FOREST GUIDES. 
11 
instance, a father saw his son carrying a load in our 
caravan; he led him angrily away, and we soon got 
another. But to collect one or two hundred we found 
a most difficult task : they are as fickle as the wind. 
A wave of a flag will attract them, while one mis- 
placed expression will send them away discontented. 
They higgle pertinaciously about their hire; and after 
they have been induced to accept double wages, they 
suddenly change their minds, think youVe got the 
best of it, and ask for more, or more commonly dis- 
appear. 
One of the most pleasing sensations in going 
through an immense forest is suddenly to come upon 
the traces of man. The Wezee experience this, for, 
in their forest south of Kazeh, they erect triumphal 
arches with poles, over or by the side of the path. These 
they ornament with antelope-skulls, having the horns, 
or with elephant-dung, bones, bows, or broken gourds. 
It cheers the traveller, and gives fresh vigour to his 
wearied limbs, for he knows that camp and water are 
never far distant, and that the trumpet of the caravan 
leader must soon sound the welcome "halt." In 
travelling through these forests, the Unyamuezi rarely 
loses his way, as he is accustomed to range in woods, 
and to mark his route either by breaking boughs or 
noting the position of the sun. 
During my fifty-five days' detention at Mineenga, 
Speke had been away for sixteen days at Kazeh try- 
ing to procure porters by means of the Arabs. The 
third day after his return, the 18th of May 1861, I 
marched northward with a detachment of forty loads, 
making for Ukuni. He picked me up on the 21st, 
and I again went on alone, and reached it on the 
