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The Discovery of the Source of the Nile

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Title: The Discovery of the Source of the Nile

Author: John Hanning Speke


        
Release date: June 1, 2002 [eBook #3284]
                Most recently updated: December 9, 2011

Language: English

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Credits: Produced by Laura Shaffer, J.C. Byers, and David Widger


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Produced by Laura Shaffer and J.C. Byers





THE DISCOVERY OF THE SOURCE OF THE NILE

By John Hanning Speke



John Hanning Speke, born 1827. Served in the Punjab but left in 1854
to explore Somaliland. Discovered Lake Tanganyika with Burton, and Lake
Victoria independently. Was, with Grant, the first European to cross
equatorial africa. Died 1864.




Editor's Note


John Hanning Speke was a man of thirty-six, when his Nile Journal
appeared. He had entered the army in 1844, and completed ten years of
service in India, serving through the Punjab Campaign. Already he had
conceived the idea of exploring Africa, before his ten years were up,
and on their conclusion he was appointed a member of the expedition
preparing to start under Sir Richard (then Lieutenant Burton) for the
Somali country. He was wounded by the Somalis, and returned to England
on sick leave; the Crimean War then breaking out, be served through it,
and later, December 1856, joined another expedition under Burton. Then
it was that the possibility of the source of the Nile being traced to
one of the inland lakes seems to have struck him.

Burton's illness prevented him accompanying Speke on the latter's visit
to the lake now known as Victoria Nyanza. During this expedition Speke
reached the most southerly point of the lake, and gave it its present
name. Speke arrived back in England in the spring of 1859, Burton being
left behind on account of his illness. The relations between the two had
become strained, and this was accentuated by Speke's hast to publish
the account of his explorations. He was given the command of another
expedition which left England in April 1860, in company with Captain
James Augustus Grant, to ascertain still further if the Victoria Nyanza
were indeed the source of the Nile. He met Sir Samuel Baker, to whom
he gave valuable assistance, and who with his clue discovered the third
lake, Albert Nyanza.

Speke telegraphed early in 1863, that the Nile source was traced.
Returning to England that year he met with an ovation, and addressed a
special meeting of the Geographical Society, and the same year, 1863,
published his "Journal of the Discovery of the Nile." Opposed in
his statements by Burton and M'Queen ("The Nile Basin, 1864"), it was
arranged that he and Burton should meet for a debate, when on the very
day fixed, Speke accidentally shot himself while out partridge-shooting.

Sir R. Murchison, addressing the Royal Geographical Society that year,
speaks of Speke's discovery of the source of the Nile as solving the
"problem of all ages."

Only two books were published by Speke--the "Journal" of 1863, which
follows, and its sequel--"What Led to the Discovery of the Source of the
Nile," which appeared in the year of his death, 1864.




Introduction.


In the following pages I have endeavoured to describe all that appeared
to me most important and interesting among the events and the scenes
that came under my notice during my sojourn in the interior of Africa.
If my account should not entirely harmonise with preconceived notions as
to primitive races, I cannot help it. I profess accurately to describe
native Africa--Africa in those places where it has not received the
slightest impulse, whether for good or evil, from European civilisation.
If the picture be a dark one, we should, when contemplating these sons
of Noah, try and carry our mind back to that time when our poor elder
brother Ham was cursed by his father, and condemned to be the slave
of both Shem and Japheth; for as they were then, so they appear to be
now--a strikingly existing proof of the Holy Scriptures. But one thing
must be remembered: Whilst the people of Europe and Asia were blessed
by communion with God through the medium of His prophets, and obtained
divine laws to regulate their ways and keep them in mind of Him who
made them, the Africans were excluded from this dispensation, and
consequently have no idea of an overruling Providence or a future
state; they therefore trust to luck and to charms, and think only of
self-preservation in this world. Whatever, then, may be said against
them for being too avaricious or too destitute of fellow-feeling, should
rather reflect on ourselves, who have been so much better favoured,
yet have neglected to teach them, than on those who, whilst they are
sinning, know not what they are doing. To say a negro is incapable
of instruction, is a mere absurdity; for those few boys who have been
educated in our schools have proved themselves even quicker than our own
at learning; whilst, amongst themselves, the deepness of their cunning
and their power of repartee are quite surprising, and are especially
shown in their proficiency for telling lies most appropriately in
preference to truth, and with an off-handed manner that makes them most
amusing.

With these remarks, I now give, as an appropriate introduction to my
narrative--(1.) An account of the general geographical features of the
countries we are about to travel in, leaving the details to be treated
under each as we successively pass through them; (2.) A general view of
the atmospheric agents which wear down and so continually help to reduce
the continent, yet at the same time assist to clothe it with vegetation;
(3.) A general view of the Flora; and, lastly, that which consumes it,
(4.) Its Fauna; ending with a few special remarks on the Wanguana, or
men freed from slavery.




Geography

The continent of Africa is something like a dish turned upside down,
having a high and flat central plateau, with a higher rim of hills
surrounding it; from below which, exterially, it suddenly slopes down
to the flat strip of land bordering on the sea. A dish, however, is
generally uniform in shape--Africa is not. For instance, we find in
its centre a high group of hills surrounding the head of the Tanganyika
Lake, composed chiefly of argillaceous sandstones which I suppose to
be the Lunae Montes of Ptolemy, or the Soma Giri of the ancient Hindus.
Further, instead of a rim at the northern end, the country shelves down
from the equator to the Mediterranean Sea; and on the general surface of
the interior plateau there are basins full of water (lakes), from which,
when rains overflow them, rivers are formed, that, cutting through the
flanking rim of hills, find their way to the sea.




Atmospheric Agents

On the east coast, near Zanzibar, we find the rains following the track
of the sun, and lasting not more than forty days on any part that
the sun crosses; whilst the winds blow from south-west or north-east,
towards the regions heated by its vertical position. But in the centre
of the continent, within 5 deg. of the equator, we find the rains much more
lasting. For instance, at 5 deg. south latitude, for the whole six months
that the sun is in the south, rain continues to fall, and I have heard
that the same takes place at 5 deg. north; whilst on the equator, or rather
a trifle to northward of it, it rains more or less the whole year round,
but most at the equinoxes, as shown in the table on the following page.
The winds, though somewhat less steady, are still very determinable.
With an easterly tending, they deflect north and south, following the
sun. In the drier season they blow so cold that the sun's heat is not
distressing; and in consequence of this, and the average altitude of the
plateau, which is 3000 feet, the general temperature of the atmosphere
is very pleasant, as I found from experience; for I walked every inch
of the journey dressed in thick woollen clothes, and slept every night
between blankets.

The Number of Days on which Rain fell (more or less) during the March of
the East African Expedition from Zanzibar to Gondokoro.

  1860      Days on     1861        Days on   1862         Days on
             which                   which                  which
           rain fell               rain fell              rain fell

   ***       ***         January     19         January       14
   ***       ***         February    21         February [1]  12
   ***       ***         March       17         March         21
   ***       ***         April       17         April         27
   ***       ***         May          3         May           26
   ***       ***         June         0         June          20
   ***       ***         July         1         July          22
   ***       ***         August       1         August        20
   ***       ***         September    9         September     18
   October    2          October     11         October       27
   November   0          November    17         November      20
   December  20          December    16         December       6




Flora

From what has been said regarding the condition of the atmosphere, it
may readily be imagined that Africa, in those parts, after all, is not
so bad as people supposed it was; for, when so much moisture falls under
a vertical sun, all vegetable life must grow up almost spontaneously. It
does so on the equator in the most profuse manner; but down at 5 deg. south,
where there are six months' drought, the case is somewhat different; and
the people would be subject to famines if they did not take advantage of
their rainy season to lay in sufficient stores for the fine: and here we
touch on the misfortune of the country; for the negro is too lazy to do
so effectively, owing chiefly, as we shall see presently, to want of a
strong protecting government. One substantial fact has been established,
owing to our having crossed over ten degrees of latitude in the centre
of the continent, or from 5 deg. south to 5 deg. north latitude, which is this:
There exists a regular gradation of fertility, surprisingly rich on the
equator, but decreasing systematically from it; and the reason why this
great fertile zone is confined to the equatorial regions, is the same as
that which has constituted it the great focus of water or lake supply,
whence issue the principal rivers of Africa. On the equator lie the
rainbearing influences of the Mountains of the Moon. The equatorial line
is, in fact, the centre of atmospheric motion.




Fauna

In treating of this branch of natural history, we will first take
man--the true curly-head, flab-nosed, pouch-mouthed negro--not the
Wahuma. [2] They are well distributed all over these latitudes, but are
not found anywhere in dense communities. Their system of government is
mostly of the patriarchal character. Some are pastorals, but most are
agriculturalists; and this difference, I believe, originates solely from
want of a stable government, to enable them to reap what they produce;
for where the negro can save his cattle, which is his wealth, by eating
grain, he will do it. In the same way as all animals, whether wild or
tame, require a guide to lead their flocks, so do the negroes find it
necessary to have chiefs over their villages and little communities,
who are their referees on all domestic or political questions. They have
both their district and their village chiefs, but, in the countries we
are about to travel over, no kings such as we shall find that the Wahuma
have. The district chief is absolute, though guided in great measure by
his "grey-beards," who constantly attend his residence, and talk over
their affairs of state. These commonly concern petty internal matters;
for they are too selfish and too narrow-minded to care for anything but
their own private concerns. The grey-beards circulate the orders of the
chief amongst the village chiefs, who are fined when they do not comply
with them; and hence all orders are pretty well obeyed.

One thing only tends to disorganise the country, and that is war,
caused, in the first instance, by polygamy, producing a family of
half-brothers, who, all aspiring to succeed their father, fight
continually with one another, and make their chief aim slaves and
cattle; whilst, in the second instance, slavery keeps them ever fighting
and reducing their numbers. The government revenues are levied, on
a very small scale, exclusively for the benefit of the chief and his
grey-beards. For instance, as a sort of land-tax, the chief has a right
to drink free from the village brews of pombe (a kind of beer made by
fermentation), which are made in turn by all the villagers successively.
In case of an elephant being killed, he also takes a share of the meat,
and claims one of its tusks as his right; further, all leopard, lion, or
zebra skins are his by right. On merchandise brought into the country by
traders, he has a general right to make any exactions he thinks he has
the power of enforcing, without any regard to justice or a regulated
tariff. This right is called Hongo, in the plural Mahongo. Another
source of revenue is in the effects of all people condemned for sorcery,
who are either burnt, or speared and cast into the jungles, and their
property seized by the grey-beards for their chief.

As to punishments, all irreclaimable thieves or murderers are killed
and disposed of in the same manner as these sorcerers; whilst on minor
thieves a penalty equivalent to the extent of the depredation is levied.
Illicit intercourse being treated as petty larceny, a value is fixed
according to the value of the woman--for it must be remembered all
women are property. Indeed, marriages are considered a very profitable
speculation, the girl's hand being in the father's gift, who marries
her to any one who will pay her price. This arrangement, however, is not
considered a simple matter of buying and selling, but delights in the
high-sounding title of "dowry." Slaves, cows, goats, fowls, brass wire,
or beads, are the usual things given for this species of dowry. The
marriage-knot, however, is never irretrievably tied; for if the wife
finds a defect in her husband, she can return to her father by refunding
the dowry; whilst the husband, if he objects to his wife, can claim
half-price on sending her home again, which is considered fair, because
as a second-hand article her future value would be diminished by half.
By this system, it must be observed, polygamy is a source of wealth,
since a man's means are measured by the number of his progeny; but it
has other advantages besides the dowry, for the women work more than the
men do, both in and out of doors; and, in addition to the females, the
sons work for the household until they marry, and in after life take
care of their parents in the same way as in the first instance the
parents took care of them.

Twins are usually hailed with delight, because they swell the power of
the family, though in some instances they are put to death. Albinos are
valued, though their colour is not admired. If death occurs in a natural
manner, the body is usually either buried in the village or outside. A
large portion of the negro races affect nudity, despising clothing as
effeminate; but these are chiefly the more boisterous roving pastorals,
who are too lazy either to grow cotton or strip the trees of their bark.
Their young women go naked; but the mothers suspend a little tail both
before and behind. As the hair of the negro will not grow long, a barber
might be dispensed with, were it not that they delight in odd fashions,
and are therefore continually either shaving it off altogether, or else
fashioning it after the most whimsical designs. No people in the world
are so proud and headstrong as the negroes, whether they be pastoral or
agriculturalists. With them, as with the rest of the world, "familiarity
breeds contempt"; hospitality lives only one day; for though proud of a
rich or white visitor--and they implore him to stop, that they may keep
feeding their eyes on his curiosities--they seldom give more than a cow
or a goat, though professing to supply a whole camp with provisions.

Taking the negroes as a whole, one does not find very marked or much
difference in them. Each tribe has its characteristics, it is true. For
instance, one cuts his teeth or tattoos his face in a different manner
from the others; but by the constant intermarriage with slaves, much
of this effect is lost, and it is further lost sight of owing to the
prevalence of migrations caused by wars and the division of governments.
As with the tribal marks so with their weapons; those most commonly in
use are the spear, assage, shield, bow and arrow. It is true some affect
one, some the other; but in no way do we see that the courage of tribes
can be determined by the use of any particular weapon: for the bravest
use the arrow, which is the more dreaded; while the weakest confine
themselves to the spear. Lines of traffic are the worst tracks (there
are no roads in the districts here referred to) for a traveller to go
upon, not only because the hospitality of the people has been damped
by frequent communication with travellers, but, by intercourse with the
semi-civilised merchant, their natural honour and honesty are corrupted,
their cupidity is increased, and the show of firearms ceases to frighten
them.

Of paramount consideration is the power held by the magician (Mganga),
who rules the minds of the kings as did the old popes of Europe. They,
indeed, are a curse to the traveller; for if it suits their inclinations
to keep him out of the country, they have merely to prognosticate all
sorts of calamities--as droughts, famines, or wars--in the event of his
setting eyes on the soil, and the chiefs, people, and all, would believe
them; for, as may be imagined, with men unenlightened, supernatural and
imaginary predictions work with more force than substantial reasons.
Their implement of divination, simple as it may appear, is a cow's
or antelope's horn (Uganga), which they stuff with magic powder, also
called Uganga. Stuck into the ground in front of the village, it is
supposed to have sufficient power to ward off the attacks of an enemy.

By simply holding it in the hand, the magician pretends he can discover
anything that has been stolen or lost; and instances have been told of
its dragging four men after it with irresistible impetus up to a thief,
when it be-laboured the culprit and drove him out of his senses. So
imbued are the natives' minds with belief in the power of charms, that
they pay the magician for sticks, stones, or mud, which he has doctored
for them. They believe certain flowers held in the hand will conduct
them to anything lost; as also that the voice of certain wild animals,
birds, or beasts, will insure them good-luck, or warn them of danger.
With the utmost complacency our sable brother builds a dwarf hut in his
fields, and places some grain on it to propitiate the evil spirit, and
suffer him to reap the fruits of his labour, and this too they call
Uganga or church.

These are a few of the more innocent alternatives the poor negroes
resort to in place of a "Saviour." They have also many other and more
horrible devices. For instance, in times of tribulation, the magician,
if he ascertains a war is projected by inspecting the blood and bones
of a fowl which he has flayed for that purpose, flays a young child,
and having laid it lengthwise on a path, directs all the warriors, on
proceeding to battle, to step over his sacrifice and insure themselves
victory. Another of these extra barbarous devices takes place when a
chief wishes to make war on his neighbour by his calling in a magician
to discover a propitious time for commencing. The doctor places a large
earthen vessel, half full of water, over a fire, and over its mouth
a grating of sticks, whereon he lays a small child and a fowl side by
side, and covers them over with a second large earthen vessel, just like
the first, only inverted, to keep the steam in, when he sets fire below,
cooks for a certain period of time, and then looks to see if his victims
are still living or dead--when, should they be dead, the war must be
deferred, but, otherwise commenced at once.

These extremes, however, are not often resorted to, for the natives are
usually content with simpler means, such as flaying a goat, instead of
a child, to be walked over; while, to prevent any evil approaching their
dwellings a squashed frog, or any other such absurdity, when place on
the track, is considered a specific.

How the negro has lived so many ages without advancing, seems
marvellous, when all the countries surrounding Africa are so forward in
comparison; and judging from the progressive state of the world, one
is led to suppose that the African must soon either step out from his
darkness, or be superseded by a being superior to himself. Could a
government be formed for them like ours in India, they would be saved;
but without it, I fear there is very little chance; for at present the
African neither can help himself nor will he be helped about by others,
because his country is in such a constant state of turmoil he has too
much anxiety on hand looking out for his food to think of anything
else. As his fathers ever did, so does he. He works his wife, sells his
children, enslaves all he can lay hands upon, and, unless when fighting
for the property of others, contents himself with drinking, singing, and
dancing like a baboon to drive dull care away. A few only make cotton
cloth, or work in wood, iron, copper, or salt; their rule being to do
as little as possible, and to store up nothing beyond the necessities of
the next season, lest their chiefs or neighbours should covet and take
it from them.

Slavery, I may add, is one great cause of laziness, for the masters
become too proud to work, lest they should be thought slaves themselves.
In consequence of this, the women look after the household work--such as
brewing, cooking, grinding corn, making pottery and baskets, and taking
care of the house and the children, besides helping the slaves whilst
cultivating, or even tending the cattle sometimes.

Now, descending to the inferior order of creation, I shall commence with
the domestic animals first, to show what the traveller may expect to
find for his usual support. Cows, after leaving the low lands near the
coast, are found to be plentiful everywhere, and to produce milk in
small quantities, from which butter is made. Goats are common all over
Africa; but sheep are not so plentiful, nor do they show such good
breeding--being generally lanky, with long fat tails. Fowls, much
like those in India, are abundant everywhere. A few Muscovy ducks are
imported, also pigeons and cats. Dogs, like the Indian pariah, are very
plentiful, only much smaller; and a few donkeys are found in certain
localities. Now, considering this good supply of meat, whilst all
tropical plants will grow just as well in central equatorial Africa
as they do in India, it surprises the traveller there should be any
famines; yet such is too often the case, and the negro, with these
bounties within his reach, is sometimes found eating dogs, cats, rats,
porcupines, snakes, lizards, tortoises, locusts, and white ants, or
is forced to seek the seeds of wild grasses, or to pluck wild herbs,
fruits, and roots; whilst at the proper seasons they hunt the wild
elephant, buffalo, giraffe, zebra, pigs, and antelopes; or, going out
with their arrows, have battues against the guinea-fowls and small
birds.

The frequency with which collections of villages are found all over the
countries we are alluding to, leaves but very little scope for the runs
of wild animals, which are found only in dense jungles, open forests,
or praires generally speaking, where hills can protect them, and near
rivers whose marshes produce a thick growth of vegetation to conceal
them from their most dreaded enemy--man. The prowling, restless
elephant, for instance, though rarely seen, leaves indications of his
nocturnal excursions in every wilderness, by wantonly knocking down the
forest-trees. The morose rhinoceros, though less numerous, are found in
every thick jungle. So is the savage buffalo, especially delighting in
dark places, where he can wallow in the mud and slake his thirst without
much trouble; and here also we find the wild pig.

The gruff hippopotamus is as widespread as any, being found wherever
there is water to float him; whilst the shy giraffe and zebra affect all
open forests and plains where the grass is not too long; and antelopes,
of great variety in species and habits, are found wherever man will
let them alone and they can find water. The lion is, however, rarely
heard--much more seldom seen. Hyenas are numerous, and thievishly
inclined. Leopards, less common, are the terror of the villagers. Foxes
are not numerous, but frighten the black traveller by their ill-omened
bark. Hares, about half the size of English ones--there are no
rabbits--are widely spread, but not numerous; porcupines the same. Wild
cats, and animals of the ferret kind, destroy game. Monkeys of various
kinds and squirrels harbour in the trees, but are rarely seen. Tortoises
and snakes, in great variety, crawl over the ground, mostly after the
rains. Rats and lizards--there are but few mice--are very abundant, and
feed both in the fields and on the stores of the men.

