proprietors of the islets south-west of Ujiji. In their lands, according
to the Arabs, is a lake or large water called Mikiziwá, whence the tribe
upon its banks derives its name Wamikiziwá. Through the country of the
Waguhha lies the route to Uruwwa, at present the western terminus of the
Zanzibar trade. The merchant crossing the sea-arm which separates
Kasenge from the mainland of the Tanganyika, strikes towards Uruwwa; the
line runs over low levels shelving towards the lake, cut by a
reticulation of streams unfordable after rain, and varied by hilly and
rolling ground. Provisions are everywhere procurable, but the people,
like the Wavinza, are considered dangerous. At Uruwwa the khete, or
string of beads, is half the size of that current in other countries.
The price of ivory per frasilah is 15 miranga, or 150 large khete of
white, small-blue, and coarse-red porcelain beads, the latter called
Lungenga; besides which a string of sungomaji (pigeon-egg beads), and a
few sámesáme, or coral-beads, are thrown in. The route numbers nine long
or sixteen short stages; the general direction is south-westerly.
Kiyombo, the sultan of Uruwwa, is at present friendly with the Arabs; he
trades in ivory, slaves, and a little copper from Katata or Katanga, a
district distant fifteen marches north-west of Usenda, the now
well-known capital of the great chief Kazembe. The grandfather of the
present Kazembe, the “viceroy” of the country lying south-west of the
Tanganyika, and feudatory to Mwátá yá Nvo, the sovereign of “Uropua,”
was first visited by Dr. Lacerda, governor of the Rios de Sena, in
1798-99. The traveller died, however, after being nine months in the
country, without recording the name and position of the African capital;
the former was supplied by the expedition sent under Major Monteiro and
Captain Gamitto in 1831-32; it is variously pronounced Lucenda, Luenda,
and by the Arabs Usenda, the difference being caused probably by dialect
or inflexion. According to the Arabs, the Kazembe visited by the
Portuguese expedition in 1831, died about 1837, and was succeeded by his
son the present chief. He is described as a man of middle age, of
light-coloured complexion, handsomely dressed in a Surat cap, silk coat,
and embroidered loin cloth; he is rich in copper, ivory, and slaves,
cloth and furniture, muskets and gunpowder. Many Arabs, probably
half-castes, are said to be living with him in high esteem, and the
medium of intercourse is the Kisawahili. Though he has many wives, he
allows his subjects but one each, puts both adulterer and adulteress to
death, and generally punishes by gouging out one or both eyes.
On the Uruwwa route caravans are composed wholly of private slaves; the
races of the Tanganyika will not carry loads, and the Wanyamwezi,
unmaritime savages like the Kafirs, who have a mortal dread and
abhorrence of water, refuse to advance beyond Ujiji. On account of its
dangers, the thriving merchants have hitherto abandoned this line to
debtors and desperate men.
South of Uguhha lies the unimportant tribe of Wat’hembwe, whose
possessions are within sight of Kawele in Ujiji. The race adjoining them
is the Wakatete or Wakadete, and the country is called by the Arabs
Awwal Marungu, on the northern frontier of Marungu. Marungu is one of
the most important divisions of the lands about the Tanganyika. Amayr
bin Said el Shaksi, a sturdy old merchant from Oman, who, wrecked about
twelve years ago on that part of the coast, had spent five months with
the people, living on roots and grasses, divides the region generically
termed Marungu into three distinct provinces--Marungu to the north,
Karungu in the centre, and Urungu on the south. Others mention a western
Marungu, divided from the eastern by the Runangwa River, and they call
the former in contradistinction Marungu Tafuna, from its sultan.
