This desertion having been planned, they came to me in a body,
just as the camels and Jali were about to depart, and commenced
a series of absurd excuses for their intended desertion. The old
grey-headed Moosa, by whose fortune-telling and sorcery the party
were invariably guided, had foretold evil. This had confirmed
them in their determination to return home. They were not a bad
set of fellows, but, like most of their class, they required
peculiar management. If natives are driven, they invariably hate
their master, and turn sulky; if you give in to them, they lose
respect, and will never obey. They are exceedingly subject to
sudden impulses, under the influence of which they are utterly
unreasonable. As the expedition depends for success entirely upon
the union of the party, it is highly necessary to obtain so
complete a control over every individual, that the leader shall
be regarded with positive reverence, and his authority in all
matters accepted as supreme. To gain such a complete ascendancy
is a work of time, and is no easy matter, as an extreme amount of
tact and judgment is necessary, combined with great kindness and
common sense, with, at times, great severity.
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