Chitapangwa's parting oath. Course laid for Lake Tanganyika.
Moamba's village. Another watershed. The Babemba tribe. Ill with
fever. Threatening attitude of Chibué's people. Continued
illness. Reaches cliffs overhanging Lake Liemba. Extreme beauty
of the scene. Dangerous fit of insensibility. Leaves the Lake.
Pernambuco cotton. Rumours of war between Arabs and Nsama.
Reaches Chitimba's village. Presents Sultan's letter to
principal Arab Harnees. The war in Itawa. Geography of the
Arabs. Ivory traders and slave-dealers. Appeal to the Koran.
Gleans intelligence of the Wasongo to the eastward, and their
chief, Meréré. Harnees sets out against Nsama. Tedious sojourn.
Departure for Ponda. Native cupping.
_20th February, 1867._--I told the chief before starting that my heart
was sore, because he was not sending me away so cordially as I liked.
He at once ordered men to start with us, and gave me a brass knife
with ivory sheath, which he had long worn, as a memorial. He explained
that we ought to go north as, if we made easting, we should ultimately
be obliged to turn west, and all our cloth would be expended ere we
reached the Lake Tanganyika; he took a piece of clay off the ground
and rubbed it on his tongue as an oath that what he said was true, and
came along with us to see that all was right; and so we parted.
We soon ascended the plateau, which encloses with its edge the village
and stream of Molemba. Wild pigs are abundant, and there are marks of
former cultivation. A short march brought us to an ooze, surrounded by
hedges, game-traps, and pitfalls, where, as we are stiff and weak, we
spend the night. Rocks abound of the same dolomite kind as on the
ridge further south, between the Loangwa and Chambezé, covered, like
them, with lichens, orchids, euphorbias, and upland vegetation,
hard-leaved acacias, rhododendrons, masukos. The gum-copal tree, when
perforated by a grub, exudes from branches no thicker than one's arm,
masses of soft, gluey-looking gum, brownish yellow, and light grey, as
much as would fill a soup-plate. It seems to yield this gum only in
the rainy season, and now all the trees are full of sap and gum.
_21st February, 1867._--A night with loud and near thunder, and much
heavy rain, which came through the boys' sheds. Roads all plashy or
running with water, oozes full, and rivulets overflowing; rocks of
dolomite jutting out here and there. I noticed growing here a
spikenard-looking shrub, six feet high, and a foot in diameter. The
path led us west against my will. I found one going north; but the
boys pretended that they did not see my mark, and went west, evidently
afraid of incurring Moamba's displeasure by passing him. I found them
in an old hut, and made the best of it by saying nothing. They said
that they had wandered; that was, they had never left the west-going
path.
_22nd February, 1867._--We came to a perennial rivulet running north,
the Merungu. Here we met Moamba's people, but declined going to his
village, as huts are disagreeable; they often have vermin, and one is
exposed to the gaze of a crowd through a very small doorway. The
people in their curiosity often make the place dark, and the impudent
ones offer characteristic remarks, then raise a laugh, and run away.
We encamped on the Meningu's right bank in forest, sending word to
Moamba that we meant to do so. He sent a deputation, first of all his
young men, to bring us; then old men, and lastly he came himself with
about sixty followers. I explained that I had become sick by living
in a little hut at Molemba; that I was better in the open air; that
huts contained vermin; and that I did not mean to remain any while
here, but go on our way. He pressed us to come to his village, and
gave us a goat and kid, with a huge calabashful of beer. I promised to
go over and visit him next day; and went accordingly.
_23rd February, 1867._--Moamba's village was a mile off, and on the
left bank of the Merengé, a larger stream than the Merungu flowing
north and having its banks and oozes covered with fine, tall,
straight, evergreen trees. The village is surrounded with a stockade,
and a dry ditch some fifteen or twenty feet wide, and as many deep. I
had a long talk with Moamba, a big, stout, public-house-looking
person, with a slight outward cast in his left eye, but intelligent
and hearty. I presented him with a cloth; and he gave me as much maëre
meal as a man could carry, with a large basket of ground-nuts. He
wished us to come to the Merengé, if not into his village, that he
might see and talk with me: I also showed him some pictures in Smith's
'Bible Dictionary,' which he readily understood, and I spoke to him
about the Bible. He asked me "to come next day and tell him about
prayer to God," this was a natural desire after being told that we
prayed.
He was very anxious to know why we were going to Tanganyika; for what
we came; what we should buy there; and if I had any relations there.
He then showed me some fine large tusks, eight feet six in length.
"What do you wish to buy, if not slaves or ivory?" I replied, that the
only thing I had seen worth buying was a fine fat chief like him, as a
specimen, and a woman feeding him, as he had, with beer. He was
tickled at this; and said that when we reached our country, I must put
fine clothes on him. This led us to speak of our climate, and the
production of wool.
_24th February, 1867._--I went over after service, but late, as the
rain threatened to be heavy. A case was in process of hearing, and one
old man spoke an hour on end, the chief listening all the while with
the gravity of a judge. He then delivered his decision in about five
minutes, the successful litigant going off lullilooing. Each person,
before addressing him, turns his back to him and lies down on the
ground, clapping the hands: this is the common mode of salutation.
Another form here in Lobemba is to rattle the arrows or an arrow on
the bow, which all carry. We had a little talk with the chief; but it
was late before the cause was heard through. He asked us to come and
spend one night near him on the Merenga, and then go on, so we came
over in the morning to the vicinity of his village. A great deal of
copper-wire is here made, the wire-drawers using for one part of the
process a seven-inch cable. They make very fine wire, and it is used
chiefly as leglets and anklets; the chief's wives being laden with
them, and obliged to walk in a stately style from the weight: the
copper comes from Katanga.
