Leaving Bagamoyo for the interior.--Constructing a Bridge.--
Our first troubles.--Shooting Hippopotami.--A first view of
the Game Land.--Anticipating trouble with the Wagogo.--The
dreadful poison--flies.--Unlucky adventures while hunting.--
The cunning chief of Kingaru.--Sudden death of my two
horses.--A terrible experience.--The city of the "Lion
Lord."
On the 21st of March, exactly seventy-three days after my arrival at
Zanzibar, the fifth caravan, led by myself, left the town of Bagamoyo
for our first journey westward, with "Forward!" for its mot du guet. As
the kirangozi unrolled the American flag, and put himself at the head of
the caravan, and the pagazis, animals, soldiers, and idlers were lined
for the march, we bade a long farewell to the dolce far niente of
civilised life, to the blue ocean, and to its open road to home, to the
hundreds of dusky spectators who were there to celebrate our departure
with repeated salvoes of musketry.
Our caravan is composed of twenty-eight pagazis, including the
kirangozi, or guide; twelve soldiers under Capt. Mbarak Bombay, in
charge of seventeen donkeys and their loads; Selim, my interpreter, in
charge of the donkey and cart and its load; one cook and sub, who is
also to be tailor and ready hand for all, and leads the grey horse;
Shaw, once mate of a ship, now transformed into rearguard and overseer
for the caravan, who is mounted on a good riding-donkey, and wearing a
canoe-like tepee and sea-boots; and lastly, on, the splendid bay horse
presented to me by Mr. Goodhue, myself, called Bana Mkuba, "the big
master," by my people--the vanguard, the reporter, the thinker, and
leader of the Expedition.
Altogether the Expedition numbers on the day of departure three white
men, twenty-three soldiers, four supernumeraries, four chiefs, and one
hundred and fifty-three pagazis, twenty-seven donkeys, and one cart,
conveying cloth, beads, and wire, boat-fixings, tents, cooking utensils
and dishes, medicine, powder, small shot, musket-balls, and metallic
cartridges; instruments and small necessaries, such as soap, sugar, tea,
coffee, Liebig's extract of meat, pemmican, candles, &c., which make
a total of 153 loads. The weapons of defence which the Expedition
possesses consist of one double-barrel breech-loading gun, smooth bore;
one American Winchester rifle, or "sixteen-shooter;" one Henry rifle,
or "sixteen-shooter;" two Starr's breech-loaders, one Jocelyn
breech-loader, one elephant rifle, carrying balls eight to the pound;
two breech-loading revolvers, twenty-four muskets (flint locks), six
single-barrelled pistols, one battle-axe, two swords, two daggers
(Persian kummers, purchased at Shiraz by myself), one boar-spear,
two American axes 4 lbs. each, twenty-four hatchets, and twenty-four
butcher-knives.
The Expedition has been fitted with care; whatever it needed was not
stinted; everything was provided. Nothing was done too hurriedly, yet
everything was purchased, manufactured, collected, and compounded with
the utmost despatch consistent with efficiency and means. Should it fail
of success in its errand of rapid transit to Ujiji and back, it must
simply happen from an accident which could not be controlled. So much
for the _personnel_ of the Expedition and its purpose, until its _point
de mire_ be reached.
We left Bagamoyo the attraction of all the curious, with much eclat, and
defiled up a narrow lane shaded almost to twilight by the dense umbrage
of two parallel hedges of mimosas. We were all in the highest spirits.
The soldiers sang, the kirangozi lifted his voice into a loud bellowing
note, and fluttered the American flag, which told all on-lookers, "Lo, a
Musungu's caravan!" and my heart, I thought, palpitated much too quickly
for the sober face of a leader. But I could not check it; the enthusiasm
of youth still clung to me--despite my travels; my pulses bounded with
the full glow of staple health; behind me were the troubles which had
harassed me for over two months. With that dishonest son of a Hindi,
Soor Hadji Palloo, I had said my last word; of the blatant rabble, of
Arabs, Banyans, and Baluches I had taken my last look; with the Jesuits
of the French Mission I had exchanged farewells, and before me beamed
the sun of promise as he sped towards the Occident. Loveliness glowed
around me. I saw fertile fields, riant vegetation, strange trees--I
heard the cry of cricket and pee-wit, and sibilant sound of many
insects, all of which seemed to tell me, "At last you are started." What
could I do but lift my face toward the pure-glowing sky, and cry, "God
be thanked!"
The first camp, Shamba Gonera, we arrived at in 1 hour 30 minutes, equal
to 3 1/4 miles. This first, or "little journey," was performed very
well, "considering," as the Irishman says. The boy Selim upset the cart
not more than three times. Zaidi, the soldier, only once let his donkey,
which carried one bag of my clothes and a box of ammunition, lie in
a puddle of black water. The clothes have to be re-washed; the
ammunition-box, thanks to my provision, was waterproof. Kamna perhaps
knew the art of donkey-driving, but, overjoyful at the departure, had
sung himself into oblivion of the difficulties with which an animal of
the pure asinine breed has naturally to contend against, such as not
knowing the right road, and inability to resist the temptation of
straying into the depths of a manioc field; and the donkey, ignorant of
the custom in vogue amongst ass-drivers of flourishing sticks before
an animal's nose, and misunderstanding the direction in which he was
required to go, ran off at full speed along an opposite road, until his
pack got unbalanced, and he was fain to come to the earth. But these
incidents were trivial, of no importance, and natural to the first
"little journey" in East Africa.
The soldiers' point of character leaked out just a little. Bombay turned
out to be honest and trusty, but slightly disposed to be dilatory.
Uledi did more talking than work; while the runaway Ferajji and the
useless-handed Mabruki Burton turned out to be true men and staunch,
carrying loads the sight of which would have caused the strong-limbed
hamals of Stamboul to sigh.
The saddles were excellent, surpassing expectation. The strong hemp
canvas bore its one hundred and fifty-pounds' burden with the strength
of bull hide, and the loading and unloading of miscellaneous baggage
was performed with systematic despatch. In brief, there was nothing to
regret--the success of the journey proved our departure to be anything
but premature.
The next three days were employed in putting the finishing touches to
our preparations for the long land journey and our precautions against
the Masika, which was now ominously near, and in settling accounts.
Shamba Gonera means Gonera's Field. Gonera is a wealthy Indian widow,
well disposed towards the Wasungu (whites). She exports much cloth,
beads, and wire into the far interior, and imports in return much ivory.
Her house is after the model of the town houses, with long sloping roof
and projecting eaves, affording a cool shade, under which the pagazis
love to loiter. On its southern and eastern side stretch the cultivated
fields which supply Bagamoyo with the staple grain, matama, of East
Africa; on the left grow Indian corn, and muhogo, a yam-like root
of whitish colour, called by some manioc; when dry, it is ground and
compounded into cakes similar to army slapjacks. On the north, just
behind the house, winds a black quagmire, a sinuous hollow, which in
its deepest parts always contains water--the muddy home of the
brake-and-rush-loving "kiboko" or hippopotamus. Its banks, crowded
with dwarf fan-palm, tall water-reeds, acacias, and tiger-grass, afford
shelter to numerous aquatic birds, pelicans, &c. After following a
course north-easterly, it conflows with the Kingani, which, at distance
of four miles from Gonera's country-house; bends eastward into the sea.
To the west, after a mile of cultivation, fall and recede in succession
the sea-beach of old in lengthy parallel waves, overgrown densely
with forest grass and marsh reeds. On the spines of these land-swells
flourish ebony, calabash, and mango.
