Journey to Kilima Njaro: the Start. 293 
the party were armed with guns, two of which — 
double-barrelled ones — were damaged, each being 
blind in one barrel. Professedly they had both been 
put right by a Kisuahili gunsmith, but when brought 
to a trial they proved as bad as ever. I would 
have left them behind, but the men who had been 
appointed to carry them said that one barrel was 
better than a bow, and begged to be allowed to bear 
them. I consented. The rest of the men bore the 
ancient and classic bow, with quivers well stocked 
with, I am afraid, poisoned arrows. After all, the bow 
is not so bad a weapon as the murderous gun, with its 
swift, unseen, and fatal misaile. 
For an excellent breakfast I was again indebted to 
Mr. Rebmann's hospitality. By the time breakfast 
was over the man had returned from Ribe. Obliged 
to cut short our conversation, Mr. Rebmann prayed 
with me, and bade me God-speed, giving it, how- 
ever, as his decided opinion that the day for mission 
work in the countries to which I was going had not 
yet arrived. Mr. Rebmann had truly said that East 
Africa was in a far more unsettled state now than 
when he went to Chaga twenty-three years before, and 
that the dangers of the way had greatly increased. In 
1848 the country was in a condition of comparative 
tranquillity, but since that time disturbance upon 
disturbance had taken place, till now it was in^a state 
of general insecurity and alarm. This is largely to be 
attributed to the marauding of the Masai. 
At noon I started. We had not gone very far before 
we lost our way, and for a considerable distance we had 
to push through the grass without the sign of a path. 
The country rose and fell in short steep hills and dales; 
