THE BALOCH REPENT. 



177 



fessed themselves profoundly penitent, and attributing 

 their unsoldier-like conduct to opium, and to the Wiswas, 

 the temptations of Sathanas, they promised to reform. 

 The promise was kept till we reached Ugogi. They 

 were, however, always an encumbrance ; they did no 

 good beyond creating an impression, and " making the 

 careless ^Ethiopians afraid." I saw them, it is true, in 

 their worst colours. They held themselves to be ser- 

 vants of their prince, and as no Eastern man can or will 

 serve two masters, they forfeited all claim to their 

 sole good quality — manageability. As men, they had no 

 stamina ; after a few severe marches they murmured that 



" Famine, despair, thirst, cold, and heat, 

 Had done their work on them by turns." 



Their constitutions, sapped by long residence at Zanzibar, 

 were subject to many ailments, and in sickness they were 

 softer than Indian Pariahs. Under the slightest attack 

 of fever, they threw themselves moaning upon the ground; 

 they were soon deterred by the sun from bringing up 

 the rear, and by night they would not keep watch or 

 ward even when in actual danger of robbery. Notwith- 

 standing their affectation of military carriage their 

 bravery was more than problematical ; they were dis- 

 ciplined only by their fears. As men at arms, one and 

 all deserved to wear the wooden spoon : I saw the whole 

 garrison of Kaole firing for an hour, without effect, at a 

 shell, stuck on a stick, distant about a dozen paces : 

 our party expended thirty pounds of gunpowder without 

 bagging a pair of antelope, and it was impossible to 

 trust them with ammunition; when unable to sell it, 

 they wasted it upon small birds. Ever claiming for 

 themselves " hishmat," or respect, they forgot their own 

 proverb that " courtesy hath two heads;" they complained 



VOL. I. N 