The wily ostrich, bustard, and florikan affect all open places. The
guinea-fowl is the most numerous of all game-birds. Partridges come
next, but do not afford good sport; and quails are rare. Ducks and snipe
appear to love Africa less than any other country; and geese and storks
are only found where water most abounds. Vultures are uncommon; hawks
and crows much abound, as in all other countries; but little birds, of
every colour and note, are discoverable in great quantities near water
and by the villages. Huge snails and small ones, as well as fresh-water
shells, are very abundant, though the conchologist would find but little
variety to repay his labours; and insects, though innumerable, are best
sought for after the rains have set in. [3]




The Wanguana or Freed Men

The Wa-n-guana, as their name implies, are men freed from slavery; and
as it is to these singular negroes acting as hired servants that I have
been chiefly indebted for opening this large section of Africa, a few
general remarks on their character cannot be out of place here.

Of course, having been born in Africa, and associated in childhood with
the untainted negroes, they retain all the superstitious notions of the
true aborigines, though somewhat modified, and even corrupted, by that
acquaintance with the outer world which sharpens their wits.

Most of these men were doubtless caught in wars, as may be seen every
day in Africa, made slaves of, and sold to the Arabs for a few yards
of common cloth, brass wire, or beads. They would then be taken to the
Zanzibar market, resold like horses to the highest bidder, and then kept
in bondage by their new masters, more like children of his family
than anything else. In this new position they were circumcised to make
Mussulmans of them, that their hands might be "clean" to slaughter their
master's cattle, and extend his creed; for the Arabs believe the day
must come when the tenets of Mohammed will be accepted by all men.

The slave in this new position finds himself much better off than he
ever was in his life before, with this exception, that as a slave he
feels himself much degraded in the social scale of society, and his
family ties are all cut off from him--probably his relations have all
been killed in the war in which he was captured. Still, after the first
qualms have worn off, we find him much attached to his master, who feeds
him and finds him in clothes in return for the menial services which
he performs. In a few years after capture, or when confidence has been
gained by the attachment shown by the slave, if the master is a trader
in ivory, he will intrust him with the charge of his stores, and send
him all over the interior of the continent to purchase for him both
slaves and ivory; but should the master die, according to the Mohammedan
creed the slaves ought to be freed. In Arabia this would be the case;
but at Zanzibar it more generally happens that the slave is willed to
his successor.

The whole system of slaveholding by the Arabs in Africa, or rather on
the coast or at Zanzibar, is exceedingly strange; for the slaves, both
in individual physical strength and in numbers, are so superior to the
Arab foreigners, that if they chose to rebel, they might send the Arabs
flying out of the land. It happens, however, that they are spell-bound,
not knowing their strength any more than domestic animals, and they even
seem to consider that they would be dishonest if they ran away after
being purchased, and so brought pecuniary loss on their owners.

There are many positions into which the slave may get by the course of
events, and I shall give here, as a specimen, the ordinary case of one
who has been freed by the death of his master, that master having been a
trader in ivory and slaves in the interior. In such a case, the slave so
freed in all probability would commence life afresh by taking service
as a porter with other merchants, and in the end would raise sufficient
capital to commence trading himself--first in slaves, because they are
the most easily got, and then in ivory. All his accumulations would then
go to the Zanzibar market, or else to slavers looking out off the coast.
Slavery begets slavery. To catch slaves is the first thought of every
chief in the interior; hence fights and slavery impoverish the land, and
that is the reason both why Africa does not improve, and why we find men
of all tribes and tongues on the coast. The ethnologist need only go
to Zanzibar to become acquainted with all the different tribes to the
centre of the continent on that side, or to Congo to find the other half
south of the equator there.

Some few freed slaves take service in vessels, of which they are
especially fond; but most return to Africa to trade in slaves and ivory.
All slaves learn the coast language, called at Zanzibar Kisuahili; and
therefore the traveller, if judicious in his selections, could find
there interpreters to carry him throughout the eastern half of South
Africa. To the north of the equator the system of language entirely
changes.

Laziness is inherent in these men, for which reason, although extremely
powerful, they will not work unless compelled to do so. Having no God,
in the Christian sense of the term, to fear or worship, they have no
love for truth, honour, or honesty. Controlled by no government, nor yet
by home ties, they have no reason to think of or look to the future. Any
venture attracts them when hard-up for food; and the more roving it is,
the better they like it. The life of the sailor is most particularly
attractive to the freed slave; for he thinks, in his conceit, that he is
on an equality with all men when once on the muster-rolls, and then he
calls all his fellow-Africans "savages." Still the African's peculiarity
sticks to him: he has gained no permanent good. The association of white
men and the glitter of money merely dazzle him. He apes like a monkey
the jolly Jack Tar, and spends his wages accordingly. If chance brings
him back again to Zanzibar, he calls his old Arab master his father, and
goes into slavery with as much zest as ever.

I have spoken of these freed men as if they had no religion. This
is practically true, though theoretically not so; for the Arabs, on
circumcising them, teach them to repeat the words Allah and Mohammed,
and perhaps a few others; but not one in ten knows what a soul means,
nor do they expect to meet with either reward or punishment in the next
world, though they are taught to regard animals as clean and unclean,
and some go through the form of a pilgrimage to Mecca. Indeed the whole
of their spiritual education goes into oaths and ejaculations--Allah and
Mohammed being as common in their mouths as damn and blast are with
our soldiers and sailors. The long and short of this story is, that the
freed men generally turn out a loose, roving, reckless set of beings,
quick-witted as the Yankee, from the simple fact that they imagine all
political matters affect them, and therefore they must have a word in
every debate. Nevertheless they are seldom wise; and lying being more
familiar to their constitution than truth-saying, they are for ever
concocting dodges with the view, which they glory in of successfully
cheating people. Sometimes they will show great kindness, even bravery
amounting to heroism, and proportionate affection; at another time,
without any cause, they will desert and be treacherous to their sworn
friends in the most dastardly manner. Whatever the freak of the moment
is, that they adopt in the most thoughtless manner, even though they may
have calculated on advantages beforehand in the opposite direction. In
fact, no one can rely upon them even for a moment. Dog wit, or any
silly remarks, will set them giggling. Any toy will amuse them. Highly
conceited of their personal appearance, they are for ever cutting their
hair in different fashions, to surprise a friend; or if a rag be thrown
away, they will all in turn fight for it to bind on their heads, then
on their loins or spears, peacocking about with it before their admiring
comrades. Even strange feathers or skins are treated by them in the same
way.

Should one happen to have anything specially to communicate to his
master in camp, he will enter giggling, sidle up to the pole of a
hut, commence scratching his back with it, then stretch and yawn, and
gradually, in bursts of loud laughter, slip down to the ground on his
stern, when he drums with his hands on the top of a box until summoned
to know what he has at heart, when he delivers himself in a peculiar
manner, laughs and yawns again, and, saying it is time to go, walks off
in the same way as he came. At other times when he is called, he will
come sucking away at the spout of a tea-pot, or, scratching his naked
arm-pits with a table-knife, or, perhaps, polishing the plates for
dinner with his dirty loin-cloth. If sent to market to purchase a
fowl, he comes back with a cock tied by the legs to the end of a stick,
swinging and squalling in the most piteous manner. Then, arrived at the
cook-shop, he throws the bird down on the ground, holds its head between
his toes, plucks the feathers to bare its throat, and then, raising a
prayer, cuts its head off.

But enough of the freed man in camp; on the march he is no better.
If you give him a gun and some ammunition to protect him in case of
emergencies, he will promise to save it, but forthwith expends it by
firing it off in the air, and demands more, else he will fear to venture
amongst the "savages." Suppose you give him a box of bottles to carry,
or a desk, or anything else that requires great care, and you caution
him of its contents, the first thing he does is to commence swinging it
round and round, or putting it topsy-turvy on the top of his head,
when he will run off at a jog-trot, singing and laughing in the most
provoking manner, and thinking no more about it than if it were an old
stone; even if rain were falling, he would put it in the best place to
get wet through. Economy, care, or forethought never enters his head;
the first thing to hand is the right thing for him; and rather then take
the trouble even to look for his own rope to tie up his bundle, he would
cut off his master's tent-ropes or steal his comrade's. His greatest
delight is in the fair sex, and when he can't get them, next comes beer,
song, and a dance.

Now, this is a mild specimen of the "rowdy" negro, who has contributed
more to open Africa to enterprise and civilisation than any one else.
Possessed of a wonderful amount of loquacity, great risibility, but
no stability--a creature of impulse--a grown child, in short--at first
sight it seems wonderful how he can be trained to work; for there is now
law, no home to bind him--he could run away at any moment; and
presuming on this, he sins, expecting to be forgiven. Great forbearance,
occasionally tinctured with a little fatherly severity, is I believe,
the best dose for him; for he says to his master, in the most childish
manner, after sinning, "You ought to forgive and to forget; for are you
not a big man who should be above harbouring spite, though for a moment
you may be angry? Flog me if you like, but don't keep count against me,
else I shall run away; and what will you do then?"

The language of this people is just as strange as they are themselves.
It is based on euphony, from which cause it is very complex, the more
especially so as it requires one to be possessed of a negro's turn of
mind to appreciate the system, and unravel the secret of its euphonic
concord. A Kisuahili grammar, written by Dr. Krapf, will exemplify what
I mean. There is one peculiarity, however, to which I would direct the
attention of the reader most particularly, which is, that Wa prefixed to
the essential word of a country, means men or people; M prefixed, means
man or individual; U, in the same way, means place or locality; and
Ki prefixed indicates the language. Example:--Wagogo, is the people of
Gogo; Mgogo, is a Gogo man; Ugogo, is the country of Gogo; and Kigogo,
the language of Gogo.

The only direction here necessary as regards pronunciation of native
words refers to the u, which represents a sound corresponding to that of
the oo in woo.





Journal of the Discovery of The Source of the Nile




Chapter 1. London to Zanzibar, 1859

The design--The Preparations--Departure--The Cape--The Zulu
Kafirs--Turtle-Turning--Capture of a Slaver--Arrive at Zanzibar--Local
Politics and News Since Last Visit--Organisation of the Expedition.

My third expedition in Africa, which was avowedly for the purpose of
establishing the truth of my assertion that the Victoria N'yanza, which
I discovered on the 30th July 1858, would eventually prove to be the
source of the Nile, may be said to have commenced on the 9th May 1859,
the first day after my return to England from my second expedition,
when, at the invitation of Sir. R. I. Murchison, I called at his
house to show him my map for the information of the Royal Geographical
Society. Sir Roderick, I need only say, at once accepted my views; and,
knowing my ardent desire to prove to the world, by actual inspection of
the exit, that the Victoria N'yanza was the source of the Nile, seized
the enlightened view, that such a discovery should not be lost to the
glory of England and the Society of which he was President; and said
to me, "Speke, we must send you there again." I was then officially
directed, much against my own inclination, to lecture at the Royal
Geographical Society on the geography of Africa, which I had, as the
sole surveyor of the second expedition, laid down on our maps. [4] A
council of the Geographical Society was now convened to ascertain what
projects I had in view for making good my discovery by connecting the
lake with the Nile, as also what assistance I should want for that
purpose.

Some thought my best plan would be to go up the Nile, which seemed to
them the natural course to pursue, especially as the Nile was said,
though nobody believed it, to have been navigated by expeditions sent
out by Mehemet Ali, Viceroy of Egypt, up to 3 deg. 22' north latitude. To
this I objected, as so many had tried it and failed, from reasons which
had not transpired; and, at the same time, I said that if they would
give me oe5000 down at once, I would return to Zanzibar at the end of the
year, March to Kaze again, and make the necessary investigations of the
Victoria lake. Although, in addition to the journey to the source of the
river, I also proposed spending three years in the country, looking
up tributaries, inspecting watersheds, navigating the lake, and making
collections on all branches of natural history, yet L5000 was thought by
the Geographical Society too large a sum to expect from the Government;
so I accepted the half, saying that, whatever the expedition might
cost, I would make good the rest, as, under any circumstances, I would
complete what I had begun, or die in the attempt.

My motive for deferring the journey a year was the hope that I might, in
the meanwhile, send on fifty men, carrying beads and brass wire, under
charge of Arab ivory-traders, to Karague, and fifty men more, in the
same way, to Kaze; whilst I, arriving in the best season for travelling
(May, June, or July), would be able to push on expeditiously to my
depots so formed, and thus escape the great disadvantages of travelling
with a large caravan in a country where no laws prevail to protect one
against desertions and theft. Moreover, I knew that the negroes who
would have to go with me, as long as they believed I had property in
advance, would work up to it willingly, as they would be the gainers
by doing so; whilst, with nothing before them, they would be always
endeavouring to thwart my advance, to save them from a trouble which
their natural laziness would prompt them to escape from.

This beautiful project, I am sorry to say, was doomed from the first;
for I did not get the L2500 grant of money or appointment to the command
until fully nine months had elapsed, when I wrote to Colonel Rigby, our
Consul at Zanzibar, to send on the first instalment of property towards
the interior.

As time then advanced, the Indian branch of the Government very
graciously gave me fifty artillery carbines, with belts and
sword-bayonets attached, and 20,000 rounds of ball ammunition. They lent
me as many surveying instruments as I wanted; and, through Sir George
Clerk, put at my disposal some rich presents, in gold watches, for the
chief Arabs who had so generously assisted us in the last expedition.
Captain Grant, hearing that I was bound on this journey, being an old
friend and brother sportsman in India, asked me to take him with me,
and his appointment was settled by Colonel Sykes, then chairman of a
committee of the Royal Geographical Society, who said it would only be
"a matter of charity" to allow me a companion.

Much at the same time, Mr Petherick, an ivory merchant, who had spent
many years on the Nile, arrived in England, and gratuitously offered, as
it would not interfere with his trade, to place boats at Gondokoro,
and send a party of men up the White River to collect ivory in the
meanwhile, and eventually to assist me in coming down. Mr Petherick, I
may add, showed great zeal for geographical exploits, so, as I could not
get money enough to do all that I wished to accomplish myself, I drew
out a project for him to ascend the stream now known as the Usua river
(reported to be the larger branch of the Nile), and, if possible,
ascertain what connection it had with my lake. This being agreed to, I
did my best, through the medium of Earl de Grey (then President of the
Royal Geographical Society), to advance him money to carry out this
desirable object.

The last difficulty I had now before me was to obtain a passage to
Zanzibar. The Indian Government had promised me a vessel of war to
convey me from Aden to Zanzibar, provided it did not interfere with the
public interests. This doubtful proviso induced me to apply to Captain
Playfair, Assistant-Political at Aden, to know what Government vessel
would be available; and should there be none, to get for me a passage by
some American trader. The China war, he assured me, had taken up all the
Government vessels, and there appeared no hope left for me that season,
as the last American trader was just then leaving for Zanzibar. In this
dilemma it appeared that I must inevitably lose the travelling season,
and come in for the droughts and famines. The tide, however, turned in
my favour a little; for I obtained, by permission of the Admiralty, a
passage in the British screw steam-frigate Forte, under orders to convey
Admiral Sir H. Keppel to his command at the Cape; and Sir Charles Wood
most obligingly made a request that I should be forwarded thence
to Zanzibar in one of our slaver-hunting cruisers by the earliest
opportunity.

On the 27th April, Captain Grant and I embarked on board the new
steam-frigate Forte, commanded by Captain E. W. Turnour, at Portsmouth;
and after a long voyage, touching at Madeira and Rio de Janeiro, we
arrived at the Cape of Good Hope on the 4th July. Here Sir George Grey,
the Governor of the colony, who took a warm and enlightened interest in
the cause of the expedition, invited both Grant and myself to reside at
his house. Sir George had been an old explorer himself--was once wounded
by savages in Australia, much in the same manner as I had been in the
Somali country--and, with a spirit of sympathy, he called me his son,
and said he hoped I would succeed. Then, thinking how best he could
serve me, he induced the Cape Parliament to advance to the expedition
a sum of L300, for the purpose of buying baggage-mules; and induced
Lieut.-General Wynyard, the Commander-in-Chief, to detach ten volunteers
from the Cape Mounted Rifle Corps to accompany me. When this addition
was made to my force, of twelve mules and ten Hottentots, the Admiral of
the station placed the screw steam-corvette Brisk at my disposal, and we
all sailed for Zanzibar on the 16th July, under the command of Captain
A. F. de Horsey--the Admiral himself accompanying us, on one of his
annual inspections to visit the east coast of Africa and the Mauritius.
In five days more we touched at East London, and, thence proceeding
north, made a short stay at Delagoa Bay, where I first became acquainted
with the Zulu Kafirs, a naked set of negroes, whose national costume
principally consists in having their hair trussed up like a hoop on the
top of the head, and an appendage like a thimble, to which they attach
a mysterious importance. They wear additional ornaments, charms, &c., of
birds' claws, hoofs and horns of wild animals tied on with strings, and
sometimes an article like a kilt, made of loose strips of skin, or the
entire skins of vermin strung close together. These things I have merely
noticed in passing, because I shall hereafter have occasion to allude
to a migratory people, the Watuta, who dressing much in the same manner,
extend from Lake N'yassa to Uzinza, and may originally have been a part
of this same Kafir race, who are themselves supposed to have migrated
from the regions at present occupied by the Gallas. Next day (the
28th) we went on to Europa, a small island of coralline, covered with
salsolacious shrubs, and tenanted only by sea-birds, owls, finches,
rats, and turtles. Of the last we succeeded in turning three, the
average weight of each being 360 lb., and we took large numbers of their
eggs.

We then went to Mozambique, and visited the Portuguese Governor, John
Travers de Almeida, who showed considerable interest in the prospects
of the expedition, and regretted that, as it cost so much money to visit
the interior from that place, his officers were unable to go there.
One experimental trip only had been accomplished by Mr Soares, who was
forced to pay the Makua chiefs 120 dollars footing, to reach a small
hill in view of the sea, about twenty-five miles off.

Leaving Mozambique on the 9th August, bound for Johanna, we came the
next day, at 11.30 A.M., in sight of a slaver, ship-rigged, bearing on
us full sail, but so distant from us that her mast-tops were only just
visible. As quick as ourselves, she saw who we were and tried to escape
by retreating. This manoeuvre left no doubt what she was, and the Brisk,
all full of excitement, gave chase at full speed, and in four hours more
drew abreast of her. A great commotion ensued on board the slaver. The
sea-pirates threw overboard their colours, bags, and numerous boxes,
but would not heave-to, although repeatedly challenged, until a gun was
fired across her bows. Our boats were then lowered, and in a few minutes
more the "prize" was taken, by her crew being exchanged for some of our
men, and we learnt all about her from accurate reports furnished by Mr
Frere, the Cape Slave Commissioner. Cleared from Havannah as "the Sunny
South," professing to be destined for Hong-Kong, she changed her name to
the Manuela, and came slave-hunting in these regions. The slaver's crew
consisted of a captain, doctor, and several sailors, mostly Spaniards.
The vessel was well stored with provisions and medicines; but there
was scarcely enough room in her, though she was said to be only half
freighted, for the 544 creatures they were transporting. The next
morning, as we entered Pamoni harbour by an intricate approach to
the rich little island hill Johanna, the slaver, as she followed us,
stranded, and for a while caused considerable alarm to everybody but her
late captain. He thought his luck very bad, after escaping so often, to
be taken thus; for his vessel's power of sailing were so good, that, had
she had the wind in her favour, the Brisk, even with the assistance of
steam, could not have come up with her. On going on board her, I found
the slaves to be mostly Wahiyow. A few of them were old women, but
all the rest children. They had been captured during wars in their own
country, and sold to Arabs, who brought them to the coast, and kept them
half-starved until the slaver arrived, when they were shipped in dhows
and brought off to the slaver, where, for nearly a week, whilst the
bargains were in progress, they were kept entirely without food. It was
no wonder then, every man of the Brisk who first looked upon them did so
with a feeling of loathing and abhorrence of such a trade. All over the
vessel, but more especially below, old women, stark naked, were dying
in the most disgusting "ferret-box" atmosphere; while all those who had
sufficient strength were pulling up the hatches, and tearing at the salt
fish they found below, like dogs in a kennel.

On the 15th the Manuela was sent to the Mauritius, and we, after passing
the Comoro Islands, arrived at our destination, Zanzibar--called Lunguja
by the aborigines, the Wakhadim--and Unguja by the present Wasuahili.

