This Appears The More
Evident From The Fact Of His Subsequent Contrition, And Finding
It Necessary To Send Excuses When
The property was in his hands;
for these chiefs, grasping as they are, know they must conform to
some kind
Of system, to save themselves from a general war, or
the avoidance of their territories by all travellers in future.
To assist Grant, I begged Lumeresi to send him some aid in men at
once; but he refused, on the plea that M'yonga was at war with
him, and would kill them if they went. This was all the more
provoking, as Grant, in a letter next evening, told me he could
not get all his men together again, and wished to know what
should be done. He had recovered all the property except six
loads of beads, eighty yards of American sheeting, and many minor
articles, besides what had been rifled more or less from every
load. In the same letter he asked me to deliver up a Mhuma woman
to a man who came with the bearers of his missive, as she had
made love to Saim at Ukulima's, and had bolted with my men to
escape from her husband.
On inquiring into this matter, she told me her face had been her
misfortune, for the man who now claimed her stole her from her
parents at Ujiji, and forcibly made her his wife, but ever since
had ill-treated her, often thrashing her, and never giving her
proper food or clothing. It was on this account she fell in love
with Saim; for he, taking compassion on her doleful stories, had
promised to keep her as long as he travelled with me, and in the
end to send her back to her parents at Ujiji. She was a
beautiful woman, with gazelle eyes, oval face, high thin nose,
and fine lips, and would have made a good match for Saim, who had
a good deal of Arab blood in him, and was therefore, in my
opinion, much of the same mixed Shem-Hamitic breed. But as I did
not want more women in my camp, I have her some beads, and sent
her off with the messenger who claimed her, much against my own
feelings. I had proposed to Grant that, as Lumeresi's
territories extended to within eight miles of M'yonga's, he
should try to move over the Msalala border by relays, when I
would send some Bogue men to meet him; for though Lumeresi would
not risk sending his men into the clutches of M'yonga, he was
most anxious to have another white visitor.
20th and 21st. - I again urged Lumeresi to help on Grant, saying
it was incumbent on him to call M'yonga to account for
maltreating Grant's porters, who were his own subjects, else the
road would be shut up - he would lose all the hongos he laid on
caravans - and he would not be able to send his own ivory down to
the coast.
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