Mr Moorlan Became Very Friendly, And Said He Was Sorry He Could
Not Do More For Us.
His headquarters were at Kich, some way down
the river, where, as we passed, he hoped at least he might be
able to show us as much attention and hospitality as lay in his
power.
Mosquitoes were said to be extremely troublesome on the
river, and my men begged for some clothes, as Petherick, they
said, had a store for me under the charge of his Vakil. The
storekeeper was then called, and confirming the story of my men,
I begged him to give me what was my own. It then turned out that
it was all Petherick's, but he had orders to give me on account
anything that I wanted. This being settled, I took ninety-five
yards of the commonest stuff as a makeshift for mosquito-curtains
for my men, besides four sailor's shirts for my head men.
On the 18th, Kurshid Agha was summoned by the constant fire of
musketry, a mile or two down the river, and went off in his
vessels to the relief. A party of his had come across from the
N'yambara country with ivory, and on the banks of the Nile, a few
miles north of this, were engaged fighting with the natives. He
arrived just in time to settle the difficulty, and next day came
back again, having shot some of the enemy and captured their
cows. Petherick, we heard, was in a difficulty of the same kind,
upon which I proposed to go down with Baker and Grant to succour
him; but he arrived in time, in company with his wife and Dr
James Murie, to save us the trouble, and told me he had brought a
number of men with him, carrying ivory, for the purpose now of
looking after me on the east bank of the Nile, by following its
course up to the south, though he had given up all hope of seeing
me, as a report had reached him of the desertion of my porters at
Ugogo.
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