Western Marungu extends according to the Arabs in depth from Ut’hembwe
to the Wabisa, a tribe holding extensive lands westward of the Nyassa
Lake. Travellers from Unyamwezi to K’hokoro meet, near Ufipa, caravans
of the northern Wabisa _en route_ to Kilwa. Between Marungu and Usenda,
the capital of the Kazembe, the road lies through the district of
Kavvire, distant seven marches; thence nine stages conduct them to the
end of the journey. There is an upper land route through Uruwwa for
those travelling from Ujiji to Usenda, and many caravans have passed
from Unyanyembe direct through K’hokoro and Ufipa, to the country of the
Kazembe. Mr. Cooley (“Geography of N’yassi,” p. 7) conjectures that the
Ambios or Imbies, Zimbas or Muzimbas, celebrated by the old Portuguese
historians of Africa on account of an irruption, in 1570, from the north
as far as the Zambezi River, “were no other than the M’Biza, or Moviza,
as they are called by the Portuguese who still occupy its (the Nyassa’s)
south-western banks.” The proper name of this well-known tribe is Wábísá
(in the sing. Mbisá), not Wábíshá, as it is pronounced at Zanzibar,
where every merchant knows “Bisha ivory.” The Wábísá extend according to
the Arabs from the west of the Nyassa or Kilwa Lake towards the south of
the Tanganyika. They dress in bark-cloth, carry down their fine ivory to
Tete and Kilimani (Quillimane); and every four or five years a caravan
appears at Kilwa, where, confounding their hosts with the Portuguese,
they call every Arab “muzungu,” or white man. They are a semi-pastoral
tribe, fond of commerce, and said to be civil and hospitable to
strangers. It must be observed that those geographers are in error who
connect the Wabisa with the Wanyamwezi; they are distinct in manners and
appearance, habits and language. Mr. Cooley has, for instance, asserted
that “the ‘Moviza’ and the ‘Monomoezi’ are similar in physical character
and national marks.” The only mark known to the Wabisa is the kishshah,
or crest of hair; not, as Khamisi Wa Tani asserted to Mr. Cooley (“Inner
Africa laid Open,” p. 61), a dotted line on the nose and forehead;
whereas, the Wanyamwezi, as has been seen, puncture the skin. Thus
Lacerda calls the “Moviza” a frizzled and periwigged people. The Arabs
deny the assertion of Pereira, recorded by Bowdich, that the Moviza,
like the Wahiao, file their teeth.
Marungu is described by the Arabs as a hilly country like Ujiji and
Uvira: the precincts of the lake, however, are here less bold than the
opposite shore. Off the coast lie four or five islands, two of which,
according to the Arabs, are of considerable size; the only name given is
Ukungwe, which appears, however, to be rather the name of the farthest
point visible from Kasenge, and bearing S. 58° E. On the north-western
frontier of Marungu, and about three marches from the lake, is the
district called Utumbara, from Mtumbara its sultan. This Utumbara, which
must not be confounded with the district of the same name in Northern
Unyamwezi, is said by the Arabs to be fifteen to twenty days’ march from
Usenda.
Marungu, though considered dangerous, has often been visited by Arab
merchants. After touching at Kasenge they coast along Uguhha for four
days, not daring to land there in consequence of an event that happened
about 1841-42. A large Arab caravan of 200 armed slaves, led by Mohammed
bin Salih and Sulayman bin Nasir, and with four coadjutors, Abd el Al
and Ibn Habib, Shiahs of Bahrayn, Nasir and Rashid bin Salim el Harisi
(who soon afterwards died at Marungu) took boat to Marungu, and in due
time arrived at Usenda. They completed their cargo, and were returning
in a single boat, when they were persuaded by the Sultan Mtumbara to
land, and to assist him in annihilating a neighbour, Sámá or Kipyoká,
living at about one day’s march from the Lake. The Arabs, aided by
Africans, attacked a boma, or palisade, where, bursting in, they found
Sámá’s brother sitting upon pombe, with his wife. The villagers poured
in a shower of arrows, to which the Arabs replied by shooting down the
happy couple over their cups. Sámá’s people fled, but presently
returning they massacred the slaves of the Arabs, who were obliged to
take refuge in the grass till aid was afforded by their employer
Mtumbara. Sámá, thus victorious, burned the Arab boat, and, compelling
the merchants to return to Usenda, seized the first opportunity of
slaying his rival. The Arabs have found means of sending letters to
their friends, but they appear unable to leave the country. Their
correspondence declares them to be living in favour with the Kazembe,
who has presented them with large rice-shambas, that they have collected
ivory and copper in large quantities, but are unable to find porters.
