On the Tana. 
221 
excuses any longer. Why should the chief come to 
meet us where we were, a place in which there was 
not room to move? If the chief could not make his 
way through the water to us, why did they not take 
us to him ? As to the present of their cows, we had not 
an inch of dry ground upon which to slaughter them, ' 
nor place in which to cook the meat. We intimated 
that unless they could treat with us in a more satis- 
factory manner we would return immediately to the 
coast. They saw we were in earnest, and Hirebaya, 
who has a good deal of craft, returned : " We are sorry 
you should come to us at so unfortunate a time, but it 
is the work of Waka (God). How could we know 
that the Masai would come down upon us just at this 
time.^ Then, too, there is the inundation of the country, 
how can we control this 1 You yourselves thought of 
leaving Malinde a month earher than you did. But 
you say you were detained by the shipwreck. Could 
you control those circumstances } No. Your being 
delayed was the work of Waka; the coming of the 
Masai is the work of Waka; the overflow of the 
river is the work of Waka; and we cannot alter any 
of these things by our complaints," 
We assented to all this, in some measure, but gave 
them to understand that we did not believe God was 
the author of the trickery, falseness, covetousness, 
and inhospitality of the Gallas. 
It was very objectionable to us to have our 
Sabbath interfered with in this way, but we could 
not avoid it. As soon as we could secure an hour s 
quietude we set Tofiki to guard our pigeon-hole door- 
way, and read for our instruction and consolation 
a portion of the Inspired Word. Thus in our small 