_26th February, 1867._--The chief wishes to buy a cloth with two
goats, but his men do not bring them up quickly. Simon, one of the
boys, is ill of fever, and this induces me to remain, though moving
from one place to another is the only remedy we have in our power.
With the chief's men we did not get on well, but with himself all was
easy. His men demanded prepayment for canoes to cross the river
Loömbé; but in the way that he put it, the request was not
unreasonable, as he gave a man to smooth our way, and get canoes, or
whatever else was needed, all the way to Chibué's. I gave a cloth when
he put it thus, and he presented a goat, a spear ornamented with
copper-wire, abundance of meal, and beer, and numbo; so we parted good
friends, as his presents were worth the cloth.
Holding a north-westerly course we met with the Chikosho flowing
west, and thence came to the Likombé by a high ridge called Losauswa,
which runs a long way westward. It is probably a watershed between
streams going to the Chambezé and those that go to the northern
rivers.
We have the Locopa, Loömbé, Nikéléngé, then Lofubu or Lovu; the last
goes north into Liembe, but accounts are very confused. The Chambezé
rises in the Mambivé country, which is north-east of Moamba, but near
to it.
The forest through which we passed was dense, but scrubby; trees
unhealthy and no drainage except through oozes. On the keel which
forms a clay soil the rain runs off, and the trees attain a large
size. The roads are not soured by the slow process of the ooze
drainage. At present all the slopes having loamy or sandy soil are
oozes, and full to overflowing; a long time is required for them to
discharge their contents. The country generally may be called one
covered with forest.
_6th March, 1867._--We came after a short march to a village on the
Molilanga, flowing east into the Loömbé, here we meet with bananas for
the first time, called, as in Lunda, nkondé. A few trophies from
Mazitu are hung up: Chitapangwa had twenty-four skulls ornamenting his
stockade. The Babemba are decidedly more warlike than any of the
tribes south of them: their villages are stockaded, and have deep dry
ditches round them, so it is likely that Mochimbé will be effectually
checked, and forced to turn his energies to something else than to
marauding.
Our man from Moamba here refused to go further, and we were put on the
wrong track by the headman wading through three marshes, each at least
half a mile broad. The people of the first village we came to shut
their gates on us, then came running after us; but we declined to
enter their village: it is a way of showing their independence. We
made our sheds on a height in spite of their protests. They said that
the gates were shut by the boys; but when I pointed out the boy who
had done it, he said that he had been ordered to do it by the chief.
If we had gone in now we should have been looked on as having come
under considerable obligations.
_8th March, 1867._--We went on to a village on the Loömbé, where the
people showed an opposite disposition, for not a soul was in it--all
were out at their farms. When the good wife of the place came she gave
us all huts, which saved us from a pelting shower. The boys herding
the goats did not stir as we passed down the sides of the lovely
valley. The Loömbé looks a sluggish stream from a distance. The
herdsman said we were welcome, and he would show the crossing next
day, he also cooked some food for us.
Guided by our host, we went along the Loömbé westwards till we reached
the bridge (rather a rickety affair), which, when the water is low may
be used as a weir. The Loömbé main stream is 66 feet wide, 6 feet
deep, with at least 200 feet of flood beyond it. The water was knee
deep on the bridge, but clear; the flooded part beyond was waist deep
and the water flowing fast.
All the people are now transplanting tobacco from the spaces under the
eaves of the huts into the fields. It seems unable to bear the greater
heat of summer: they plant also a kind of liranda, proper for the cold
weather. We thought that we were conferring a boon in giving peas, but
we found them generally propagated all over the country already, and
in the cold time too. We went along the Diola River to an old hut and
made a fire; thence across country to another river, called Loendawé,
6 feet wide, and 9 feet deep.
_10th March, 1867._--I have been ill of fever ever since we left
Moamba's; every step I take jars in the chest, and I am very weak; I
can scarcely keep up the march, though formerly I was always first,
and had to hold in my pace not to leave the people altogether. I have
a constant singing in the ears, and can scarcely hear the loud tick
of the chronometers. The appetite is good, but we have no proper food,
chiefly maëre meal or beans, or mapemba or ground-nuts, rarely a fowl.
The country is full of hopo-hedges, but the animals are harassed, and
we never see them.
_11th March, 1867._.--Detained by a set-in rain. Marks on masses of
dolomite elicited the information that a party of Londa smiths came
once to this smelting ground and erected their works here. We saw an
old iron furnace, and masses of haematite, which seems to have been
the ore universally used.
_12th March, 1867._--Rain held us back for some time, but we soon
reached Chibué, a stockaded village. Like them all, it is situated by
a stream, with a dense clump of trees on the waterside of some species
of mangrove. They attain large size, have soft wood, and succulent
leaves; the roots intertwine in the mud, and one has to watch that he
does not step where no roots exist, otherwise he sinks up to the
thigh. In a village the people feel that we are on their property, and
crowd upon us inconveniently; but outside, where we usually erect our
sheds, no such feeling exists, we are each on a level, and they don't
take liberties.
The Balungu are marked by three or four little knobs on the temples,
and the lobes of the ears are distended by a piece of wood, which is
ornamented with beads; bands of beads go across the forehead and hold
up the hair.
Chibué's village is at the source of the Lokwéna, which goes N. and
N.E.; a long range of low hills is on our N.E., which are the Mambwé,
or part of them. The Chambezé rises in them, but further south. Here
the Lokwéna, round whose source we came on starting this morning to
avoid wet feet, and all others north and west of this, go to the Lofu
or Lobu, and into Liemba Lake. Those from the hills on our right go
east into the Loanzu and so into the Lake.