This being highly improbable in a land where in 1807 a slave cost five,
and a tusk of ivory six or seven squares of Indian piece-goods, and as,
moreover, several merchants, deluded by exaggerated accounts of the
Kazembe’s wealth and liberality, intrusted these men with considerable
ventures, of which no tidings have as yet reached the creditors’ ears,
the more acute Arabs suspect that their countrymen are living from hand
to mouth about Usenda, and are cultivating the land with scant prospect
of quitting it.
The people of Marungu are called Wámbozwá by the Arabs; they are subject
to no king, but live under local rulers, and are ever at war with their
neighbours. They are a dark and plain, a wild and uncomely race. Amongst
these people is observed a custom which connects them with the Wangindo,
Wahiao, and the slave races dwelling inland from Kilwa. They pierce the
upper lip and gradually enlarge the aperture till the end projects in a
kind of bill beyond the nose and chin, giving to the countenance a
peculiar duck-like appearance. The Arabs, who abhor this hideous vagary
of fashion, scarify the sides of the hole and attempt to make the flesh
grow by the application of rock-salt. The people of Marungu, however,
are little valued as slaves; they are surly and stubborn, exceedingly
depraved, and addicted to desertion.
Crossing the Runangwa or Marungu River, which, draining the southern
countries towards the Tanganyika, is represented to equal the Malagarazi
in volume, the traveller passes through the districts of Marungu Tafuna,
Ubeyya, and Iwemba. Thence, turning to the north, he enters the country
of the Wapoka, between whom and the Lake lie the Wasowwa and the Wafipa.
This coast is divided from the opposite shore by a voyage of fourteen
hours; it is a hilly expanse divided by low plains, where men swarm
according to the natives like ants. At a short distance from the shore
lies the Mvuma group, seven rocks or islets, three of which are
considerable in size, and the largest, shaped like a cone, breeds goats
in plenty, whilst the sea around is rich in fish. There are other islets
in the neighbourhood, but none are of importance.
Ufipa is an extensive district fertilised by many rivers. It produces
grain in abundance, and the wild rice is of excellent flavour. Cattle
abounded there before the Watuta, who held part of the country, began a
system of plunder and waste, which ended in their emigration to the
north of Uvinza; cows, formerly purchased for a few strings of cheap
white beads, are now rare and dear. The Wafipa are a wild but kindly
people, who seldom carry arms: they have ever welcomed the merchants
that visited them for slaves and ivory, and they are subject to four or
five principal chiefs. The servile specimens seen at Unyanyembe were
more like the jungle races of the Deccan than Africans--small and short,
sooty and shrunken men, so timid, ignorant, and suspicious, that it was
found impossible to obtain from them the simplest specimen of their
dialect. Some of them, like the Wanyoro, had extracted all the lower
incisors.
North of the Wafipa, according to the Arabs, lies another tribe, called
Wat’hembe (?), an offshoot from the people on the opposite side of the
Tanganyika. Here the lake receives a small river called the Murunguru
(?). The circuit of the Tanganyika concludes with the Wat’hongwe, called
from their sultan or their founder Wat’hongwe Kapana. In clear weather
their long promontory is the furthest point visible from Kawele in
Ujiji; and their lands extend northwards to Ukaranga and the Malagarazi
River.
Such are the most important details culled from a mass of Arab oral
geography: they are offered however to the reader without any guarantee
of correctness. The principal authorities are the Shaykh Snay bin Amir
el Harsi and Amayr bin Said el Shaksi; the latter was an eye-witness.
All the vague accounts noted down from casual informants were submitted
to them for an imprimatur. Their knowledge and experience surpassing
those of others, it was judged better to record information upon trust
from them only, rather than to heap together reliable and unreliable
details, and as some travellers do, by striking out a medium, inevitably
to confuse fact with fiction. Yet it is the explorer’s unpleasant duty
throughout these lands to doubt everything that has not been subjected
to his own eyes. The boldest might look at the “Mombas Mission Map” and
tremble.
[Illustration: SNAY BIN AMIR’S HOUSE.]
