20 



THE LAKE EEGIONS OF CENTRAL AFEICA. 



or rhinoceros kills 200 men, that armies of elephants 

 attack camps by night, and that the craven hyaena does 

 more damage than the Bengal tiger. In vain I objected 

 that guns with men behind them are better than cannon 

 backed by curs, that mortals can die but once, that the 

 Wazaramo are unable to write, that rations might be 

 carried where not purchaseable, and that powder and 

 ball have been known to conquer rhinoceroses, elephants, 

 and hyaenas. A major force was against me. 



Presently the cause of intimidation crept into sight. 

 The Jemadar and the eight Baloch detached by His High- 

 ness the Sayyid Majid of Zanzibar could not march 

 without a reinforcement of four others, afterwards 

 increased by a fifth in the person of an "Ustad," a tailor- 

 boy. The garrison of Kaole having no employment, was 

 ready, with the prospect of the almighty dollar, to march 

 anywhere on this side of Jehannum. The perils of the 

 path rendered it absolutely necessary that we should 

 be escorted by a temporary guard of thirty- four men 

 and their Jemadar Yaruk : and they did not propose 

 to do the good deed gratis. Kamji, the Banyan clerk 

 of the customs at Zanzibar, had a number of slaves 

 whom he called his "sons;" they were "eating off 

 their heads" in idleness at Zanzibar. He favoured me 

 by letting out ten of these youths at the rate of thirty 

 dollars ahead for a period of six months : for the same 

 sum every man might have been purchased in the 

 market. When asses were proposed ass-men were ne- 

 cessary ; in the shortest space of time five were procured, 

 and their pay for the whole journey was fixed at thirty 

 dollars, about twice the sale-value of the article. I 

 cannot plead guilty to not having understood the man- 

 oeuvre, — a commercial speculation on the part of the 

 rascal Kamji. Yet at times, — need I say it? — it is 



