an astonishing 

 amount of diplomacy; their faces were wreathed in 

 oily smiles, and they passed among my men endeav- 

 o 



