For many days after his arrival he was busily engaged in selecting the members of his new expedition and those who were to act as carriers and soldiers. Among those selected, he gave preference to such as had been with him on the Search Expedition, and had been despatched to the assistance of Livingstone in 1872. Out of these the chiefs were selected. And to these the customary presents had to be distributed. Ulimengo, or the “World,” the incorrigible joker and hunter in chief of the Search and Livingstone’s expeditions, was given a gold ring to encircle one of his thick black fingers, and a silver chain to suspend round his neck, which caused his mouth to expand gratefully. Rojab, who was soon reminded of the unlucky accident with Livingstone’s Journal in the muddy waters of the Mukondokwa, was endowed with a munificent gift which won him over to Mr. Stanley’s service beyond fear of bribery. Manwa Sera, the redoubtable ambassador of Speke and Grant to Manwa Sera--the royal fugitive distressed by the hot pursuit of the Arabs--the leader of his second caravan in 1871, the chief of the party sent to Unyanyembe to the assistance of Livingstone in 1872, and now appointed Chief Captain of the Anglo-American Expedition, was rendered temporarily speechless with gratitude because a splendid necklace had been suspended from his neck and a heavy seal ring placed upon one of his fingers. And thus Mr. Stanley proceeded to endow each one of his old followers with some suitable gift of such a character as would both please them and strengthen their attachment towards himself. Mr. Stanley, in speaking of the usual preliminary deliberative palaver, or, as the Wangwana call it, “Shauri,” held before the final execution of all great enterprises, says:-- “The chiefs arranged themselves in a semicircle on the day of the Shauri, and I sat _à la Turque_ fronting them. ‘What is it, my friends? Speak your minds.’ They hemmed and hawed, looked at one another, as if on their neighbors’ faces they might discover the purport of their coming; but, all hesitating to begin, finally broke down in a loud laugh. “Manwa Sera, always grave, unless hit dextrously with a joke, hereupon affected anger, and said, ‘You speak, son of Safeni. Verily, we act like children! Will the master eat us?’ “Wadi, son of Safeni, thus encouraged to perform the spokesman’s duty, hesitates exactly two seconds, and then ventures with diplomatic blandness and _graciosity_: ‘We have come, master, with words. Listen. It is well we should know every step before we leap. A traveller journeys not without knowing whither he wanders. We have come to ascertain what lands you are bound for!’