492 



THROUGH JUNGLE AND DESERT 



CHAP. 



and with him I smoked, for the first time since leaving 

 civiHzation, some excellent Havana cigars, and drank 

 also a pint of dry champagne. At seven o'clock I 

 had sent my caravan on its way, and Mr. Neumann 

 had started his. At eight we were about to shake 

 hands, and go our several directions, when two of the 

 members of his caravan came hurrying back, saying 

 that the natives had attacked them. 



George and I, followed by the two boys, returned 

 with Mr. Neumann, and ascertained the attack to 

 have consisted in the discharge of a couple of arrows, 

 which had fallen harmlessly far from Mr. Neumann's 

 men. At first, I thought this might have been 

 caused by the fact that I had taken the slaves ; but 

 upon inquiry I learned that it was because some of 

 Mr. Neumann's men had on the previous day plun- 

 dered the plantations of the Wakamba inhabiting the 

 neighbourhood of his camp. The difficulty was soon 

 smoothed over, and, wishing each other good luck, 

 we shook hands and separated. During the follow- 

 ing year I saw several letters from Mr. Neumann, 

 which had been published in The Field, of London. 

 From these it appeared that he had had excellent 

 sport shooting, and, I am happy to say, had found 

 the natives of the Jombeni range most friendly to 

 him, although he was accompanied by but a small 

 force. 



On the afternoon of January 27 I reached the 

 German mission station, Ikutha. It is usually occu- 

 pied by two missionaries, but I found only one at 

 home : the other had gone with a party of the 

 British East Africa Company's men to free some 



