say so"--though Mokamba knows nothing about me! It is uncertain whether
I can get down through by Loanda, and great risk would be run in going
to those who cut off the party of Moenegheré, so I have come to the
conclusion that it will be better for me to go to Manyuema about a
fortnight hence, and, if possible, trace down the western arm of the
Nile to the north--if this arm is indeed that of the Nile, and not of
the Congo. Nobody here knows anything about it, or, indeed, about the
eastern or Tanganyika line either; they all confess that they have but
one question in their minds in going anywhere, they ask for ivory and
for nothing else, and each trip ends as a foray. Moenegheré's last trip
ended disastrously, twenty-six of his men being cut off; in extenuation
he says that it was not his war but Mokamba's: he wished to be allowed
to go down through Loanda, and as the people in front of Mokamba and
Usigé own his supremacy, he said, "Send your force with mine and let us
open the way," so they went on land and were killed. An attempt was made
to induce Syde bin Habib to clear the way, and be paid in ivory, but
Syde likes to battle with those who will soon run away and leave the
spoil to him.

The Manyuema are said to be friendly where they have not been attacked
by Arabs: a great chief is reported as living on a large river flowing
northwards, I hope to make my way to him, and I feel exhilarated at the
thought of getting among people not spoiled by contact with Arab
traders. I would not hesitate to run the risk of getting through Loanda,
the continuation of Usigé beyond Mokamba's, had blood not been shed so
very recently there; but it would at present be a great danger, and to
explore some sixty miles of the Tanganyika line only. If I return
hither from Manyuema my goods and fresh men from Zanzibar will have
arrived, and I shall be better able to judge as to the course to be
pursued after that. Mokamba is about twenty, miles beyond Uvira; the