His ramrod had been broken in
the struggle when the chief seized his gun, and to his great
astonishment I now showed him the piece that we had picked up on the
pool of blood. He had made an excellent loading-rod with his hunting
knife by shaping a sapling of hard wood, and had reloaded his gun; thus
with a good supply of ammunition he had not much fear of the natives.
Kamrasi had evidently heard the true account of the affair.
Late in the evening we heard from a native that the whole of Kalloe's
cattle that he had driven from Foweera had been captured by the enemy on
their way to the river island, and that one of his sons and several
natives who had driven them were killed;--this was the result of his
precipitate flight.
The M'was followed up their advantages with uninterrupted success,
overrunning the entire country even to the shores of the Albert lake,
and driving off the cattle, together with all the women that had not
taken refuge upon the numerous islands of the Victoria Nile. During this
time, Kamrasi and his wives, together with his principal chiefs, resided
in the misery of mosquitoes and malaria on the river; great numbers of
people died of disease and starvation.
M'Gambi appeared frequently at our camp in order to procure corn, and
from him we received reports of the distress of the people; his
appearance had much changed; he looked half starved, and complained that
he had nothing to drink but Nile water, as they had neither corn, nor
pots in which they could make merissa, and the M'was had destroyed all
the plantains, therefore they could not prepare cider.
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