On the 17th, after the anchor was cast, without a moment's delay I went
off to the British Consulate to see my old friend Colonel Rigby. He was
delighted to see us; and, in anticipation of our arrival, had prepared
rooms for our reception, that both Captain Grant and myself might enjoy
his hospitality until arrangements could be made for our final start
into the interior. The town, which I had left in so different a
condition sixteen months before, was in a state of great tranquillity,
brought about by the energy of the Bombay Government on the Muscat
side, and Colonel Rigby's exertions on this side, in preventing an
insurrection Sultan Majid's brothers had created with a view of usurping
his government.

The news of the place was as follows:--In addition to the formerly
constituted consulates--English, French, and American--a fourth one,
representing Hamburg, had been created. Dr Roscher, who during my
absence had made a successful journey to the N'yinyezi N'yassa, or
Star Lake, was afterwards murdered by some natives in Uhiyow; and
Lieutentant-Colonel Baron van der Decken, another enterprising German,
was organising an expedition with a view to search for the relics of
his countryman, and, if possible, complete the project poor Roscher had
commenced.

Slavery had received a severe blow by the sharp measures Colonel Rigby
had taken in giving tickets of emancipation to all those slaves whom our
Indian subjects the Banyans had been secretly keeping, and by fining
the masters and giving the money to the men to set them up in life. The
interior of the continent had been greatly disturbed, owing to constant
war between the natives and Arab ivory merchants. Mguru Mfupi (or
Short-legs), the chief of Khoko in Ugogo, for instance, had been shot,
and Manua Sera (the Tippler), who succeeded the old Sultan Fundi Kira,
of Unyanyembe, on his death, shortly after the late expedition left
Kaze, was out in the field fighting the Arabs. Recent letters from
the Arabs in the interior, however, gave hopes of peace being shortly
restored. Finally, in compliance with my request--and this was the most
important item of news to myself--Colonel Rigby had sent on, thirteen
days previously, fifty-six loads of cloth and beads, in charge of two of
Ramji's men, consigned to Musa at Kaze.

To call on the Sultan, of course, was our first duty. He received us
in his usually affable manner; made many trite remarks concerning our
plans; was surprised, if my only object in view was to see the great
river running out of the lake, that I did not go by the more direct
route across the Masai country and Usoga; and then, finding I wished to
see Karague, as well as to settle many other great points of interest,
he offered to assist me with all the means in his power.

The Hottentots, the mules, and the baggage having been landed, our
preparatory work began in earnest. It consisted in proving the sextants;
rating the watches; examining the compasses and boiling thermometers;
making tents and packsaddles; ordering supplies of beads, cloth, and
brass wire; and collecting servants and porters.

Sheikh Said bin Salem, our late Cafila Bashi, or caravan captain, was
appointed to that post again, as he wished to prove his character for
honour and honesty; and it now transpired that he had been ordered not
to go with me when I discovered the Victoria N'yanza. Bombay and his
brother Mabruki were bound to me of old, and the first to greet me on
my arrival here; while my old friends the Beluchs begged me to take
them again. The Hottentots, however, had usurped their place. I was
afterwards sorry for this, though, if I ever travel again, I shall
trust to none but natives, as the climate of Africa is too trying to
foreigners. Colonel Rigby, who had at heart as much as anybody the
success of the expedition, materially assisted me in accomplishing my
object--that men accustomed to discipline and a knowledge of English
honour and honesty should be enlisted, to give confidence to the rest
of the men; and he allowed me to select from his boat's crew any men I
could find who had served as men-of-war, and had seen active service in
India.

For this purpose my factotum, Bombay, prevailed on Baraka, Frij, and
Rahan--all of them old sailors, who, like himself, knew Hindustani--to
go with me. With this nucleus to start with, I gave orders that they
should look out for as many Wanguana (freed men--i.e., men emancipated
from slavery) as they could enlist, to carry loads, or do any other work
required of them, and to follow men in Africa wherever I wished, until
our arrival in Egypt, when I would send them back to Zanzibar. Each was
to receive one year's pay in advance, and the remainder when their work
was completed.

While this enlistment was going on here, Ladha Damji, the customs'
master, was appointed to collect a hundred pagazis (Wanyamuezi porters)
to carry each a load of cloth, beads, or brass wire to Kaze, as they do
for the ivory merchants. Meanwhile, at the invitation of the Admiral,
and to show him some sport in hippopotamus-shooting, I went with him in
a dhow over to Kusiki, near which there is a tidal lagoon, which at high
tide is filled with water, but at low water exposes sand islets covered
with mangrove shrub. In these islets we sought for the animals, knowing
they were keen to lie wallowing in the mire, and we bagged two. On my
return to Zanzibar, the Brisk sailed for the Mauritius, but fortune sent
Grant and myself on a different cruise. Sultan Majid, having heard that
a slaver was lying at Pangani, and being anxious to show his good faith
with the English, begged me to take command of one his vessels of war
and run it down. Accordingly, embarking at noon, as soon as the vessel
could be got ready, we lay-to that night at Tombat, with a view of
surprising the slaver next morning; but next day, on our arrival at
Pangani, we heard that she had merely put in to provision there three
days before, and had let immediately afterwards. As I had come so far, I
thought we might go ashore and look at the town, which was found greatly
improved since I last saw it, by the addition of several coralline
houses and a dockyard. The natives were building a dhow with Lindi and
Madagascar timber. On going ashore, I might add, we were stranded on the
sands, and, coming off again, nearly swamped by the increasing surf on
the bar of the river; but this was a trifle; all we thought of was to
return to Zanzibar, and hurry on our preparations there. This, however,
was not so easy: the sea current was running north, and the wind was too
light to propel our vessel against it; so, after trying in vain to make
way in her, Grant and I, leaving her to follow, took to a boat, after
giving the captain, who said we would get drowned, a letter, to say we
left the vessel against his advice.

We had a brave crew of young negroes to pull us; but, pull as they
would, the current was so strong that we feared, if we persisted, we
should be drawn into the broad Indian Ocean; so, changing our line, we
bore into the little coralline island, Maziwa, where, after riding over
some ugly coral surfs, we put in for the night. There we found, to our
relief, some fisherman, who gave us fish for our dinner, and directions
how to proceed.

Next morning, before daylight, we trusted to the boat and our good luck.
After passing, without landmarks to guide us, by an intricate channel,
through foaming surfs, we arrived at Zanzibar in the night, and found
that the vessel had got in before us.

Colonel Rigby now gave me a most interesting paper, with a map attached
to it, about the Nile and the Mountains of the Moon. It was written
by Lieutenant Wilford, from the "Purans" of the Ancient Hindus. As it
exemplifies, to a certain extent, the supposition I formerly arrived at
concerning the Mountains of the Moon being associated with the country
of the Moon, I would fain draw the attention of the reader of my travels
to the volume of the "Asiatic Researches" in which it was published. [5]
It is remarkable that the Hindus have christened the source of the Nile
Amara, which is the name of a country at the north-east corner of the
Victoria N'yanza. This, I think, shows clearly, that the ancient Hindus
must have had some kind of communication with both the northern and
southern ends of the Victoria N'yanza.

Having gone to work again, I found that Sheikh Said had brought ten men,
four of whom were purchased for one hundred dollars, which I had to pay;
Bombay, Baraka, Frij, and Rahan had brought twenty-six more, all freed
men; while the Sultan Majid, at the suggestion of Colonel Rigby, gave me
thirty-four men more, who were all raw labourers taken from his gardens.
It was my intention to have taken one hundred of this description of
men throughout the whole journey; but as so many could not be found in
Zanzibar, I still hoped to fill up the complement in Unyamuezi, the
land of the Moon, from the large establishments of the Arab merchants
residing there. The payment of these men's wages for the first year, as
well as the terms of the agreement made with them, by the kind consent
of Colonel Rigby were now entered in the Consular Office books, as a
security to both parties, and a precaution against disputes on the way.
Any one who saw the grateful avidity with which they took the money,
and the warmth with which they pledged themselves to serve me faithfully
through all dangers and difficulties, would, had he had no dealings with
such men before, have thought that I had a first-rate set of followers.
I lastly gave Sheikh Said a double-barrelled rifle by Blissett, and
distributed fifty carbines among the seniors of the expedition, with the
condition that they would forfeit them to others more worthy if they did
not behave well, but would retain possession of them for ever if they
carried them through the journey to my satisfaction.

On the 21st, as everything was ready on the island, I sent Sheikh Said
and all the men, along with the Hottentots, mules, and baggage, off in
dhows to Bagamoyo, on the opposite mainland. Colonel Rigby, with Captain
Grant and myself, then called on the Sultan, to bid him adieu, when
he graciously offered me, as a guard of honour to escort me through
Uzaramo, one jemadar and twenty-five Beluch soldiers. These I accepted,
more as a government security in that country against the tricks of the
natives, than for any accession they made to our strength. His highness
then places his 22-gun corvette, "Secundra Shah," at our disposal, and
we went all three over to Bagamoyo, arriving on the 25th. Immediately on
landing, Ladha and Sheikh Said showed us into a hut prepared for us, and
all things looked pretty well. Ladha's hundred loads of beads, cloths,
and brass wire were all tied up for the march, and seventy-five pagazis
(porters from the Moon country) had received their hire to carry these
loads to Kaze in the land of the Moon. Competition, I found, had raised
these men's wages, for I had to pay, to go even as far as Kaze, nine and
a quarter dollars a-head!--as Masudi and some other merchants were bound
on the same line as myself, and all were equally in a hurry to be off
and avoid as much as possible the famine we knew we should have to fight
through at this late season. Little troubles, of course, must always be
expected, else these blacks would not be true negroes. Sheikh Said now
reported it quite impossible to buy anything at a moderate rate; for, as
I was a "big man," I ought to "pay a big price;" and my men had all been
obliged to fight in the bazaar before they could get even tobacco at the
same rate as other men, because they were the servants of the big man,
who could afford to give higher wages than any one else. The Hottentots,
too, began to fall sick, which my Wanguana laughingly attributed to want
of grog to keep their spirits up, as these little creatures, the "Tots,"
had frequently at Zanzibar, after heavy potations, boasted to the more
sober free men, that they "were strong, because they could stand plenty
drink." The first step now taken was to pitch camp under large shady
mango-trees, and to instruct every man in his particular duty. At the
same time, the Wanguana, who had carbines, were obliged to be drilled
in their use and formed into companies, with captains of ten, headed by
General Baraka, who was made commander-in-chief.

On the 30th September, as things were looking more orderly, I sent
forward half of the property, and all the men I had then collected, to
Ugeni, a shamba, or garden, two miles off; and on the 2nd October, after
settling with Ladha for my "African money," as my pagazis were completed
to a hundred and one, we wished Rigby adieu, and all assembled together
at Ugeni, which resembles the richest parts of Bengal.






Chapter II. Uzaramo

The Nature of the Country--The Order of March--The Beginning of
our Taxation--Sultan Lion's Claw, and Sultan Monkey's Tail--The
Kingani--Jealousies and Difficulties in the Camp--The Murderer of M.
Maizan.

We were now in U-za-Ramo, which may mean the country of Ramo, though I
have never found any natives who could enlighten me on the derivation of
this obviously triple word. The extent of the country, roughly speaking,
stretches from the coast to the junction or bifurcation of the Kingani
and its upper branch the Mgeta river, westwards; and from the Kingani,
north, to the Lufigi river, south; though in the southern portions
several subtribes have encroached upon the lands. There are no hills in
Uzaramo; but the land in the central line, formed like a ridge between
the two rivers, furrow fashion, consists of slightly elevated flats and
terraces, which, in the rainy season, throw off their surplus waters
to the north and south by nullahs into these rivers. The country is
uniformly well covered with trees and large grasses, which, in the rainy
season, are too thick, tall, and green to be pleasant; though in the
dry season, after the grasses have been burnt, it is agreeable enough,
though not pretty, owing to the flatness of the land. The villages
are not large or numerous, but widely spread, consisting generally
of conical grass huts, while others are gable-ended, after the
coast-fashion--a small collection of ten or twenty comprising one
village. Over these villages certain headmen, titled Phanze, hold
jurisdiction, who take black-mail from travellers with high presumption
when they can. Generally speaking, they live upon the coast, and call
themselves Diwans, headsmen, and subjects of the Sultan Majid; but
they no sooner hear of the march of a caravan than they transpose their
position, become sultans in their own right, and levy taxes accordingly.

The Wazaramo are strictly agriculturists; they have no cows, and but few
goats. They are of low stature and thick set and their nature tends to
the boisterous. Expert slavehunters, they mostly clothe themselves by
the sale of their victims on the coast, though they do business by the
sale of goats and grain as well. Nowhere in the interior are natives so
well clad as these creatures. In dressing up their hair, and otherwise
smearing their bodies with ochreish clay, they are great dandies. They
always keep their bows and arrows, which form their national arm, in
excellent order, the latter well poisoned, and carried in quivers nicely
carved. To intimidate a caravan and extort a hongo or tax, I have seen
them drawn out in line as if prepared for battle; but a few soft words
were found sufficient to make them all withdraw and settle the matter at
issue by arbitration in some appointed place. A few men without property
can cross their lands fearlessly, though a single individual with
property would stand no chance, for they are insatiable thieves. But
little is seen of these people on the journey, as the chiefs take their
taxes by deputy, partly out of pride, and partly because they think they
can extort more by keeping in the mysterious distance. At the same
time, the caravan prefers camping in the jungles beyond the villages
to mingling with the inhabitants, where rows might be engendered.
We sometimes noticed Albinos, with greyish-blue eyes and light
straw-coloured hair. Not unfrequently we would pass on the track side
small heaps of white ashes, with a calcined bone or two among them.
These, we were told, were the relics of burnt witches. The caravan
track we had now to travel on leads along the right bank of the Kingani
valley, overlooking Uzegura, which, corresponding with Uzaramo, only on
the other side of the Kigani, extends northwards to the Pangani river,
and is intersected in the centre by the Wami river, of which more
hereafter.

Starting on a march with a large mixed caravan, consisting of 1 corporal
and 9 privates, Hottentots--1 jemadar and 25 privates, Beluchs--1 Arab
Cafila Bashi and 75 freed slaves--1 Kirangozi, or leader, and 100 negro
porters--12 mules untrained, 3 donkeys, and 22 goats--one could hardly
expect to find everybody in his place at the proper time for breaking
ground; but, at the same time, it could hardly be expected that ten men,
who had actually received their bounty-money, and had sworn fidelity,
should give one the slip the very first day. Such, however, was the
case. Ten out of the thirty-six given by the Sultan ran away, because
they feared that the white men, whom they believed to be cannibals, were
only taking them into the interior to eat them; and one pagazi, more
honest than the freed men, deposited his pay upon the ground, and ran
away too. Go we must, however; for one desertion is sure to lead to
more; and go we did. Our procession was in this fashion: The Kirangozi,
with a load on his shoulder, led the way, flag in hand, followed by the
pagazis carrying spears of bows and arrows in their hands, and bearing
their share of the baggage in the shape either of bolster-shaped loads
of cloth and beads covered with matting, each tied into the fork of a
three-pronged stick, or else coils of brass or copper wire tied in even
weights to each end of sticks which they laid on the shoulder; then
helter-skelter came the Wanguana, carrying carbines in their hands, and
boxes, bundles, tents, cooking-pots--all the miscellaneous property--on
their heads; next the Hottentots, dragging the refractory mules laden
with ammunition-boxes, but very lightly, to save the animals for the
future; and, finally, Sheikh Said and the Beluch escort; while the
goats, sick women, and stragglers, brought up the rear. From first to
last, some of the sick Hottentots rode the hospital donkeys, allowing
the negroes to tug their animals; for the smallest ailment threw them
broadcast on their backs. In a little while we cleared from the rich
gardens, mango clumps, and cocoa-but trees, which characterise the
fertile coast-line. After traversing fields of grass well clothed with
green trees, we arrived at the little settlement of Bomani, where camp
was formed, and everybody fairly appointed to his place. The process of
camp-forming would be thus: Sheikh Said, with Bombay under him, issues
cloths to the men for rations at the rate of one-fourth load a-day
(about 15 lb.) amongst 165; the Hottentots cook our dinners and their
own, or else lie rolling on the ground overcome with fatigue;
the Beluchs are supposed to guard the camp, but prefer gossip and
brightening their arms. Some men are told off to look after the mules,
donkeys, and goats, whilst out grazing; the rest have to pack the kit,
pitch our tents, cut boughs for huts, and for fencing in the camp--a
thing rarely done, by-the-by. After cooking, when the night has set
it, the everlasting dance begins, attended with clapping of hands and
jingling small bells strapped to the legs--the whole being accompanied
by a constant repetition of senseless words, which stand in place of
the song to the negroes; for song they have none, being mentally
incapacitated for musical composition, though as timists they are not to
be surpassed.

What remains to be told is the daily occupation of Captain Grant,
myself, and our private servants. Beginning at the foot: Rahan, a very
peppery little negro, who had served in a British man-of-war at the
taking of Rangoon, was my valet; and Baraka, who had been trained much
in the same manner, but had seen engagements at Multan, was Captain
Grant's. They both knew Hindustani; but while Rahan's services at
sea had been short, Baraka had served nearly all his life with
Englishmen--was the smartest and most intelligent negro I ever saw--was
invaluable to Colonel Rigby as a detector of slave-traders, and enjoyed
his confidence completely--so much so, that he said, on parting with
him, that he did not know where he should be able to find another man
to fill his post. These two men had now charge of our tents and personal
kit, while Baraka was considered the general of the Wanguana forces, and
Rahan a captain of ten.

My first occupation was to map the country. This is done by timing the
rate of march with a watch, taking compass-bearings along the road, or
on any conspicuous marks--as, for instance, hills off it--and by noting
the watershed--in short, all topographical objects. On arrival in
camp every day came the ascertaining, by boiling a thermometer, of the
altitude of the station above the sea-level; of the latitude of the
station by the meridian altitude of the star taken with a sextant; and
of the compass variation by azimuth. Occasionally there was the fixing
of certain crucial stations, at intervals of sixty miles or so, by
lunar observations, or distances of the moon either from the sun or
from certain given stars, for determining the longitude, by which the
original-timed course can be drawn out with certainty on the map by
proportion. Should a date be lost, you can always discover it by taking
a lunar distance and comparing it with the Nautical Almanac, by noting
the time when a star passes the meridian if your watch is right, or by
observing the phases of the moon, or her rising or setting, as compared
with the Nautical Almanac. The rest of my work, besides sketching and
keeping a diary, which was the most troublesome of all, consisted in
making geological and zoological collections. With Captain Grant rested
the botanical collections and thermometrical registers. He also
boiled one of the thermometers, kept the rain-gauge, and undertook the
photography; but after a time I sent the instruments back, considering
this work too severe for the climate, and he tried instead sketching
with watercolours--the results of which form the chief part of the
illustrations in this book. The rest of our day went in breakfasting
after the march was over--a pipe, to prepare us for rummaging the fields
and villages to discover their contents for scientific purposes--dinner
close to sunset, and tea and pipe before turning in at night.

A short stage brought us to Ikamburu, included in the district of Nzasa,
where there is another small village presided over by Phanze Khombe la
Simba, meaning Claw of Lion. He, immediately after our arrival, sent us
a present of a basket of rice, value one dollar, of course expecting
a return--for absolute generosity is a thing unknown to the negro. Not
being aware of the value of the offering, I simply requested the Sheikh
to give him four yards of American sheeting, and thought no more about
the matter, until presently I found the cloth returned. The "Sultan"
could not think of receiving such a paltry present from me, when on the
former journey he got so much; if he showed this cloth at home, nobody
would believe him, but would say he took much more and concealed it from
his family, wishing to keep all his goods to himself. I answered that my
footing in the country had been paid for on the last journey, and unless
he would accept me as any other common traveller, he had better walk
away; but the little Sheikh, a timid, though very gentlemanly creature,
knowing the man, and dreading the consequences of too high a tone,
pleaded for him, and proposed as a fitting hongo, one dubuani, one
sahari, and eight yards merikani, as the American sheeting is called
here. This was pressed by the jemadar, and acceded to by myself, as the
very utmost I could afford. Lion's Claw, however, would not accept it;
it was too far below the mark of what he got last time. He therefore
returned the cloths to the Sheikh, as he could get no hearing from
myself, and retreated in high dudgeon, threatening the caravan with
a view of his terrible presence on the morrow. Meanwhile the little
Sheikh, who always carried a sword fully two-thirds the length of
himself, commenced casting bullets for his double-barrelled rifle,
ordered the Wanguana to load their guns, and came wheedling up to me for
one more cloth, as it was no use hazarding the expedition's safety for
four yards of cloth. This is a fair specimen of tax-gathering, within
twelve miles of the coast, by a native who claims the protection of
Zanzibar. We shall soon see what they are further on. The result of
experience is, that, ardent as the traveller is to see the interior
of Africa, no sooner has he dealings with the natives, than his whole
thoughts tend to discovering some road where he won't be molested, or a
short cut, but long march, to get over the ground.