_15th March, 1867._--We now are making for Kasonso, the chief of the
Lake, and a very large country all around it, passing the Lochenjé,
five yards wide, and knee deep, then to the Chañumba. All flow very
rapidly just now and are flooded with clean water. Everyone carries an
axe, as if constantly warring with the forest. My long-continued fever
ill disposes me to enjoy the beautiful landscape. We are evidently on
the ridge, but people have not a clear conception of where the rivers
run.
_19th March, 1867._--A party of young men came out of the village near
which we had encamped to force us to pay something for not going into
their village. "The son of a great chief ought to be acknowledged,"
&c. They had their bows and arrows with them, and all ready for
action. I told them we had remained near them because they said we
could not reach Kasonso that day. Their headman had given us nothing.
After talking a while, and threatening to do a deal to-morrow, they
left, and through an Almighty Providence nothing was attempted. We
moved on N.W. in forest, with long green tree-covered slopes on our
right, and came to a village of Kasonso in a very lovely valley. Great
green valleys were now scooped out, and many, as the Kakanza, run into
the Lovu.
_20th March, 1867._--The same features of country prevailed, indeed it
was impossible to count the streams flowing N.W. We found Kasonso
situated at the confluence of two streams; he shook hands a long
while, and seems a frank sort of man. A shower of rain set the driver
ants on the move, and about two hours after we had turned in we were
overwhelmed by them. They are called Kalandu or Nkalanda.
To describe this attack is utterly impossible. I wakened covered with
them: my hair was full of them. One by one they cut into the flesh,
and the more they are disturbed, the more vicious are their bites;
they become quite insolent. I went outside the hut, but there they
swarmed everywhere; they covered the legs, biting furiously; it is
only when they are tired that they leave off.
One good trait of the Balungu up here is, they retire when they see
food brought to anyone, neither Babisa nor Makoa had this sense of
delicacy: the Babemba are equally polite.
We have descended considerably into the broad valley of the Lake, and
it feels warmer than on the heights. Cloth here is more valuable,
inasmuch as bark-cloth is scarce. The skins of goats and wild animals
are used, and the kilt is very diminutive among the women.
_22nd March, 1867._--Cross Loéla, thirty feet wide and one deep, and
meet with tsetse fly, though we have seen none since we left
Chitapangwa's. Kasonso gave us a grand reception, and we saw men
present from Tanganyika; I saw cassava here, but not in plenty.
_28th March, 1867._--Set-in rain and Chuma fell ill. There are cotton
bushes of very large size here of the South American kind. After
sleeping in various villages and crossing numerous streams, we came to
Mombo's village, near the ridge overlooking the Lake.
_31st March, and 1st April, 1867._--I was too ill to march through. I
offered to go on the 1st, but Kasonso's son, who was with us,
objected. We went up a low ridge of hills at its lowest part, and soon
after passing the summit the blue water loomed through the trees. I
was detained, but soon heard the boys firing their muskets on reaching
the edge of the ridge, which allowed of an undisturbed view. This is
the south-eastern end of Liemba, or, as it is sometimes called,
Tanganyika.[50] We had to descend at least 2000 feet before we got to
the level of the Lake. It seems about eighteen or twenty miles broad,
and we could see about thirty miles up to the north. Four considerable
rivers flow into the space before us. The nearly perpendicular ridge
of about 2000 feet extends with breaks all around, and there,
embosomed in tree-covered rocks, reposes the Lake peacefully in the
huge cup-shaped cavity.
I never saw anything so still and peaceful as it lies all the morning.
About noon a gentle breeze springs up, and causes the waves to assume
a bluish tinge. Several rocky islands rise in the eastern end, which
are inhabited by fishermen, who capture abundance of fine large fish,
of which they enumerate about twenty-four species. In the north it
seems to narrow into a gateway, but the people are miserably deficient
in geographical knowledge, and can tell us nothing about it. They
suspect us, and we cannot get information, or indeed much of anything
else. I feel deeply thankful at having got so far. I am excessively
weak--cannot walk without tottering, and have constant singing in the
head, but the Highest will lead me further.
Lat. of the spot we touched at first, 2nd April, 1867. Lat. 8° 46' 54"
S., long. 31° 57'; but I only worked out (and my head is out of order)
one set of observations. Height above level of the sea over 2800 feet,
by boiling-point thermometers and barometer. The people won't let me
sound the Lake.
After being a fortnight at this Lake it still appears one of
surpassing loveliness. Its peacefulness is remarkable, though at times
it is said to be lashed up by storms. It lies in a deep basin whose
sides are nearly perpendicular, but covered well with trees; the rocks
which appear are bright red argillaceous schist; the trees at present
all green: down some of these rocks come beautiful cascades, and
buffaloes, elephants, and antelopes wander and graze on the more level
spots, while lions roar by night. The level place below is not two
miles from the perpendicular. The village (Pambété), at which we
first touched the Lake, is surrounded by palm-oil trees--not the
stunted ones of Lake Nyassa, but the real West Coast palm-oil
tree,[51] requiring two men to carry a bunch of the ripe fruit. In the
morning and evening huge crocodiles may be observed quietly making
their way to their feeding grounds; hippopotami snort by night and at
early morning.
After I had been a few days here I had a fit of insensibility, which
shows the power of fever without medicine. I found myself floundering
outside my hut and unable to get in; I tried to lift myself from my
back by laying hold of two posts at the entrance, but when I got
nearly upright I let them go, and fell back heavily on my head on a
box. The boys had seen the wretched state I was in, and hung a blanket
at the entrance of the hut, that no stranger might see my
helplessness; some hours elapsed before I could recognize where I was.
As for these Balungu, as they are called, they have a fear of us, they
do not understand our objects, and they keep aloof. They promise
everything and do nothing; but for my excessive weakness we should go
on, but we wait for a recovery of strength.
