150 



MUIGNI KHATIB. 



want and hardship will conduct you to illness 

 and perhaps to death. This is one extreme, 

 and from it to the other there is no 'golden 

 mean.' With ahundance of money — say £5000 

 per annum — an exploring party in these parts 

 could trace its own line, paying off all opposers. 

 It could study, if it pleases, even infusoria; 

 handle sextants in the presence of negroes, who 

 would willingly cut every throat for one inch of 

 brass ; and, by travelling comfortably, it would 

 secure the best chance of return. Either from 

 Mombasah or from Panga-ni we might have 

 marched through the plundering Wamasai to 

 Chaga and Kilima-njaro ; but an escort of at least 

 100 matchlocks would have been necessary. Pay, 

 porterage, and provisions for such a party would 

 have amounted to at least £100 per week ; and a 

 month and a half would have absorbed the whole 

 of our scanty supplies. Thus it was, gentle 

 reader, that we were compelled to rest contented 

 with a walking trip to Puga. 



Presently the plot thickened. Muigni Kha- 

 tib, eldest son and lieir of Sultan Kimwere, a 

 black of unprepossessing physiognomy, with a 

 ' villainous trick of the eye and a foolish hanging 

 of the nether lip ; ' a prognathous jaw garnished 

 with cat-like mustachios and cobweb beard ; with 



