Having found from the Arabs that they intended to finish the war quickly—­at most within fifteen days, as Uyoweh was only four marches distant—­I volunteered to accompany them, take my loaded caravan with me as far as Mfuto, and there leave it in charge of a few guards, and with the rest march on with the Arab army.  And my hope was, that it might be possible, after the defeat of Mirambo, and his forest banditti—­the Ruga-Ruga—­to take my Expedition direct to Ujiji by the road now closed.  The Arabs were sanguine of victory, and I partook of their enthusiasm.

The council of war broke up.  A great dishful of rice and curry, in which almonds, citron, raisins, and currants were plentifully mixed, was brought in, and it was wonderful how soon we forgot our warlike fervor after our attention had been drawn to this royal dish.  I, of course, not being a Mohammedan, had a dish of my own, of a similar composition, strengthened by platters containing roast chicken, and kabobs, crullers, cakes, sweetbread, fruit, glasses of sherbet and lemonade, dishes of gum-drops and Muscat sweetmeats, dry raisins, prunes, and nuts.  Certainly Khamis bin Abdullah proved to me that if he had a warlike soul in him, he could also attend to the cultivated tastes acquired under the shade of the mangoes on his father’s estates in Zanzibar—­the island.

After gorging ourselves on these uncommon dainties some of the chief Arabs escorted me to other tembes of Tabora.  When we went to visit Mussoud bin Abdullah, he showed me the very ground where Burton and Speke’s house stood—­now pulled down and replaced by his office—­Sny bin Amer’s house was also torn down, and the fashionable tembe of Unyanyembe, now in vogue, built over it,—­finely-carved rafters—­huge carved doors, brass knockers, and lofty airy rooms—­a house built for defence and comfort.

The finest house in Unyanyembe belongs to Amram bin Mussoud, who paid sixty frasilah of ivory—­over $3,000—­for it.  Very fair houses can be purchased for from twenty to thirty frasilah of ivory.  Amram’s house is called the “Two Seas”—­“Baherein.”  It is one hundred feet in length, and twenty feet high, with walls four feet thick, neatly plastered over with mud mortar.  The great door is a marvel of carving-work for Unyanyembe artisans.  Each rafter within is also carved with fine designs.  Before the front of the house is a young plantation of pomegranate trees, which flourish here as if they were indigenous to the soil.  A shadoof, such as may be seen on the Nile, serves to draw water to irrigate the gardens.

Towards evening we walked back to our own finely situated tembe in Kwihara, well satisfied with what we had seen at Tabora.  My men drove a couple of oxen, and carried three sacks of native rice—­a most superior kind—­the day’s presents of hospitality from Khamis bin Abdullah.

In Unyanyembe I found the Livingstone caravan, which started off in a fright from Bagamoyo upon the rumour that the English Consul was coming.  As all the caravans were now halted at Unyanyembe because of the now approaching war, I suggested to Sayd bin Salim, that it were better that the men of the Livingstone caravan should live with mine in my tembe, that I might watch over the white man’s goods.  Sayd bin Salim agreed with me, and the men and goods were at once brought to my tembe.