"Sofari--sofari leo! Pakia, pakia!"--"A journey--a journey to day! Set
out!--set out!" rang the cheery voice of the kirangozi, echoed by that
of my servant Selim, on the morning of the fourth day, which was fixed
for our departure in earnest. As I hurried my men to their work, and
lent a hand with energy to drop the tents, I mentally resolved that,
if my caravans a should give me clear space, Unyanyembe should be our
resting-place before three months expired. By 6 A.M. our early breakfast
was despatched, and the donkeys and pagazis were defiling from Camp
Gonera. Even at this early hour, and in this country place, there was
quite a collection of curious natives, to whom we gave the parting
"Kwaheri" with sincerity. My bay horse was found to be invaluable for
the service of a quarter-master of a transport-train; for to such was I
compelled to compare myself. I could stay behind until the last donkey
had quitted the camp, and, by a few minutes' gallop, I could put myself
at the head, leaving Shaw to bring up the rear.
The road was a mere footpath, and led over a soil which, though
sandy, was of surprising fertility, producing grain and vegetables
a hundredfold, the sowing and planting of which was done in the most
unskilful manner. In their fields, at heedless labor, were men and women
in the scantiest costumes, compared to which Adam and Eve, in their
fig-tree apparel, must have been _en grande tenue_. We passed them with
serious faces, while they laughed and giggled, and pointed their index
fingers at this and that, which to them seemed so strange and bizarre.
In about half an hour we had left the tall matama and fields of
water-melons, cucumbers, and manioc; and, crossing a reedy slough,
were in an open forest of ebony and calabash. In its depths are deer in
plentiful numbers, and at night it is visited by the hippopotami of the
Kingani for the sake of its grass. In another hour we had emerged from
the woods, and were looking down upon the broad valley of the Kingani,
and a scene presented itself so utterly different from what my foolish
imagination had drawn, that I felt quite relieved by the pleasing
disappointment. Here was a valley stretching four miles east and west,
and about eight miles north and south, left with the richest soil to its
own wild growth of grass--which in civilization would have been a most
valuable meadow for the rearing of cattle--invested as it was by dense
forests, darkening the horizon at all points of the compass, and folded
in by tree-clad ridges.
At the sound of our caravan the red antelope bounded away to our right
and the left, and frogs hushed their croak. The sun shone hot, and
while traversing the valley we experienced a little of its real African
fervour. About half way across we came to a sluice of stagnant water
which, directly in the road of the caravan, had settled down into an
oozy pond. The pagazis crossed a hastily-constructed bridge, thrown up
a long time ago by some Washensi Samaritans. It was an extraordinary
affair; rugged tree limbs resting on very unsteady forked piles, and it
had evidently tested the patience of many a loaded Mnyamwezi, as it
did those porters of our caravan. Our weaker animals were unloaded, the
puddle between Bagamoyo and Genera having taught us prudence. But
this did not occasion much delay; the men worked smartly under Shaw's
supervision.
The turbid Kingani, famous for its hippopotami, was reached in a short
time, and we began to thread the jungle along its right bank until we
were halted point-blank by a narrow sluice having an immeasurable depth
of black mud. The difficulty presented by this was very grave, though
its breadth was barely eight feet; the donkeys, and least of all the
horses, could not be made to traverse two poles like our biped carriers,
neither could they be driven into the sluice, where they would quickly
founder. The only available way of crossing it in safety was by means
of a bridge, to endure in this conservative land for generations as the
handiwork of the Wasungu. So we set to work, there being no help for it,
with American axes--the first of their kind the strokes of which ever
rang in this part of the world--to build a bridge. Be sure it was made
quickly, for where the civilized white is found, a difficulty must
vanish. The bridge was composed of six stout trees thrown across, over
these were laid crosswise fifteen pack saddles, covered again with a
thick layer of grass. All the animals crossed it safely, and then for a
third time that morning the process of wading was performed. The Kingani
flowed northerly here, and our course lay down its right bank. A half
mile in that direction through a jungle of giant reeds and extravagant
climbers brought us to the ferry, where the animals had to be again
unloaded--verily, I wished when I saw its deep muddy waters that I
possessed the power of Moses with his magic rod, or what would have
answered my purpose as well, Aladdin's ring, for then I could have found
myself and party on the opposite side without further trouble; but not
having either of these gifts I issued orders for an immediate crossing,
for it was ill wishing sublime things before this most mundane prospect.
Kingwere, the canoe paddler, espying us from his brake covert, on the
opposite side, civilly responded to our halloos, and brought his huge
hollowed tree skilfully over the whirling eddies of the river to where
we stood waiting for him. While one party loaded the canoe with our
goods, others got ready a long rape to fasten around the animals' necks,
wherewith to haul them through the river to the other bank. After seeing
the work properly commenced, I sat down on a condemned canoe to amuse
myself with the hippopotami by peppering their thick skulls with my No.
12 smooth-bore. The Winchester rifle (calibre 44), a present from the
Hon. Edward Joy Morris--our minister at Constantinople--did no more than
slightly tap them, causing about as much injury as a boy's sling; it was
perfect in its accuracy of fire, for ten times in succession I struck
the tops of their heads between the ears. One old fellow, with the look
of a sage, was tapped close to the right ear by one of these bullets.
Instead of submerging himself as others had done he coolly turned round
his head as if to ask, "Why this waste of valuable cartridges on
us?" The response to the mute inquiry of his sageship was an
ounce-and-a-quarter bullet from the smooth-bore, which made him bellow
with pain, and in a few moments he rose up again, tumbling in his death
agonies. As his groans were so piteous, I refrained from a useless
sacrifice of life, and left the amphibious horde in peace.
A little knowledge concerning these uncouth inmates of the African
waters was gained even during the few minutes we were delayed at the
ferry. When undisturbed by foreign sounds, they congregate in shallow
water on the sand bars, with the fore half of their bodies exposed
to the warm sunshine, and are in appearance, when thus somnolently
reposing, very like a herd of enormous swine. When startled by the noise
of an intruder, they plunge hastily into the depths, lashing the waters
into a yellowish foam, and scatter themselves below the surface, when
presently the heads of a few reappear, snorting the water from their
nostrils, to take a fresh breath and a cautious scrutiny around them;
when thus, we see but their ears, forehead, eyes and nostrils, and as
they hastily submerge again it requires a steady wrist and a quick hand
to shoot them. I have heard several comparisons made of their appearance
while floating in this manner: some Arabs told me before I had seen them
that they looked like dead trees carried down the river; others, who in
some country had seen hogs, thought they resembled them, but to my mind
they look more like horses when swimming their curved necks and
pointed ears, their wide eyes and expanded nostrils, favor greatly this
comparison.
At night they seek the shore, and wander several miles over the country,
luxuriating among its rank grasses. To within four miles of the town
of Bagamoyo (the Kingani is eight miles distant) their wide tracks are
seen. Frequently, if not disturbed by the startling human voice, they
make a raid on the rich corn-stalks of the native cultivators, and a
dozen of them will in a few minutes make a frightful havoc in a large
field of this plant. Consequently, we were not surprised, while delayed
at the ferry, to hear the owners of the corn venting loud halloos, like
the rosy-cheeked farmer boys in England when scaring the crows away from
the young wheat.
The caravan in the meanwhile had crossed safely--bales, baggage,
donkeys, and men. I had thought to have camped on the bank, so as to
amuse myself with shooting antelope, and also for the sake of procuring
their meat, in order to save my goats, of which I had a number
constituting my live stock of provisions; but, thanks to the awe and
dread which my men entertained of the hippopotami, I was hurried on to
the outpost of the Baluch garrison at Bagamoyo, a small village called
Kikoka, distant four miles from the river.