As people they are greatly reduced in numbers by the Mazitu, who
carried off very large numbers of the women, boys, girls, and
children. They train or like to see the young men arrayed as Mazitu,
but it would be more profitable if they kept them to agriculture. They
are all excessively polite. The clapping of hands on meeting is
something excessive, and then the string of salutations that accompany
it would please the most fastidious Frenchman. It implies real
politeness, for in marching with them they always remove branches out
of the path, and indicate stones or stumps in it carefully to a
stranger, yet we cannot prevail on them to lend carriers to examine
the Lake or to sell goats, of which, however, they have very few, and
all on one island.
The Lake discharges its water north-westward or rather
nor-north-westwards. We observe weeds going in that direction, and as
the Lonzua, the Kowé, the Kapata, the Luazé, the Kalambwé, flow into
it near the east end, and the Lovu or Lofubu, or Lofu, from the
south-west near the end it must find an exit for so much water. All
these rivers rise in or near the Mambwé country, in lat. 10° S.,
where, too, the Chambezé rises. Liemba is said to remain of about the
same size as we go north-west, but this we shall see for ourselves.
Elephants come all about us. One was breaking trees close by. I fired
into his ear without effect: I am too weak to hold the gun steadily.
_30th April, 1867._--We begin our return march from Liemba. Slept at a
village on the Lake, and went on next day to Pambété, where we first
touched it. I notice that here the people pound tobacco-leaves in a
mortar after they have undergone partial fermentation by lying in the
sun, then they put the mass in the sun to dry for use.
The reason why no palm-oil trees grow further east than Pambété is
said to be the stony soil there, and this seems a valid one, for it
loves rich loamy meadows.
_1st May, 1867._--We intended to go north-west to see whether this
Lake narrows or not, for all assert that it maintains its breadth such
as we see it beyond Pemba as far as they know it; but when about to
start the headman and his wife came and protested so solemnly that by
going N.W. we should walk into the hands of a party of Mazitu there,
that we deferred our departure. It was not with a full persuasion of
the truth of the statement that I consented, but we afterwards saw
good evidence that it was true, and that we were saved from being
plundered. These marauders have changed their tactics, for they
demand so many people, and so many cloths, and then leave. They made
it known that their next scene of mulcting would be Mombo's village,
and there they took twelve people--four slaves, and many cloths, then
went south to the hills they inhabit. A strict watch was kept on their
movements by our headman and his men. They trust to fleeing into a
thicket on the west of the village should the Mazitu come.
I have been informed on good authority that Kasonso was on his way to
us when news arrived that his young son had died. He had sent on beer
and provisions for us, but the Mazitu intervening they were consumed.
The Mazitu having left we departed and slept half-way up the ridge. I
had another fit of insensibility last night: the muscles of the back
lose all power,[52] and there is constant singing in the ears, and
inability to do the simplest sum. Cross the Aeezé (which makes the
waterfall) fifteen yards wide and knee deep. The streams like this are
almost innumerable.
Mombo's village. It is distressingly difficult to elicit accurate
information about the Lake and rivers, because the people do not think
accurately. Mombo declared that two Arabs came when we were below, and
inquired for us, but he denied our presence, thinking thereby to save
us trouble and harm.
The cotton cultivated is of the Pernambuco species, and the bushes are
seven or eight feet high. Much cloth was made in these parts before
the Mazitu raids began, it was striped black and white, and many
shawls are seen in the country yet. It is curious that this species of
cotton should be found only in the middle of this country.
In going westwards on the upland the country is level and covered
with scraggy forest as usual, long lines of low hills or rather ridges
of denudation run. N. and S. on our east. This is called Moami
country, full of elephants, but few are killed. They do much damage,
eating the sorghum in the gardens unmolested.
_11th May, 1867._--A short march to-day brought us to a village on the
same Moami, and to avoid a Sunday in the forest we remained. The
elephants had come into the village and gone all about it, and to
prevent their opening the corn safes the people had bedaubed them with
elephant's droppings. When a cow would not give milk, save to its
calf, a like device was used at Kolobeng; the cow's droppings were
smeared on the teats, and the calf was too much disgusted to suck: the
cow then ran till she was distressed by the milk fever and was willing
to be relieved by the herdsman.
_12th and 13th May, 1867._--News that the Arabs had been fighting with
Nsama came, but this made us rather anxious to get northward along
Liemba, and we made for Mokambola's village near the edge of the
precipice which overhangs the Lake. Many Shuaré Raphia palms grow in
the river which flows past it.
As we began our descent we saw the Lofu coming from the west and
entering Liemba. A projection of Liemba comes to meet it, and then it
is said to go away to the north or north-west as far as my informants
knew. Some pointed due north, others north-west, so probably its true
course amounts to N.N.W. We came to a village about 2' W. of the
confluence, whose headman was affable and generous. The village has a
meadow some four miles wide on the land side, in which buffaloes
disport themselves, but they are very wild, and hide in the gigantic
grasses. Sorghum, ground-nuts, and voandzeia grow luxuriantly. The
Lofu is a quarter of a mile wide, but higher up three hundred yards.
The valley was always clouded over at night so I could not get an
observation except early in the morning when the cold had dissipated
the clouds.
We remained here because two were lame, and all tired by the descent
of upwards of 2000 feet, and the headman sent for fish for us. He
dissuaded us strongly from attempting to go down the Liemba, as the
son of Nsania (Kapoma) was killing all who came that way in revenge
for what the Arabs had done to his father's people, and he might take
us for Arabs. A Suaheli Arab came in the evening and partly confirmed
the statements of the headman of Karambo; I resolved therefore to go
back to Chitimba's in the south, where the chief portion of the Arabs
are assembled, and hear from them more certainly.
The last we heard of Liemba was that at a great way north-west, it is
dammed up by rocks, and where it surmounts these there is a great
waterfall. It does not, it is said, diminish in size so far, but by
bearings protracted it is two miles wide.