[Illustration: Mganga, or medicine man.
The porter.
The Kirangozi, or guide.
Muinyi Kidogo.
Mother and child.]
CHAP. XVI.
WE RETURN TO UNYANYEMBE.
Immediately after the arrival of our caravan I made preparations for
quitting Ujiji. The 26th May, 1858, was the day appointed for our
departure, which was fated to resemble a flight more than the march of a
peaceful Expedition. Said bin Salim, who had received as “Urangozi” or
retaining-fee from his two African “brothers,” Lurinda and Kannena, a
boy-slave and a youth, thought only of conveying them safely out of the
country. The Baloch, especially the Jemadar, who had invested every
cubit of cloth and every ounce of powder in serviles, were also
trembling at the prospect of desertion. As usual, when these barbarians
see preparations for departure, the Wajiji became more extortionate and
troublesome than before. A general drinking-bout had followed the return
of the crews from Uvira: Kannena had not been sober for a fortnight. At
last his succession of violent and maudlin fits ended fortunately for us
in a high fever, which somewhat tamed his vice. Shortly after our
disappearance, his territory was attacked by the predal Watuta: and had
not the Arabs assisted in its defence, it would doubtless have been
converted into a grisly solitude, like the once fertile and populous
Uhha. Kannena, of course, fled into the mountains from the attack of the
gallant rascals: he had courage enough to bully, but not to fight. I
heard of him no more: he showed no pity to the homeless stranger,--may
the world show none to him!
I shall long remember the morning of the 26th May, which afforded me the
last sunrise-spectacle of the Tanganyika Lake. The charm of the scenery
was perhaps enhanced by the reflection that my eyes might never look
upon it again. Masses of brown-purple clouds covered the quarter of the
heavens where the sun was about to rise. Presently the mists, ruffled
like ocean billows, and luminously fringed with Tyrian purple, were cut
by filmy rays, whilst, from behind their core, the internal living fire
shot forth its broad beams, like the spokes of a huge aërial wheel,
rolling a flood of gold over the light blue waters of the lake. At last
Dan Sol, who at first contented himself with glimmering through the
cloud-mass, disclosed himself in his glory, and dispersed with a glance
the obstacles of the vapourous earth: breaking into long strata and
little pearly flakes, they soared high in the empyrean, whilst the
all-powerful luminary assumed undisputed possession of earth, and a soft
breeze, the breath of the morn, as it is called in the East, awoke the
waters into life.
But I am not long to enjoy this mighty picture. A jarring din sings in
my ears, contrasting strangely with the beautiful world before my eyes.
A crowd of newly-engaged Pagazi are standing before me in the ecstasy of
impatience: some poised like cranes upon the right foot, with the left
sole placed against the knee, others with their arms thrown in a
brotherly fashion round neighbours’ necks, whilst others squatted in the
usual Asiatic and African position, with their posteriora resting upon
their calves and heels, their elbows on their thighs, and their chins
propped upon their hands, gazed at me with that long longing look which
in these lands evidences a something sorely wanted. Presently, from Said
bin Majid’s home-bound caravan, with which I had consented to travel,
shots and a popping of muskets rang through the air: the restless crowd
that still watched me appeared at the sound of this signal to lose their
wits. In a moment the space before the Tembe was cleared. After a few
moments, Said bin Salim ran up violently excited, declaring that his
orders were of no avail, that some parties were starting with, and
others without, their loads, and that no man would take up the burden
assigned to him on the yesterday. I directed him to compose himself, and
since he could not remain, to precede me with the headstrong gang as far
as the Ruche River--the first stage--whence he would send back, as soon
as possible, a few men bribed to carry my hammock and to remove the
loose loads scattered upon the ground. These, as usual on such
occasions, were our own. He departed greatly delighting in the
opportunity of escaping further trouble, and of driving off his six wild
slaves in safety: true to his inconsequential Arabo-African blood,
however, neglecting the appointed station in the eagerness of hurry, he
marched on with Said bin Majid’s men to at least double the distance,
thus placing himself out of Kannena’s reach, and throwing all my
arrangements into direst confusion.