The western side of the river was a considerable improvement upon the
eastern. The plain, slowly heaving upwards, as smoothly as the beach of
a watering-place, for the distance of a mile, until it culminated in
a gentle and rounded ridge, presented none of those difficulties which
troubled us on the other side. There were none of those cataclysms
of mire and sloughs of black mud and over-tall grasses, none of that
miasmatic jungle with its noxious emissions; it was just such a scene
as one may find before an English mansion--a noble expanse of lawn
and sward, with boscage sufficient to agreeably diversify it. After
traversing the open plain, the road led through a grove of young ebony
trees, where guinea-fowls and a hartebeest were seen; it then wound,
with all the characteristic eccentric curves of a goat-path, up and
down a succession of land-waves crested by the dark green foliage of
the mango, and the scantier and lighter-coloured leaves of the enormous
calabash. The depressions were filled with jungle of more or less
density, while here and there opened glades, shadowed even during noon
by thin groves of towering trees. At our approach fled in terror flocks
of green pigeons, jays, ibis, turtledoves, golden pheasants, quails and
moorhens, with crows and hawks, while now and then a solitary pelican
winged its way to the distance.
Nor was this enlivening prospect without its pairs of antelope, and
monkeys which hopped away like Australian kangaroos; these latter were
of good size, with round bullet heads, white breasts, and long tails
tufted at the end.
We arrived at Kikoka by 5 P.M., having loaded and unloaded our pack
animals four times, crossing one deep puddle, a mud sluice, and a river,
and performed a journey of eleven miles.
The settlement of Kikoka is a collection of straw huts; not built after
any architectural style, but after a bastard form, invented by indolent
settlers from the Mrima and Zanzibar for the purpose of excluding as
much sunshine as possible from the eaves and interior. A sluice and some
wells provide them with water, which though sweet is not particularly
wholesome or appetizing, owing to the large quantities of decayed matter
which is washed into it by the rains, and is then left to corrupt in it.
A weak effort has been made to clear the neighbourhood for providing
a place for cultivation, but to the dire task of wood-chopping and
jungle-clearing the settlers prefer occupying an open glade, which they
clear of grass, so as to be able to hoe up two or three inches of soil,
into which they cast their seed, confident of return.
The next day was a halt at Kikoka; the fourth caravan, consisting solely
of Wanyamwezi, proving a sore obstacle to a rapid advance. Maganga, its
chief, devised several methods of extorting more cloth and presents from
me, he having cost already more than any three chiefs together; but his
efforts were of no avail further than obtaining promises of reward if he
would hurry on to Unyanyembe so that I might find my road clear.
On the 2(7?)th, the Wanyamwezi having started, we broke camp soon after
at 7 am. The country was of the same nature as that lying between
the Kingani and Kikokaa park land, attractive and beautiful in every
feature.
I rode in advance to secure meat should a chance present itself, but
not the shadow of vert or venison did I see. Ever in our
front--westerly--rolled the land-waves, now rising, now subsiding,
parallel one with the other, like a ploughed field many times magnified.
Each ridge had its knot of jungle or its thin combing of heavily
foliaged trees, until we arrived close to Rosako, our next halting
place, when the monotonous wavure of the land underwent a change,
breaking into independent hummocks clad with dense jungle. On one of
these, veiled by an impenetrable jungle of thorny acacia, rested Rosako;
girt round by its natural fortification, neighbouring another village
to the north of it similarly protected. Between them sank a valley
extremely fertile and bountiful in its productions, bisected by a small
stream, which serves as a drain to the valley or low hills surrounding
it.
Rosako is the frontier village of Ukwere, while Kikoka is the
north-western extremity of Uzaramo. We entered this village, and
occupied its central portion with our tents and animals. A kitanda,
or square light bedstead, without valance, fringe, or any superfluity
whatever, but nevertheless quite as comfortable as with them, was
brought to my tent for my use by the village chief. The animals were,
immediately after being unloaded, driven out to feed, and the soldiers
to a man set to work to pile the baggage up, lest the rain, which during
the Masika season always appears imminent, might cause irreparable
damage.
Among other experiments which I was about to try in Africa was that of
a good watch-dog on any unmannerly people who would insist upon coming
into my tent at untimely hours and endangering valuables. Especially did
I wish to try the effect of its bark on the mighty Wagogo, who, I was
told by certain Arabs, would lift the door of the tent and enter whether
you wished them or not; who would chuckle at the fear they inspired, and
say to you, "Hi, hi, white man, I never saw the like of you before; are
there many more like you? where do you come from?" Also would they take
hold of your watch and ask you with a cheerful curiosity, "What is this
for, white man?" to which you of course would reply that it was to tell
you the hour and minute. But the Mgogo, proud of his prowess, and more
unmannerly than a brute, would answer you with a snort of insult. I
thought of a watch-dog, and procured a good one at Bombay not only as a
faithful companion, but to threaten the heels of just such gentry.
But soon after our arrival at Rosako it was found that the dog, whose
name was "Omar," given him from his Turkish origin, was missing; he had
strayed away from the soldiers during a rain-squall and had got lost.
I despatched Mabruki Burton back to Kikoka to search for him. On the
following morning, just as we were about to leave Rosako, the faithful
fellow returned with the lost dog, having found him at Kikoka.
Previous to our departure on the morning after this, Maganga, chief
of the fourth caravan, brought me the unhappy report that three of his
pagazis were sick, and he would like to have some "dowa"--medicine.
Though not a doctor, or in any way connected with the profession, I had
a well-supplied medicine chest--without which no traveller in Africa
could live--for just such a contingency as was now present. On visiting
Maganga's sick men, I found one suffering from inflammation of the
lungs, another from the mukunguru (African intermittent). They all
imagined themselves about to die, and called loudly for "Mama!" "Mama!"
though they were all grown men. It was evident that the fourth caravan
could not stir that day, so leaving word with Magauga to hurry after me
as soon as possible, I issued orders for the march of my own.
Excepting in the neighbourhood of the villages which we have passed
there were no traces of cultivation. The country extending between the
several stations is as much a wilderness as the desert of Sahara, though
it possesses a far more pleasing aspect. Indeed, had the first man at
the time of the Creation gazed at his world and perceived it of the
beauty which belongs to this part of Africa, he would have had no cause
of complaint. In the deep thickets, set like islets amid a sea of grassy
verdure, he would have found shelter from the noonday heat, and a safe
retirement for himself and spouse during the awesome darkness. In the
morning he could have walked forth on the sloping sward, enjoyed its
freshness, and performed his ablutions in one of the many small streams
flowing at its foot. His garden of fruit-trees is all that is required;
the noble forests, deep and cool, are round about him, and in their
shade walk as many animals as one can desire. For days and days let a
man walk in any direction, north, south, east, and west, and he will
behold the same scene.
Earnestly as I wished to hurry on to Unyanyembe, still a heart-felt
anxiety about the arrival of my goods carried by the fourth caravan,
served as a drag upon me and before my caravan had marched nine miles
my anxiety had risen to the highest pitch, and caused me to order a camp
there and then. The place selected for it was near a long straggling
sluice, having an abundance of water during the rainy season, draining
as it does two extensive slopes. No sooner had we pitched our camp,
built a boma of thorny acacia, and other tree branches, by stacking them
round our camp, and driven our animals to grass; than we were made aware
of the formidable number and variety of the insect tribe, which for a
time was another source of anxiety, until a diligent examination of the
several species dispelled it.
As it was a most interesting hunt which I instituted for the several
specimens of the insects, I here append the record of it for what it is
worth. My object in obtaining these specimens was to determine whether
the genus _Glossina morsitans_ of the naturalist, or the tsetse
(sometimes called setse) of Livingstone, Vardon, and Gumming, said to
be deadly to horses, was amongst them. Up to this date I had been nearly
two months in East Africa, and had as yet seen no tsetse; and my horses,
instead of becoming emaciated--for such is one of the symptoms of a
tsetse bite--had considerably improved in condition. There were three
different species of flies which sought shelter in my tent, which,
unitedly, kept up a continual chorus of sounds--one performed the basso
profondo, another a tenor, and the third a weak contralto. The first
emanated from a voracious and fierce fly, an inch long, having a ventral
capacity for blood quite astonishing.
