were suffering for want
of rain. We could purchase plenty of rice for the sepoys, and well it
was so, for the supply which was to last till we arrived at Ngomano
was finished on the 13th. An old doctor, with our food awaiting,
presented me with two large bags of rice and his wife husked it for
us.

_17th April, 1866._--I had to leave the camels in the hands of the
sepoys: I ordered them to bring as little luggage as possible, and the
Havildar assured me that two buffaloes were amply sufficient to carry
all they would bring. I now find that they have more than full loads
for two buffaloes, two mules, and two donkeys; but when these animals
fall down under them, they assure me with so much positiveness that
they are not overloaded, that I have to be silent, or only, as I have
several times done before, express the opinion that they will kill
these animals. This observation on my part leads them to hide their
things in the packs of the camels, which also are over-burdened. I
fear that my experiment with the tsetse will be vitiated, but no
symptoms yet occur in any of the camels except weariness.[6] The sun
is very sharp; it scorches. Nearly all the sepoys had fever, but it is
easily cured; they never required to stop marching, and we cannot make
over four or five miles a day, which movement aids in the cure. In all
cases of fever removal from the spot of attack should be made: after
the fever among the sepoys, the Nassick boys took their turn along
with the Johannees.

_18th April, 1866._--Ben Ali misled us away up to the north in spite
of my protest, when we turned in that direction; he declared that was
the proper path. We had much wood-cutting, and found that our course
that day and next was to enable him to visit and return from one of
his wives--a comely Makonde woman! He brought her to call on me, and I
had to be polite to the lady, though we lost a day by the zigzag. This
is one way by which the Arabs gain influence; a great many very
light-coloured people are strewed among the Makonde, but only one of
these had the Arab hair. On asking Ali whether any attempts had been
made by Arabs to convert those with whom they enter into such intimate
relationships, he replied that the Makonde had no idea of a Deity--no
one could teach them, though Makonde slaves when taken to the coast
and elsewhere were made Mahometans. Since the slave-trade was
introduced this tribe has much diminished in numbers, and one village
makes w