462 



THROUGH JUNGLE AND DESERT chap. 



had acquired a fair knowledge of Swahili, they had 

 been able to converse with them. He, Mahomet el 

 Hussein, knew no word of Swahili, nor had he heard 

 of any plan of desertion they had formed. When 

 Hamidi returned to my camp on December 19, after 

 the desertion of my men, all the Soudanese had a 

 talk with him. Hamidi told them that they should 

 come to him at the river, and follow him to the 

 coast, as General Matthews of Zanzibar had told him 

 that if he succeeded in inducing the men to desert, 

 he would see that they all received their pay upon 

 reaching the coast. Hamidi told the Soudanese that 

 he would wait five days on the bank of the river for 

 them, and if they did not turn up in that time, he 

 would go without them. Mahomet Osman, the Sou- 

 danese on duty at the time I spoke to the Somali 

 about getting the chains ready, had told them that 

 owing to the desertion of the porters I was about to 

 place the Soudanese in chains, and make them carry 

 loads. The day they ran away Birindgi acted as their 

 leader on the march. 



Taking all things into consideration, it looked as 

 if Hamidi had been acting under orders received dur- 

 ing his visit to the coast ; but what possible reason 

 the authorities at Zanzibar could have for breaking 

 up my expedition could not appear clear to my mind. 

 The ways of diplomacy are devious. I had read in 

 Mr. Frank James's account of the journey he had 

 made in Somali Land (called the Unknown Horn of 

 Africa), how the British authorities at Aden had 

 interfered, by spreading rumours among the people 

 through whom he was to pass, to force his expedi- 



