CHAP. XV.] 
PREPARE FOR RETREAT\ 
417 
should they appear at Kisoona, and I made up my 
mind not to fire a shot except in absolute necessity for 
so faithless an ally as the king. This I explained to 
M’Gambi, and threatened that if porters were not sup¬ 
plied I would wait at Kisoona, join the M was on their 
arrival, and with them as allies I would attack the 
island which Kamrasi boasted was his stronghold. 
This idea frightened M’Gambi, and both he and Cassave 
started to procure porters, promising most faithfully 
to appear that evening and to start together to Foweera 
on the following morning. We were a party of twenty 
guns, therefore there was no fear in the event of an 
attack. I ordered all the huts of the village to be burned 
except those belonging to our men; thus we had a clear 
space for the guns in case of necessity. 
In the evening, true to hispromise, M/Gambi appeared 
with a number of natives, but Cassave had followed 
Kamrasi. 
At sun-rise on the following day we started, my 
wife in a litter, and I in a chair. The road was ex¬ 
tremely bad, excessively muddy from the rain of yes¬ 
terday, trodden deeply by the hoofs of herds of cattle, 
and by the feet of the thousands that had formed 
Kamrasi s army and camp followers. There was no 
variety in the country, it was the same undulating 
land overgrown with impenetrable grass, and wooded 
with mimosas; every swamp being shaded by clumps 
of the graceful wild date. After a march of about 
eight miles we found the route dry and dusty, the rain 
on the preceding day having being partial. There was 
no water on the road and we were all thirsty, having 
calculated on a supply from the heavy rain. Although 
many thousand people had travelled on the path so 
recently as the previous day, it was nevertheless narrow 
and hemmed in by the high grass, as the crowd had 
marched in single file and had therefore not widened 
the route. This caused great delay to the porters who 
carried the litter, as they marched two deep; thus one 
man had to struggle through the high grass. M’Gambi 
EE 
