GO 
THE KILIMA-NJAR 0 EXPEDITION. 
vation. Further on we met some natives, ugly, nearly 
naked, and very black, with huge rings of beads in 
their wide-lobed ears, and greeting them with effusive 
friendliness we induced them to follow us to our 
camp with a few eatables (sweet potatoes and corn-cobs 
principally), feeling in our delight at once more 
reaching habitable country an amiable desire to be on 
the best of terms with its inmates. We pitched the 
tent at the foot of Kdara Hill, near a pool of dirty 
water, whither large flocks of cattle came to drink. 
In this not unpicturesque country of rocks and 
forest trees and lovely wild flowers I stayed during 
two days, and at last collected my caravan round me. 
Maungu was very nearly being a Moscow to my little 
army, but ultimately there was small loss in either 
men or goods. Some two or three porters had run 
back to the coast, leaving their burdens behind, while 
two miscreants who carried a case of spirit for pre¬ 
serving natural history specimens, had broached and 
drunk the alcohol, and, strange to say, still survived 
this extraordinary bout. 
Before I leave JMdara, therefore, I may take this 
opportunity of describing, somewhat in detail, the 
men who were following me to the steeps of Kilima¬ 
njaro, and on whose fidelity the fate of the expedi¬ 
tion entirely depended. The head-man of the entire 
caravan was Kiongwe, a pleasant-spoken, rather 
plain young man of about thirty, who had served 
much on the Congo, and had accompanied Stanley 
thither in his first expedition, in proof of which he 
wore a massive silver ring. Kiongwe (whose name 
meant in Swahili a cc headstrong jackass,” and who 
was therefore politely called by his inferiors “ Sha- 
ongwe ” in order that his name might not be too 
