airs, a war had ensued, which terminated with the
Arabs driving him from his possessions a vagabond. Manua Sera, I
must say, was as fine a young man as ever I looked upon. He was very
handsome, and looked as I now saw him the very picture of a captain of
the banditti of the romances. I begged him to tell me his tale, and, in
compliance, he gave me the following narrative:--

"Shortly after you left Kaze for England, my old father, the late chief
Fundi Kira, died, and by his desire I became lawful chief; for, though
the son of a slave girl, and not of Fundi Kira's wife, such is the
law of inheritance--a constitutional policy established to prevent any
chance of intrigues between the sons born in legitimate wedlock. Well,
after assuming the title of chief, I gave presents of ivory to all
the Arabs with a liberal hand, but most so to Musa, which caused great
jealousy amongst the other merchants. Then after this I established a
property tax on all merchandise that entered my country. Fundi Kira had
never done so, but I did not think that any reason why I should not,
especially as the Arabs were the only people who lived in my country
exempt from taxation. This measure, however, exasperated the Arabs, and
induced them to send me hostile messages, to the effect that, if I ever
meddled with them, they would dethrone me, and place Mkisiwa, another
illegitimate son, on the throne in my stead. This," Manua Sera
continued, "I could not stand; the merchants were living on sufferance
only in my country. I told them so, and defied them to interfere with my
orders, for I was not a 'woman,' to be treated with contempt; and this
got up a quarrel. Mkisiwa, seizing at the opportunity of the prize held
out to him by the Arabs as his supporters, then commenced a system of
bribery. Words led to blows; we had a long and tough fight; I killed
many of their number, and they killed mine. Eventually they drove
me from my palace, and placed Mkisiwa there as chief in my stead. My
faithful followers however, never deserted me; so I went to Rubuga, and
put up with old Maula there. The Arabs followed--drove me to Nguru, and
tried to kill Maula for having fostered me. He, however, escaped them;
but they destroyed his country, and then followed me down to Nguru.
There we fought for many months, until all provisions were exhausted,
when I defied them to catch me, and forced my way through their ranks.
It is needless to say I have been a wanderer since; an