_18th May, 1867._--Return to Mokambola's village, and leave for
Chitimba's. Baraka stopped behind at the village, and James ran away
to him, leaving his bundle, containing three chronometers, in the
path: I sent back for them, and James came up in the evening; he had
no complaint, and no excuse to make. The two think it will be easy to
return to their own country by begging, though they could not point it
out to me when we were much nearer to where it is supposed to be.
_19th May, 1867._--Where we were brought to a standstill was miserably
cold (55°), so we had prayers and went on S. and S.W. to the village
of Chisáka.
_20th May, 1867._--Chitimba's village was near in the same direction;
here we found a large party of Arabs, mostly black Suahelis. They
occupied an important portion of the stockaded village, and when I
came in, politely showed me to a shed where they are in the habit of
meeting. After explaining whence I had come, I showed them the
Sultan's letter. Harnees presented a goat, two fowls, and a quantity
of flour. It was difficult to get to the bottom of the Nsama affair,
but according to their version that chief sent an invitation to them,
and when they arrived called for his people, who came in crowds--as he
said to view the strangers. I suspect that the Arabs became afraid of
the crowds and began to fire; several were killed on both sides, and
Nsama fled, leaving his visitors in possession of the stockaded
village and all it contained. Others say that there was a dispute
about an elephant, and that Nsama's people were the aggressors. At any
rate it is now all confusion; those who remain at Nsama's village help
themselves to food in the surrounding villages and burn them, while
Chitimba has sent for the party who are quartered here to come to him.
An hour or two after we arrived a body of men came from Kasonso, with
the intention of proceeding into the country of Nsama, and if possible
catching Nsama, "he having broken public law by attacking people who
brought merchandise into the country." This new expedition makes the
Arabs resolve to go and do what they can to injure their enemy. It
will just be a plundering foray--each catching what he can, whether
animal or human, and retiring when it is no longer safe to plunder!
This throws the barrier of a broad country between me and Lake "Moero"
in the west, but I trust in Providence a way will be opened. I think
now of going southwards and then westwards, thus making a long détour
round the disturbed district.
The name of the principal Arab is Hamees Wodim Tagh, the other is Syde
bin Alie bin Mansure: they are connected with one of the most
influential native mercantile houses in Zanzibar. Hamees has been
particularly kind to me in presenting food, beads, cloth, and getting
information. Thami bin Snaelim is the Arab to whom my goods are
directed at Ujiji.
_24th May, 1867._--At Chitimba's we are waiting to see what events
turn up to throw light on our western route. Some of the Arabs and
Kasonso's men went off to-day: they will bring information perhaps as
to Nsama's haunts, and then we shall move south and thence west. Wrote
to Sir Thomas Maclear, giving the position of Liemba and to Dr.
Seward, in case other letters miscarry. The hot season is beginning
now. This corresponds to July further south.
Three goats were killed by a leopard close to the village in open day.
_28th May, 1867._--Information came that Nsama begged pardon of the.
Arabs, and would pay all that they had lost. He did not know of his
people stealing from them: we shall hear in a day or two whether the
matter is to be patched up or not. While some believe his statements,
others say, "Nsama's words of peace are simply to gain time to make
another stockade:" in the mean time Kasonso's people will ravage all
his country on this eastern side.
Hamees is very anxious that I should remain a few days longer, till
Kasonso's son, Kampamba, comes with _certain_ information, and then he
will see to our passing safely to Chiwéré's village from Kasonso's.
All have confidence in this last-named chief as an upright man.
_1st June, 1867._--Another party of marauders went off this morning to
plunder Nsama's country to the west of the confluence of the Lofu as a
punishment for a breach of public law. The men employed are not very
willing to go, but when they taste the pleasure of plunder they will
relish it more!
The watershed begins to have a northern slope about Moamba's, lat. 10°
10' S., but the streams are very tortuous, and the people have very
confused ideas as to where they run. The Lokhopa, for instance, was
asserted by all the men at Moamba's to flow into Lokholu, and then
into a river going to Liemba, but a young wife of Moamba, who seemed
very intelligent, maintained that Lokhopa and Lokholu went to the
Chambezé; I therefore put it down thus. The streams which feed the
Chambezé and the Liemba overlap each other, and it would require a
more extensive survey than I can give to disentangle them.
North of Moamba, on the Merengé, the slope begins to Liemba. The Lofu
rises in Chibué's country, and with its tributaries we have long
ridges of denudation, each some 500 or 600 feet high, and covered with
green trees. The valleys of denudation enclosed by these hill ranges
guide the streams towards Liemba or the four rivers which flow into
it. The country gradually becomes lower, warmer, and tsetse and
mosquitoes appear; so at last we come to the remarkable cup-shaped
cavity in which Liemba reposes. Several streams fall down the nearly
perpendicular cliffs, and form beautiful cascades. The lines of
denudation are continued, one range rising behind another as far as
the eye can reach to the north and east of Liemba, and probably the
slope continues away down to Tanganyika. The watershed extends
westwards to beyond Casembe, and the Luapula, or Chambezé, rises in
the same parallels of latitude as does the Lofu and the Lonzna.
The Arabs inform me that between this and the sea, about 200 miles
distant, lies the country of the Wasango--called: Usango--a fair
people, like Portuguese, and very friendly to strangers. The Wasango
possess plenty of cattle: their chief is called Meréré.[53] They count
this twenty-five days, while the distance thence to the sea at
Bagamoio is one month and twenty-five days--say 440 miles. Uchéré is
very far off northwards, but a man told me that he went to a
salt-manufactory in that direction in eight days from Kasonso's.
Meréré goes frequently on marauding expeditions for cattle, and is
instigated thereto by his mother.
