THE " SONS OF EAMJI." 



141 



roll of glance, and a look fixed, when unobserved, 

 with a manner of fascination which men felt. His 

 attitude is always humble and deprecatory, he drops 

 his chin upon the collar of reflection, he rarely speaks, 

 save in dulcet tones, low, plaintive, and modulated ; yet 

 agreeing in every conceivable particular, he never fails 

 to introduce a most pertinacious " but," which brings 

 him back precisely to his own starting-point. The 

 vehemence of his manner, and the violence of his 

 temper, win for him the fears of the porters ; having 

 a wife and children in Unvamwezi, he knows well the 

 languages, the manners, and the customs of the peojDle ; 

 he never hesitates, when necessary, to enforce his mild 

 commands by a merciless application of the staff, or to 

 air his blade and to fly at the recusant like a wild cat. 

 In such moods, he is always seized by his friends, and 

 led forcibly away, as if dangerous. To insure some 

 regularity on the road, I ordered him to meet Said bin 

 Salim and Muinyi Wazira every evening at my tent, 

 for a " Mashauri," or palaver, about the next day's march 

 and halt. The measure was rendered futile by Kidogo, 

 who soon contrived so to browbeat the others, that 

 they would not venture an opinion in his presence. As 

 a chief, he would have been in the right position ; as a 

 slave, he was falsely placed, because determined not to 

 obey. He lost no time in demanding that he and his 

 brethren should be considered Askari, soldiers, whose sole 

 duty it was to carry a gun ; and he took the first oppor- 

 tunity of declaring that his men should not be under the 

 direction of the Jemadar. Having received for answer 

 that we- could not all be Sultans, he retired with a 

 "Ngema " — a " very well," accompanied by a glance that 

 boded little good. From that hour the "sons of Rarnji" 

 went wrong. Before, servilely civil, they waxed in- 