This larger fly was the one chosen for the first inspection, which was
of the intensest. I permitted one to alight on my flannel pyjamas, which
I wore while en deshabille in camp. No sooner had he alighted than his
posterior was raised, his head lowered, and his weapons, consisting
of four hair-like styles, unsheathed from the proboscis-like bag which
concealed them, and immediately I felt pain like that caused by a
dexterous lancet-cut or the probe of a fine needle. I permitted him to
gorge himself, though my patience and naturalistic interest were sorely
tried. I saw his abdominal parts distend with the plenitude of the
repast until it had swollen to three times its former shrunken girth,
when he flew away of his own accord laden with blood. On rolling up my
flannel pyjamas to see the fountain whence the fly had drawn the fluid,
I discovered it to be a little above the left knee, by a crimson bead
resting over the incision. After wiping the blood the wound was similar
to that caused by a deep thrust of a fine needle, but all pain had
vanished with the departure of the fly.
Having caught a specimen of this fly, I next proceeded to institute a
comparison between it and the tsetse, as described by Dr. Livingstone on
pp. 56-57, 'Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa' (Murray's
edition of 1868). The points of disagreement are many, and such as to
make it entirely improbable that this fly is the true tsetse, though my
men unanimously stated that its bite was fatal to horses as well as to
donkeys. A descriptive abstract of the tsetse would read thus: "Not much
larger than a common house-fly, nearly of the same brown colour as the
honey-bee. After-part of the body has yellow bars across it. It has a
peculiar buzz, and its bite is death to the horse, ox, and dog. On man
the bite has no effect, neither has it on wild animals. When allowed
to feed on the hand, it inserts the middle prong of three portions into
which the proboscis divides, it then draws the prong out a little
way, and it assumes a crimson colour as the mandibles come into brisk
operation; a slight itching irritation follows the bite."
The fly which I had under inspection is called mabunga by the natives.
It is much larger than the common housefly, fully a third larger than
the common honey-bee, and its colour more distinctly marked; its head is
black, with a greenish gloss to it; the after-part of the body is marked
by a white line running lengthwise from its junction with the trunk, and
on each side of this white line are two other lines, one of a crimson
colour, the other of a light brown. As for its buzz, there is no
peculiarity in it, it might be mistaken for that of a honey-bee. When
caught it made desperate efforts to get away, but never attempted to
bite. This fly, along with a score of others, attacked my grey horse,
and bit it so sorely in the legs that they appeared as if bathed in
blood. Hence, I might have been a little vengeful if, with more than the
zeal of an entomologist, I caused it to disclose whatever peculiarities
its biting parts possessed.
In order to bring this fly as life-like as possible before my readers, I
may compare its head to most tiny miniature of an elephant's, because it
has a black proboscis and a pair of horny antennae, which in colour and
curve resemble tusks. The black proboscis, however, the simply a hollow
sheath, which encloses, when not in the act of biting, four reddish
and sharp lancets. Under the microscope these four lancets differ in
thickness, two are very thick, the third is slender, but the fourth, of
an opal colour and almost transparent, is exceedingly fine. This last
must be the sucker. When the fly is about to wound, the two horny
antennae are made to embrace the part, the lancets are unsheathed, and
on the instant the incision is performed. This I consider to be the
African "horse-fly."
The second fly, which sang the tenor notes more nearly resembled in size
and description the tsetse. It was exceedingly nimble, and it occupied
three soldiers nearly an hour to capture a specimen; and, when it was
finally caught, it stung most ravenously the hand, and never ceased
its efforts to attack until it was pinned through. It had three or four
white marks across the after-part of its body; but the biting parts of
this fly consisted of two black antennae and an opal coloured style,
which folded away under the neck. When about to bite, this style was
shot out straight, and the antennae embraced it closely. After death the
fly lost its distinctive white marks. Only one of this species did
we see at this camp. The third fly, called "chufwa," pitched a weak
alto-crescendo note, was a third larger than the house fly, and had long
wings. If this insect sang the feeblest note, it certainly did the most
work, and inflicted the most injury. Horses and donkeys streamed with
blood, and reared and kicked through the pain. So determined was it not
to be driven before it obtained its fill, that it was easily despatched;
but this dreadful enemy to cattle constantly increased in numbers. The
three species above named are, according to natives, fatal to
cattle; and this may perhaps be the reason why such a vast expanse of
first-class pasture is without domestic cattle of any kind, a few goats
only being kept by the villagers. This fly I subsequently found to be
the "tsetse."
On the second morning, instead of proceeding, I deemed it more prudent
to await the fourth caravan. Burton experimented sufficiently for me
on the promised word of the Banyans of Kaole and Zanzibar, and waited
eleven months before he received the promised articles. As I did not
expect to be much over that time on my errand altogether, it would be
ruin, absolute and irremediable, should I be detained at Unyanyembe so
long a time by my caravan. Pending its arrival, I sought the pleasures
of the chase. I was but a tyro in hunting, I confess, though I had shot
a little on the plains of America and Persia; yet I considered myself
a fair shot, and on game ground, and within a reasonable proximity to
game, I doubted not but I could bring some to camp.
After a march of a mile through the tall grass of the open, we gained
the glades between the jungles. Unsuccessful here, after ever so much
prying into fine hiding-places and lurking corners, I struck a trail
well traversed by small antelope and hartebeest, which we followed. It
led me into a jungle, and down a watercourse bisecting it; but, after
following it for an hour, I lost it, and, in endeavouring to retrace it,
lost my way. However, my pocket-compass stood me in good stead; and by
it I steered for the open plain, in the centre of which stood the camp.
But it was terribly hard work--this of plunging through an African
jungle, ruinous to clothes, and trying to the cuticle. In order to
travel quickly, I had donned a pair of flannel pyjamas, and my feet were
encased in canvas shoes. As might be expected, before I had gone a
few paces a branch of the acacia horrida--only one of a hundred such
annoyances--caught the right leg of my pyjamas at the knee, and ripped
it almost clean off; succeeding which a stumpy kolquall caught me by the
shoulder, and another rip was the inevitable consequence. A few yards
farther on, a prickly aloetic plant disfigured by a wide tear the
other leg of my pyjamas, and almost immediately I tripped against a
convolvulus strong as ratline, and was made to measure my length on a
bed of thorns. It was on all fours, like a hound on a scent, that I was
compelled to travel; my solar topee getting the worse for wear every
minute; my skin getting more and more wounded; my clothes at each step
becoming more and more tattered. Besides these discomforts, there was
a pungent, acrid plant which, apart from its strong odorous emissions,
struck me smartly on the face, leaving a burning effect similar to
cayenne; and the atmosphere, pent in by the density of the jungle, was
hot and stifling, and the perspiration transuded through every pore,
making my flannel tatters feel as if I had been through a shower. When I
had finally regained the plain, and could breathe free, I mentally vowed
that the penetralia of an African jungle should not be visited by me
again, save under most urgent necessity.
The second and third day passed without any news of Maganga.
Accordingly, Shaw and Bombay were sent to hurry him up by all means.
On the fourth morning Shaw and Bombay returned, followed by the
procrastinating Maganga and his laggard people. Questions only elicited
an excuse that his men had been too sick, and he had feared to tax their
strength before they were quite equal to stand the fatigue. Moreover he
suggested that as they would be compelled to stay one day more at the
camp, I might push on to Kingaru and camp there, until his arrival.
Acting upon which suggestion I broke camp and started for Kingaru,
distant five miles.
On this march the land was more broken, and the caravan first
encountered jungle, which gave considerable trouble to our cart.
