By the time I reached Msuwa there was
nobody with me and the ten donkeys I drove but Mabruk the Little,
who, though generally stolid, stood to his work like a man.
Bombay and Uledi were far behind, with the most jaded donkeys.
Shaw was in charge of the cart, and his experiences were most
bitter, as he informed me he had expended a whole vocabulary of
stormy abuse known to sailors, and a new one which he had invented
ex tempore. He did not arrive until two o'clock next morning, and
was completely worn out.
Another halt was fixed at Msuwa, that we and our animals might
recuperate. The chief of the village, a white man in everything
but colour, sent me and mine the fattest broad-tailed sheep of his
flock, with five measures of matama grain. The mutton was
excellent, unapproachable. For his timely and needful present
I gave him two doti, and amused him with an exhibition of the
wonderful mechanism of the Winchester rifle, and my breechloading
revolvers.
He and his people were intelligent enough to comprehend the utility
of these weapons at an emergency, and illustrated in expressive
pantomime the powers they possessed against numbers of people
armed only with spears and bows, by extending their arms with an
imaginary gun and describing a clear circle.