Meanwhile, having breakfasted, we sat till the afternoon in the now
empty and deserted Tembe, expecting the return of the slaves. As none
appeared, I was induced by the utter misery depicted in the countenances
of the Baloch, and trusting that the return-porters would meet us on the
way, to give orders for a march about 4 P.M., to mount my manchil, and
to set out carried by only two men. Scarcely had I left the Tembe when a
small party, headed by Said bin Salim’s four children, passed by me at
speed. Though summoned to halt, they sped onwards, apparently intending
to fetch the loads from the house, and thus to relieve those left behind
as a guard; it proved afterwards that they were bound for the bazar to
buy plantains for their patroon. Meanwhile, hurrying on with one Baloch,
the astute Gul Mohammed, Valentine, and three sons of Ramji, as the
shades of evening closed around us, we reached, without guide or
direction from the surly villagers, the ferry of the Ruche River.
Disappointed at not finding the camp at the place proposed, we were
punted across the Styx-like stream; and for what reason no man could
say, the party took the swampy road along the Bay of Ukaranga. The
mosquitos stung like wasps; the loud spoutings and the hollow bursts of
bellow, snort, and grunt of the hippopotami--in these lands they are
brave as the bulls of the Spanish sierras--and the roar of the old male
crocodile startled the party, whilst the porters had difficulty in
preserving their balance as they waded through water waist-deep, and
crept across plains of mud, mire, and sea-ooze.
As the darkness rendered the march risky, I gave the word, when arrived
at a bunch of miserable huts, for a bivouac; the party, had I permitted
it, would have wandered through the outer glooms without fixed purpose
till permanently bogged. We spread our bedding upon the clear space
between the cane-cones acting hovels, and we snatched, under a
resplendent moon, and a dew that soaked through the blankets, a few
hours of sleep, expecting to be aroused by a guide and porters before
the end of night. Gaetano had preceded us with the provisions and the
_batterie de cuisine_; we were destitute even of tobacco, and we looked
forward expectantly to the march. But the dawn broke, and morning
flashed over the canopy above, and the sun poured his hot rays through
the cool, clear air, still we found ourselves alone. The sons of Ramji,
and the others composing our party, had gradually disappeared, leaving
with us only Gul Mohammed. Taking heart of grace, we then cleared out a
hut, divided the bedding, lay down in the patience of expectation, and
dined on goat. Our neighbour afforded us some food for the mind.
Apparently an Androgyne, she had the voice, the look, and the thorax of
a man, whilst the dress and the manner argued her to be a woman; it was
the only approach to the dubious sex seen by me in East Africa.
About 2 P.M. appeared Ramazan and Salman, children of Said bin Said,
with four porters, an insufficient supply for the long and trying march
which they described. They insisted upon our enduring the heat and
labour of the day so energetically, that they were turned with ignominy
out of the village, and were told to send their master to escort us in
the evening or on the morning of the next day. Accordingly at 9 A.M. of
the 28th May appeared Said bin Salim and the Jemadar, escorted by a
full gang of bearers. The former, bursting with irritation, began that
loud speaking which in the East is equivalent to impertinence; he was
easily silenced by a more explosive and an angrier tone of voice. Having
breakfasted, we set out leisurely, and after rejoining Said bin Majid’s
party we advanced until evening fell upon us at the end of the first
day’s stage.
I have related the tale of our departure from the Tanganyika somewhat
circumstantially: it was truly characteristic of Arab travelling in
Eastern Africa. Said bin Salim had scant cause for hurry: slaves rarely
desert on the day of departure; knowing themselves to be watched they
wait their opportunity, and find it perhaps--as our caravan discovered
to its loss--a week or two afterwards. The Arab was determined to gain a
few miles by passing the appointed station; he did so, and he lost two
days. In his haste and dread of delay, he had neglected to lay in salt,
ghee, or any other stores for the road but grain: consequently he was
detained at half a dozen places to procure them. Finally, his froward
children, who had done their utmost to waste time in the bazar, were not
reproved, much less punished. Truly the half-caste Arab of Zanzibar is
almost as futile as the slavish moiety of his ancestry.