Quite undisturbed, we packed and marched as usual, and soon passed Nzasa
close to the river, which is only indicated by a line of trees running
through a rich alluvial valley. We camped at the little settlement of
Kizoto, inhospitably presided over by Phanze Mukia ya Nyani or Monkey's
Tail, who no sooner heard of our arrival than he sent a demand for his
"rights." One dubani was issued, with orders than no one need approach
me again, unless he wanted to smell my powder. Two taxes in five miles
was a thing unheard of; and I heard no more about the matter, until
Bombay in the evening told me how Sheikh Said, fearing awkward
consequences, had settled to give two dubuani, one being taken from
his own store. Lion's Claw also turned up again, getting his cloths of
yesterday--one more being added from the Sheikh's stores--and he was
then advised to go off quietly, as I was a fire-eater whom nobody dared
approach after my orders had been issued. This was our third march in
Uzaramo; we had scarcely seen a man of the country, and had no excessive
desire to do so.

Deflecting from the serpentine course of the Kingani a little, we
crossed a small bitter rivulet, and entered on the elevated cultivation
of Kiranga Ranga, under Phanze Mkungu-pare, a very mild man, who,
wishing to give no offence, begged for a trifling present. He came in
person, and his manner having pleased us, I have him one sahari, four
yards merikani, and eight yards kiniki, which pleased our friend so much
that he begged us to consider his estate our own, even to the extent of
administering his justice, should any Mzaramo be detected stealing from
us. Our target-practice, whilst instructing the men, astonished him not
a little, and produced an exclamation that, with so many guns, we need
fear nothing, go where we would. From this place a good view is obtained
of Uzegura. Beyond the flat alluvial valley of the Kingani, seven to
eight miles broad, the land rises suddenly to a table-land of no great
height, on which trees grow in profusion. In fact it appeared, as far as
the eye could reach, the very counterpart of that where we stood, with
the exception of a small hill, very distant, called Phongue.

A very welcome packet of quinine and other medicines reached us here
from Rigby, who, hearing our complaints that the Hottentots could
only be kept alive by daily potions of brandy and quinine, feared our
supplies were not enough, and sent us more.

We could not get the Sultan's men to chum with the Wanguana proper; they
were shy, like wild animals--built their huts by themselves--and ate and
talked by themselves, for they felt themselves inferiors; and I had
to nominate one of their number to be their chief, answerable for the
actions of the whole. Being in the position of "boots" to the camp,
the tending of goats fell to their lot. Three goats were missing this
evening, which the goatherds could not account for, nor any of their
men. Suspecting that they were hidden for a private feast, I told their
chief to inquire farther, and report. The upshot was, that the man was
thrashed for intermeddling, and came back only with his scars. This was
a nice sort of insubordination, which of course could not be endured.
The goatherd was pinioned and brought to trial, for the double
offence of losing the goats and rough-handling his chief. The tricking
scoundrel--on quietly saying he could not be answerable for other men's
actions if they stole goats, and he could not recognise a man as his
chief whom the Sheikh, merely by a whim of his own, thought proper to
appoint--was condemned to be tied up for the night with the prospect of
a flogging in the morning. Seeing his fate, the cunning vagabond said,
"Now I do see it was by your orders the chief was appointed, and not
by a whim of Sheikh Said's; I will obey him for the future;" and these
words were hardly pronounced than the three missing goats rushed like
magic into camp, nobody of course knowing where they came from.

Skirting along the margin of the rising ground overlooking the river,
through thick woods, cleared in places for cultivation, we arrived at
Thumba Lhere. The chief here took a hongo of three yards merikani and
two yards kiniki without much fuss, for he had no power. The pagazis
struck, and said they would not move from this unless I gave them one
fundo or ten necklaces of beads each daily, in lieu of rations, as they
were promised by Ladha on the coast that I would do so as soon as they
had made four marches. This was an obvious invention, concocted to try
my generosity, for I had given the kirangozi a goat, which is customary,
to "make the journey prosperous"--had suspended a dollar to his neck in
recognition of his office, and given him four yards merikani, that he
might have a grand feast with his brothers; while neither the Sheikh,
myself, nor any one else in the camp, had heard of such a compact. With
high words the matter dropped, African fashion.

The pagazis would not start at the appointed time, hoping to enforce
their demands of last night; so we took the lead and started, followed
by the Wanguana. Seeing this, the pagazis cried out with one accord:
"The master is gone, leaving the responsibility of his property in our
hands; let us follow, let us follow, for verily he is our father;" and
all came hurrying after us. Here the river, again making a bend, is lost
to sight, and we marched through large woods and cultivated fields to
Muhugue, observing, as we passed long, the ochreish colour of the earth,
and numerous pits which the copal-diggers had made searching for their
much-valued gum. A large coast-bound caravan, carrying ivory tusks with
double-toned bells suspended to them, ting-tonging as they moved along,
was met on the way; and as some of the pagazis composing it were men who
had formerly taken me to the Victoria N'yanza, warm recognitions passed
between us. The water found here turned our brandy and tea as black as
ink. The chief, being a man of small pretensions, took only one sahari
and four yards merikani.

Instead of going on to the next village we halted in this jungly
place for the day, that I might comply with the desire of the Royal
Geographical Society to inspect Muhonyera, and report if there were
really any indications of a "raised sea-beach" there, such as their maps
indicate. An inspection brought me to the conclusion that no mind but
one prone to discovering sea-beaches in the most unlikely places
could have supposed for a moment that one existed here. The form and
appearance of the land are the same as we have seen everywhere since
leaving Bomani--a low plateau subtended by a bank cut down by the
Kingani river, and nothing more. There are no pebbles; the soil is rich
reddish loam, well covered with trees, bush, and grass, in which some
pigs and antelopes are found. From the top of this enbankment we gain
the first sight of the East Coast Range, due west of us, represented
by the high elephant's-back hill, Mkambaku, in Usagara, which, joining
Uraguru, stretches northwards across the Pangani river to Usumbara and
the Kilimandjaro, and southwards, with a westerly deflection, across the
Lufiji to Southern N'yassa. What course the range takes beyond those two
extremes, the rest of the world knows as well as I. Another conspicuous
landmark here is Kidunda (the little hill), which is the southernmost
point of a low chain of hills, also tending northwards, and representing
an advance-guard to the higher East Coast Range in its rear. At night,
as we had no local "sultans" to torment us, eight more men of sultan
Majid's donation ran away, and, adding injury to injury, took with them
all our goats, fifteen in number. This was a sad loss. We could keep
ourselves on guinea-fowls or green pigeons, doves, etc.; but the
Hottentots wanted nourishment much more than ourselves, and as their
dinner always consisted of what we left, "short-commons" was the fate in
store for them. The Wanguana, instead of regarding these poor creatures
as soldiers, treated them like children; and once, as a diminutive
Tot--the common name they go by--was exerting himself to lift his pack
and place it on his mule, a fine Herculean Mguana stepped up behind,
grasped Tot, pack and all, in his muscular arms, lifted the whole over
his head, paraded the Tot about, struggling for release, and put him
down amidst the laughter of the camp, then saddled his mule and patted
him on the back.

After sending a party of Beluch to track down the deserters and goats,
in which they were not successful, we passed through the village of
Sagesera, and camped one mile beyond, close to the river. Phanze Kirongo
(which means Mr Pit) here paid us his respects, with a presentation of
rice. In return he received four yards merikani and one dubuani, which
Bombay settled, as the little Sheikh, ever done by the sultans, pleaded
indisposition, to avoid the double fire he was always subjected to
on these occasions, by the sultans grasping on the one side, and my
resisting on the other; for I relied on my strength, and thought it
very inadvisable to be generous with my cloth to the prejudice of future
travellers, by decreasing the value of merchandise, and increasing
proportionately the expectations of these negro chiefs. From the top
of the bank bordering on the valley, a good view was obtainable of the
Uraguru hills, and the top of a very distant cone to its northward;
but I could see no signs of any river joining the kingani on its left,
though on the former expedition I heard that the Mukondokua river,
which was met with in Usagara, joined the Kingani close to Sagesera, and
actually formed its largest head branch. Neither could Mr Pit inform
me what became of the Mukondokua, as the Wazaramo are not given to
travelling. He had heard of it from the traders, but only knew himself
of one river beside the Kingani. It was called Wami in Uegura, and
mouths at Utondue, between the ports of Whindi and Saadani. To try and
check the desertions of Sultan Majid's men, I advised--ordering was
of no use--that their camp should be broken up, and they should be
amalgamated with the Wanguana; but it was found that the two would not
mix. In fact, the whole native camp consisted of so many clubs of two,
four, six, or ten men, who originally belonged to one village or one
master, or were united by some other family tie which they preferred
keeping intact; so they cooked together, ate together, slept together,
and sometimes mutinied together. The amalgamation having failed, I wrote
some emanicipation tickets, called the Sultan's men all up together,
selected the best, gave them these tickets, announced that their pay
and all rewards would be placed for the future on the same conditions as
those of the Wanguana, and as soon as I saw any signs of improvement in
the rest, they would all be treated in the same manner; but should they
desert, they would find my arm long enough to arrest them on the coast
and put them into prison.

During this march we crossed three deep nullahs which drain the Uzaramo
plateau, and arrived at the Makutaniro, or junction of this line with
those of Mboamaji and Konduchi, which traverse central Uzaramo, and
which, on my former return journey, I went down. The gum-copal diggings
here cease. The Dum palm is left behind; the large rich green-leaved
trees of the low plateau give place to the mimosa; and now, having
ascended the greater decline of the Kingani river, instead of being
confined by a bank, we found ourselves on flat open-park land, where
antelopes roam at large, buffalo and zebra are sometimes met with, and
guinea-fowl are numerous. The water for the camp is found in the river,
but supplies of grain come from the village of Kipora farther on.

A march through the park took us to a camp by a pond, from which, by
crossing the Kingani, rice and provisions for the men were obtained on
the opposite bank. One can seldom afford to follow wild animals on the
line of march, otherwise we might have bagged some antelopes to-day,
which, scared by the interminable singing, shouting, bell-jingling,
horn-blowing, and other such merry noises of the moving caravan, could
be seen disappearing in the distance.

Leaving the park, we now entered the riches part of Uzaramo, affording
crops as fine as any part of India. Here it was, in the district of
Dege la Mhora, that the first expedition to this country, guided by a
Frenchman, M. Maizan, came to a fatal termination, that gentleman having
been barbarously murdered by the sub-chief Hembe. The cause of the
affair was distinctly explained to me by Hembe himself, who, with
his cousin Darunga, came to call upon me, presuming, as he was not
maltreated by the last expedition, that the matter would now be
forgotten. The two men were very great friends of the little Sheikh,
and as a present was expected, which I should have to pay, we all talked
cheerfully and confidentially, bringing in the fate of Maizan for no
other reason than to satisfy curiosity. Hembe, who lives in the centre
of an almost impenetrable thicket, confessed that he was the murderer,
but said the fault did not rest with him, as he merely carried out the
instructions of his father, Mzungera, who, a Diwan on the coast, sent
him a letter directing his actions. Thus it is proved that the plot
against Maizan was concocted on the coast by the Arab merchants--most
likely from the same motive which has induced one rival merchant to
kill another as the best means of checking rivalry or competition.
When Arabs--and they are the only class of people who would do such
a deed--found a European going into the very middle of their secret
trading-places, where such large profits were to be obtained, they would
never suppose that the scientific Maizan went for any other purpose than
to pry into their ivory stores, bring others into the field after him,
and destroy their monopoly. The Sultan of Zanzibar, in those days, was
our old ally Said Said, commonly called the Emam of Muscat; and our
Consul, Colonel Hamerton, had been M. Maizan's host as long as he lived
upon the coast. Both the Emam and Consul were desirous of seeing the
country surveyed, and did everything in their power to assist Maizan,
the former even appointing the Indian Musa to conduct him safely as
far as Unyamuezi; but their power was not found sufficient to damp the
raging fire of jealousy in the ivory-trader's heart. Musa commenced the
journey with Maizan, and they travelled together a march or two,
when one of Maizan's domestic establishment fell sick and stopped his
progress. Musa remained with him eight or ten days, to his own loss in
trade and expense in keeping up a large establishment, and then they
parted by mutual consent, Maizan thinking himself quite strong enough
to take care of himself. This separation was, I believe, poor Maizan's
death-blow. His power, on the Emam's side, went with Musa's going, and
left the Arabs free to carry out their wicked wills.

The presents I had to give here were one sahari and eight yards merikani
to Hembe, and the same to Darunga, for which they gave a return in
grain. Still following close to the river--which, unfortunately, is so
enshrouded with thick bush that we could seldom see it--a few of the
last villages in Uzaramo were passed. Here antelopes reappear amongst
the tall mimosa, but we let them alone in prosecution of the survey, and
finally encamped opposite the little hill of Kidunda, which lying on the
left bank of the Kingani, stretches north, a little east, into Uzegura.
The hill crops out through pisolitic limestone, in which marine fossils
were observable. It would be interesting to ascertain whether this lime
formation extends down the east coast of Africa from the Somali country,
where also, on my first expedition, I found marine shells in the
limestone, especially as a vast continuous band of limestone is known
to extend from the Tagus, through Egypt and the Somali country, to the
Burrumputra. To obtain food it was necessary here to ferry the river and
purchase from the Wazaramo, who, from fear of the passing caravans,
had left their own bank and formed a settlement immediately under this
pretty little hill--rendered all the more enchanting to our eyes, as it
was the first we had met since leaving the sea-coast. The Diwan, or head
man, was a very civil creature; he presented us freely with two fine
goats--a thing at that time we were very much in want of--and took, in
return, without any comments, one dubani and eight yards merikani.

The next day, as we had no further need of our Beluch escort, a halt
was made to enable me to draw up a "Progress Report," and pack all
the specimens of natural history collected on the way, for the Royal
Geographical Society. Captain Grant, taking advantage of the spare time,
killed for the larder two buck antelopes, and the Tots brought in, in
high excited triumph, a famous pig.

This march, which declines from the Kingani a little, leads through
rolling, jungly ground, full of game, to the tributary stream Mgeta. It
is fordable in the dry season, but has to be bridged by throwing a tree
across it in the wet one. Rising in the Usagara hills to the west of the
hog-backed Mkambaku, this branch intersects the province of Ukhutu in
the centre, and circles round until it unites with the Kingani about
four miles north of the ford. Where the Kingani itself rises, I never
could find out; though I have heard that its sources lies in a gurgling
spring on the eastern face of the Mkambaku, by which account the Mgeta
is made the longer branch of the two.




Chapter III. Usagara

Nature of the Country--Resumption of the March--A Hunt--Bombay
and Baraka--The Slave-Hunters--The Ivory-Merchants--Collection of
Natural-History Specimens--A Frightened Village--Tracking a Mule.

Under U-Sagara, or, as it might be interpreted, U-sa-Gara--country of
Gara--is included all the country lying between the bifurcation of
the Kingani and Mgeta rivers east, and Ugogo, the first country on the
interior plateau west,--a distance of a hundred miles. On the north it
is bounded by the Mukondokua, or upper course of the Wami river and on
the south by the Ruaha, or northern great branch of the Lufiji river. It
forms a link of the great East Coast Range; but though it is generally
comprehended under the single name Usagara, many sub-tribes occupy and
apply their own names to portions of it; as, for instance, the people
on whose ground we now stood at the foot of the hills, are Wa-Khutu,
and their possessions consequently are U-Khutu, which is by far the best
producing land hitherto alluded to since leaving the sea-coast line. Our
ascent by the river, though quite imperceptible to the eye, has been 500
feet. From this level the range before us rises in some places to 5000
to 6000 feet, not as one grand mountain, but in two detached lines,
lying at an angle of 45 degrees from N.E. to S.W., and separated one
from the other by elevated valleys, tables, and crab-claw spurs of hill
which incline towards the flanking rivers. The whole having been thrown
up by volcanic action, is based on a strong foundation of granite and
other igneous rocks, which are exposed in many places in the shape of
massive blocks; otherwise the hill-range is covered in the upper part
with sandstone, and in the bottoms with alluvial clay. This is the
superficial configuration of the land as it strikes the eye; but,
knowing the elevation of the interior plateau to be only 2500 feet above
the sea immediately on the western flank of these hills, whilst the
breath of the chain is 100 miles, the mean slope of incline of the basal
surface must be on a gradual rise of twenty feet per mile. The hill tops
and sides, where not cultivated, are well covered with bush and small
trees, amongst which the bamboo is conspicuous; whilst the bottoms,
having a soil deeper and richer, produce fine large fig-trees of
exceeding beauty, the huge calabash, and a variety of other trees. Here,
in certain places where water is obtainable throughout the year, and
wars, or slave-hunts more properly speaking, do not disturb the industry
of the people, cultivation thrives surprisingly; but such a boon is
rarely granted them. It is in consequence of these constantly-recurring
troubles that the majority of the Wasagara villages are built on
hill-spurs, where the people can the better resist attack, or, failing,
disperse and hide effectually. The normal habitation is the small
conical hut of grass. These compose villages, varying in number
according to the influence of their head men. There are, however, a few
mud villages on the table-lands, each built in a large irregular square
of chambers with a hollow yard in the centre, known as tembe.

As to the people of these uplands, poor, meagre-looking wretches, they
contrast unfavourably with the lowlanders on both sides of them. Dingy
in colour, spiritless, shy, and timid, they invite attack in a country
where every human being has a market value, and are little seen by the
passing caravan. In habits they are semi-pastoral agriculturalists, and
would be useful members of society were they left alone to cultivate
their own possessions, rich and beautiful by nature, but poor and
desolate by force of circumstance. Some of the men can afford a cloth,
but the greater part wear an article which I can only describe as a
grass kilt. In one or two places throughout the passage of these hills
a caravan may be taxed, but if so, only to a small amount; the villagers
more frequently fly to the hill-tops as soon as the noise of the
advancing caravan is heard, and no persuasions will bring them down
again, so much ground have they, from previous experience, to fear
treachery. It is such sad sights, and the obvious want of peace and
prosperity, that weary the traveller, and make him every think of
pushing on to his journey's end from the instant he enters Africa until
he quits the country.

Knowing by old experience that the beautiful green park in the fork of
these rivers abounded in game of great variety and in vast herds, where
no men are ever seen except some savage hunters sitting in the trees
with poisoned arrows, or watching their snares and pitfalls, I had all
along determined on a hunt myself, to feed and cheer the men, and also
to collect some specimens for the home museums. In the first object we
succeeded well, as "the bags" we made counted two brindled gnu, four
water-boc, one pallah-boc, and one pig,--enough to feed abundantly the
whole camp round. The feast was all the better relished as the men knew
well that no Arab master would have given them what he could sell; for
if a slave shot game, the animals would be the master's, to be sold bit
by bit among the porters, and compensated from the proceeds of their
pay. In the variety and number of our game we were disappointed, partly
because so many wounded got away, and partly because we could not find
what we knew the park to contain, in addition to what we killed--namely,
elephants, rhinoceros, giraffes, buffaloes, zebra, and many varieties of
antelopes, besides lions and hyenas. In fact, "the park," as well as all
the adjacent land at the foot of the hills, is worth thinking of, with a
view to a sporting tour as well as scientific investigation.

