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WE REACH MAMBOYA.
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encamped. Immediately our men rushed out pell-mell to meet it, armed with boughs and sticks, and after an exciting contest succeeded in beating it down. Soon afterwards, while we were finishing our dinner, we saw all the men rushing madly off" in the direction of the villages, yelling and brandishing their spears and other weapons, intent on taking revenge upon the natives, who had twice this day fired the grass in the neighbourhood of our camp. Stokes dashed after them, calling out as he passed, "Gentlemen, my men are off, and I cannot stop them ; you may write that in your books." Alas, how often has the African traveller to write in his journal that his men have bolted; he is only fortunate if they do not take some of his valuables with them. I think our porters reckoned on the support both moral and physical of the white men ; but when they saw that we were determined to prevent their attacking the natives, they obeyed their head men and came quietly back, and so ended what to us had been a very exciting day. We travelled on slowly, passing by the hills of Enguru to the beautiful mountain region of Mamboya, which is the first English mission station on this route. It is situated on the side of a lofty hill, which rises far above it; and, standing on the verandah of the house, we looked sheer down into a circular valley enclosed by a glorious panorama of mountains, which tower one above another, and stretch away mountain beyond mountain until they lose themselves in the blue distance.