OUT INTO THE ATLANTIC. 
531 
one street of the first village in melancholy and silent 
procession, voiceless as sphinxes, we felt our way down 
into a deep gully, and crawled up again to the level of 
the village site, and camped about two hundred yards 
away. It was night before all had arrived. 
After we had erected our huts and lifted the tent 
into its usual place, the chief of Nsanda appeared, a 
youngish, slightly made man, much given to singing, 
being normally drunk from an excess of palm- wine. 
He was kindly, sociable — laughed, giggled, and was 
amusing. Of course he knew Embomma, had frequently 
visited there, and carried thither large quantities of 
Nguba ground-nuts, which he had sold for rum. We 
listened, as in duty bound, with a melancholy interest. 
Then I suddenly asked him if he would carry a makanda, 
or letter, to Embomma, and allow three of my men to 
accompany him. He was too great to proceed himself, 
but he would despatch two of his young men the next 
day. Elis consent I obtained only after four hours of 
earnest entreaty. It was finally decided that I should 
write a letter, and the two young natives would be 
ready next day. After my dinner — three fried bananas, 
twenty roasted ground-nuts, and a cup of muddy water, 
my usual fare now — by a lamp made out of a piece of 
rotten sheeting steeped in a little palm-butter, I wrote 
the following letter : — 
“Village of Nsanda, August 4, 1877. 
“ To any Gentleman who speaks English at Embomma. 
“ Dear Sir, 
“ I have arrived at this place from Zanzibar with 
115 souls, men, women, and children. We are now in 
a state of imminent starvation. We can buy nothing 
from the natives, for they laugh at our kinds of cloth, 
beads, and wire. There are no provisions in the country 
that may be purchased, except on market days, and 
starving people cannot afford to wait for these markets. 
1, therefore, have made bold to despatch three of my 
young men, natives of Zanzibar, with a boy named 
Robert Feruzi, of the English Mission at Zanzibar, with 
2 m 2 