A circumstance arose here, which, insignificant though it appeared,
is worth noting, to show how careful one must be in understanding and
dealing with negro servants. Quite unaccountably to myself, the general
of my Wanguana, Baraka, after showing much discontent with his position
as head of Captain Grant's establishment, became so insolent, that it
was necessary to displace him, and leave him nothing to do but look
after the men. This promoted Frij, who enjoyed his rise as much as
Baraka, if his profession was to be believed, enjoyed his removal from
that office. Though he spoke in this manner, still I knew that there was
something rankling in his mind which depressed his spirits as long as he
remained with us, though what it was I could not comprehend, nor did I
fully understand it till months afterwards. It was ambition, which was
fast making a fiend of him; and had I known it, he would, and with great
advantage too, have been dismissed upon the spot. The facts were these:
He was exceedingly clever, and he knew it. His command over men was
surprising. At Zanzibar he was the Consul's right-hand man: he ranked
above Bombay in the consular boat's crew, and became a terror even to
the Banyans who kept slaves. He seemed, in fact, in his own opinion, to
have imbibed all the power of the British Consul who had instructed him.
Such a man was an element of discord in our peaceful caravan. He was far
too big-minded for the sphere which he occupied; and my surprise now
is that he ever took service, knowing what he should, at the time of
enlistment, have expected, that no man would be degraded to make room
for him. But this was evidently what he had expected, though he dared
not say it. He was jealous of Bombay, because he thought his position
over the money department was superior to his own over the men; and he
had seen Bombay, on one occasion, pay a tax in Uzaramo--a transaction
which would give him consequence with the native chiefs. Of Sheikh Said
he was equally jealous, for a like reason; and his jealousy increased
the more that I found it necessary to censure the timidity of this
otherwise worthy little man. Baraka thought, in his conceit, that he
could have done all things better, and gained signal fame, had he been
created chief. Perhaps he thought he had gained the first step towards
this exalted rank, and hence his appearing very happy for this time.
I could not see through so deep a scheme and only hoped that he would
shortly forget, in the changes of the marching life, those beautiful
wives he had left behind him, which Bombay in his generosity tried to
persuade me was the cause of his mental distraction.

Our halt at the ford here was cut short by the increasing sickness of
the Hottentots, and the painful fact that Captain Grant was seized with
fever. [6] We had to change camp to the little village of Kiruru, where,
as rice was grown--an article not to be procured again on this side of
Unyamuezi--we stopped a day to lay in supplies of this most valuable of
all travelling food. Here I obtained the most consistent accounts of the
river system which, within five days' journey, trends through Uzegura;
and I concluded, from what I heard, that there is no doubt of the
Mukondokua and Wami rivers being one and the same stream. My informants
were the natives of the settlement, and they all concurred in saying
that the Kingani above the junction is called the Rufu, meaning the
parent stream. Beyond it, following under the line of the hills, at one
day's journey distant, there is a smaller river called Msonge. At
an equal distance beyond it, another of the same size is known as
Lungerengeri; and a fourth river is the Wami, which mouths in the sea at
Utondue, between the ports of Whindi and Saadami. In former years, the
ivory-merchants, ever seeking for an easy road for their trade, and
knowing they would have no hills to climb if they could only gain a
clear passage by this river from the interior plateau to the sea, made
friends with the native chiefs of Uzegura, and succeeded in establishing
it as a thoroughfare. Avarice, however, that fatal enemy to the negro
chiefs, made them overreach themselves by exorbitant demands of taxes.
Then followed contests for the right of appropriating the taxes, and the
whole ended in the closing of the road, which both parties were equally
anxious to keep open for their mutual gain. This foolish disruption
having at first only lasted for a while, the road was again opened and
again closed, for the merchants wanted an easy passage, and the native
chiefs desired cloths. But it was shut again; and now we heard of its
being for a third time opened, with what success the future only can
determine--for experience WILL not teach the negro, who thinks only for
the moment. Had they only sense to see, and patience to wait, the
whole trade of the interior would inevitably pass through their country
instead of Uzaramo; and instead of being poor in cloths, they would
be rich and well dressed like their neighbours. But the curse of Noah
sticks to these his grandchildren by Ham, and no remedy that has yet
been found will relieve them. They require a government like ours in
India; and without it, the slave trade will wipe them off the face of
the earth.

Now leaving the open parks of pretty acacias, we followed up the Mgazi
branch of the Mgeta, traversed large tree-jungles, where the tall
palm is conspicuous, and drew up under the lumpy Mkambaku, to find
a residence for the day. Here an Arab merchant, Khamis, bound for
Zanzibar, obliged us by agreeing for a few dollars to convey our recent
spoils in natural history to the coast.

My plans for the present were to reach Zungomero as soon as possible,
as a few days' halt would be required there to fix the longitude of the
eastern flank of the East Coast Range by astronomical observation;
but on ordering the morning's march, the porters--too well fed and
lazy--thought our marching-rate much too severe, and resolutely refused
to move. They ought to have made ten miles a-day, but preferred doing
five. Argument was useless, and I was reluctant to apply the stick,
as the Arabs would have done when they saw their porters trifling
with their pockets. Determining, however, not to be frustrated in this
puerile manner, I ordered the bugler to sound the march, and started
with the mules and coast-men, trusting to Sheikh and Baraka to bring on
the Wanyamuezi as soon as they could move them. The same day we crossed
the Mgazi where we found several Wakhutu spearing fish in the muddy
hovers of its banks.

We slept under a tree, and this morning found a comfortable residence
under the eaves of a capacious hut. The Wanyamuezi porters next came
in at their own time, and proved to us how little worth are orders in
a land where every man, in his own opinion, is a lord, and no laws
prevail. Zungomero, bisected by the Mgeta, lies on flat ground, in a
very pretty amphitheatre of hills, S. lat. 7 deg. 26' 53", and E. long.
37 deg. 36' 45". It is extremely fertile, and very populous, affording
everything that man can wish, even to the cocoa and papwa fruits;
but the slave-trade has almost depopulated it, and turned its once
flourishing gardens into jungles. As I have already said, the people who
possess these lands are cowardly by nature, and that is the reason why
they are so much oppressed. The Wasuahili, taking advantage of their
timidity, flock here in numbers to live upon the fruits of their
labours. The merchants on the coast, too, though prohibited by their
Sultan from interfering with the natural course of trade, send their
hungry slaves, as touters, to entice all approaching caravans to
trade with their particular ports, authorising the touters to pay such
premiums as may be necessary for the purpose. Where they came from we
could not ascertain; but during our residence, a large party of the
Wasuahili marched past, bound for the coast, with one hundred head of
cattle, fifty slaves in chains, and as many goats. Halts always end
disastrously in Africa, giving men time for mischief;--and here was an
example of it. During the target-practice, which was always instituted
on such occasions to give confidence to our men, the little pepper-box
Rahan, my head valet, challenged a comrade to a duel with carbines.
Being stopped by those around him, he vented his wrath in terrible
oaths, and swung about his arms, until his gun accidentally went off,
and blew his middle finger off.

Baraka next, with a kind of natural influence of affinity when a row is
commenced, made himself so offensive to Bombay, as to send him running
to me so agitated with excitement that I thought him drunk. He seized my
hands, cried, and implored me to turn him off. What could this mean?
I could not divine; neither could he explain, further than that he had
come to a determination that I must send either him or Baraka to the
right-about; and his first idea was that he, and not Baraka, should be
the victim. Baraka's jealousy about his position had not struck me yet.
I called them both together and asked what quarrel they had, but could
not extract the truth. Baraka protested that he had never given, either
by word or deed, the slightest cause of rupture; he only desired the
prosperity of the march, and that peace should reign throughout the
camp; but Bombay was suspicious of him, and malignantly abused him, for
what reason Baraka could not tell. When I spoke of this to Bombay, like
a bird fascinated by the eye of a viper, he shrank before the slippery
tongue of his opponent, and could only say, "No, Sahib--oh no, that is
not it; you had better turn me off, for his tongue is so long, and mine
so short, you never will believe me." I tried to make them friends,
hoping it was merely a passing ill-wind which would soon blow over; but
before long the two disputants were tonguing it again, and I distinctly
heard Bombay ordering Baraka out of camp as he could not keep from
intermeddling, saying, which was true, he had invited him to join the
expedition, that his knowledge of Hindustani might be useful to us; he
was not wanted for any other purpose, and unless he was satisfied with
doing that alone, we would get on much better without him. To this
provocation Baraka mildly made the retort, "Pray don't put yourself in
a passion, nobody is hurting you, it is all in your own heart, which is
full of suspicions and jealousy without the slightest cause."

This complicated matters more than ever. I knew Bombay to be a generous,
honest man, entitled by his former services to be in the position he was
now holding as fundi, or supervisor in the camp. Baraka, who never
would have joined the expedition excepting through his invitation, was
indebted to him for the rank he now enjoyed--a command over seventy men,
a duty in which he might have distinguished himself as a most useful
accessory to the camp. Again I called the two together, and begged them
to act in harmony like brothers, noticing that there was no cause for
entertaining jealousy on either side, as every order rested with myself
to reward for merit or to punish. The relative position in the camp was
like that of the senior officers in India, Bombay representing the
Mulki lord, or Governor-General, and Baraka the Jungi lord, or
Commander-in-Chief. To the influence of this distinguished comparison
they both gave way, acknowledging myself their judge, and both
protesting that they wished to serve in peace and quietness for the
benefit of the march.

Zungomero is a terminus or junction of two roads leading to the
interior--one, the northern, crossing over the Goma Pass, and trenching
on the Mukondokua river, and the other crossing over the Mabruki Pass,
and edging on the Ruaha river. They both unite again at Ugogi, the
western terminus on the present great Unyamuezi line. On the former
expedition I went by the northern line and returned by the southern,
finding both equally easy, and, indeed, neither is worthy of special and
permanent preference. In fact, every season makes a difference in the
supply of water and provisions; and with every year, owing to incessant
wars, or rather slave-hunts, the habitations of the wretched inhabitants
become constantly changed--generally speaking, for the worse. Our first
and last object, therefore, as might be supposed, from knowing these
circumstances, was to ascertain, before mounting the hill-range, which
route would afford us the best facilities for a speedy march now. No
one, however, could or would advise us. The whole country on ahead,
especially Ugogo, was oppressed by drought and famine. To avoid this
latter country, then, we selected the southern route, as by doing so it
was hoped we might follow the course of the Ruaha river from Maroro
to Usenga and Usanga, and thence strike across to Unyanyembe, sweeping
clear of Ugogo.

With this determination, after despatching a third set of specimens,
consisting of large game animals, birds, snakes, insects, land
and freshwater shells, and a few rock specimens, of which one was
fossiliferous, we turned southwards, penetrating the forests which lie
between the greater range and the little outlying one. At the foot of
this is the Maji ya Wheta, a hot, deep-seated spring of fresh water,
which bubbles up through many apertures in a large dome-shaped heap
of soft lime--an accumulation obviously thrown up by the force of the
spring, as the rocks on either side of it are of igneous character.
We arrived at the deserted village of Kirengue. This was not an easy
go-ahead march, for the halt had disaffected both men and mules. Three
of the former bolted, leaving their loads upon the ground; and on the
line of march, one of the mules, a full-conditioned animal, gave up the
ghost after an eighteen hours' sickness. What his disease was I never
could ascertain; but as all the remaining animals died afterwards much
in the same manner, I may state for once and for all, that these attacks
commenced with general swelling, at first on the face, then down the
neck, along the belly and down the legs. It proved so obstinate that
fire had no effect upon it; and although we cut off the tails of some to
relieve them by bleeding, still they died.

In former days Kirengue was inhabited, and we reasonably hoped to find
some supplies for the jungly march before us. But we had calculated
without our host, for the slave-hunters had driven every vestige of
humanity away; and now, as we were delayed by our three loads behind,
there was nothing left but to send back and purchase more grain. Such
was one of the many days frittered away in do-nothingness.

This day, all together again, we rose the first spurs of the well-wooded
Usagara hills, amongst which the familiar bamboo was plentiful, and at
night we bivouacked in the jungle.

Rising betimes in the morning, and starting with a good will, we soon
reached the first settlements of Mbuiga, from which could be seen a
curious blue mountain, standing up like a giant overlooking all the
rest of the hills. The scenery here formed a strong and very pleasing
contrast to any we had seen since leaving the coast. Emigrant Waziraha,
who had been driven from their homes across the Kingani river by the
slave-hunters, had taken possession of the place, and disposed their
little conical-hut villages on the heights of the hill-spurs in such a
picturesque manner, that one could not help hoping they would here at
least be allowed to rest in peace and quietness. The valleys, watered
by little brooks, are far richer, and even prettier, than the high
lands above, being lined with fine trees and evergreen shrubs; while the
general state of prosperity was such, that the people could afford, even
at this late season of the year, to turn their corn into malt to brew
beer for sale; and goats and fowls were plentiful in the market.

Passing by the old village of Mbuiga, which I occupied on my former
expedition, we entered some huts on the western flank of the Mbuiga
district; and here, finding a coast-man, a great friend of the little
sheikh's, willing to take back to Zanzibar anything we might give him, a
halt was made, and I drew up my reports. I then consigned to his
charge three of the most sickly of the Hottentots in a deplorable
condition--one of the mules, that they might ride by turns--and all
the specimens that had been collected. With regret I also sent back the
camera; because I saw, had I allowed my companion to keep working it,
the heat he was subjected to in the little tent whilst preparing
and fixing his plates would very soon have killed him. The number of
guinea-fowl seen here was most surprising.

A little lighter and much more comfortable for the good riddance of
those grumbling "Tots," we worked up to and soon breasted the stiff
ascent of the Mabruki Pass, which we surmounted without much difficult.
This concluded the first range of these Usagara hills; and once over, we
dropped down to the elevated valley of Makata, where we halted two days
to shoot. As a travelling Arab informed me that the whole of the Maroro
district had been laid waste by the marauding Wahehe, I changed our
plans again, and directed our attention to a middle and entirely new
line, which in the end would lead us to Ugogi. The first and only
giraffe killed upon the journey was here shot by Grant, with a little
40-gauge Lancaster rifle, at 200 yards' distance. Some smaller animals
were killed; but I wasted all my time in fruitlessly stalking some
wounded striped eland--magnificent animals, as large as Delhi oxen--and
some other animals, of which I wounded three, about the size of
hartebeest, and much their shape, only cream-coloured, with a
conspicuous black spot in the centre of each flank. The eland may
probably be the animal first mentioned by Livingstone, but the other
animal is not known.

Though reluctant to leave a place where such rare animals were to be
found, the fear of remaining longer on the road induced us to leave
Kikobogo, and at a good stride we crossed the flat valley of Makata, and
ascended the higher lands beyond, where we no sooner arrived than we
met the last down trader from Unyamuezi, well known to all my men as
the great Mamba or Crocodile. Mamba, dressed in a dirty Arab gown, with
coronet of lion's nails decorating a thread-bare cutch cap, greeted us
with all the dignity of a savage potentate surrounded by his staff
of half-naked officials. As usual, he had been the last to leave the
Unyamuezi, and so purchased all his stock of ivory at a cheap rate,
there being no competitors left to raise the value of that commodity;
but his journey had been a very trying one. With a party, at his own
estimate, of two thousand souls--we did not see anything like that
number--he had come from Ugogo to this, by his own confession, living on
the products of the jungle, and by boiling down the skin aprons of his
porters occasionally for a soup. Famines were raging throughout the
land, and the Arabs preceding him had so harried the country, that every
village was deserted. On hearing our intention to march upon the direct
line, he frankly said he thought we should never get through for my men
could not travel as he had done, and therefore he advised our deflecting
northwards from New Mbumi to join the track leading from Rumuma to
Ugogi. This was a sad disappointment; but, rather than risk a failure, I
resolved to follow his advice.

After reaching the elevated ground, we marched over rolling tops,
covered with small trees and a rich variety of pretty bulbs, and reached
the habitations of Muhanda, where we no sooner appeared than the poor
villagers, accustomed only to rough handling, immediately dispersed in
the jungles. By dint of persuasion, however, we induced them to sell us
provisions, though at a monstrous rate, such as no merchant could have
afforded; and having spent the night quietly, we proceeded on to the
upper courses of the M'yombo river, which trends its way northwards
to the Mukondokua river. The scenery was most interesting, with every
variety of hill, roll, plateau, and ravine, wild and prettily wooded;
but we saw nothing of the people. Like frightened rats, as soon as they
caught the sound of our advancing march, they buried themselves in
the jungles, carrying off their grain with them. Foraging parties, of
necessity, were sent out as soon as the camp was pitched, with cloth for
purchases, and strict orders not to use force; the upshot of which was,
that my people got nothing but a few arrows fired at them by the
lurking villagers, and I was abused for my squeamishness. Moreover,
the villagers, emboldened by my lenity, vauntingly declared they would
attack the camp by night, as they could only recognise in us such men
as plunder their houses and steal their children. This caused a certain
amount of alarm among my men, which induced them to run up a stiff
bush-fence round the camp, and kept them talking all night.

This morning we marched on as usual, with one of the Hottentots lashed
on a donkey; for the wretched creature, after lying in the sun asleep,
became so sickly that he could not move or do anything for himself, and
nobody would do anything for him. The march was a long one, but under
ordinary circumstances would have been very interesting, for we passed
an immense lagoon, where hippopotami were snorting as if they invited an
attack. In the larger tree-jungles the traces of elephants, buffaloes,
rhinoceros, and antelopes were very numerous; while a rich variety of
small birds, as often happened, made me wish I had come on a shooting
rather than on a long exploring expedition. Towards sunset we arrived
at New Mbimi, a very pretty and fertile place, lying at the foot of
a cluster of steep hills, and pitched camp for three days to lay in
supplies for ten, as this was reported to be the only place where we
could buy corn until we reached Ugogo, a span of 140 miles. Mr Mbumi,
the chief of the place, a very affable negro, at once took us by the
hand, and said he would do anything we desired, for he had often been to
Zanzibar. He knew that the English were the ruling power in that land,
and that they were opposed to slavery, the terrible effects of which had
led to his abandoning Old Mbumi, on the banks of the Mukondokua river,
and rising here.

The sick Hottentot died here, and we buried him with Christian honours.
As his comrades said, he died because he had determined to die,--an
instance of that obstinate fatalism in their mulish temperament which no
kind words or threats can cure. This terrible catastrophe made me wish
to send all the remaining Hottentots back to Zanzibar; but as they all
preferred serving with me to returning to duty at the Cape, I selected
two of the MOST sickly, put them under Tabib, one of Rigby's old
servants, and told him to remain with them at Mbumi until such time
as he might find some party proceeding to the coasts; and, in the
meanwhile, for board and lodgings I have Mbumi beads and cloth. The
prices of provisions here being a good specimen of what one has to
pay at this season of the year, I give a short list of them:--sixteen
rations corn, two yards cloth; three fowls, two yards cloth; one goat,
twenty yards cloth; one cow, forty yards cloth,--the cloth being common
American sheeting. Before we left Mbumi, a party of forty men and women
of the Waquiva tribe, pressed by famine, were driven there to purchase
food. The same tribe had, however killed many of Mbumi's subjects not
long since, and therefore, in African revenge, the chief seized them
all, saying he would send them off for sale to Zanzibar market unless
they could give a legitimate reason for the cruelty they had committed.
These Waquiva, I was given to understand, occupied the steep hills
surrounding this place. They were a squalid-looking set, like the
generality of the inhabitants of this mountainous region.

This march led us over a high hill to the Mdunhwi river, another
tributary to the Mukondokua. It is all clad in the upper regions with
the slender pole-trees which characterise these hills, intermingled with
bamboo; but the bottoms are characterised by a fine growth of fig-trees
of great variety along with high grasses; whilst near the villages were
found good gardens of plantains, and numerous Palmyra trees. The rainy
season being not far off, the villagers were busy in burning rubble and
breaking their ground. Within their reach everywhere is the sarsaparilla
vine, but growing as a weed, for they know nothing of its value.

Rising up from the deep valley of Mdunhwi we had to cross another
high ridge before descending to the also deep valley of Chongue, as
picturesque a country as the middle heights of the Himalayas, dotted on
the ridges and spur-slopes by numerous small conical-hut villages;
but all so poor that we could not, had we wanted it, have purchased
provisions for a day's consumption.