Pisolitic limestone cropped out in boulders and sheets, and we began
to imagine ourselves approaching healthy highlands, and as if to give
confirmation to the thought, to the north and north-west loomed the
purple cones of Udoe, and topmost of all Dilima Peak, about 1,500 feet
in height above the sea level. But soon after sinking into a bowl-like
valley, green with tall corn, the road slightly deviated from north-west
to west, the country still rolling before us in wavy undulations.
In one of the depressions between these lengthy land-swells stood the
village of Kingaru, with surroundings significant in their aspect
of ague and fever. Perhaps the clouds surcharged with rain, and the
overhanging ridges and their dense forests dulled by the gloom, made the
place more than usually disagreeable, but my first impressions of the
sodden hollow, pent in by those dull woods, with the deep gully close by
containing pools of stagnant water, were by no means agreeable.
Before we could arrange our camp and set the tents up, down poured the
furious harbinger of the Masika season in torrents sufficient to damp
the ardor and newborn love for East Africa I had lately manifested.
However, despite rain, we worked on until our camp was finished and the
property was safely stored from weather and thieves, and we could regard
with resignation the raindrops beating the soil into mud of a very
tenacious kind, and forming lakelets and rivers of our camp-ground.
Towards night, the scene having reached its acme of unpleasantness, the
rain ceased, and the natives poured into camp from the villages in the
woods with their vendibles. Foremost among these, as if in duty bound,
came the village sultan--lord, chief, or head--bearing three measures
of matama and half a measure of rice, of which he begged, with paternal
smiles, my acceptance. But under his smiling mask, bleared eyes, and
wrinkled front was visible the soul of trickery, which was of the
cunningest kind. Responding under the same mask adopted by this knavish
elder, I said, "The chief of Kingaru has called me a rich sultan. If I
am a rich sultan why comes not the chief with a rich present to me, that
he might get a rich return?" Said he, with another leer of his wrinkled
visage, "Kingaru is poor, there is no matama in the village." To which
I replied that since there was no matama in the village I would pay him
half a shukka, or a yard of cloth, which would be exactly equivalent to
his present; that if he preferred to call his small basketful a present,
I should be content to call my yard of cloth a present. With which logic
he was fain to be satisfied.
April 1st.--To-day the Expedition suffered a loss in the death of the
grey Arab horse presented by Seyd Burghash, Sultan of Zanzibar. The
night previous I had noticed that the horse was suffering. Bearing in
mind what has been so frequently asserted, namely, that no horses could
live in the interior of Africa because of the tsetse, I had him opened,
and the stomach, which I believed to be diseased, examined. Besides much
undigested matama and grass there were found twenty-five short, thick,
white worms, sticking like leeches into the coating of the stomach,
while the intestines were almost alive with the numbers of long white
worms. I was satisfied that neither man nor beast could long exist with
such a mass of corrupting life within him.
In order that the dead carcase might not taint the valley, I had it
buried deep in the ground, about a score of yards from the encampment.
From such a slight cause ensued a tremendous uproar from Kingaru--chief
of the village--who, with his brother-chiefs of neighbouring villages,
numbering in the aggregate two dozen wattled huts, had taken counsel
upon the best means of mulcting the Musungu of a full doti or two of
Merikani, and finally had arrived at the conviction that the act of
burying a dead horse in their soil without "By your leave, sir," was
a grievous and fineable fault. Affecting great indignation at the
unpardonable omission, he, Kingaru, concluded to send to the Musungu
four of his young men to say to him that "since you have buried your
horse in my ground, it is well; let him remain there; but you must pay
me two doti of Merikani." For reply the messengers were told to say to
the chief that I would prefer talking the matter over with himself face
to face, if he would condescend to visit me in my tent once again. As
the village was but a stone's throw from our encampment, before many
minutes had elapsed the wrinkled elder made his appearance at the door
of my tent with about half the village behind him.
The following dialogue which took place will serve to illustrate the
tempers of the people with whom I was about to have a year's trading
intercourse:
White Man.--"Are you the great chief of Kingaru?"
Kingaru.--"Huh-uh. Yes."
W. M.--"The great, great chief?"
Kingaru.--"Huh-uh. Yes."
W. M.--"How many soldiers have you?"
Kingaru.--" Why?"
W. M.--"How many fighting men have you?"
Kingaru.--"None."
W. M.--"Oh! I thought you might have a thousand men with you, by your
going to fine a strong white man, who has plenty of guns and soldiers,
two doti for burying a dead horse."
Kingaru (rather perplexed).--"No; I have no soldiers. I have only a few
young men."
W. M.--"Why do you come and make trouble, then?"
Kingaru.--"It was not I; it was my brothers who said to me, 'Come here,
come here, Kingaru, see what the white man has done! Has he not taken
possession of your soil, in that he has put his horse into your ground
without your permission? Come, go to him and see by what right.'
Therefore have I come to ask you, who gave you permission to use my soil
for a burying-ground?"
W. M. "I want no man's permission to do what is right. My horse died;
had I left him to fester and stink in your valley, sickness would visit
your village, your water would become unwholesome, and caravans would
not stop here for trade; for they would say, 'This is an unlucky spot,
let us go away.' But enough said: I understand you to say that you do
not want him buried in your ground; the error I have fallen into is
easily put right. This minute my soldiers shall dig him out again, and
cover up the soil as it was before; and the horse shall be left where he
died." (Then shouting to Bombay.) "Ho! Bombay, take soldiers with jembes
to dig my horse out of the ground, drag him to where he died, and make
everything ready for a march to-morrow morning."
Kingaru, his voice considerably higher, and his head moving to and fro
with emotion, cries out, "Akuna, akuna, bana!"--"No, no, master! Let not
the white man get angry. The horse is dead, and now lies buried; let him
remain so, since he is already there, and let us be friends again."
The Sheikh of Kingaru being thus brought to his senses, we bid each
other the friendly "Kwaheri," and I was left alone to ruminate over my
loss. Barely half an hour had elapsed, it was 9 P.M., the camp was in
a semi-doze, when I heard deep groans issuing from one of the animals.
Upon inquiry as to what animal was suffering, I was surprised to hear
that it was my bay horse. With a bull's-eye lantern, I visited him, and
perceived that the pain was located in the stomach, but whether it was
from some poisonous plant he had eaten while out grazing, or from some
equine disease, I did not know. He discharged copious quantities of
loose matter, but there was nothing peculiar in its colour. The pain was
evidently very great, for his struggles were very violent. I was up all
night, hoping that it was but a temporary effect of some strange and
noxious plant; but at 6 o'clock the next morning, after a short period
of great agony, he also died; exactly fifteen hours after his companion.
When the stomach was opened, it was found that death was caused by the
internal rupture of a large cancer, which had affected the larger half
of the coating of his stomach, and had extended an inch or two up the
larynx. The contents of the stomach and intestines were deluged with the
yellow viscous efflux from the cancer.
I was thus deprived of both my horses, and that within the short space
of fifteen hours. With my limited knowledge of veterinary science,
however, strengthened by the actual and positive proofs obtained by the
dissection of the two stomachs, I can scarcely state that horses can
live to reach Unyanyembe, or that they can travel with ease through this
part of East Africa. But should I have occasion at some future day,
I should not hesitate to take four horses with me, though I should
certainly endeavour to ascertain previous to purchase whether they, were
perfectly sound and healthy, and to those travellers who cherish a good
horse I would say, "Try one," and be not discouraged by my unfortunate
experiences.
The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd of April passed, and nothing had we heard or
seen of the ever-lagging fourth caravan. In the meanwhile the list of
casualties was being augmented. Besides the loss of this precious time,
through the perverseness of the chief of the other caravan, and the
loss of my two horses, a pagazi carrying boat-fixtures improved the
opportunity, and deserted. Selim was struck down with a severe attack
of ague and fever, and was soon after followed by the cook, then by the
assistant cook and tailor, Abdul Kader. Finally, before the third day
was over, Bombay had rheumatism, Uledi (Grant's old valet) had a swollen
throat, Zaidi had the flux, Kingaru had the mukunguru; Khamisi, a
pagazi, suffered from a weakness of the loins; Farjalla had a bilious
fever; and before night closed Makoviga was very ill. Out of a force of
twenty-five men one had deserted, and ten were on the sick list, and the
presentiment that the ill-looking neighbourhood of Kingaru would prove
calamitous to me was verified.