What we understand by primeval forest is but seldom seen in the
interior here, though the country cannot be described otherwise than
as generally covered with interminable forests. Insects kill or dwarf
some trees, and men maim others for the sake of the bark-cloth;
elephants break down a great number, and it is only here and there
that gigantic specimens are seen: they may be expected in shut-in
valleys among mountains, but on the whole the trees are scraggy, and
the varieties not great. The different sorts of birds which sing among
the branches seem to me to exceed those of the Zambesi region, but I
do not shoot them: the number of new notes I hear astonishes me.
The country in which we now are is called by the Arabs and natives
Ulungu, that farther north-west is named Marunga. Hamees is on
friendly terms with the Mazitu (Watuta) in the east, who do not
plunder. The chief sent a man to Kasonso lately, and he having
received a present went away highly pleased.
Hamees is certainly very anxious to secure my safety. Some men came
from the N.E. to inquire about the disturbance here and they recommend
that I should go with them, and then up the east side of the Lake to
Ujiji; but that would ruin my plan of discovering Moero and afterwards
following the watershed, so as to be certain that this is either the
watershed of the Congo or Kile. He was not well pleased when I
preferred to go south and then westwards, as it looks like rejecting
his counsel; but he said if I waited till his people came, then we
should be able to speak with more certainty.
On inquiring if any large mountains exist in this country, I was told
that Moufipa, or Fipa, opposite the lower end of the Lake, is
largest--one can see Tanganyika from it. It probably gives rise to the
Nkalambwé River and the Luazé.
There is nothing interesting in a heathen town. All are busy in
preparing food or clothing, mats or baskets, whilst the women are
cleaning or grinding their corn, which involves much hard labour. They
first dry this in the sun, then put it into a mortar, and afterwards
with a flat basket clean off the husks and the dust, and grind it
between two stones, the next thing is to bring wood and water to cook
it. The chief here was aroused the other day, and threatened to burn
his own house and all his property because the people stole from it,
but he did not proceed so far: it was probably a way of letting the
Arab dependants know that he was aroused.
Some of the people who went to fight attacked a large village, and
killed several men; but in shooting in a bushy place they killed one
of their own party and wounded another.
On inquiring of an Arab who had sailed on Tanganyika which way the
water flowed, he replied to the south!
The wagtails build in the thatch of the huts; they are busy, and men
and other animals are active in the same way.
I am rather perplexed how to proceed. Some Arabs seem determined to go
westwards as soon as they can make it up with Nsama, whilst others
distrust him. One man will send his people to pick up what ivory they
can, but he himself will retire to the Usango country. Nsama is
expected to-day or to-morrow. It would be such a saving of time and
fatigue for us to go due west rather than south, and then west, but I
feel great hesitation as to setting out on the circuitous route.
Several Arabs came from the Liemba side yesterday; one had sailed on
Tanganyika, and described the winds there as very baffling, but no one
of them has a clear idea of the Lake. They described the lower part as
a "sea," and thought it different from Tanganyika.
Close observation of the natives of Ulungu makes me believe them to
be extremely polite. The mode of salutation among relatives is to
place the hands round each other's chests kneeling, they then clap
their hands close to the ground. Some more abject individuals kiss the
soil before a chief; the generality kneel only, with the fore-arms
close to the ground, and the head bowed down to them, saying, "O
Ajadla chiusa, Mari a bwino." The Usanga say, "Ajé senga." The
clapping of hands to superiors, and even equals, is in some villages a
perpetually recurring sound. Aged persons are usually saluted: how
this extreme deference to each other could have arisen, I cannot
conceive; it does not seem to be fear of each other that elicits it.
Even the chiefs inspire no fear, and those cruel old platitudes about
governing savages by fear seem unknown, yet governed they certainly
are, and upon the whole very well. The people were not very willing to
go to punish Nsama's breach of public law, yet, on the decision of the
chiefs, they went, and came back, one with a wooden stool, another
with a mat, a third with a calabash of ground-nuts or some dried meat,
a hoe, or a bow--poor, poor pay for a fortnight's hard work hunting
fugitives and burning villages.
_16th June, 1867._--News came to-day that an Arab party in the
south-west, in Lunda, lost about forty people by the small-pox
("ndué"), and that the people there, having heard of the disturbance
with Nsama, fled from the Arabs, and would sell neither ivory nor
food: this looks like another obstacle to our progress thither.
_17th-19th June, 1867._--Hamees went to meet the party from the
south-west, probably to avoid bringing the small-pox here. They remain
at about two hours' distance. Hamees reports that though the strangers
had lost a great many people by small-pox, they had brought good news
of certain Arabs still further west: one, Seide ben Umale, or Salem,
lived at a village near Casembe, ten days distant, and another, Juma
Merikano, or Katata Katanga, at another village further north, and
Seide ben Habib was at Phueto, which is nearer Tanganyika. This party
comprises the whole force of Hamees, and he now declares that he will
go to Nsama and make the matter up, as he thinks that he is afraid to
come here, and so he will make the first approach to friendship.
On pondering over the whole subject, I see that, tiresome as it is to
wait, it is better to do so than go south and then west, for if I
should go I shall miss seeing Moero, which is said to be three days
from Nsama's present abode. His people go there for salt, and I could
not come to it from the south without being known to them, and perhaps
considered to be an Arab. Hamees remarked that it was the Arab way
first to smooth the path before entering upon it; sending men and
presents first, thereby ascertaining the disposition of the
inhabitants. He advises patience, and is in hopes of making a peace
with Nsama. That his hopes are not unreasonable, he mentioned that
when the disturbance began, Nsama sent men with two tusks to the
village whence he had just been expelled, offering thereby to make the
matter up, but the Arabs, suspecting treachery, fired upon the
carriers and killed them, then ten goats and one tusk were sent with
the same object, and met with a repulse; Hamees thinks that had he
been there himself the whole matter would have been settled amicably.