Leaving this valley, we rose to the table of Manyovi, overhung with much
higher hills, looking, according to the accounts of our Hottentots, as
they eyed the fine herds of cattle grazing on the slopes, so like the
range in Kafraria, that they formed their expectations accordingly,
and appeared, for the first time since leaving the coast, happy at the
prospect before them, little dreaming that such rich places were seldom
to be met with. The Wanyamuezi porters even thought they had found a
paradise, and forthwith threw down their loads as the villagers came to
offer them grain for sale; so that, had I not had the Wanguana a little
under control, we should not have completed our distance that day, and
so reached Manyonge, which reminded me, by its ugliness, of the sterile
Somali land. Proceeding through the semi-desert rolling table-land--in
one place occupied by men who build their villages in large open squares
of flat-topped mud huts, which, when I have occasion to refer to them
in future, I shall call by their native name tembe--we could see on the
right hand the massive mountains overhanging the Mukondokua river, to
the front the western chain of these hills, and to the left the high
crab-claw shaped ridge, which, extending from the western chain, circles
round conspicuously above the swelling knolls which lie between the two
main rocky ridges. Contorted green thorn-trees, "elephant-foot" stumps,
and aloes, seem to thrive best here, by their very nature indicating
what the country is, a poor stony land. Our camp was pitched by the
river Rumuma, where, sheltered from the winds, and enriched by alluvial
soil, there ought to have been no scarcity; but still the villagers had
nothing to sell.

On we went again to Marenga Mkhaili, the "Salt Water," to breakfast, and
camped in the crooked green thorns by night, carrying water on for our
supper. This kind of travelling--forced marches--hard as it may appear,
was what we liked best, for we felt that we were shortening the journey,
and in doing so, shortening the risks of failure by disease, by war, by
famine, and by mutiny. We had here no grasping chiefs to detain us
for presents, nor had our men time to become irritable and truculent,
concoct devices for stopping the way, or fight amongst themselves.

On again, and at last we arrived at the foot of the western chain;
but not all together. Some porters, overcome by heat and thirst, lay
scattered along the road, while the corporal of the Hottentots allowed
his mule to stray from him, never dreaming the animal would travel far
from his comrades, and, in following after him, was led such a long way
into the bush, that my men became alarmed for his safety, knowing as
they did that the "savages" were out living like monkeys on the calabash
fruit, and looking out for any windfalls, such as stragglers worth
plundering, that might come in their way. At first the Wanguana
attempted to track down the corporal; but finding he would not answer
their repeated shots, and fearful for their own safety, they came into
camp and reported the case. Losing no time, I ordered twenty men, armed
with carbines, to carry water for the distressed porters, and bring the
corporal back as soon as possible. They all marched off, as they always
do on such exploits, in high good-humour with themselves for the valour
which they intended to show; and in the evening came in, firing their
guns in the most reckless manner, beaming with delight; for they had
the corporal in tow, two men and two women captives, and a spear as a
trophy. Then in high impatience, all in a breath, they began a recital
of the great day's work. The corporal had followed on the spoor of the
mule, occasionally finding some of his things that had been torn from
the beast's back by the thorns, and, picking up these one by one, had
become so burdened with the weight of them, that he could follow no
farther. In this fix the twenty men came up with him, but not until they
had had a scrimmage with the "savages," had secured four, and taken the
spear which had been thrown at them. Of the mule's position no one
could give an opinion, save that they imagined, in consequence of the
thickness of the bush, he would soon become irretrievably entangled in
the thicket, where the savages would find him, and bring him in as a
ransom for the prisoners.

What with the diminution of our supplies, the famished state of the
country, and the difficulties which frowned upon us in advance, together
with unwillingness to give up so good a mule, with all its gear and
ammunition, I must say I felt doubtful as to what had better be done,
until the corporal, who felt confident he would find the beast, begged
so hard that I sent him in command of another expedition of sixteen men,
ordering him to take one of the prisoners with him to proclaim to his
brethren that we would give up the rest if they returned us the mule.
The corporal then led off his band to the spot where he last saw traces
of the animal, and tracked on till sundown; while Grant and myself went
out pot-hunting and brought home a bag consisting of one striped
eland, one saltiana antelope, four guinea-fowl, four ringdoves, and one
partridge--a welcome supply, considering we were quite out of flesh.

Next day, as there were no signs of the trackers, I went again to the
place of the elands, wounded a fine male, but gave up the chase, as I
heard the unmistakable gun-firing return of the party, and straightway
proceeded to camp. Sure enough, there they were; they had tracked the
animal back to Marenga Mkhali, through jungle--for he had not taken to
the footpath. Then finding he had gone on, they returned quite tired
and famished. To make the most of a bad job, I now sent Grant on to the
Robeho (or windy) Pass, on the top of the western chain, with the mules
and heavy baggage, and directions to proceed thence across the brow of
the hill the following morning, while I remained behind with the tired
men, promising to join him by breakfast-time. I next released the
prisoners, much to their disgust, for they had not known such good
feeding before, and dreaded being turned adrift again in the jungles to
live on calabash seeds; and then, after shooting six guinea-fowl, turned
in for the night.

Betimes in the morning we were off, mounting the Robeho, a good stiff
ascent, covered with trees and large blocks of granite, excepting only
where cleared for villages; and on we went rapidly, until at noon the
advance party was reached, located in a village overlooking the great
interior plateau--a picture, as it were, of the common type of African
scenery. Here, taking a hasty meal, we resumed the march all together,
descended the great western chain, and, as night set in, camped in a
ravine at the foot of it, not far from the great junction-station Ugogi,
where terminate the hills of Usagara.




Chapter IV. Ugogo, and the Wilderness of Mgunda Mkhali

The Lie of the Country--Rhinoceros-Stalking--Scuffle of Villagers over a
Carcass--Chief "Short-Legs" and His Successors--Buffalo-Shooting--
Getting Lost--A Troublesome Sultan--Desertions from the Camp--Getting
Plundered--Wilderness March--Diplomatic Relations with the Local
Powers--Manua Sera's Story--Christmas--The Relief from Kaze

This day's work led us from the hilly Usagara range into the more level
lands of the interior. Making a double march of it, we first stopped to
breakfast at the quiet little settlement of Inenge, where cattle were
abundant, but grain so scarce that the villagers were living on calabash
seeds. Proceeding thence across fields delightfully checkered with
fine calabash and fig trees, we marched, carrying water through thorny
jungles, until dark, when we bivouacked for the night, only to rest
and push on again next morning, arriving at Marenga Mkhali (the saline
water) to breakfast. Here a good view of the Usagara hills is obtained.
Carrying water with us, we next marched half-way to the first settlement
of Ugogo, and bivouacked again, to eat the last of our store of Mbumi
grain.

At length the greater famine lands had been spanned; but we were not
in lands of plenty--for the Wagogo we found, like their neighbours
Wasagara, eating the seed of the calabash, to save their small stores of
grain.

The East Coast Range having been passed, no more hills had to be
crossed, for the land we next entered on is a plateau of rolling ground,
sloping southward to the Ruaha river, which forms a great drain running
from west to east, carrying off all the rainwaters that fall in its
neighbourhood through the East Coast Range to the sea. To the northward
can be seen some low hills, which are occupied by Wahumba, a subtribe
of the warlike Masai; and on the west is the large forest-wilderness of
Mgunda Mkhali. Ugogo, lying under the lee side of the Usagara hills,
is comparatively sterile. Small outcrops of granite here and there poke
through the surface, which, like the rest of the rolling land, being
covered with bush, principally acacias, have a pleasing appearance after
the rains have set in, but are too brown and desert-looking during
the rest of the year. Large prairies of grass also are exposed in many
places, and the villagers have laid much ground bare for agricultural
purposes.

Altogether, Ugogo has a very wild aspect, well in keeping with the
natives who occupy it, who, more like the Wazaramo than the Wasagara,
carry arms, intended for use rather than show. The men, indeed, are
never seen without their usual arms--the spear, the shield, and the
assage. They live in flat-topped, square, tembe villages, wherever
springs of water are found, keep cattle in plenty, and farm enough
generally to supply not only their own wants, but those of the thousands
who annually pass in caravans. They are extremely fond of ornaments,
the most common of which is an ugly tube of the gourd thrust through the
lower lobe of the ear. Their colour is a soft ruddy brown, with a slight
infusion of black, not unlike that of a rich plum. Impulsive by
nature, and exceedingly avaricious, they pester travellers beyond all
conception, by thronging the road, jeering, quizzing, and pointing at
them; and in camp, by intrusively forcing their way into the midst of
the kit, and even into the stranger's tent. Caravans, in consequence,
never enter their villages, but camp outside, generally under the big
"gouty-limbed" trees--encircling their entire camp sometimes with a
ring-fence of thorns to prevent any sudden attack.

To resume the thread of the journey: we found, on arrival in Ugogo, very
little more food than in Usagara for the Wagogo were mixing their small
stores of grain with the monkey-bread seeds of the gouty-limbed tree.
Water was so scarce in the wells at this season that we had to buy it
at the normal price of country beer; and, as may be imagined where such
distress in food was existing, cows, goats, sheep, and fowls were also
selling at high rates.

Our mules here gave us the slip again, and walked all the way back to
Marenga Mkhali, where they were found and brought back by some Wagogo,
who took four yards of merikani in advance, with a promise of four more
on return, for the job--their chief being security for their fidelity.
This business detained us two days, during which time I shot a new
variety of florikan, peculiar in having a light blue band stretching
from the nose over the eye to the occiput. Each day, while we resided
here, cries were raised by the villagers that the Wahumba were coming,
and then all the cattle out in the plains, both far and near, were
driven into the village for protection.

At last, on the 26th, as the mules were brought it, I paid a hongo or
tax of four barsati and four yards of chintz to the chief, and departed,
but not until one of my porters, a Mhehe, obtained a fat dog for his
dinner; he had set his heart on it, and would not move until he had
killed it, and tied it on to his load for the evening's repast. Passing
through the next villages--a collection called Kifukuro--we had to pay
another small tax of two barsati and four yards of chintz to the chief.
There we breakfasted, and pushed on, carrying water to a bivouac in the
jungles, as the famine precluded our taking the march more easily.

Pushing on again, we cleared out of the woods, and arrived at the
eastern border of the largest clearance of Ugogo, Kanyenye. Here we
were forced to halt a day, as the mules were done up, and eight of the
Wanyamuezi porters absconded, carrying with them the best part of their
loads. There was also another inducement for stopping here; for, after
stacking the loads, as we usually did on arriving in camp, against a
large gouty-limbed tree, a hungry Mgogo, on eyeing our guns, offered
his services to show us some bicornis rhinoceros, which, he said paid
nightly visits to certain bitter pools that lay in the nullah bottoms
not far off. This exciting intelligence made me inquire if it was not
possible to find them at once; but, being assured that they lived very
far off, and that the best chance was the night, I gave way, and settled
on starting at ten, to arrive at the ground before the full moon should
rise.

I set forth with the guide and two of the sheikh's boys, each carrying
a single rifle, and ensconced myself in the nullah, to hide until our
expected visitors should arrive, and there remained until midnight. When
the hitherto noisy villagers turned into bed, the silvery moon shed her
light on the desolate scene, and the Mgogo guide, taking fright, bolted.
He had not, however, gone long, when, looming above us, coming over the
horizon line, was the very animal we wanted.

In a fidgety manner the beast then descended, as if he expected some
danger in store--and he was not wrong; for, attaching a bit of white
paper to the fly-sight of my Blissett, I approached him, crawling under
cover of the banks until within eighty yards of him, when, finding that
the moon shone full on his flank, I raised myself upright and planted a
bullet behind his left shoulder. Thus died my first rhinoceros.

To make the most of the night, as I wanted meat for my men to cook, as
well as a stock to carry with them, or barter with the villagers for
grain, I now retired to my old position, and waited again.

After two hours had elapsed, two more rhinoceros approached me in the
same stealthy, fidgety way as the first one. They came even closer than
the first, but, the moon having passed beyond their meridian, I could
not obtain so clear a mark. Still they were big marks, and I determined
on doing my best before they had time to wind us; so stepping out,
with the sheikh's boys behind me carrying the second rifle to meet all
emergencies, I planted a ball in the larger one, and brought him round
with a roar and whooh-whooh, exactly to the best position I could wish
for receiving a second shot; but, alas! on turning sharply round for the
spare rifle, I had the mortification to see that both the black boys had
made off, and were scrambling like monkeys up a tree. At the same time
the rhinoceros, fortunately for me, on second consideration turned to
the right-about, and shuffled away, leaving, as is usually the case when
conical bullets are used, no traces of blood.

Thus ended the night's work. We now went home by dawn to apprise all the
porters that we had flesh in store for them, when the two boys who had
so shamelessly deserted me, instead of hiding their heads, described all
the night's scenes with such capital mimicry as to set the whole camp
in a roar. We had all now to hurry back to the carcass before the Wagogo
could find it; but though this precaution was quickly taken, still,
before the tough skin of the beast could be cut through, the Wagogo
began assembling like vultures, and fighting with my men. A more savage,
filthy, disgusting, but at the same time grotesque, scene than that
which followed cannot be conceived. All fell to work armed with swords,
spears, knives, and hatchets--cutting and slashing, thumping and
bawling, fighting and tearing, tumbling and wrestling up to their knees
in filth and blood in the middle of the carcass. When a tempting morsel
fell to the possession of any one, a stronger neighbour would seize and
bear off the prize in triumph. All right was now a matter or pure might,
and lucky it was that it did not end in a fight between our men and
the villagers. These might be afterwards seen, one by one, covered with
blood, scampering home each with his spoil--a piece of tripe, or liver,
or lights, or whatever else it might have been his fortune to get off
with.

We were still in great want of men; but rather than stop a day, as all
delays only lead to more difficulties, I pushed on to Magomba's palace
with the assistance of some Wagogo carrying our baggage, each taking one
cloth as his hire. The chief wazir at once come out to meet me on the
way, and in an apparently affable manner, as an old friend, begged that
I would live in the palace--a bait which I did not take, as I knew
my friend by experience a little too well. He then, in the politest
possible manner, told me that a great dearth of food was oppressing the
land--so much so, that pretty cloths only would purchase grain. I now
wished to settle my hongo, but the great chief could not hear of such
indecent haste.

The next day, too, the chief was too drunk to listen to any one, and I
must have patience. I took out this time in the jungles very profitably,
killing a fine buck and doe antelope, of a species unknown. These
animals are much about the same size and shape as the common Indian
antelope, and, like them, roam about in large herds. The only marked
difference between the two is in the shape of their horns, as may be
seen by the woodcut; and in their colour, in which, in both sexes, the
Ugogo antelopes resemble the picticandata gazelle of Tibet, except that
the former have dark markings on the face.

At last, after thousands of difficulties much like those I encountered
in Uzaramo, the hongo was settled by a payment of one kisutu, one
dubani, four yards bendera, four yards kiniki, and three yards merikani.
The wazir then thought he would do some business on his own account, and
commenced work by presenting me with a pot of ghee and flour, saying at
the same time "empty words did not show true love," and hoping that I
would prove mine by making some slight return. To get rid of the animal
I gave him the full value of his present in cloth, which he no sooner
pocketed than he had the audacity to accuse Grant of sacrilege for
having shot a lizard on a holy stone, and demanded four cloths to pay
atonement for this offence against the "church." As yet, he said, the
chief was not aware of the damage done, and it was well he was not; for
he would himself, if I only paid him the four cloths, settle matters
quietly, otherwise there would be no knowing what demands might be made
on my cloth. It was necessary to get up hot temper, else there was no
knowing how far he would go; so I returned him his presents, and told
the sheikh, instead of giving four, to fling six cloths in his face, and
tell him that the holy-stone story was merely a humbug, and I would take
care no more white men ever came to see him again.

Some Wanyamuezi porters, who had been left sick here by former caravans,
now wished to take service with me as far as Kaze; but the Wagogo,
hearing of their desire, frightened them off it. A report also at this
time was brought to us, that a caravan had just arrived at our last
ground, having come up from Whindi, direct by the line of the Wami
river, in its upper course called Mukondokua, without crossing a single
hill all the way; I therefore sent three men to see if they had any
porters to spare, as it was said they had; but the three men, although
they left their bows and arrows behind, never came back.

Another mule died to-day. This was perplexing indeed, but to stop longer
was useless; so we pushed forward as best we could to a pond at the
western end of the district where we found a party of Makua sportsmen
who had just killed an elephant. They had lived in Ugogo one year and
a half, and had killed in all seventeen elephants; half the tusks of
which, as well as some portion of the flesh, they gave to Magomba for
the privilege of residing there. There were many antelopes there, some
of which both Grant and I shot for the good of the pot, and he also
killed a crocute hyena. From the pond we went on to the middle of a
large jungle, and bivouacked for the night in a shower of rain, the
second of the season.

During a fierce downpour of rain, the porters all quivering and quaking
with cold, we at length emerged from the jungle, and entered the
prettiest spot in Ugogo--the populous district of Usekhe--where little
hills and huge columns of granite crop out. Here we halted.

Next day came the hongo business, which was settled by paying one
dubani, one kitambi, one msutu, four yards merikani, and two yards
kiniki; but whilst we were doing it eight porters ran away, and four
fresh ones were engaged (Wanyamuezi) who had run away from Kanyenye.

With one more march from this we reached the last district in Ugogo,
Khoko. Here the whole of the inhabitants turned out to oppose us,
imagining we had come there to revenge the Arab, Mohinna, because the
Wagogo attacked him a year ago, plundered his camp, and drove him back
to Kaze, for having shot their old chief "Short-legs." They, however, no
sooner found out who we were than they allowed us to pass on, and encamp
in the outskirts of the Mgunda Mkhali wilderness. To this position in
the bush I strongly objected, on the plea that guns could be best
used against arrows in the open; but none would go out in the field,
maintaining that the Wagogo would fear to attack us so far from their
villages, as we now were, lest we might cut them off in their retreat.

Hori Hori was now chief in Short-leg's stead, and affected to be much
pleased that we were English, and not Arabs. He told us we might, he
thought, be able to recruit all the men that we were in want of, as many
Wanyanuezi who had been left there sick wished to go to their homes;
and I would only, in addition to their wages, have to pay their "hotel
bills" to the Wagogo. This, of course, I was ready to do, though I knew
the Wanyamuezi had paid for themselves, as is usual, by their work in
the fields of their hosts. Still, as I should be depriving these of
hands, I could scarcely expect to get off for less than the value of a
slave for each, and told Sheikh said to look out for some men at once,
whilst at the same time he laid in provisions of grain to last us eight
days in the wilderness, and settle the hongo.

For this triple business, I allowed three days, during which time,
always eager to shoot something, either for science or the pot, I killed
a bicornis rhinoceros, at a distance of five paces only, with my small
40-gauge Lancaster, as the beast stood quietly feeding in the bush; and
I also shot a bitch fox of the genus Octocyon lalandii, whose ill-omened
cry often alarms the natives by forewarning them of danger. This was
rather tame sport; but next day I had better fun.

Starting in the early morning, accompanied by two of Sheikh Said's boys,
Suliman and Faraj, each carrying a rifle, while I carried a shot-gun, we
followed a footpath to the westward in the wilderness of Mgunda Mkhali.
There, after walking a short while in the bush, as I heard the grunt
of a buffalo close on my left, I took "Blissett" in hand, and walked
to where I soon espied a large herd quietly feeding. They were quite
unconscious of my approach, so I took a shot at a cow, and wounded her;
then, after reloading, put a ball in a bull and staggered him also. This
caused great confusion among them; but as none of the animals knew where
the shots came from, they simply shifted about in a fidgety manner,
allowing me to kill the first cow, and even fire a fourth shot, which
sickened the great bull, and induced him to walk off, leaving the herd
to their fate, who, considerably puzzled, began moving off also.

I now called up the boys, and determined on following the herd down
before either skinning the dead cow or following the bull, who I knew
could not go far. Their footprints being well defined in the moist
sandy soil, we soon found the herd again; but as they now knew they were
pursued, they kept moving on in short runs at a time, when, occasionally
gaining glimpses of their large dark bodies as they forced through the
bush, I repeated my shots and struck a good number, some more and some
less severely. This was very provoking; for all of them being stern
shots were not likely to kill, and the jungle was so thick I could not
get a front view of them. Presently, however, one with her hind leg
broken pulled up on a white-ant hill, and, tossing her horns, came down
with a charge the instant I showed myself close to her. One crack of the
rifle rolled her over, and gave me free scope to improve the bag, which
was very soon done; for on following the spoors, the traces of blood led
us up to another one as lame as the last. He then got a second bullet
in the flank, and, after hobbling a little, evaded our sight and
threw himself into a bush, where we not sooner arrived than he plunged
headlong at us from his ambush, just, and only just, giving me time to
present my small 40-gauge Lancaster.

