On this day also I purchased from Kipingiri, for 40 yards of cloth, a large canoe capable of carrying thirty men, which the Wangwana, on account of her uncouth shape, called the “Hippopotamus.” The wood of which she was made was sycamore, and she was so rotten at the stern that one thrust of my foot kicked a hole in her 9 inches in diameter. Though she was an ancient craft, and heavy with saturation, she might, I thought, be still made serviceable for the transport of the riding asses. Whilst Uledi and Salaam Allah, the carpenters, and two or three chiefs, were assisting me to repair the venerable “Hippo” in a hollow close to the water’s edge, a man came rushing down, crying, “Quick! quick! Master, the Wangwana are murdering one another! They are all dead men!” Leaving one man to look after our tools, we ran up the hill, and witnessed a most horrible scene. About thirty men armed with guns were threatening one another in an excited manner; others brandished clubs or knobsticks; some held spears menacingly, while several flourished knives. A frenzy seemed to have possessed the hitherto well-behaved people. One man was already dead with a ghastly knife-wound in his heart, another lay prostrate with a fractured skull from a knobstick, and the author of this deed was even then striding with sweeping flourishes of a long club through the ranks of a turbulent crowd, delivering sounding blows on their heads and shoulders. Snatching a stout stick, I rapped the ruffian so vigorously over his knuckles that he dropped his club and was secured by my assistants, and then, calling the chiefs to my aid, we disarmed the infuriates. This summary proceeding soon quelled the disturbance, and then, perceiving that pombé—beer—was at the bottom of the mischief, all who were sober were ordered to fall into line, by which we discovered that fifty-three were quite intoxicated. Upon examination it was found that the murderer of Membé, one of the stoutest of our boat-bearers, was Fundi Rehani, and that he who had fractured the other man’s skull was Rehani, the brother of Membé. Both were immediately secured for trial before Prince Kaduma, the Arab Sungoro, and the Wangwana chiefs. The jars of pombé were broken, and diligent search made in every place for beer. This bloodshed upon the soil of Usukuma had to be paid for out of my cloth stores to mollify Prince Kaduma, and further payment was required for the privilege of burial.