THROUGH UKWERE, UKAMI, AND UDOE TO USEGUHHA. BEFORE I proceed with this chapter a brief space must be given to an apology which I tender to my readers. Ego is first and foremost in this book. I am obliged to exhibit him as he actually was, not as he should be; as he behaved, not as he should have behaved; as he travelled, not as he ought to have travelled. I must, for conscience' sake, report all things literally as they occurred, and to the best of my ability record the incidents and accidents which befell the Expedition. However stay-at-home, chimney-corner, and easy-chair loving people may regard the merits of this book, the greatest praise and the greatest thanks will be bestowed on it by travellers who may succeed me in East Africa; for they will at once perceive the useful lessons taught them by my haps and mishaps. On the 21st of March, exactly seventy-three days after my arrival at Zanzibar, the fifth caravan, led by myself, left the town of Bagamoyo for our first journey westward, with "Forward!" for its mot du guet. As the kirangozi unrolled the American flag, and put himself at the head of the caravan, and the pagazis, animals, soldiers, and idlers were lined for the march, we bade a long farewell to the dolce far niente of civilised life, to the blue ocean, and to its open road to home, to the hundreds of dusky spectators who were there to celebrate our departure with repeated salvoes of musketry. Our caravan is composed of twenty-eight pagazis, including the kirangozi, or guide; twelve soldiers under Capt. Mbarak Bombay, in charge of seventeen donkeys and their loads; Selim, my boy interpreter, in charge of the donkey and cart and its load; one cook and sub, who is also to be tailor and ready hand for all, and leads the grey horse; Shaw, once mate of a ship, now transformed into rearguard and overseer for the caravan, who is mounted on a good riding-donkey, and wearing a canoe-like topee and sea-boots; and lastly, on the splendid bay horse presented to me by Mr. Goodhue, myself, called "Bana Mkuba," the "big master," by my people-the vanguard, the reporter, the thinker, and leader of the Expedition. The several members composing the caravan are well known to me already. They have been the subjects of study and selection, and no fault has been found with them yet; still, as it is rather premature to describe their characters, I shall confine myself at this time to simply naming the principal personages in the order and rank they hold: 1. John W. Shaw, rearguard and overseer. 6. Mabruk Saleem soldier. 13. Selim (boy from Jerusalem), Arab interpreter. 14. Bunder Salaam (of Malabar), cook. Probably some of these people above named will acquire habits or exhibit characters very different from those I imagined them to have while en route to Unyanyembe. We shall be better judges of them and their points when we shall have arrived at Tabora, where a general muster will be made for inspection, and to hear the reports of the four caravans which have preceded us. Altogether the Expedition numbers on the day of departure three white men, twenty-three soldiers, four supernumeraries, four chiefs, and one hundred and fifty-three pagazis, twenty-seven donkeys, and one cart, conveying cloth, beads, and wire, boat-fixings, tents, cooking utensils and dishes, medicine, powder, small shot, musket-balls, and metallic cartridges; instruments and small necessaries, such as soap, sugar, tea, coffee, Liebig's extract of meat, pemmican, candles, &c., which make a total of 153 loads. The weapons of defence which the Expedition possesses consist of one doublebarrel breech-loading gun, smooth bore; one American Winchester rifle, or "sixteen-shooter;" one Henry rifle, or "sixteen-shooter;" two Starr's breech-loaders, one Jocelyn breech-loader, one elephant rifle, carrying balls eight to the pound; two breech-loading revolvers, twenty-four muskets (flint-locks), six single-barreled pistols, one battle-axe, two swords, two daggers (Persian kummers, purchased at Shiraz by myself), one boar-spear, two American axes 4 lbs. each, twenty-four hatchets, and twenty-four butcher-knives. The Expedition has been fitted with care; whatever it needed was not stinted; everything was provided. Nothing was done too hurriedly, yet everything was purchased, manufactured, collected, and compounded with the utmost despatch consistent with efficiency and means. Should it fail of success in its errand of rapid transit to Ujiji and back, it must simply happen from an accident which could not be controlled. So much for the personnel of the Expedition and its purpose, until its point de mire be reached. We left Bagamoyo the attraction of all the curious, with much éclat, and defiled up a narrow lane shaded almost to twilight by the dense umbrage of two parallel hedges of mimosas. We were all in the highest spirits. The soldiers sang, the kirangozi lifted his voice into a loud bellowing note, and fluttered the American flag, which told all on-lookers, "Lo, a Musungu's caravan!" and my heart, I thought, palpitated much too quickly for the sober face of a leader. But I could not check it; the enthusiasm of youth still clung to me-despite my travels; my pulses bounded with the full glow of staple health; behind me were the troubles which had harassed me for over two months. With that dishonest son of a Hindi, Soor Hadji Palloo, I had said my last word; of the blatant rabble of Arabs, Banyans, and Baluches I had taken my last look; with the Jesuits of the French Mission I had exchanged farewells, and before me beamed the sun of promise as he sped towards the Occident. Loveliness glowed around me. I saw fertile fields, riant vegetation, strange trees-I heard the cry of cricket and pee-wit, and sibilant sound of many insects, all of which seemed to tell me, "At last you are started." What could I do but lift my face toward the pure-glowing sky, and cry, "God be thanked!" The first camp, Shamba Gonera, we arrived at in 1 hour 30 minutes, equal to 34 miles. This first, or “little journey," was performed very well, "considering," as the Irishman says. The boy Selim upset the cart not more than three times. Zaidi, the soldier, only once let his donkey, which carried one bag of my clothes and a box of ammunition, lie in a puddle of black water. The |