After Arrival, As We Found The Boatmen Wished To Make Off,
Instead Of Carrying Out Their King's Orders To Take Us To The
Waterfall, We Seized All The Paddles, And Kept Their Tongues
Quiet By Giving Them A Cow To Eat.
The overland route, by which
Kidgwiga and the cattle went, was not so interesting, by all
accounts, as the river one; for they walked the whole way through
marshy ground, and crossed one drain in boats, where some savages
struggled to plunder our men of their goats.
With a great deal of difficulty, and after hours of delay, we
managed to get under way with two boats besides the original one;
and, after an hour and a half's paddling in the laziest manner
possible, the men seized two pots of pombe and pulled in to Koki,
guided by a king's messenger, who said this was one of the places
appointed by order to pick up recruits for the force which was to
take us to Gani. We found, however, nothing but loss and
disappointment - one calf stolen, and five goats nearly so.
Fortunately, the thief who attempted to run off with the goats
was taken by my men in the act, tied with his hands painfully
tight behind his back, and left, with his face painted white,
till midnight, when his comrades stole into Bombay's hut and
released him. After all these annoyances, the chief officer of
the place offered us a present of a goat, but was sent to the
right-about in scorn.
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