It was a most ridiculous scene. Suliman by my side, with the instinct of
a monkey, made a violent spring and swung himself by a bough immediately
over the beast, whilst Faraj bolted away and left me single-gunned to
polish him off. There was only one course to pursue, for in one instant
more he would have been into me; so, quick as thought, I fired the gun,
and, as luck would have it, my bullet, after passing through the edge of
one of his horns, stuck in the spine of his neck, and rolled him over at
my feet as dead as a rabbit. Now, having cut the beast's throat to make
him "hilal," according to Mussulman usage, and thinking we had done
enough if I could only return to the first wounded bull and settle him
too, we commenced retracing our steps, and by accident came on Grant.
He was passing by from another quarter, and became amused by the glowing
description of my boys, who never omitted to narrate their own cowardice
as an excellent tale. He begged us to go on in our course, whilst he
would go back and send us some porters to carry home the game.

Now, tracking back again to the first point of attack, we followed the
blood of the first bull, till at length I found him standing like a
stuck pig in some bushes, looking as if he would like to be put out of
his miseries. Taking compassion, I levelled my Blisset; but, as bad luck
would have it, a bough intercepted the flight of the bullet, and it went
"pinging" into the air, whilst the big bull went off at a gallop. To
follow on was no difficulty, the spoor was so good; and in ten minutes
more, as I opened on a small clearance, Blisset in hand, the great
beast, from the thicket on the opposite side, charged down like a mad
bull, full of ferocity--as ugly an antagonist as ever I saw, for the
front of his head was all shielded with horn. A small mound fortunately
stood between us, and as he rounded it, I jumped to one side and let fly
at his flank, but without the effect of stopping him; for, as quick as
thought, the huge monster was at my feet, battling with the impalpable
smoke of my gun, which fortunately hung so thick on the ground at the
height of his head that he could not see me, though I was so close that
I might, had I been possessed of a hatchet, have chopped off his head.
This was a predicament which looked very ugly, for my boys had both
bolted, taking with them my guns; but suddenly the beast, evidently
regarding the smoke as a phantom which could not be mastered, turned
round in a bustle, to my intense relief, and galloped off at full speed,
as if scared by some terrible apparition.

O what would I not then have given for a gun, the chance was such a
good one! Still, angry though I was, I could not help laughing as the
dastardly boys came into the clearance full of their mimicry, and joked
over the scene they had witnessed in security, whilst my life was in
jeopardy because they were too frightened to give me my gun. But now
came the worst part of the day; for, though rain was falling, I had not
the heart to relinquish my game. Tracking on through the bush, I thought
every minute I should come up with the brute; but his wounds ceased to
bleed, and in the confusion of the numerous tracks which scored all the
forest we lost our own.

Much disappointed at this, I now proposed to make for the track we came
by in the morning, and follow it down into camp; but this luxury was not
destined to be our lot that night, for the rain had obliterated all our
footprints of the morning, and we passed the track, mistaking it for the
run of wild beasts. It struck me we had done so; but say what I would,
the boys thought they knew better; and the consequence was that, after
wandering for hours no one knew where--for there was no sun to guide
us--I pulled up, and swore I would wait for the stars, else it might be
our fate to be lost in the wilderness, which I did not much relish. We
were all at this time "hungry as hunters," and beginning to feel very
miserable from being wet through. What little ammunition I had left I
fired off as signals, or made tinder of to get up a fire, but the
wood would not burn. In this hapless condition the black boys began
murmuring, wishing to go on, pretending, though both held opposite
views, that each knew the way; for they thought nothing could be worse
than their present state of discomfort.

Night with its gloom was then drawing on, heightened by thunder and
lightning, which set in all around us. At times we thought we heard
musketry in camp, knowing that Grant would be sure to fire signals
for us; and doubtless we did so, but its sound and the thunder so much
resembled one another that we distrusted our ears. At any rate, the
boys mistook the west for the east; and as I thought they had done so, I
stood firm to one spot, and finally lay down with them to sleep upon
the cold wet ground, where we slept pretty well, being only disturbed
occasionally by some animals sniffing at our feet. As the clouds broke
towards morning, my obstinate boys still swore that west was east, and
would hardly follow me when tracking down Venus; next up rose the moon
and then followed the sun, when, as good luck would have it, we struck
on the track, and walked straight into camp.

Here every one was in a great state of excitement: Grant had been making
the men fire volleys. The little sheikh was warmly congratulatory as
he spoke of the numbers who had strayed away and had been lost in that
wilderness; whilst Bombay admitted he thought we should turn up again
if I did not listen to the advice of the boys, which was his only fear.
Nothing as yet, I now found, had been done to further our march. The
hongo, the sheikh said, had to precede everything; yet that had not been
settled, because the chief deferred it the day of our arrival, on the
plea that it was the anniversary of Short-legs's death; and he also said
that till then all the Wagogo had been in mourning by ceasing to wear
all their brass bracelets and other ornaments, and they now wished to
solemnise the occasion by feasting and renewing their finery. This
being granted, the next day another pretext for delay was found, by the
Wahumba having made a raid on their cattle, which necessitated the chief
and all his men turning out to drive them away; and to-day nothing could
be attended to, as a party of fugitive Wanyamuezi had arrived and
put them all in a fright. These Wanyamuezi, it then transpired, were
soldiers of Manua Sera, the "Tippler," who was at war with the Arabs. He
had been defeated at Mguru, a district in Unyamuezi, by the Arabs, and
had sent these men to cut off the caravan route, as the best way of
retaliation that lay in his power.

At last the tax having been settled by the payment of one dubani, two
barsati, one sahari, six yards merikani, and three yards kiniki (not,
however, until I had our tents struck, and threatened to march away if
the chief would not take it), I proposed going on with the journey,
for our provisions were stored, but when the loads were being lifted,
I found ten more men were missing; and as nothing now could be done but
throw ten loads away, which seemed to great a sacrifice to be made in a
hurry, I simply changed ground to show we were ready to march, and sent
my men about, either to try to induce the fugitive Wanyamuezi to take
service with me or else to buy donkeys, as the chief said he had some to
sell.

We had already been here too long. A report was now spread that a lion
had killed one of the chief's cows; and the Wagogo, suspecting that our
being here was the cause of this ill luck, threatened to attack us. This
no sooner got noised over the camp than all my Wanyamuezi porters, who
had friends in Ugogo, left to live with them, and would not come back
again even when the "storm had blown over," because they did not like
the incessant rains that half deluged the camp. The chief, too, said he
would not sell us his donkeys, lest we should give them back to Mohinna,
from whom they were taken during his fight here. Intrigues of all sorts
I could see were brewing, possibly at the instigation of the fugitive
Wanyamuezi, who suspected we were bound to side with the Arabs--possibly
from some other cause, I could not tell what; so, to clear out of this
pandemonium as soon as possible I issued cloths to buy double rations,
intending to cross the wilderness by successive relays in double the
ordinary number of days. I determined at the same time to send forward
two freed men to Kaze to ask Musa and the Arabs to send me out some
provisions and men to meet us half-way.

Matters grew worse and worse. The sultan, now finding me unable to move,
sent a message to say if I would not give him some better cloths to make
his hongo more respectable, he would attack my camp; and advised all
the Wanyamuezi who regarded their lives not to go near me if I resisted.
This was by no means pleasant; for the porters showed their uneasiness
by extracting their own cloths from my bundles, under the pretext that
they wished to make some purchases of their own. I ought, perhaps,
to have stopped this; but I thought the best plan was to show total
indifference; so, at the same time that they were allowed to take their
cloths, I refused to comply with the chief's request, and begged them
to have no fear so long as they saw I could hold my own ground with my
guns.

The Wanyamuezi, however, were panic-stricken, and half of them bolted,
with the kirangozi at their head, carrying off all the double-ration
cloths as well as their own. At this time, the sultan, having changed
tactics, as he saw us all ready to stand on the defensive, sent back
his hongo; but, instead of using threats, said he would oblige us with
donkeys or anything else if we would only give him a few more pretty
cloths. With this cringing, perfidious appeal I refused to comply, until
the sheikh, still more cringing, implored me to give way else not a
single man would remain with me. I then told him to settle with the
chief himself, and give me the account, which amounted to three barsati,
two sahari, and three yards merikani; but the donkeys were never alluded
to.

With half my men gone, I still ordered the march, though strongly
opposed to the advice of one of old Mamba's men, who was then passing by
on his way to the coast, in command of his master's rear detachment. He
thought it impossible for us to pull through the wilderness, with its
jungle grasses and roots, depending for food only on Grant's gun and
my own; still we made half-way to the Mdaburu nullah, taking some
of Mamba's out to camp with us, as he promised to take letters and
specimens down to the coast for us, provided I paid him some cloths as
ready money down, and promised some more to be paid at Zanzibar. These
letters eventually reached home, but not the specimens.

The rains were so heavy that the whole country was now flooded, but we
pushed on to the nullah by relays, and pitched on its left bank. In the
confusion of the march, however, we lost many more porters, who at the
same time relieved us of their loads, by slipping off stealthily into
the bush.

The fifteenth was a forced halt, as the stream was so deep and so
violent we could not cross it. To make the best of this very unfortunate
interruption, I now sent on two men to Kaze, with letters to Musa and
Sheikh Snay, both old friends on the former expedition, begging them
to send me sixty men, each carrying thirty rations of grain, and some
country tobacco. The tobacco was to gratify my men, who said of all
things they most wanted to cheer them was something to smoke. At the
same time I sent back some other men to Khoko, with cloth to buy grain
for present consumption, as some of my porters were already reduced to
living on wild herbs and white ants. I then sent all the remaining men,
under the directions of Bombay and Baraka, to fell a tall tree with
hatchets, on the banks of the nullah, with a view to bridging it; but
the tree dropped to the wrong side, and thwarted the plan. The rain
ceased on the 17th, just as we put the rain-gauge out, which was at
once interpreted to be our Uganga, or religious charm, and therefore the
cause of its ceasing. It was the first fine day for a fortnight, so we
were only too glad to put all our things out to dry, and rejoiced to
think of the stream's subsiding. My men who went back to Khoko for grain
having returned with next to nothing--though, of course, they had spent
all the cloths--I sent back another batch with pretty cloths, as it was
confidently stated that grain was so scarce there, nothing but the best
fabrics would but it. This also proved a dead failure; but although
animals were very scarce, Grant relieved our anxiety by shooting a zebra
and an antelope.

After five halts, we forded the stream, middle deep, and pushed forwards
again, doing short stages of four or five miles a-day, in the greatest
possible confusion; for, whilst Grant and I were compelled to go out
shooting all day for the pot, the sheikh and Bombay went on with the
first half of the property and then, keeping guard over it sent the men
back again to Baraka, who kept rear-guard, to have the rest brought
on. Order there was none: the men hated this "double work;" all the
Wanyamuezi but three deserted, with the connivance of the coast-men,
carrying off their loads with them, under a mutual understanding, as
I found out afterwards, that the coast-men were to go shares in the
plunder as soon as we reached Unyamuezi. The next great obstacle in this
tug-and-pull wilderness-march presented itself on the 24th, when, after
the first half of the property had crossed the Mabunguru nullah, it rose
in flood and cut off the rear half. It soon, however, subsided; and
the next day we reached "the Springs," where we killed a pig and two
rhinoceros. Not content, however, with this fare--notwithstanding the
whole camp had been living liberally on zebra's and antelope's flesh
every day previously--some of my coast-men bolted on to the little
settlement of Jiwa la Mkoa, contrary to orders, to purchase some grain;
and in doing so, increased our transport difficulties.

Pulling on in the same way again--when not actually engaged in shooting,
scolding and storming at the men, to keep them up to the mark, and
prevent them from shirking their work, which they were for every trying
to do--we arrived on the 28th at the "Boss," a huge granite block, from
the top of which the green foliage of the forest-trees looked like an
interminable cloud, soft and waving, fit for fairies to dwell upon. Here
the patience of my men fairly gave way, for the village of Jiwa la Mkoa
was only one long march distance from us; and they, in consequence,
smelt food on in advance much sweeter than the wild game and wild
grasses they had been living on; and many more of them could not resist
deserting us, though they might, had we all pulled together, have gone
more comfortably in, as soon as the rear property arrived next day with
Baraka.

All the men who deserted on the 25th, save Johur and Mutwana, now came
into camp, and told us they had heard from travellers that those men who
had been sent on for reliefs to Kaze were bringing us a large detachment
of slaves to help us on. My men had brought no food either for us or
their friends, as the cloths they took with them, "which were their
own," were scarcely sufficient to purchase a meal--famines being as bad
where they had been as in Ugogo. To try and get all the men together
again, I now sent off a party loaded with cloths to see what they could
get for us; but they returned on the 30th grinning and joking, with
nothing but a small fragment of goat-flesh, telling lies by the dozens.
Johur then came into camp, unconscious that Baraka by my orders had,
during his absence, been inspecting his kit, where he found concealed
seventy-three yards of cloth, which could only have been my property, as
Johur had brought no akaba or reserve fund from the coast.

The theft having been proved to the satisfaction of every one, I ordered
Baraka to strip him of everything and give him three dozen lashes; but
after twenty-one had been given, the rest were remitted on his promising
to turn Queen's evidence, when it transpired that Mutwana had done as
much as himself. Johur, it turned out, was a murderer, having obtained
his freedom by killing his master. He was otherwise a notoriously bad
character; so, wishing to make an example, as I knew all my men were
robbing me daily, though I could not detect them, I had him turned out
of camp. Baraka was a splendid detective, and could do everything well
when he wished it, so I sent him off now with cloths to see what he
could to at Jiwa la Mkoa, and next day he returned triumphantly driving
in cows and goats. Three Wanyamuezi, also, who heard we were given to
shooting wild animals continually, came with him to offer their services
as porters.

As nearly all the men had now returned, Grant and I spent New Year's Day
with the first detachment at Jiwa la Mkoa, or Round Rock--a single tembe
village occupied by a few Wakimbu settlers, who, by their presence and
domestic habits, made us feel as though we were well out of the wood. So
indeed we found it; for although this wilderness was formerly an
entire forest of trees and wild animals, numerous Wakimbu, who formerly
occupied the banks of the Ruaha to the southward, had been driven
to migrate here, wherever they could find springs of water, by the
boisterous naked pastorals the Warori.

At night three slaves belonging to Sheikh Salem bin Saif stole into our
camp, and said they had been sent by their master to seek for porters at
Kaze, as all the Wanyamuezi porters of four large caravans had deserted
in Ugogo, and they could not move. I was rather pleased by this news,
and thought it served the merchants right, knowing, as I well did, that
the Wanyamuezi, being naturally honest, had they not been defrauded by
foreigners on the down march to the coast, would have been honest
still. Some provisions were now obtained by sending men out to distant
villages; but we still supplied the camp with our guns, killing
rhinoceros, wild boar, antelope, and zebras. The last of our property
did not come up till the 5th, when another thief being caught, got fifty
lashes, under the superintendence of Baraka, to show that punishment was
only inflicted to prevent further crime.

The next day my men came from Kaze with letters from Sheikh Snay and
Musa. They had been detained there some days after arrival, as those
merchants' slaves had gone to Utambara to settle some quarrel there; but
as soon as they returned, Musa ordered them to go and assist us, giving
them beads to find rations for themselves on the way, as the whole
country about Kaze had been half-starved by famines, though he did send
a little rice and tobacco for me. The whole party left Kaze together;
but on arrival at Tura the slaves said they had not enough beads and
would return for some more, when they would follow my men. This bit
of news was the worst that could have befallen us; my men were
broken-hearted enough before, and this drove the last spark of spirit
out of them. To make the best of a bad job, I now sent Bombay with two
other men off to Musa to see what he could do, and ordered my other
men to hire Wakimbu from village to village. On the 7th, a nervous
excitement was produced in the camp by some of my men running in and
calling all to arm, as the fugitive chief Manua Sera was coming, with
thirty armed followers carrying muskets. Such was the case: and by the
time my men were all under arms, with their sword-bayonets fixed, drawn
up by my tent the veritable "Tippler" arrived; but, not liking the look
of such a formidable array as my men presented, he passed on a short
way, and then sent back a deputation to make known his desire of
calling on me, which was no sooner complied with than he came in person,
attended by a body-guard. On my requesting him to draw near and sit, his
wooden stool was placed for him. He began the conversation by telling
me he had heard of my distress from want of porters, and then offered
to assist me with some, provided I would take him to Kaze, and mediate
between him and the Arabs; for, through their unjustifiable interference
in his government affairs, a war had ensued, which terminated with the
Arabs driving him from his possessions a vagabond. Manua Sera, I
must say, was as fine a young man as ever I looked upon. He was very
handsome, and looked as I now saw him the very picture of a captain of
the banditti of the romances. I begged him to tell me his tale, and, in
compliance, he gave me the following narrative:--

"Shortly after you left Kaze for England, my old father, the late chief
Fundi Kira, died, and by his desire I became lawful chief; for, though
the son of a slave girl, and not of Fundi Kira's wife, such is the
law of inheritance--a constitutional policy established to prevent any
chance of intrigues between the sons born in legitimate wedlock. Well,
after assuming the title of chief, I gave presents of ivory to all
the Arabs with a liberal hand, but most so to Musa, which caused great
jealousy amongst the other merchants. Then after this I established a
property tax on all merchandise that entered my country. Fundi Kira had
never done so, but I did not think that any reason why I should not,
especially as the Arabs were the only people who lived in my country
exempt from taxation. This measure, however, exasperated the Arabs, and
induced them to send me hostile messages, to the effect that, if I ever
meddled with them, they would dethrone me, and place Mkisiwa, another
illegitimate son, on the throne in my stead. This," Manua Sera
continued, "I could not stand; the merchants were living on sufferance
only in my country. I told them so, and defied them to interfere with my
orders, for I was not a 'woman,' to be treated with contempt; and this
got up a quarrel. Mkisiwa, seizing at the opportunity of the prize held
out to him by the Arabs as his supporters, then commenced a system of
bribery. Words led to blows; we had a long and tough fight; I killed
many of their number, and they killed mine. Eventually they drove
me from my palace, and placed Mkisiwa there as chief in my stead. My
faithful followers however, never deserted me; so I went to Rubuga, and
put up with old Maula there. The Arabs followed--drove me to Nguru, and
tried to kill Maula for having fostered me. He, however, escaped them;
but they destroyed his country, and then followed me down to Nguru.
There we fought for many months, until all provisions were exhausted,
when I defied them to catch me, and forced my way through their ranks.
It is needless to say I have been a wanderer since; and though I wish to
make friends, they will not allow it, but do all they can to hunt me to
death. Now, as you were a friend of my father, I do hope you will patch
up this war for me, which you must think is unjust."

I told Manua Sera I felt very much for him, and I would do my best if
he would follow me to Kaze; but I knew that nothing could ever be done
unless he returned to the free-trade principles of his father. He then
said he had never taken a single tax from the Arabs, and would gladly
relinquish his intention to do so. The whole affair was commenced in too
great a hurry; but whatever happened he would gladly forgive all if I
would use my influence to reinstate him, for by no other means could he
ever get his crown back again. I then assured him that I would do what I
could to restore the ruined trade of his country, observing that, as all
the ivory that went out of his country, came to ours, and all imports
were productions of our country also, this war injured us as well as
himself. Manua Sera seemed highly delighted, and said he had a little
business to transact in Ugogo at present, but he would overtake me in a
few days. He then sent me one of my runaway porters, whom he had caught
in the woods making off with a load of my beads. We then separated; and
Baraka, by my orders, gave the thief fifty lashes for his double offence
of theft and desertion.

On the 9th, having bought two donkeys and engaged several men, we left
Jiwa la Mkoa, with half our traps, and marched to Garaeswi, where, to
my surprise, there were as many as twenty tembes--a recently-formed
settlement of Wokimbu. Here we halted a day for the rear convoy, and
then went on again by detachments to Zimbo, where, to our intense
delight, Bombay returned to us on the 13th, triumphantly firing guns,
with seventy slaves accompanying him, and with letters from Snay and
Musa, in which they said they hoped, if I met with Manua Sera, that
I would either put a bullet through his head, or else bring him in a
prisoner, that they might do for him, for the scoundrel had destroyed
all their trade by cutting off caravans. Their fights with him commenced
by his levying taxes in opposition to their treaties with his father,
Fundi Kira, and then preventing his subjects selling them grain.