On the 4th April Maganga and his people appeared, after being heralded
by musketry-shots and horn-blowing, the usual signs of an approaching
caravan in this land. His sick men were considerably improved, but they
required one more day of rest at Kingaru. In the afternoon he came to
lay siege to my generosity, by giving details of Soor Hadji Palloo's
heartless cheats upon him; but I informed him, that since I had left
Bagamoyo, I could no longer be generous; we were now in a land where
cloth was at a high premium; that I had no more cloth than I should need
to furnish food for myself and men; that he and his caravan had cost me
more money and trouble than any three caravans I had, as indeed was the
case. With this counter-statement he was obliged to be content. But I
again solved his pecuniary doubts by promising that, if he hurried his
caravan on to Unyanyembe, he should have no cause of complaint.
The 5th of April saw the fourth caravan vanish for once in our front,
with a fair promise that, however fast we should follow, we should not
see them the hither side of Sinbamwenni.
The following morning, in order to rouse my people from the sickened
torpitude they had lapsed into, I beat an exhilarating alarum on a
tin pan with an iron ladle, intimating that a sofari was about to be
undertaken. This had a very good effect, judging from the extraordinary
alacrity with which it was responded to. Before the sun rose we started.
The Kingaru villagers were out with the velocity of hawks for any rags
or refuse left behind us.
The long march to Imbiki, fifteen miles, proved that our protracted stay
at Kingaru had completely demoralized my soldiers and pagazis. Only
a few of them had strength enough to reach Imbiki before night. The
others, attending the laden donkeys, put in an appearance next morning,
in a lamentable state of mind and body. Khamisi--the pagazi with the
weak loins--had deserted, taking with him two goats, the property tent,
and the whole of Uledi's personal wealth, consisting of his visiting
dish-dasheh--a long shirt of the Arabic pattern, 10 lbs. of beads, and
a few fine cloths, which Uledi, in a generous fit, had intrusted to
him, while he carried the pagazi's load, 70 lbs. of Bubu beads. This
defalcation was not to be overlooked, nor should Khamisi be permitted to
return without an effort to apprehend him. Accordingly Uledi and Ferajji
were despatched in pursuit while we rested at Imbiki, in order to give
the dilapidated soldiers and animals time to recruit.
On the 8th we continued our journey, and arrived at Msuwa. This march
will be remembered by our caravan as the most fatiguing of all, though
the distance was but ten miles. It was one continuous jungle, except
three interjacent glades of narrow limits, which gave us three breathing
pauses in the dire task of jungle travelling. The odour emitted from
its fell plants was so rank, so pungently acrid, and the miasma from its
decayed vegetation so dense, that I expected every moment to see myself
and men drop down in paroxysms of acute fever. Happily this evil was
not added to that of loading and unloading the frequently falling packs.
Seven soldiers to attend seventeen laden donkeys were entirely too small
a number while passing through a jungle; for while the path is but a
foot wide, with a wall of thorny plants and creepers bristling on each
side, and projecting branches darting across it, with knots of spikey
twigs stiff as spike-nails, ready to catch and hold anything above four
feet in height, it is but reasonable to suppose that donkeys standing
four feet high, with loads measuring across from bale to bale four feet,
would come to grief. This grief was of frequent recurrence here, causing
us to pause every few minutes for re-arrangements. So often had this
task to be performed, that the men got perfectly discouraged, and had to
bespoken to sharply before they set to work. By the time I reached Msuwa
there was nobody with me and the ten donkeys I drove but Mabruk the
Little, who, though generally stolid, stood to his work like a man.
Bombay and Uledi were far behind, with the most jaded donkeys. Shaw
was in charge of the cart, and his experiences were most bitter, as he
informed me he had expended a whole vocabulary of stormy abuse known
to sailors, and a new one which he had invented ex tempore. He did not
arrive until two o'clock next morning, and was completely worn out.
Another halt was fixed at Msuwa, that we and our animals might
recuperate. The chief of the village, a white man in everything but
colour, sent me and mine the fattest broad-tailed sheep of his
flock, with five measures of matama grain. The mutton was excellent,
unapproachable. For his timely and needful present I gave him two doti,
and amused him with an exhibition of the wonderful mechanism of the
Winchester rifle, and my breechloading revolvers.
He and his people were intelligent enough to comprehend the utility of
these weapons at an emergency, and illustrated in expressive pantomime
the powers they possessed against numbers of people armed only with
spears and bows, by extending their arms with an imaginary gun and
describing a clear circle. "Verily," said they, "the Wasungu are far
wiser than the Washensi. What heads they have! What wonderful things
they make! Look at their tents, their guns, their time-pieces, their
clothes, and that little rolling thing (the cart) which carries more
than five men,---que!"
On the 10th, recovered from the excessive strain of the last march, the
caravan marched out of Msuwa, accompanied by the hospitable villagers
as far as their stake defence, receiving their unanimous "Kwaheris."
Outside the village the march promised to be less arduous than between
Imbiki and Msuwa. After crossing a beautiful little plain intersected
by a dry gully or mtoni, the route led by a few cultivated fields, where
the tillers greeted us with one grand unwinking stare, as if fascinated.
Soon after we met one of those sights common in part of the world, to
wit a chain slave-gang, bound east. The slaves did not appear to be
in any way down-hearted on the contrary, they seemed imbued with the
philosophic jollity of the jolly servant of Martin Chuzzlewit. Were it
not for their chains, it would have been difficult to discover master
from slave; the physiognomic traits were alike--the mild benignity with
which we were regarded was equally visible on all faces. The chains were
ponderous--they might have held elephants captive; but as the slaves
carried nothing but themselves, their weight could not have been
insupportable.
The jungle was scant on this march, and though in some places the packs
met with accidents, they were not such as seriously to retard progress.
By 10 A.M. we were in camp in the midst of an imposing view of green
sward and forest domed by a cloudless sky. We had again pitched our camp
in the wilderness, and, as is the custom of caravans, fired two shots to
warn any Washensi having grain to sell, that we were willing to trade.
Our next halting-place was Kisemo, distant but eleven miles from Msuwa,
a village situated in a populous district, having in its vicinity no
less than five other villages, each fortified by stakes and thorny
abattis, with as much fierce independence as if their petty lords were
so many Percys and Douglasses. Each topped a ridge, or a low hummock,
with an assumption of defiance of the cock-on-its-own-dunghill type.
Between these humble eminences and low ridges of land wind narrow vales
which are favored with the cultivation of matama and Indian corn. Behind
the village flows the Ungerengeri River, an impetuous stream during the
Masika season, capable of overflowing its steep banks, but in the dry
season it subsides into its proper status, which is that of a small
stream of very clear sweet water. Its course from Kisemo is south-west,
then easterly; it is the main feeder of the Kingani River.
The belles of Kisemo are noted for their vanity in brass wire, which is
wound in spiral rings round their wrists and ankles, and the varieties
of style which their hispid heads exhibit; while their poor lords,
obliged to be contented with dingy torn clouts and split ears, show what
wide sway Asmodeus holds over this terrestrial sphere--for it must have
been an unhappy time when the hard-besieged husbands finally gave
way before their spouses. Besides these brassy ornaments on their
extremities, and the various hair-dressing styles, the women of Kisemo
frequently wear lengthy necklaces, which run in rivers of colours down
their bodies.
