On pondering over the whole subject, I see that, tiresome as it is to wait, it is better to do so than go south and then west, for if I should go I shall miss seeing Moero, which is said to be three days from Nsama’s present abode.  His people go there for salt, and I could not come to it from the south without being known to them, and perhaps considered to be an Arab.  Hamees remarked that it was the Arab way first to smooth the path before entering upon it; sending men and presents first, thereby ascertaining the disposition of the inhabitants.  He advises patience, and is in hopes of making a peace with Nsama.  That his hopes are not unreasonable, he mentioned that when the disturbance began, Nsama sent men with two tusks to the village whence he had just been expelled, offering thereby to make the matter up, but the Arabs, suspecting treachery, fired upon the carriers and killed them, then ten goats and one tusk were sent with the same object, and met with a repulse; Hamees thinks that had he been there himself the whole matter would have been settled amicably.

All complain of cold here.  The situation is elevated, and we are behind a clump of trees on the rivulet Chiloa, which keeps the sun off us in the mornings.  This cold induces the people to make big fires in their huts, and frequently their dwellings are burned.  Minimum temperature is as low as 46 deg.; sometimes 33 deg.

24th June, 1867.—­The Arabs are all busy reading their Koran, or Kuran, and in praying for direction; to-morrow they will call a meeting to deliberate as to what steps they will take in the Nsama affair.  Hamees, it seems, is highly thought of by that chief, who says, “Let him come, and all will be right.”  Hamees proposes to go with but a few people.  These Zanzibar men are very different from the slavers of the Waiyau country.

25th June, 1867.—­The people, though called, did not assemble, but they will come to-morrow.

Young wagtails nearly full-fledged took wing, leaving one in the nest; from not being molested by the people they took no precautions, and ran out of the nest on the approach of the old ones, making a loud chirping.  The old ones tried to induce the last one to come out too, by flying to the nest, and then making a sally forth, turning round immediately to see if he followed:  he took a few days longer.

It was decided at the meeting that Hamees, with a few people only, should go to Nsama on the first day after the appearance of the new moon (they are very particular on this point); the present month having been an unhappy one they will try the next.

28th June, 1867.—­A wedding took place among the Arabs to-day.  About a hundred blank cartridges were fired off, and a procession of males, dressed in their best, marched through the village.  They sang with all their might, though with but little music in the strain.  Women sprinkled grain on their heads as wishes for plenty.[54]