Hatibu and his companions had as many questions to ask about the fate of those they had left behind, and how the road was in front. The road, we heard, was good, and the people peaceful, the only trouble that had lately occurred being an attack made on a caravan by the Watuta (a predatory nomad tribe), who had been beaten off with severe loss, and would not likely give trouble again for a long time.
All indeed seemed _couleur de rose_, and when I slept at night I looked upon the time as being close at hand when I again should see my countrymen and hear my native tongue.
Although Hatibu professed himself as desirous of pressing on as I did, I found he managed to have so much business to do at Kawele that we were detained there for weeks instead of days, as I had at first supposed. Though I was well lodged and well fed, and by the kindness of the Arabs well clothed, I was always longing for the time when we should again be on the march.
Hatibu here disposed of all his slaves, and to take their places in carrying the ivory, he hired Wanyamwesi who wished to return to their own country. I must say I was heartily glad to be freed from daily witnessing the hopeless toil of the poor wretches.
Loyal comrades as Hatibu and Bilal had proved themselves to me, I could not put up with the apathy with which they regarded the sufferings of these wretched creatures, and thought no more, if so much, of their life or death than if they were brute beasts. To my many remonstrances they would only say, “What does it matter? they are only heathens and slaves;” and though they did not interfere with my doing what I could to alleviate their sufferings, they regarded my efforts with contemptuous indifference, and I verily believe in my own heart they thought I was an idiot for troubling myself about them.
Now we were clear of this. Instead of half-starved, chained wretches, our ivory was to be carried by stalwart Wanyamwesi, who from their very childhood had been in the habit of travelling and carrying heavy loads, supplying the Arabs with the best pagazi or porters that they find in Eastern Africa. A tusk weighing over fifty or sixty pounds, or even below these weights, had to be carried by two slaves; while the brawny fellows who now were to act as our carriers looked upon seventy or eighty pounds as a normal load. One fellow by himself actually carried a monster tusk weighing a hundred and twenty-five pounds, and seemed to find a recompense for his extra toil in the pride he took in carrying the largest piece of ivory we had.