Once more the whole caravan moved on; but as I had to pay each of the
seventy slaves sixteen yards of cloth, by order of their masters, in the
simple matter of expenditure it would have been better had I thrown ten
loads away at Ugogo, where my difficulties first commenced. On arrival
at Mgongo Thembo--the Elephant's Back--called so in consequence of a
large granitic rock, which resembles the back of that animal, protruding
through the ground--we found a clearance in the forest, of two miles
in extent, under cultivation. Here the first man to meet me was the
fugitive chief of Rubuga, Maula. This poor old man--one of the honestest
chiefs in the country--had been to the former expedition a host and good
friend. He now gave me a cow as a present, and said he would give me
ten more if I would assist him in making friends with the Arabs, who
had driven him out of his country, and had destroyed all his belongings,
even putting a slave to reign in his stead, though he had committed no
fault of intentional injury towards them. It was true Manua Sera, their
enemy, had taken refuge in his palace, but that was not his fault; for,
anticipating the difficulties that would arise, he did his best to keep
Manua Sera out of it, but Manua Sera being too strong for him, forced
his way in. I need not say I tried to console this unfortunate victim of
circumstances as best I could, inviting him to go with me to Kaze, and
promising to protect him with my life if he feared the Arabs; but the
old man, being too feeble to travel himself, said he would send his son
with me.

Next day we pushed on a double march through the forest, and reached
a nullah. As it crosses the track in a southerly direction, this might
either be the head of the Kululu mongo or river, which, passing through
the district of Kiwele, drains westward into the Malagarazi river, and
thence into the Tanganyika, or else the most westerly tributary to the
Ruaha river, draining eastward into the sea. The plateau, however,
is apparently so flat here, that nothing b a minute survey, or rather
following the watercourse, could determine the matter. Then emerging
from the wilderness, we came into the open cultivated district of Tura,
or "put down"--called so by the natives because it was, only a few years
ago, the first cleared space in the wilderness, and served as a good
halting-station, after the normal ten day's march in the jungles, where
we had now been struggling more than a month.

The whole place, once so fertile, was now almost depopulated and in a
sad state of ruin, showing plainly the savage ravages of war; for the
Arabs and their slaves, when they take the field, think more of plunder
and slavery than the object they started on--each man of the force
looking out for himself. The incentives, too, are so great;--a young
woman might be caught (the greatest treasure of earth), or a boy or
a girl, a cow or a goat--all of the fortunes, of themselves too
irresistible to be overlooked when the future is doubtful. Here Sheikh
Said broke down in health of a complaint which he formerly had suffered
from, and from which I at once saw he would never recover sufficiently
well to be ever effective again. It was a sad misfortune, as the men
had great confidence in him, being the representative of their Zanzibar
government: still it could not be helped; for, as a sick man is, after
all, the greatest possible impediment to a march, it was better to be
rid of him than have the trouble of dragging him; so I made up my mind,
as soon as we reached Kaze, I would drop him there with the Arabs. He
could not be moved on the 16th, so I marched across the plain and put
up in some villages on its western side. Whilst waiting for the sheikh's
arrival, some villagers at night stole several loads of beads, and ran
off with them; but my men, finding the theft out in time, hunted them
down, and recovered all but one load--for the thieves had thrown their
loads down as soon as they found they were hotly pursued.

Early this morning I called all the head men of the village together,
and demanded the beads to be restored to me; for, as I was living with
them, they were responsible, according to the laws of the country. They
acknowledged the truth and force of my demand, and said they would each
give me a cow as an earnest, until their chief, who was absent, arrived.
This, of course, was objected to, as the chief, in his absence, must
have deputed some one to govern for him, and I expected him to settle
at once, that I might proceed with the march. Then selecting five of
my head men to conduct the case, with five of their elders, it was
considered my losses were equivalent to thirty head of cattle. As I
remitted the penalty to fifteen head, these were made over to me, and
we went on with the march--all feeling delighted with the issue but the
Hottentots, who, not liking the loss of the second fifteen cows, said
that in Kafirland, where the laws of the country are the same as here,
the whole would have been taken, and, as it was, they thought I was
depriving them of their rights to beef.

By a double march, the sheikh riding in a hammock slung on a pole, we
now made Kuale, or "Partridge" nullah, which, crossing the road to the
northward, drains these lands to the Malagarazi river, and thence into
the Tanganyika lake. Thence, having spent the night in the jungle, we
next morning pushed into the cultivated district of Rubuga, and put up
in some half-deserted tembes, where the ravages of war were even more
disgusting to witness than at Tura. The chief, as I have said, was a
slave, placed there by the Arabs on the condition that he would allow
all traders and travellers to help themselves without payment as long as
they chose to reside there. In consequence of this wicked arrangement,
I found it impossible to keep my men from picking and stealing. They
looked upon plunder as their fortune and right, and my interference as
unjustifiable.

By making another morning and evening march, we then reached the western
extremity of this cultivated opening; where, after sleeping the night,
we threaded through another forest to the little clearance of Kigue,
and in one more march through forest arrived in the large and fertile
district of Unyanyembe, the centre of Unyamuezi--the Land of the
Moon--within five miles of Kaze which is the name of a well in the
village of Tbora, now constituted the great central slave and ivory
merchants' depot. My losses up to this date (23d) were as follows:--One
Hottentot dead and five returned; one freeman sent back with the
Hottentots, and one flogged and turned off; twenty-five of Sultan
Majid's gardeners deserted; ninety-eight of the original Wanyamuezi
porters deserted; twelve mules and three donkeys dead. Besides which,
more than half of my property had been stolen; whilst the travelling
expenses had been unprecedented, in consequence of the severity of the
famine throughout the whole length of the march.




Chapter V. Unyamuezi

The Country and People of U-n-ya-muezi--Kaze, the Capital--Old Musa--The
Naked Wakidi--The N'yanza, and the Question of the River Running in or
out--The Contest between Mohinna and "Short-legs"--Famine--The Arabs and
Local Wars--The Sultana of Unyambewa--Ungurue "The Pig"--Pillage.

U-n-ya-muezi--Country of Moon--must have been one of the largest
kingdoms in Africa. It is little inferior in size to England, and of
much the same shape, though now, instead of being united, it is cut
up into petty states. In its northern extremities it is known by
the appellation U-sukuma--country north; and in the southern,
U-takama--country south. There are no historical traditions known to the
people; neither was anything ever written concerning their country,
as far as we know, until the Hindus, who traded with the east coast of
Africa, opened commercial dealings with its people in salves and ivory,
possibly some time prior to the birth of our Saviour, when, associated
with their name, Men of the Moon, sprang into existence the Mountains of
the Moon. These Men of the Moon are hereditarily the greatest traders in
Africa, and are the only people who, for love of barter and change, will
leave their own country as porters and go to the coast, and they do so
with as much zest as our country-folk go to a fair. As far back as we
can trace they have done this, and they still do it as heretofore.
The whole of their country ranges from 3000 to 4000 feet above the
sea-level--a high plateau, studded with little outcropping hills of
granite, between which, in the valleys, there are numerous fertilising
springs of fresh water, and rich iron ore is found in sandstone.
Generally industrious--much more so than most other negroes--they
cultivate extensively, make cloths of cotton in their own looms, smelt
iron and work it up very expertly, build tembes to live in over a large
portion of their country, but otherwise live in grass huts, and keep
flocks and herds of considerable extent.

The Wanyamuezi, however, are not a very well-favoured people in physical
appearance, and are much darker than either the Wazaramo or the Wagogo,
though many of their men are handsome and their women pretty; neither
are they well dressed or well armed, being wanting in pluck and
gallantry. Their women, generally, are better dressed than the men.
Cloths fastened round under the arms are their national costume, along
with a necklace of beads, large brass or copper wire armlets, and
a profusion of thin circles, called sambo, made of the giraffe's
tail-hairs bound round by the thinnest iron or copper wire; whilst the
men at home wear loin-cloths, but in the field, or whilst travelling,
simply hang a goat-skin over their shoulders, exposing at least
three-fourths of their body in a rather indecorous manner. In all other
respects they ornament themselves like the women, only, instead of a
long coil of wire wound up the arm, they content themselves with having
massive rings of copper or brass on the wrist; and they carry for arms a
spear and bow and arrows. All extract more or less their lower incisors,
and cut a [upside-down V shape] between their two upper incisors. The
whole tribe are desperate smokers, and greatly given to drink.

On the 24th, we all, as many as were left of us, marched into the
merchant's depot, S. lat. 5 deg. 0' 52", and E. long. 33 deg. 1' 34", [7]
escorted by Musa, who advanced to meet us, and guided us into his tembe,
where he begged we would reside with him until we could find men to
carry our property on to Karague. He added that he would accompany
us; for he was on the point of going there when my first instalment of
property arrived, but deferred his intention out of respect to myself.
He had been detained at Kaze ever since I last left it in consequence
of the Arabs having provoked a war with Manua Sera, to which he was
adverse. For a long time also he had been a chained prisoner; as the
Arabs, jealous of the favour Manua Sera had shown to him in preference
to themselves, basely accused him of supplying Manua Sera with
gunpowder, and bound him hand and foot "like a slave." It was delightful
to see old Musa's face again, and the supremely hospitable, kind, and
courteous manner in which he looked after us, constantly bringing in all
kind of small delicacies, and seeing that nothing was wanting to make us
happy. All the property I had sent on in advance he had stored away; or
rather, I should say, as much as had reached him, for the road expenses
had eaten a great hole in it.

Once settled down into position, Sheikh Snay and the whole conclave of
Arab merchants came to call on me. They said they had an army of four
hundred slaves armed with muskets ready to take the field at once to
hunt down Manua Sera, who was cutting their caravan road to pieces,
and had just seized, by their latest reports, a whole convoy of their
ammunition. I begged them strongly to listen to reason, and accept my
advice as an old soldier, not to carry on their guerilla warfare in such
a headlong hurry, else they would be led a dance by Manua Sera, as we
had been by Tantia Topee in India. I advised them to allow me to mediate
between them, after telling them what a favourable interview I had had
with Manua Sera and Maula, whose son was at that moment concealed in
Musa's tembe. My advice, however, was not wanted. Snay knew better than
any one how to deal with savages, and determined on setting out as soon
as his army had "eaten their beef-feast of war."

On my questioning him about the Nile, Snay still thought the N'yanza
was the source of the Jub river [8] as he did in our former journey, but
gave way when I told him that vessels frequented the Nile, as this also
coincided with his knowledge of navigators in vessels appearing on some
waters to the northward of Unyoro. In a great hurry he then bade
me good-bye; when, as he thought it would be final, I gave him, in
consideration of his former good services to the last expedition, one of
the gold watches given me by the Indian Government. I saw him no more,
though he and all the other Arabs sent me presents of cows, goats, and
rice, with a notice that they should have gone on their war-oath before,
only, hearing of my arrival, out of due respect to my greatness they
waited to welcome me in. Further, after doing for Manua Sera, they were
determined to go on to Ugogo to assist Salem bin Saif and the other
merchants on, during which, at the same time, they would fight all the
Wagogo who persisted in taking taxes and in harassing caravans. At the
advice of Musa, I sent Maula's son off at night to tell the old chief
how sorry I was to find the Arabs so hot-headed I could not even effect
an arrangement with them. It was a great pity; for Manua Sera was so
much liked by the Wanyamuezi, they would, had they been able, have done
anything to restore him.

Next day the non-belligerent Arabs left in charge of the station, headed
by my old friends Abdulla and Mohinna, came to pay their respects again,
recognising in me, as they said, a "personification of their sultan,"
and therefore considering what they were doing only due to my rank. They
regretted with myself that Snay was so hot-headed; for they themselves
thought a treaty of peace would have been the best thing for them, for
they were more than half-ruined already, and saw no hope for the
future. Then, turning to geography, I told Abdulla all I had written
and lectured in England concerning his stories about navigators on the
N'yanza, which I explained must be the Nile, and wished to know if I
should alter it in any way: but he said, "Do not; you may depend it will
all turn out right;" to which Musa added, all the people in the north
told him that when the N'yanza rose, the stream rushed with such
violence it tore up islands and floated them away.

I was puzzled at this announcement, not then knowing that both the lake
and the Nile, as well as all ponds, were called N'yanza: but we shall
see afterwards that he was right; and it was in consequence of this
confusion in the treatment of distinctly different geographical features
under one common name by these people, that in my former journey I
could not determine where the lake had ended and the Nile began. Abdulla
again--he had done so on the former journey--spoke to me of a wonderful
mountain to the northward of Karague, so high and steep no one could
ascend it. It was, he said, seldom visible, being up in the clouds,
where white matter, snow or hail, often fell. Musa said this hill was in
Ruanda, a much larger country than Urundi; and further, both men
said, as they had said before, that the lands of Usoga and Unyoro were
islands, being surrounded by water; and a salt lake, which was called
N'yanza, though not the great Victoria N'yanza lay on the other said of
the Unyoro, from which direction Rumanika, king of Karague, sometimes
got beads forwarded to him by Kamrasi, king of Unyoro, of a different
sort from any brought from Zanzibar. Moreover, these beads were said to
have been plundered from white men by the Wakidi,--a stark-naked people
who live up in trees--have small stools fixed on behind, always ready
for sitting--wear their hair hanging down as far as the rump, all
covered with cowrie-shells--suspend beads from wire attached to their
ears and their lower lips--and wear strong iron collars and bracelets.

This people, I was told, are so fierce in war that no other tribe can
stand against them, though they only fight with short spears. When this
discourse was ended, ever perplexed about the Tanganyika being a still
lake, I enquired of Mohinna and other old friends what they thought
about the Marungu river: did it run into or out of the lake? and they
all still adhered to its running into the lake--which, after all, in my
mind, is the most conclusive argument that it does run out of the lake,
making it one of a chain of lakes leading to the N'yanza, and through
it by the Zambezi into the sea; for all the Arabs on the former journey
said the Rusizi river ran out of the Tanganyika, as also the Kitangule
ran out of the N'yanza, and the Nile ran into it, even though Snay said
he thought the Jub river drained the N'yanza. All these statements
were, when literally translated into English, the reverse of what
the speakers, using a peculiar Arab idiom, meant to say; for all the
statements made as to the flow of rivers by the negroes--who apparently
give the same meaning to "out" and "in" as we do--contradicted the Arabs
in their descriptions of the direction of the flow of these rivers.

Mohinna now gave us a very graphic description of his fight with
Short-legs, the late chief of Khoko. About a year ago, as he was making
his way down to the coast with his ivory merchandise, on arrival at
Khoko, and before his camp was fortified with a ring-fence of thorns,
some of his men went to drink at a well, where they no sooner arrived
than the natives began to bean them with sticks, claiming the well as
their property. This commenced a row, which brought out a large body
of men, who demanded a bullock at the point of their spears. Mohinna
hearing this, also came to the well, and said he would not listen to
their demand, but would drink as he wished, for the water was the gift
of God. Words then changed to blows. All Mohinna's pagazis bolted, and
his merchandise fell into the hands of the Wagogo. Had his camp been
fortified, he think he would have been too much for his enemies; but,
as it was, he retaliated by shooting Short-legs in the head, and at once
bolted back to Kaze with a few slaves as followers, and his three wives.

The change that had taken place in Unyanyembe since I last left it was
quite surprising. Instead of the Arabs appearing merchants, as they
did formerly, they looked more like great farmers, with huge stalls of
cattle attached to their houses; whilst the native villages were all
in ruins--so much so that, to obtain corn for my men, I had to send out
into the district several days' journey off, and even then had to pay
the most severe famine prices for what I got. The Wanyamuezi, I was
assured, were dying of starvation in all directions; for, in addition
to the war, the last rainy season had been so light, all their crops had
failed.

27th and 28th.--I now gave all my men presents for the severe trials
they had experienced in the wilderness, forgetting, as I told them, the
merciless manner in which they had plundered me; but as I have a trifle
more in proportion, to the three sole remaining pagazis, because they
had not finished their work, my men were all discontented, and wished
to throw back their presents, saying I did not love them, although they
were "perminents," as much as the "temperaries." They, however, gave
in, after some hours of futile arguments, on my making them understand,
through Baraka, that what they saw me give to the pagazis would, if they
reflected, only tend to prove to them that I was not a bad master who
forgot his obligations when he could get no more out of his servants.

I then went into a long inquiry with Musa about our journey northward
to Karague; and as he said there were no men to be found in or near
Unyanyembe, for they were either all killed or engaged in the war, it
was settled he should send some of his head men on to Rungua, where he
had formerly resided, trading for some years, and was a great favourite
with the chief of the place, by name Kiringuana. He also settled that
I might take out of his establishment of slaves as many men as I could
induce to go with me, for he thought them more trouble than profit,
hired porters being more safe; moreover, he said the plan would be of
great advantage to him, as I offered to pay, both man and master, each
the same monthly stipend as I gave my present men. This was paying
double, and all the heavier a burden, as the number I should require to
complete my establishment to one hundred armed men would be sixty. He,
however, very generously advised me not to take them, as they would give
so much trouble; but finally gave way when I told him I felt I could
not advance beyond Karague unless I was quite independent of the natives
there--a view in which he concurred.

29th and 30th.--Jafu, another Indian merchant here, and co-partner of
Musa, came in from a ten days' search after grain, and described the
whole country to be in the most dreadful state of famine. Wanyamuezi
were lying about dead from starvation in all directions, and he did not
think we should ever get through Usui, as Suwarora, the chief, was so
extortionate he would "tear us to pieces"; but advised our waiting until
the war was settled, when all the Arabs would combine and go with us.
Musa even showed fear, but arranged, at my suggestion, that he should
send some men to Rumanika, informing him of our intention to visit him,
and begging, at the same time, he would use his influence in preventing
our being detained in Usui.

I may here explain that the country Uzinza was once a large kingdom,
governed by a king named Ruma, of Wahuma blood. At his death, which took
place in Dagara's time (the present Rumanika's father), the kingdom
was contested by his two sons, Rohinda and Suwarora, but, at the
intercession of Dagara, was divided--Rohinda taking the eastern, called
Ukhanga, and Suwarora the western half of the country, called Usui. This
measure made Usui feudatory to Karague, so that much of the produce of
the extortions committed in Usui went to Karague, and therefore they
were recognised, though the odium always rested on Suwarora, "the savage
extortioner," rather than on the mild-disposed king of Karague, who kept
up the most amicable relations with every one who visited him.

Musa, I must say, was most loud in his praises of Rumanika; and on the
other hand, as Musa, eight years ago, had saved Rumanika's throne
for him against an insurrection got up by his younger brother
Rogero, Rumanika, always regarding Musa as his saviour, never lost an
opportunity to show his gratitude, and would have done anything that
Musa might have asked him. Of this matter, however, more in Karague.

31st.--To-day, Jafu, who had lost many ivories at Khoko when Mohinna
was attacked there, prepared 100 slaves, with Said bin Osman, Mohinna's
brother, with a view to follow down Snay, and, combining forces, attack
Hori Hori, hoping to recover their losses; for it appeared to them the
time had now come when their only hope left in carrying their trade to
a successful issue, lay in force of arms. They would therefore not rest
satisfied until they had reduced Khoko and Usekhe both, by actual force,
to acknowledge their superiority, "feeding on them" until the Ramazan,
when they would return with all the merchants detained in Ugogo, and,
again combining their forces, they would fall on Usui, to reduce that
country also.

When these men had gone, a lunatic set the whole place in commotion. He
was a slave of Musa's, who had wounded some men previously in his wild
excesses, and had been tied up; but now, breaking loose again, he swore
he would not be satisfied until he killed some "big man." His strength
was so great no one could confine him, though they hunted him into a
hut, where, having seized a gun and some arrows, he defied any one to
put hands on him. Here, however, he was at last reduced to submission
and a better state of his senses by starvation: for I must add, the
African is much give to such mental fits of aberration at certain
periods: these are generally harmless, but sometimes not; but they come
and they go again without any visible cause.

1st.--Musa's men now started for Rungua, and promised to bring all the
porters we wanted by the first day of the next moon. We found that this
would be early enough, for all the members of the expedition, excepting
myself, were suffering from the effects of the wilderness life--some
with fever, some with scurvy, and some with ophthalmia--which made
it desirable they should all have rest. Little now was done besides
counting out my property, and making Sheikh Said, who became worse and
worse, deliver his charge of Cafila Bashi over to Bombay for good. When
it was found so muc

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