Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1876-08-30

concluded that the main force OF the
savages was hidden behind the grove.
Calling the canoes together, l told the
| chiefs to follow my boat and steer eX-
| actly as l steered, and by no means to
| attempt to land, as did not intend
that a single soul with me should be
hurt. ! wished to punish Bumbireh,
not to punish myself; and if subject
of Mtesa was lost how should l pre-
sent myself to him? And l could not
afford to lose single soldier of my
own.
Accordingly, l rowed straight to the
port, the canoes following closely. and
we became hid from view of those i'm
the plantain grove and of all lookouts:
then, turning west, we skirted close to
the land for mile, until we came to a
cape, after rounding which we came in
view of noble bay, into which we
steered. BY this maneuver / managed
to come behind the enemy, who was
revealed in all his strength. Perceiv-
ing that the savages of Bumbireh were
too strong for me 10 attack them in the
plantaln grove, l steered for the oppo-
site shore of the bay, where there were
bare slopes of hills covered with short
green grass. The savages, perceiving
my intention to disembark on the op-
pOsite shore, rose from their cOverts
and ran along the hill-slopes to meet
us, which was precisely what | wished
they would do, and accordingly / or
dered my force to paddle slowly, so as
to give them time. In half an hour
the savages were all assembled on the
bare slope of a hill, in knots and
groups, and after approaching within
100 yards of the shore | formed my
line Of battle, the American and En-
glish flags waving as our ensigns
Having anchored each canoe so as to
turn its broadside to the shore, | or
dered a volley to be fired at one group
which numbered about fifty, and the
result was ten killed and thirty wound
ed. The savages, perceiving our aim,
and the danger of standing in groups,
separated themselves along the lake
shore, and advanced to the waters
edge, singing stones and shooting ar
rows. then ordered the canoes to
advance within fifty yards of the shore
and to fire as if they were shooting
birds. After an hour the savages saw
that they could not defend themselves
at the waters edge, and retreated up
the hill-slope, where they continued
still exposed to our bullets.
Another hour was passed in this
manner. ! then caused the canoes to
come together, and told them to adj
vance i'll body to the shore us if they
were about to disembark. This caused
the enemy to make an effort to repulse
our landing, and, accordingly, hun
dreds came down with their spears
ready on the launch. When they were
close to the waters edge the bugle
sounded a halt, and another volley was
fired into the dense crowd, which had
such disastrous effect on them that
they retired far up the hill, and our
work of punishment was consum-
mated.
About 100 cartridges were fired, but
us the savages were so exposed, on a
slope with only short grass, and as the
sun in the afternoon was directly be-
hind us and in their faces, their loss
was very great. Forty-two were count
ed on the field, lying dead, and over
100 were seen to retire wounded, while
on our side only two men suffered con-
tusions from stones slung at us. Thus
| had not only the King and one chief
of the Bumbireh in my power. but l
had the son of Antari and an important
chief of his also, besides furnishing the
natives SO severely.
When our force saw that the saw
ages were defeated the chiefs begged
earnestly that | would permit them to
land and destroy the people altogether;
but | refused, saying that l had not
come to destroy the island, but to pun
ish them for their treachery and at
tempted murder of myself and the
boats crew, when we had put faith in
their professed friendship. 1t was
dark when we arrived at our camp,
but at the sound of our bugle lights
flew all over Island Camp, where we
presently arrived, and where we were
received with shouts and songs of
triumph.
The next morning, more canoes hay
ing arrived from Uganda, | embarked
the entire expedition and sailed from
Mahyiga Island. Our feet of canoes
now numbered thirty-two, and as we
steered close to Bumbireh | had an
opportunity of observing the effect of
the punishment on the natives, and |
was gratified to see chat their boldness
and audacity were completely crushed,
for one bullet put to flight over 100 of
them, whereas the day before they had
bravely stood before volley. Others
who came down to the shore begged
us to go away, and not to hunt them
any more. which gave me an oppor-