184 
THE KILIMA-NJAEO EXPEDITION. 
CHAPTER IX. 
AN ANXIOUS PERIOD. 
Believing myself to be secure for the present in 
Mandara’s friendship, I resolved without further delay 
to send eighteen of my thirty Zanzibaris to Sir John 
Kirk at Zanzibar, whither they could carry my first 
collections of the fauna and flora of Kilima-njaro, and 
my despatches laying before him the then existing 
state of affairs. Moreover, inasmuch as I found my 
paucity of men a great obstacle in pursuing my inves¬ 
tigations and an altogether false economy, I desired 
Kiongwe, my head-man, who went in charge of this 
caravan, to recruit for me thirty or forty stout fellows 
in Zanzibar and bring them back with him, together 
with a further supply of necessary goods. 
Eighteen was a small number of men to send along 
the Pangani route to Zanzibar, but fortunately, just as 
they were setting out on the journey, Thomson’s friend, 
Jumba Kimemeta, arrived at Mandara’s (I am sorry to 
say to purchase slaves 1 ), and offered to escort them all 
the way to the town of Pangani. I gladly accepted, 
but as the men were ready I did not like to keep them 
hanging about idle in my settlement, so I sent them on 
by themselves to Taveita to join Kimemeta there. 
1 He was, however, a good fellow and a good friend to me, and 
only acted after his own lights. 
