A TRYING MARCH. 



277 



an ill-omened spot. There my ass " Seringe," sole sur- 

 voice of the riding animals brought from Zanzibar, 

 was so torn by a hyena that I was compelled to leave 

 it behind. I was afterwards informed that it had 

 soon died of its wounds. The next mishap was the de- 

 sertion of the fifteen Wanyamwezi porters who had been 

 hired and paid at Ugogi. These men had slept in the 

 same kraal with the somnolent sons of Ramji, and 

 had stealthily disappeared during the night. As usual, 

 though they carried off their own, they had left our loads 

 behind, that they might reach their homes with greater 

 speed. They would choose a jungle road, to avoid the 

 danger of slavery, and living the while upon roots and 

 edible grasses, would traverse the desert separating them 

 from their country in three or four days. This desertion 

 of fifteen men first suggested to me that my weary 

 efforts and wearing anxiety about carriage were to a 

 certain extent self-inflictions. Expecting to see half the 

 outfit left upon the ground, I was surprised by the readi- 

 ness with which it disappeared. The men seemed to 

 behave best whenever things were palpably at the worst ; 

 besides which, as easily as the baggage of 50 porters 

 was distributed amongst 100, so easily were the loads 

 of 100 men placed upon the shoulders of 50. Indeed, the 

 original Wanyamwezi gang, who claimed by right extra 

 pay for carrying extra weight, though fiercely opposed to 

 lifting up an empty gourd gratis, were ever docile when 

 a heavier pack brought with it an increase of cloth and 

 beads. 



However, the march on the 17th October had its trifling 

 hardships. My companion rode forward on the ass lately 

 given to us by Abdullah bin Nasib, whilst I, remaining 

 behind and finding that no carriage could be procured for 

 two bags of clothes and shoes, placed them upon my animal 



T 3 



