144 To Sdnga-Tanga and Back. 
But Mr. Wilson is rather hard when he asserts 
that all traces have disappeared—they survive in 
superior 'cuteness of the native. 
Little need be said about our return, which was 
merrier than the outward bound trip. Wind, tide, 
and current were now in our favour, and we fol¬ 
lowed the chords, not the arcs, of the several bays. 
At 9.30 p.m. we gave a wide berth to the rollers 
off Point Nyonye and two hours afterwards we 
groped through the outer darkness into Bwamange, 
where the good Azfzeh and Asunye, who came to 
receive us, shouted with joy. On the next day 
another “ gorilla palaver,” when a large male was 
reported to have been shot without a shadow of 
truth, detained me : it was the last straw which 
broke the patient camel’s back. After “ dashing” 
to old King Langobumo one cloth, one bottle of 
absinthe, two heads of tobacco, and a clay pipe, 
we set out betimes for the fifteen miles’ walk to 
Mbata. Various obstacles delayed us on the way, 
and the shades of evening began to close in rapidly ; 
night already reigned over the forest. Progress 
under such circumstances requires the greatest 
care ; as in the streets of Damascus, one must ever 
look fixedly at the ground, under penalty of a 
shaking stumble over cross-bars of roots, or fallen 
branches hidden by grass and mud. And the worst 
of these wet walks is that, sooner or later, they bring 
on swollen feet, which the least scratch causes to 
