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once made to defend the Domira from the attack of Makanjira’s men, who were 
at very close range. After two or three days’ incessant fighting, Makanjira’s 
people put up a flag of truce. His envoys were received on board and offered,, 
in return for a certain ransom (which was paid), to cease fighting and to assist in 
moving the Domira off the sand-bank, and to give up the bodies of Captain 
Maguire and the dead sepoys. The negotiations were chiefly conducted by Dr. 
Boyce 1 and Mr. McEwan, 2 in order that the two wounded Europeans might not 
be shown to the enemy. After peace had, seemingly, been concluded with 
Makanjira’s envoys, the latter said that no effect could be given to the provisions, 
of this agreement until the white men had visited Makanjira on the shore, and 
as an extra inducement for them to come they promised Dr. Boyce that he 
should receive for burial the body of Captain Maguire. Owing to the two 
wounded officers being concealed in the cabin below, it appears that Makanjira’s. 
envoys imagined Dr. Boyce and Mr. McEwan were the only white men on the 
steamer. They therefore made a point of insisting they should both come to 
see Makanjira. 
No idea of treachery seems to have entered the minds of the Europeans, who 
did not even think of insisting on Makanjira’s leaving hostages on board, whilst 
they went on shore. They therefore started for the beach with only a few 
unarmed attendants. One of these was Captain Maguire’s orderly, an Indian 
Muhammadan soldier. Soon after reaching the beach an Arab led this orderly 
away from the rest of the party, offering to show him Captain Maguire’s body. 
So far as is known, after taking the orderly for a roundabout walk he urged him 
strongly to return to the boat, which the man did. 3 Dr. Boyce and his party 
were told that Makanjira was just a short distance from the shore, in the "bush,, 
awaiting them. They were thus led on to a distance of perhaps two miles from 
the lake shore ; then they suddenly found themselves surrounded by a number 
of Makanjira’s men, at the head of whom was Saidi Mwazungu, a man half 
Arab and half Yao. Saidi Mwazungu suddenly called out, “ Makanjira has 
ordered the white men to be killed.” His men then turned their guns on 
the party. Mr. McEwan was shot repeatedly. Dr. Boyce was shot several 
times, but did not die. They therefore threw him down and cut his head 
off. The Swahili servants who had accompanied this party were not killed, but 
secured and subsequently sold as slaves. 4 The Atonga steamer-boys were 
killed, or left for dead. One of these Atonga, however, whom the Arabs 
believed themselves to have killed, managed in spite of his terrible wounds to 
crawl by degrees to the lake shore, where he shouted for help. He was got on 
board the steamer, and gave them an account of what had happened. Mean¬ 
time the survivors in the steamer heard the Yao shouting on the shore that all 
the white men were killed, and that now was the time to attack the steamer. 
The Sikhs behaved splendidly, but the hero at this crisis was Mr. Urquhart, the 
wounded engineer, who by dint of almost superhuman efforts, and by working 
at the dead of night, managed to get the steamer afloat. After a five days’ 
detention—five days without sleep, in constant and incessant danger, and almost 
1 Dr. Boyce was a Par 3 i Doctor of Medicine, who had been engaged by me at Zanzibar as Surgeon 
to the Indian contingent. 
2 The first engineer of the Dotnira. 
3 The orderly, with the horror of what had taken place during these few days, subsequently went out of 
his mind, and was never able to give a coherent account of the circumstances, but it is believed that the 
Arab did not wish a fellow Muhammadan to be killed, and therefore induced the orderly to return to 
the steamer. 
4 After the most extraordinary adventures they succeeded in reaching the coast. 
