en rush was made
upon us by, say two hundred men, who came down seemingly in great glee.
In an instant, at the caravan's centre, they fastened upon the poor
porters. The struggle was short; and with the threat of an arrow or
spear at their breasts, men were robbed of their cloths and ornaments,
loads were yielded and run away with before resistance could be
organised; only three men of a hundred stood by me, the others, whose
only thought was their lives, fled into the woods, where I went shouting
for them. One man, little Rahan--rip as he is--stood with cocked gun,
defending his load, against five savages with uplifted spears. No
one else could be seen. Two or three were reported killed; some were
wounded. Beads, boxes, cloths, etc., lay strewed about the woods. In
fact, I felt wrecked. My attempt to go and demand redress from the
sultan was resisted, and, in utter despair, I seated myself among a mass
of rascals jeering round me, and insolent after the success of the day.
Several were dressed in the very cloths, etc., they had stolen from my
men.

"In the afternoon, about fifteen men and loads were brought me, with
a message from the sultan, that the attack had been a mistake of his
subjects--that one man had had a hand cut off for it, and that all the
property would be restored!

"Yours sincerely, J. W. Grant."

Now, judging from the message sent to Grant by M'yonga, it appeared to
me that his men had mistaken their chief's orders, and had gone one step
beyond his intentions. It was obvious that the chief merely intended
to prevent Grant from passing through or evading his district without
paying a hongo, else he would not have sent his men to invite him to his
palace, doubtless with instructions, if necessary, to use force. 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 pro