larger tree-jungles the traces of elephants, buffaloes,
rhinoceros, and antelopes were very numerous; while a rich variety of
small birds, as often happened, made me wish I had come on a shooting
rather than on a long exploring expedition. Towards sunset we arrived
at New Mbimi, a very pretty and fertile place, lying at the foot of
a cluster of steep hills, and pitched camp for three days to lay in
supplies for ten, as this was reported to be the only place where we
could buy corn until we reached Ugogo, a span of 140 miles. Mr Mbumi,
the chief of the place, a very affable negro, at once took us by the
hand, and said he would do anything we desired, for he had often been to
Zanzibar. He knew that the English were the ruling power in that land,
and that they were opposed to slavery, the terrible effects of which had
led to his abandoning Old Mbumi, on the banks of the Mukondokua river,
and rising here.

The sick Hottentot died here, and we buried him with Christian honours.
As his comrades said, he died because he had determined to die,--an
instance of that obstinate fatalism in their mulish temperament which no
kind words or threats can cure. This terrible catastrophe made me wish
to send all the remaining Hottentots back to Zanzibar; but as they all
preferred serving with me to returning to duty at the Cape, I selected
two of the MOST sickly, put them under Tabib, one of Rigby's old
servants, and told him to remain with them at Mbumi until such time
as he might find some party proceeding to the coasts; and, in the
meanwhile, for board and lodgings I have Mbumi beads and cloth. The
prices of provisions here being a good specimen of what one has to
pay at this season of the year, I give a short list of them:--sixteen
rations corn, two yards cloth; three fowls, two yards cloth; one goat,
twenty yards cloth; one cow, forty yards cloth,--the cloth being common
American sheeting. Before we left Mbumi, a party of forty men and women
of the Waquiva tribe, pressed by famine, were driven there to purchase
food. The same tribe had, however killed many of Mbumi's subjects not
long since, and therefore, in African revenge, the chief seized them
all, saying he would send them off for sale to Zanzibar market unless
they could give a legitimate reason for the cruelty they had committed.
These Waquiva, I was given to understand, occupied the steep hills
surrounding this place. They were a squalid-looking set, like the
generality of th