1861.
"My dear Speke,--The caravan was attacked, plundered, and the men driven to the winds, while marching this morning into M'yonga's country.
"Awaking at cock-crow, I roused the camp, all anxious to rejoin you; and while the loads were being packed, my attention was drawn to an angry discussion between the head men and seven or eight armed fellows sent by Sultan M'yonga, to insist upon my putting up for the day in his village.
They were summarily told that as YOU had already made him a present, he need not expect a visit from ME.

Adhering, I doubt not, to their master's instructions, they officiously constituted themselves our guides till we chose to strike off their path, when, quickly heading our party, they stopped the way, planted their spears, and DARED our advance! "This menace made us firmer in our determination, and we swept past the spears.

After we had marched unmolested for some seven miles, a loud yelping from the woods excited our attention, and a sudden rush was made upon us by, say two hundred men, who came down seemingly in great glee.
In an instant, at the caravan's centre, they fastened upon the poor porters.

The struggle was short; and with the threat of an arrow or spear at their breasts, men were robbed of their cloths and ornaments, loads were yielded and run away with before resistance could be organised; only three men of a hundred stood by me, the others, whose only thought was their lives, fled into the woods, where I went shouting for them.

One man, little Rahan--rip as he is--stood with cocked gun, defending his load, against five savages with uplifted spears.