The Bakuss smelt copper from the ore and sell it very cheaply to the traders for beads.  The project of going in canoes now appeared to the half-castes so plausible, that they all tried to get the Bagenya on the west bank to lend them, and all went over to mix blood and make friends with the owners, then all slandered me as not to be trusted, as they their blood-relations were; and my slaves mutinied and would go no further.  They mutinied three times here, and Hassani harboured them till I told him that, if an English officer harboured an Arab slave he would be compelled by the Consul to refund the price, and I certainly would not let him escape; this frightened him; but I was at the mercy of slaves who had no honour, and no interest in going into danger.

16th May, 1871.—­Abed gave me a frasilah of Matunda beads, and I returned fourteen fathoms of fine American sheeting, but it was an obligation to get beads from one whose wealth depended on exchanging beads for ivory.

16th May, 1871.—­At least 3000 people at market to-day, and my going among them has taken away the fear engendered by the slanders of slaves and traders, for all are pleased to tell me the names of the fishes and other things.  Lepidosirens are caught by the neck and lifted out of the pot to show their fatness.  Camwood ground and made into flat cakes for sale and earthen balls, such as are eaten in the disease safura or earth-eating, are offered and there is quite a roar of voices in the multitude, haggling.  It was pleasant to be among them compared to being with the slaves, who were all eager to go back to Zanzibar:  some told me that they were slaves, and required a free man to thrash them, and proposed to go back to Ujiji for one.  I saw no hope of getting on with them, and anxiously longed for the arrival of Dugumbe; and at last Abed overheard them plotting my destruction.  “If forced to go on, they would watch till the first difficulty arose with the Manyuema, then fire off their guns, run away, and as I could not run as fast as they, leave me to perish.”  Abed overheard them speaking loudly, and advised me strongly not to trust myself to them any more, as they would be sure to cause my death.  He was all along a sincere friend, and I could not but take his words as well-meant and true.

18th May, 1871.—­Abed gave me 200 cowries and some green beads.  I was at the point of disarming my slaves and driving them away, when they relented, and professed to be willing to go anywhere; so, being eager to finish my geographical work, I said I would run the risk of their desertion, and gave beads to buy provisions for a start north.  I cannot state how much I was worried by these wretched slaves, who did much to annoy me, with the sympathy of all the slaving crew.  When baffled by untoward circumstances the bowels plague me too, and discharges of blood relieve the headache, and are as safety-valves to the system.  I was nearly persuaded to allow Mr. Syme to operate on me when last in England, but an old friend told me that his own father had been operated on by the famous John Hunter, and died in consequence at the early age of forty.  His advice saved me, for this complaint has been my safety-valve.