Second, the Masika, or rainy season, would soon be on me, which, if
it caught me at Bagamoyo, would prevent my departure until it was
over, which meant a delay of forty days, and exaggerated as the
rains were by all men with whom I came in contact, it rained every
day for forty days without intermission. This I knew was a thing
to dread; for I had my memory stored with all kinds of rainy
unpleasantnesses. For instance, there was the rain of Virginia and
its concomitant horrors--wetness, mildew, agues, rheumatics,
and such like; then there were the English rains, a miserable drizzle
causing the blue devils; then the rainy season of Abyssinia with the
flood-gates of the firmament opened, and an universal down-pour of
rain, enough to submerge half a continent in a few hours; lastly,
there was the pelting monsoon of India, a steady shut-in-house
kind of rain. To which of these rains should I compare this
dreadful Masika of East Africa? Did not Burton write much about
black mud in Uzaramo? Well, a country whose surface soil is
called black mud in fine weather, what can it be called when forty
days' rain beat on it, and feet of pagazis and donkeys make paste
of it? These were natural reflections, induced by the circumstances
of the hour, and I found myself much exercised in mind in consequence.

Ali bin Salim, true to his promise, visited my camp on the morrow,
with a very important air, and after looking at the pile of cloth
bales, informed me that I must have them covered with mat-bags. He
said he would send a man to have them measured, but he enjoined me
not to make any bargain for the bags, as he would make it all
right.

While awaiting with commendable patience the 140 pagazis