THE CRISIS. 



173 



spitting rains from the south-east hills we marched back 

 for two hours from the Overshot Nullah to Zonhwe, the 

 small and newly-built settlement which we had missed 

 on the preceding day. Several of the porters had dis- 

 appeared during the night. Men were sent in all direc- 

 tions for provisions, which came in, however, slowly and 

 scantily ; and the noise made by the slaves — they 

 were pulling down Said bin Salim's hut, which had 

 accidentally caught fire — frightened away the country- 

 people. We were, therefore, detained in this unwhole- 

 some spot for two days. 



Zonhwe was the turning-point of the Expedition's 

 difficulties. Another ass had died, reducing the number 

 to twenty -three, and the Baloch, at first contented with 

 two, doubled their requirements, and on the 14th Au- 

 gust took a fifth, besides placing all their powder 

 upon our hard- worked animals. I therefore proposed to 

 the Jemadar that the cloth, the beads, and the other 

 similar luggage of his men, should be packed, sealed up, 

 and inserted into the porters' loads, of which several had 

 shrunk to half- weight. He probably thought the sug- 

 gestion a ruse on my part to discover the means by which 

 their property had almost trebled its quantity; his men, 

 moreover, had become thoroughly weary of a journey 

 where provisions were not always obtainable, and they 

 had persuaded themselves that Lieut.-Col. Hamerton's 

 decease had left me without support from the government 

 of Zanzibar. After a priming with opium, the mono- 

 cular returned and reported that his men refused to 

 open their baggage, declaring their property to be " on 

 their own heads." Whilst I was explaining the object 

 of the measure, the escort appeared in mass, and, with 

 noise sufficient for a general action, ostentatiously 

 strewed their old clothes upon the ground, declaring 



