132 To Sdnga-Tanga and Back . 
capital was an adjacent settlement of three huts. 
He was in rags, and my diary might have recorded, 
Rc^u un roi dans un tres fichu etat. He was 
accompanied by a young wife, with a huge toupet, 
and a gang of slaves, who sat down and stared till 
their eyes blinked and watered. For the loan of 
his old canoe he asked the moderate sum of fifteen 
dollars per diem, which finally fell to two dollars; 
but there was a suspicious reservation anent oars, 
paddles and rudder, mast and sail. 
Meanwhile the sanguine Selim compelled his 
guide to keep moving in the direction of the 
gorilla’s grunt, and explaining his reluctance to 
advance by the fear of meeting the brute in the 
dark. Savage Africa, however, had as usual the 
better of the game, and showed his ’cuteness by 
planting my factotum in mud thigh-deep. After 
dark Forteune returned. He had fired at a huge 
njfna, but this time the cap had snapped. As the 
monster was close, and had shown signs of wrath, 
we were expected to congratulate Nimrod on his 
escape. Kindly observe the neat gradations, the 
artistic sorites of Mpongwe lies. 
At 7.30 a. m. on the next day the loads were 
placed upon the crew’s heads, and we made for 
the village, where the boat was still drawn up. 
The “ monoxyle ” was full of green-brown rain 
water, the oar-pins were represented by bits of 
stick, and all the furniture was wanting. After a 
