On the hill to which they retreated, according to Bonchamps but not mentioned by Moloney, the expedition cut off Msiri's head and hoisted it on a palisade in plain view, to show the people their king was dead. Bonchamps, who had written about the disgust of seeing how Msiri had put heads of his enemies on poles outside his boma, admitted this was barbaric, but claimed it was a necessary lesson aimed at those who had attacked the expedition 'without provocation'.René de Pont-Jest (1892): Section III, quoting Bonchamps. Moloney says only that it took eight men to carry Msiri's body back to the camp, and the dead man's face "seemed to wear a mocking smile which, somehow, was not easily forgotten". Moloney (1893), p. 193. Stairs does not mention the decapitation in his letter of 29 December to Arnot.
