214 Wanderings in Eastern Africa, 
should have ; the rest were ours. There was some 
force in his suggestion however, so such things as we 
did not intend for the Gallas were put out of the way. 
When Hirebaya and Dado had gone Malau came, 
gravely requesting us to divide with him the goods we 
had put by. Astonished at the man's audacity we en- 
quired why. "Because," said he, "but for me the 
Gallas would have taken all. I shall have saved you 
these things, and it certainly is not too much for my 
labour that I share the spoil." 
Was ever such impudence heard before ! We gave 
him to understand that the goods were ours; that 
what we had brought for the Gallas we intended 
to give then; as for the rest we knew perfectly well, 
without his assistance, how to take care of our own pro- 
perty. Besides his services had not been sought, they 
had been self-imposed ; or, at the best, at the request 
of the Gallas, which was nothing to us whatever, 
except a nuisance. He left the hut murmuring that he 
had acted like a " mjinga '' (simpleton, or fool). This 
certainly was true, but he might have added, a knave 
too. In his estimation he was tricking the Gallas out 
of cloths which we would otherwise have given them, 
thinking that this would secure our approval and 
himself a rich reward. He was surprised to find him- 
self altogether wrong. 
Hirebaya brought with him a small sheep, giving 
us to understand at the time that it was his own 
present, but we afterwards learned that he paid for it 
out of our cloths. He also brought a small "sororo '' 
(a kind of water-vessel made by the Gallas) of milk. 
Dado brought us nothing. I mention this to show 
the character of the men. They had received, on 