All complain of cold here. The situation is elevated, and we are
behind a clump of trees on the rivulet Chiloa, which keeps the sun off
us in the mornings. This cold induces the people to make big fires in
their huts, and frequently their dwellings are burned. Minimum
temperature is as low as 46°; sometimes 33°.
_24th June, 1867._--The Arabs are all busy reading their Koran, or
Kurán, and in praying for direction; to-morrow they will call a
meeting to deliberate as to what steps they will take in the Nsama
affair. Hamees, it seems, is highly thought of by that chief, who
says, "Let him come, and all will be right." Hamees proposes to go
with but a few people. These Zanzibar men are very different from the
slavers of the Waiyau country.
_25th June, 1867._--The people, though called, did not assemble, but
they will come to-morrow.
Young wagtails nearly full-fledged took wing, leaving one in the nest;
from not being molested by the people they took no precautions, and
ran out of the nest on the approach of the old ones, making a loud
chirping. The old ones tried to induce the last one to come out too,
by flying to the nest, and then making a sally forth, turning round
immediately to see if he followed: he took a few days longer.
It was decided at the meeting that Hamees, with a few people only,
should go to Nsama on the first day after the appearance of the new
moon (they are very particular on this point); the present month
having been an unhappy one they will try the next.
_28th June, 1867._--A wedding took place among the Arabs to-day. About
a hundred blank cartridges were fired off, and a procession of males,
dressed in their best, marched through the village. They sang with all
their might, though with but little music in the strain. Women
sprinkled grain on their heads as wishes for plenty.[54]
Nsama is said to be waiting for the Arabs in his new stockade. It is
impossible to ascertain exactly who is to blame in this matter, for I
hear one side only; but the fact of the chiefs in this part of the
country turning out so readily to punish his breach of public law, and
no remonstrance coming from him, makes me suspect that Nsama is the
guilty party. If he had been innocent he certainly would have sent to
ask the Bulungu, or Bäulungu, why they had attacked his people without
cause.
[Here is an entry concerning the tribe living far to the East.]
The Wasongo seem much like Zulus; they go naked, and have prodigious
numbers of cattle, which occupy the same huts with their owners. Oxen
two shukahs each; plenty of milk. Meréré is very liberal with his
cattle, and gives every one an ox: there is no rice, but maize and
maëre. Hamees left the people to cultivate rice. Meréré had plenty of
ivory when the Arabs came first, but now has none.
_1st July, 1867._--New moon to-day. They are very particular as to the
time of offering up prayers, and in making charms. One to-night was at
10 P.M. exactly.
A number of cabalistic figures were drawn by Halfani, and it is
believed that by these Nsama's whereabouts may be ascertained; they
are probably remains of the secret arts which prevailed among Arabs
before Mahomet appeared. These Suaheli Arabs appear to have come down
the coast before that Prophet was born.
_3rd July, 1867._--Kasonso's people are expected. All the captives
that were taken are to be returned, and a quantity of cloth given to
Nsama in addition: so far all seems right. The new moon will appear
to-night. The Arabs count from one appearance to the next, not, as we
do, from its conjunction with the sun to the next.
_4th July, 1867._--Katawanya came from near Liemba to join the
peacemakers. He and his party arrived at Liemba after we did; he sent
his people all round to seek ivory; they don't care for anything but
ivory, and cannot understand why I don't do the same.
_6th July, 1867._--An earthquake happened at 3.30 P.M., accompanied
with a hollow rumbling sound; it made me feel as if afloat, but it
lasted only a few seconds. The boys came running to ask me what it
was. Nowhere could it be safer; the huts will not fall, and there are
no high rocks near. Barometer 25.0. Temperature 68° 5'. Heavy cumuli
hanging about; no rain afterwards.
_7th July, 1867._--Hamees started this morning with about 300
followers dressed in all their finery, and he declares that his sole
object is peace. Kasonso, Mombo, Chitimba send their people, and go
themselves to lend all their influence in favour of peace. Syde stops
here. Before starting Syde put some incense on hot coals, and all the
leaders of the party joined in a short prayer; they seem earnest and
sincere in their incantations, according to their knowledge and
belief. I wished to go too, but Hamees objected, as not being quite
sure whether Nsama would be friendly, and he would not like anything
to befall me when with him.
_8th July, 1867._--Kasonso found an excuse for not going himself. Two
men, Arabs it was said, came to Chibué's and were there killed, and
Kasonso must go to see about it. The people who go carry food with
them, evidently not intending to live by plunder this time.
While the peacemakers are gone I am employing time in reading Smith's
'Bible Dictionary,' and calculating different positions which have
stood over in travelling. I don't succeed well in the Bäulungu
dialect.
The owners of huts lent to strangers have a great deal of toil
in consequence; they have to clean them after the visitors have
withdrawn; then, in addition to this, to clean themselves, all
soiled by the dust left by the lodgers; their bodies and clothes
have to be cleansed afterwards--they add food too in all cases of
acquaintanceship, and then we have to remember the labour of preparing
that food. My remaining here enables me to observe that both men and
women are in almost constant employment. The men are making mats, or
weaving, or spinning; no one could witness their assiduity in their
little affairs and conclude that they were a lazy people. The only
idle time I observe here is in the mornings about seven o'clock, when
all come and sit to catch the first rays of the sun as he comes over
our clump of trees, but even that time is often taken as an
opportunity for stringing beads.
I hear that some of Nsama's people crossed the Lovu at Karambo to
plunder, in retaliation for what they have suffered, and the people
there were afraid to fish, lest they should be caught by them at a
distance from their stockades.