A more comical picture is seldom presented than that of one of these
highly-dressed females engaged in the homely and necessary task of
grinding corn for herself and family. The grinding apparatus consists
of two portions: one, a thick pole of hard wood about six feet long,
answering for a pestle; the other, a capacious wooden mortar, three feet
in height.
While engaged in setting his tent, Shaw was obliged to move a small flat
stone, to drive a peg into the ground. The village chief, who saw him do
it, rushed up in a breathless fashion, and replaced the stone instantly,
then stood on it in an impressive manner, indicative of the great
importance attached to that stone and location. Bombay, seeing Shaw
standing in silent wonder at the act, volunteered to ask the chief what
was the matter. The Sheikh solemnly answered, with a finger pointing
downward, "Uganga!" Whereupon I implored him to let me see what was
under the stone. With a graciousness quite affecting he complied. My
curiosity was gratified with the sight of a small whittled stick, which
pinned fast to the ground an insect, the cause of a miscarriage to a
young female of the village.
During the afternoon, Uledi and Ferajji, who had been despatched after
the truant Khamisi, returned with him and all the missing articles.
Khamisi, soon after leaving the road and plunging into the jungle,
where he was mentally triumphing in his booty, was met by some of the
plundering Washensi, who are always on the qui vive for stragglers, and
unceremoniously taken to their village in the woods, and bound to a tree
preparatory, to being killed. Khamisi said that he asked them why they
tied him up, to which they answered, that they were about to kill him,
because he was a Mgwana, whom they were accustomed to kill as soon as
they were caught. But Uledi and Ferajji shortly after coming upon the
scene, both well armed, put an end to the debates upon Khamisi's fate,
by claiming him as an absconding pagazi from the Musungu's camp, as well
as all the articles he possessed at the time of capture. The robbers did
not dispute the claim for the pagazi, goats, tent, or any other
valuable found with him, but intimated that they deserved a reward for
apprehending him. The demand being considered just, a reward to the
extent of two doti and a fundo, or ten necklaces of beads, was given.
Khamisi, for his desertion and attempted robbery, could not be pardoned
without first suffering punishment. He had asked at Bagamoyo, before
enlisting in my service, an advance of $5 in money, and had received it,
and a load of Bubu beads, no heavier than a pagazis load, had been given
him to carry; he had, therefore, no excuse for desertion. Lest I should
overstep prudence, however, in punishing him, I convened a court of
eight pagazis and four soldiers to sit in judgment, and asked them
to give me their decision as to what should be done. Their unanimous
verdict was that he was guilty of a crime almost unknown among the
Wanyamwezi pagazis, and as it was likely to give bad repute to the
Wanyamwezi carriers, they therefore sentenced him to be flogged with the
"Great Master's" donkey whip, which was accordingly carried out, to poor
Khamisi's crying sorrow.
On the 12th the caravan reached Mussoudi, on the Ungerengeri river.
Happily for our patient donkeys this march was free from all the
annoying troubles of the jungle. Happily for ourselves also, for we had
no more the care of the packs and the anxiety about arriving at camp
before night. The packs once put firmly on the backs of our good
donkeys, they marched into camp--the road being excellent--without a
single displacement or cause for one impatient word, soon after leaving
Kisemo. A beautiful prospect, glorious in its wild nature, fragrant with
its numerous flowers and variety of sweetly-smelling shrubs, among which
I recognised the wild sage, the indigo plant, &c., terminated only
at the foot of Kira Peak and sister cones, which mark the boundaries
between Udoe and Ukami, yet distant twenty miles. Those distant
mountains formed a not unfit background to this magnificent picture
of open plain, forest patches, and sloping lawns--there was enough of
picturesqueness and sublimity in the blue mountains to render it one
complete whole. Suppose a Byron saw some of these scenes, he would be
inclined to poetize in this manner:
Morn dawns, and with it stern Udoe's hills, Dark Urrugum's rocks, and
Kira's peak, Robed half in mist, bedewed with various rills, Arrayed in
many a dun and purple streak.
When drawing near the valley of Ungerengeri, granite knobs and
protuberances of dazzling quartz showed their heads above the reddish
soil. Descending the ridge where these rocks were prominent, we found
ourselves in the sable loam deposit of the Ungerengeri, and in the midst
of teeming fields of sugar-cane and matama, Indian corn, muhogo,
and gardens of curry, egg, and cucumber plants. On the banks of the
Ungerengeri flourished the banana, and overtopping it by seventy feet
and more, shot up the stately mparamusi, the rival in beauty of the
Persian chenar and Abyssinian plane. Its trunk is straight and comely
enough for the mainmast of a first, class frigate, while its expanding
crown of leafage is distinguished from all others by its density and
vivid greenness. There were a score of varieties of the larger kind of
trees, whose far-extending branches embraced across the narrow but swift
river. The depressions of the valley and the immediate neighbourhood of
the river were choked with young forests of tiger-grass and stiff reeds.
Mussoudi is situated on a higher elevation than the average level of the
village, and consequently looks down upon its neighbours, which number a
hundred and more. It is the western extremity of Ukwere. On the western
bank of the Ungerengeri the territory of the Wakami commences. We had to
halt one day at Mussoudi because the poverty of the people prevented us
from procuring the needful amount of grain. The cause of this scantiness
in such a fertile and populous valley was, that the numerous caravans
which had preceded us had drawn heavily for their stores for the
upmarches.
On the 14th we crossed the Ungerengeri, which here flows southerly to
the southern extremity of the valley, where it bends easterly as far as
Kisemo. After crossing the river here, fordable at all times and only
twenty yards in breadth, we had another mile of the valley with its
excessively moist soil and rank growth of grass. It then ascended into
a higher elevation, and led through a forest of mparamusi, tamarind,
tamarisk, acacia, and the blooming mimosa. This ascent was continued for
two hours, when we stood upon the spine of the largest ridge, where we
could obtain free views of the wooded plain below and the distant ridges
of Kisemo, which we had but lately left. A descent of a few hundred feet
terminated in a deep but dry mtoni with a sandy bed, on the other side
of which we had to regain the elevation we had lost, and a similar
country opened into view until we found a newly-made boma with
well-built huts of grass rear a pool of water, which we at once occupied
as a halting-place for the night. The cart gave us considerable trouble;
not even our strongest donkey, though it carried with ease on its back
196 lbs., could draw the cart with a load of only 225 lbs. weight.
Early on the morning of the 15th we broke camp and started for Mikeseh.
By 8.30 A.M. we were ascending the southern face of the Kira Peak. When
we had gained the height of two hundred feet above the level of the
surrounding country, we were gratified with a magnificent view of a land
whose soil knows no Sabbath.
After travelling the spine of a ridge abutting against the southern
slope of Kira we again descended into the little valley of Kiwrima,
the first settlement we meet in Udoe, where there is always an abundant
supply of water. Two miles west of Kiwrima is Mikiseh.
On the 16th we reached Ulagalla after a few hours' march. Ulagalla is
the name of a district, or a portion of a district, lying between the
mountains of Uruguru, which bound it southerly, and the mountains of
Udoe, lying northerly and parallel with them, and but ten miles apart.
The principal part of the basin thus formed is called Ulagalla.
Muhalleh is the next settlement, and here we found ourselves in
the territory of the Waseguhha. On this march we were hemmed in by
mountains--on our left by those of Uruguru, on our right by those of
Udoe and Useguhha--a most agreeable and welcome change to us after
the long miles of monotonous level we had hitherto seen. When tired of
looking into the depths of the forest that still ran on either side
of the road, we had but to look up to the mountain's base, to note its
strange trees, its plants and vari-coloured flowers, we had but to raise
our heads to vary this pleasant occupation by observing the lengthy and
sinuous spine of the mountains, and mentally report upon their outline,
their spurs, their projections and ravines, their bulging rocks and deep
clefts, and, above all, the dark green woods clothing them from summit
to base. And when our attention was not required for the mundane task
of regarding the donkeys' packs, or the pace of the cautious-stepping
pagazis, it was gratifying to watch the vapours play about the mountain
summits--to see them fold into fleecy crowns and fantastic clusters,
dissolve, gather together into a pall that threatened rain, and sail
away again before the brightening sun.
