Among other experiments which I was about to try in Africa was that of a good watch-dog on any unmannerly people who would insist upon coming into my tent at untimely hours and endangering valuables.  Especially did I wish to try the effect of its bark on the mighty Wagogo, who, I was told by certain Arabs, would lift the door of the tent and enter whether you wished them or not; who would chuckle at the fear they inspired, and say to you, “Hi, hi, white man, I never saw the like of you before; are there many more like you? where do you come from?” Also would they take hold of your watch and ask you with a cheerful curiosity, “What is this for, white man?” to which you of course would reply that it was to tell you the hour and minute.  But the Mgogo, proud of his prowess, and more unmannerly than a brute, would answer you with a snort of insult.  I thought of a watch-dog, and procured a good one at Bombay not only as a faithful companion, but to threaten the heels of just such gentry.

But soon after our arrival at Rosako it was found that the dog, whose name was “Omar,” given him from his Turkish origin, was missing; he had strayed away from the soldiers during a rain-squall and had got lost.  I despatched Mabruki Burton back to Kikoka to search for him.  On the following morning, just as we were about to leave Rosako, the faithful fellow returned with the lost dog, having found him at Kikoka.

Previous to our departure on the morning after this, Maganga, chief of the fourth caravan, brought me the unhappy report that three of his pagazis were sick, and he would like to have some “dowa”—­ medicine.  Though not a doctor, or in any way connected with the profession, I had a well-supplied medicine chest—­without which no traveller in Africa could live—­for just such a contingency as was now present.  On visiting Maganga’s sick men, I found one suffering from inflammation of the lungs, another from the mukunguru (African intermittent).  They all imagined themselves about to die, and called loudly for “Mama!” “Mama!” though they were all grown men.  It was evident that the fourth caravan could not stir that day, so leaving word with Magauga to hurry after me as soon as possible, I issued orders for the march of my own.

Excepting in the neighbourhood of the villages which we have passed there were no traces of cultivation.  The country extending between the several stations is as much a wilderness as the desert of Sahara, though it possesses a far more pleasing aspect.  Indeed, had the first man at the time of the Creation gazed at his world and perceived it of the beauty which belongs to this part of Africa, he would have had no cause of complaint.  In the deep thickets, set like islets amid a sea of grassy verdure, he would have found shelter from the noonday heat, and a safe retirement for himself and spouse during the awesome darkness.  In the morning he could have walked forth on the sloping sward, enjoyed its freshness, and performed his ablutions in one of the many small streams flowing at its foot.  His garden of fruit-trees is all that is required; the noble forests, deep and cool, are round about him, and in their shade walk as many animals as one can desire.  For days and days let a man walk in any direction, north, south, east, and west, and he will behold the same scene.