The Bäulungu men are in general tall and well formed, they use bows
over six feet in length, and but little bent. The facial angle is as
good in most cases as in Europeans, and they have certainly as little
of the "lark-heel" as whites. One or two of the under front teeth are
generally knocked out in women, and also in men.
_14th July, 1867._--Syde added to his other presents some more beads:
all have been very kind, which I attribute in a great measure to Seyed
Majid's letter. Hamees crossed the Lovu to-day at a fordable spot. The
people on the other side refused to go with a message to Nsama, so
Hamees had to go and compel them by destroying their stockade. A
second village acted in the same way, though told that it was only
peace that was sought of Nsama: this stockade suffered the same fate,
and then the people went to Nsama, and he showed no reluctance to have
intercourse. He gave abundance of food, pombe, and bananas; the
country being extremely fertile. Nsama also came and ratified the
peace by drinking blood with several of the underlings of Hamees. He
is said to be an enormously bloated old man, who cannot move unless
carried, and women are constantly in attendance pouring pombe into
him. He gave Hamees ten tusks, and promised him twenty more, and also
to endeavour to make his people return what goods they plundered from
the Arabs, and he is to send his people over here to call us after
the new moon appears.
It is tiresome beyond measure to wait so long, but I hope to see Moero
for this exercise of patience, and I could not have visited it had
Hamees not succeeded in making peace.
_17th July, 1867._--A lion roared very angrily at the village last
night, he was probably following the buffaloes that sometimes come
here to drink at night: they are all very shy, and so is all the game,
from fear of arrows.
A curious disease has attacked my left eyelid and surrounding parts: a
slight degree of itchiness is followed by great swelling of the part.
It must be a sort of lichen; exposure to the sun seems to cure it, and
this leads me to take long walks therein. This is about 30° 19' E.
long.; lat. 8° 57' 55" S.
_24th July, 1867._--A fire broke out at 4 A.M., and there being no
wind the straw roofs were cleared off in front of it on our side of
the village. The granaries were easily unroofed, as the roof is not
attached to the walls, and the Arabs tried to clear a space on their
side, but were unable, and then moved all their ivory and goods
outside the stockade; their side of the village was all consumed, and
three goats perished in the flames.
Chitimba has left us from a fear of his life, he says; it is probable
that he means this flight to be used as an excuse to Nsama after we
are gone. "And I, too, was obliged to flee from my village to save my
life! What could I do?" This is to be his argument, I suspect.
A good many slaves came from the two villages that were destroyed: on
inquiry I was told that these would be returned when Nsama gave the
ivory promised.
When Nsama was told that an Englishman wished to go past him to Moero,
he replied, "Bring him, and I shall send men to take him thither."
Hamees is building a "tembé," or house, with a flat roof, and walls
plastered over with mud, to keep his ivory from fire while he is
absent. We expect that Nsama will send for us a few days after the 2nd
August, when the new moon appears; if they do not come soon Hamees
will send men to Nsama without waiting for his messengers.
_28th July, 1867._--Prayers, with the Litany.[55] Slavery is a great
evil wherever I have seen it. A poor old woman and child are among the
captives, the boy about three years old seems a mother's pet. His feet
are sore from walking in the sun. He was offered for two fathoms, and
his mother for one fathom; he understood it all, and cried bitterly,
clinging to his mother. She had, of course, no power to help him; they
were separated at Karungu afterwards.
[The above is an episode of every-day occurrence in the wake of the
slave-dealer. "Two fathoms," mentioned as the price of the boy's
life--the more valuable of the two, means four yards of unbleached
calico, which is a universal article of barter throughout the greater
part of Africa: the mother was bought for two yards. The reader must
not think that there are no lower prices; in the famines which succeed
the slave-dealer's raids, boys and girls are at times to be purchased
by the dealer for a few handfuls of maize.]
_29th July, 1867._--Went 2 1/2 hours west to village of Ponda, where a
head Arab, called by the natives Tipo Tipo, lives; his name is Hamid
bin Mahamed bin Juma Borajib. He presented a goat, a piece of white
calico, and four big bunches of beads, also a bag of Holcus sorghum,
and apologised because it was so little. He had lost much by Nsama;
and received two arrow wounds there; they had only twenty guns at the
time, but some were in the stockade, and though the people of Nsama
were very numerous they beat them off, and they fled carrying the
bloated carcase of Nsama with them. Some reported that boxes were
found in the village, which belonged to parties who had perished
before, but Syde assured me that this was a mistake.
Moero is three days distant, and as Nsama's people go thither to
collect salt on its banks, it would have been impossible for me to
visit it from the south without being seen, and probably suffering
loss.
The people seem to have no family names. A man takes the name of his
mother, or should his father die he may assume that. Marriage is
forbidden to the first, second, and third degrees: they call first and
second cousins brothers and sisters.
A woman, after cupping her child's temples for sore eyes, threw the
blood over the roof of her hut as a charm.
[In the above process a goat's horn is used with a small hole in the
pointed end. The base is applied to the part from which the blood is
to be withdrawn, and the operator, with a small piece of chewed
india-rubber in his mouth, exhausts the air, and at the proper moment
plasters the small hole up with his tongue. When the cupping-horn is
removed, some cuts are made with a small knife, and it is again
applied. As a rough appliance, it is a very good one, and in great
repute everywhere.]
FOOTNOTES:
[50] It subsequently proved to be the southern extremity of this great
Lake.
[51] Elais, sp.(?).
[52] This is a common symptom--men will suddenly lose all power in the
lower extremities, and remain helpless where they fall.--ED.
[53] The men heard in 1873 that he had been killed.
[54] This comes near to the custom of throwing rice after the bride
and bridegroom in England.--ED.
[55] In his Journal the Doctor writes "S," and occasionally "Service,"
whenever a Sunday entry occurs. We may add that at all times during
his travels the Services of the Church of England were resorted to by
him.--ED.