south-west, probably to avoid bringing the small-pox here. They remain
at about two hours' distance. Hamees reports that though the strangers
had lost a great many people by small-pox, they had brought good news
of certain Arabs still further west: one, Seide ben Umale, or Salem,
lived at a village near Casembe, ten days distant, and another, Juma
Merikano, or Katata Katanga, at another village further north, and
Seide ben Habib was at Phueto, which is nearer Tanganyika. This party
comprises the whole force of Hamees, and he now declares that he will
go to Nsama and make the matter up, as he thinks that he is afraid to
come here, and so he will make the first approach to friendship.

On pondering over the whole subject, I see that, tiresome as it is to
wait, it is better to do so than go south and then west, for if I
should go I shall miss seeing Moero, which is said to be three days
from Nsama's present abode. His people go there for salt, and I could
not come to it from the south without being known to them, and perhaps
considered to be an Arab. Hamees remarked that it was the Arab way
first to smooth the path before entering upon it; sending men and
presents first, thereby ascertaining the disposition of the
inhabitants. He advises patience, and is in hopes of making a peace
with Nsama. That his hopes are not unreasonable, he mentioned that
when the disturbance began, Nsama sent men with two tusks to the
village whence he had just been expelled, offering thereby to make the
matter up, but the Arabs, suspecting treachery, fired upon the
carriers and killed them, then ten goats and one tusk were sent with
the same object, and met with a repulse; Hamees thinks that had he
been there himself the whole matter would have been settled amicably.

All complain of cold here. The situation is elevated, and we are
behind a clump of trees on the rivulet Chiloa, which keeps the sun off
us in the mornings. This cold induces the people to make big fires in
their huts, and frequently their dwellings are burned. Minimum
temperature is as low as 46 deg.; sometimes 33 deg.

_24th June, 1867._--The Arabs are all busy reading their Koran, or
Kuran, and in praying for direction; to-morrow they will call a
meeting to deliberate as to what steps they will take in the Nsama
affair. Hamees, it seems, is highly thought of by that chief, who
says, "Let him come, and all will be right." Hamees proposes to go
with but a few people. These Zanziba