Keedja waited to receive us by a blazing fire. Not having had anything to eat, we were uncommonly hungry, and to our great delight a basketful of ripe plantains was presented to us. These were the first that I had seen for many years. A gourd bottle of plantain wine was offered and immediately emptied; it resembled extremely poor cider. We were now surrounded by a mass of natives, no longer the naked savages to whom we had been accustomed, but well-dressed men, wearing robes of bark cloth, arranged in various fashions, generally like the Arab “tope” or the Roman toga. Several of the headmen now explained to us the atrocious treachery of Debono’s men, who had been welcomed as friends of Speke and Grant, but who had repaid the hospitality by plundering and massacring their hosts. I assured them that no one would be more wroth than Speke when I should make him aware of the manner in which his name had been used, and that I should make a point of reporting the circumstance to the British Government. At the same time I advised them not to trust any but white people should others arrive in my name or in the names of Speke and Grant. I upheld their character as that of Englishmen, and I begged them to state if ever they had deceived them. They replied that “there could not be better men.” I answered, “You MUST trust me, as I trust entirely in you, and have placed myself in your hands; but if you have ever had cause to mistrust a white man, kill me at once!–either kill me or trust in me; but let there be no suspicions.”<\/p>\n
They seemed much pleased with the conversation, and a man stepped forward and showed me a small string of blue beads that Speke bad given him for ferrying him across the river. This little souvenir of my old friend was most interesting. After a year’s wandering and many difficulties, this was the first time that I had actually come upon his track. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Keedja waited to receive us by a blazing fire. Not having had anything to eat, we were uncommonly hungry, and to our great delight a basketful of ripe plantains was presented to us. These were the first that I had…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[4],"yoast_head":"\n