uestion put to us at the lake crossing-
places, was, "Have you come to buy slaves?" On hearing that we were
English, and never purchased slaves, the questioners put on a
supercilious air, and sometimes refused to sell us food. This want of
respect to us may have been owing to the impressions conveyed to them by
the Arabs, whose dhows have sometimes been taken by English cruisers when
engaged in lawful trade. Much foreign cloth, beads, and brass-wire were
worn by these ferrymen--and some had muskets.

By Chitanda, near one of the slave crossing-places, we were robbed for
the first time in Africa, and learned by experience that these people,
like more civilized nations, have expert thieves among them. It might be
only a coincidence; but we never suffered from impudence, loss of
property, or were endangered, unless among people familiar with slaving.
We had such a general sense of security, that never, save when we
suspected treachery, did we set a watch at night. Our native companions
had, on this occasion, been carousing on beer, and had removed to a
distance of some thirty yards, that we might not overhear their free and
easy after-dinner remarks, and two of us had a slight touch of fever;
between three and four o'clock in the morning some thieves came, while we
slept ingloriously--rifles and revolvers all ready,--and relieved us of
most of our goods. The boat's sail, under which we slept, was open all
around, so the feat was easy.

Awaking as honest men do, at the usual hour, the loss of one was
announced by "My bag is gone--with all my clothes; and my boots too!"
"And mine!" responded a second. "And mine also!" chimed in the third,
"with the bag of beads, and the rice!" "Is the cloth taken?" was the
eager inquiry, as that would have been equivalent to all our money. It
had been used for a pillow that night, and thus saved. The rogues left
on the beach, close to our beds, the Aneroid Barometer and a pair of
boots, thinking possibly that they might be of use to us, or, at least,
that they could be of none to them. They shoved back some dried plants
and fishes into one bag, but carried off many other specimens we had
collected; some of our notes also, and nearly all our clothing.

We could not suspect the people of the village near which we lay. We had
probably been followed for days by the thieves watching for an
opportunity. And our suspicions fell on some persons who had come from
the East Coast; but ha