, from Tette, on the Zambezi
river; so it was for his advantage to travel slowly, not only that the
rumour might have time to spread, but also to give the human cattle
plenty of time to recover from their wounds.

The marches were, therefore, commenced at six o'clock in the morning,
and seldom lasted longer than noon, as the first part of the country
through which he now travelled was extremely populous and rich, and each
chief was friendly to him and his men; but after the tenth day he neared
the debatable ground, consisting of extensive tracts of forest and
jungle, lying between Urori and Ututa, and inhabited by no living being,
except wild beasts. From the farthest westerly point of this debatable
tract, there were three long marches, or say ninety miles, to
Katalambula's country.

Having explained so much, let us glean what may be interesting to the
general reader of the incidents of this march relating to the slaves.

Besides suffering intensely from the heat, Selim, Abdullah, and Mussoud
suffered excessively from the loads which they were compelled to carry,
and which chafed their tender shoulders frightfully. For the first
three days they went entirely naked, as it must not be supposed that,
because the Watuta were rich in clothes, they possessed one yard too
much, or that they could have dispensed with a yard for the comfort of
slaves.

Slaves are cattle, are supposed too often to be able to live like
cattle, and are therefore treated like cattle. So these three hundred
slaves were chained--for chains, it must be confessed, were part of the
plunder which the Watuta had found in the Arab camp--by twenties; an
iron collar ran around the neck of each adult, while the boys, Selim,
Abdullah, Mussoud, Isa, and the negro boys, among whom, it must be
remembered, was our mischievous Niani, or the monkey, and others, were
tied by ropes around the waist, about six feet apart, the tallest first.
Of the adult slaves there were fifteen herds, or gangs of twenties,
each gang being superintended by a sub-chief or a trustworthy warrior,
and there was one gang of boys which were looked after by Tifum Byah.

I have already said that the slaves were cattle. The word cattle must
be understood by the reader in its most literal sense. Decency was
therefore out of the question. If one needed to wash his face in camp,
the whole gang, accompanied by the chief, were obliged to march out for
the convenience of this one. If from