At Muhalleh was the fourth caravan under Maganga with three more sick
men, who turned with eager eyes to myself, "the dispenser of medicine,"
as I approached. Salvos of small arms greeted me, and a present of rice
and ears of Indian corn for roasting were awaiting my acceptance; but,
as I told Maganga, I would have preferred to hear that his party were
eight or ten marches ahead. At this camp, also, we met Salim bin Rashid,
bound eastward, with a huge caravan carrying three hundred ivory tusks.
This good Arab, besides welcoming the new comer with a present of rice,
gave me news of Livingstone. He had met the old traveller at Ujiji, had
lived in the next but to him for two weeks, described him as looking
old, with long grey moustaches and beard, just recovered from severe
illness, looking very wan; when fully recovered Livingstone intended to
visit a country called Manyema by way of Marungu.
The valley of the Ungerengeri with Muhalleh exhibits wonderful
fertility. Its crops of matama were of the tallest, and its Indian
corn would rival the best crops ever seen in the Arkansas bottoms. The
numerous mountain-fed streams rendered the great depth of loam very
sloppy, in consequence of which several accidents occurred before we
reached the camp, such as wetting cloth, mildewing tea, watering sugar,
and rusting tools; but prompt attention to these necessary things saved
us from considerable loss.
There was a slight difference noticed in the demeanour and bearing of
the Waseguhha compared with the Wadoe, Wakami, and Wakwere heretofore
seen. There was none of that civility we had been until now pleased to
note: their express desire to barter was accompanied with insolent
hints that we ought to take their produce at their own prices. If
we remonstrated they became angry; retorting fiercely, impatient of
opposition, they flew into a passion, and were glib in threats. This
strange conduct, so opposite to that of the calm and gentle Wakwere,
may be excellently illustrated by comparing the manner of the hot-headed
Greek with that of the cool and collected German. Necessity compelled us
to purchase eatables of them, and, to the credit of the country and its
productions, be it said, their honey had the peculiar flavour of that of
famed Hymettus.
Following the latitudinal valley of the Ungerengeri, within two hours on
the following morning we passed close under the wall of the capital of
Useguhha--Simbamwenni. The first view of the walled town at the
western foot of the Uruguru mountains, with its fine valley abundantly
beautiful, watered by two rivers, and several pellucid streams of water
distilled by the dew and cloud-enriched heights around, was one that
we did not anticipate to meet in Eastern Africa. In Mazanderan, Persia,
such a scene would have answered our expectations, but here it was
totally unexpected. The town may contain a population of 3,000, having
about 1,000 houses; being so densely crowded, perhaps 5,000 would more
closely approximate. The houses in the town are eminently African, but
of the best type of construction. The fortifications are on an Arabic
Persic model--combining Arab neatness with Persian plan. Through a ride
of 950 miles in Persia I never met a town outside of the great cities
better fortified than Simbamwenni. In Persia the fortifications were
of mud, even those of Kasvin, Teheran, Ispahan, and Shiraz; those
of Simbamwenni are of stone, pierced with two rows of loopholes for
musketry. The area of the town is about half a square mile, its plan
being quadrangular. Well-built towers of stone guard each corner; four
gates, one facing each cardinal point, and set half way between the
several towers, permit ingress and egress for its inhabitants. The gates
are closed with solid square doors made of African teak, and carved
with the infinitesimally fine and complicated devices of the Arabs, from
which I suspect that the doors were made either at Zanzibar or on the
coast, and conveyed to Simbamwenni plank by plank; yet as there is much
communication between Bagamoyo and Simbamwenni, it is just possible that
native artisans are the authors of this ornate workmanship, as several
doors chiselled and carved in the same manner, though not quite so
elaborately, were visible in the largest houses. The palace of the
Sultan is after the style of those on the coast, with long sloping roof,
wide eaves, and veranda in front.
The Sultana is the eldest daughter of the famous Kisabengo, a name
infamous throughout the neighbouring countries of Udoe, Ukami, Ukwere,
Kingaru, Ukwenni, and Kiranga-Wanna, for his kidnapping propensities.
Kisabengo was another Theodore on a small scale. Sprung from humble
ancestry, he acquired distinction for his personal strength, his powers
of harangue, and his amusing and versatile address, by which he gained
great ascendency over fugitive slaves, and was chosen a leader among
them. Fleeing from justice, which awaited him at the hands of the
Zanzibar Sultan, he arrived in Ukami, which extended at that time from
Ukwere to Usagara, and here he commenced a career of conquest, the
result of which was the cession by the Wakami of an immense tract of
fertile country, in the valley of the Ungerengeri. On its most desirable
site, with the river flowing close under the walls, he built his
capital, and called it Simbamwenni, which means "The Lion," or the
strongest, City. In old age the successful robber and kidnapper
changed his name of Kisabengo, which had gained such a notoriety, to
Simbamwenni, after his town; and when dying, after desiring that his
eldest daughter should succeed him, he bestowed the name of the town
upon her also, which name of Simbamwenni the Sultana now retains and is
known by.
While crossing a rapid stream, which, as I said before flowed close
to the walls, the inhabitants of Simbamwenni had a fine chance of
gratifying their curiosity of seeing the "Great Musungu," whose several
caravans had preceded him, and who unpardonably, because unlicensed, had
spread a report of his great wealth and power. I was thus the object of
a universal stare. At one time on the banks there were considerably over
a thousand natives going through the several tenses and moods of the
verb "to stare," or exhibiting every phase of the substantive, viz.--the
stare peremptory, insolent, sly, cunning, modest, and casual. The
warriors of the Sultana, holding in one hand the spear, the bow, and
sheaf or musket, embraced with the other their respective friends, like
so many models of Nisus and Euryalus, Theseus and Pirithous, Damon and
Pythias, or Achilles and Patroclus, to whom they confidentially related
their divers opinions upon my dress and colour. The words "Musungu kuba"
had as much charm for these people as the music of the Pied Piper had
for the rats of Hamelin, since they served to draw from within the walls
across their stream so large a portion of the population; and when I
continued the journey to the Ungerengeri, distant four miles, I feared
that the Hamelin catastrophe might have to be repeated before I could
rid myself of them. But fortunately for my peace of mind, they finally
proved vincible under the hot sun, and the distance we had to go to
camp.
As we were obliged to overhaul the luggage, and repair saddles, as well
as to doctor a few of the animals, whose backs had by this time become
very sore, I determined to halt here two days. Provisions were very
plentiful also at Simbamwenni, though comparatively dear.
On the second day I was, for the first time, made aware that my
acclimatization in the ague-breeding swamps of Arkansas was powerless
against the mukunguru of East Africa. The premonitory symptoms of the
African type were felt in my system at 10 A.M. First, general lassitude
prevailed, with a disposition to drowsiness; secondly, came the spinal
ache which, commencing from the loins, ascended the vertebrae, and
extended around the ribs, until it reached the shoulders, where it
settled into a weary pain; thirdly came a chilliness over the whole
body, which was quickly followed by a heavy head, swimming eyes, and
throbbing temples, with vague vision, which distorted and transformed
all objects of sight. This lasted until 10 P.M., and the mukunguru left
me, much prostrated in strength.
The remedy, applied for three mornings in succession after the attack,
was such as my experience in Arkansas had taught me was the most
powerful corrective, viz., a quantum of fifteen grains of quinine,
taken in three doses of five grains each, every other hour from dawn to
meridian--the first dose to be taken immediately after the first effect
of the purging medicine taken at bedtime the night previous. I may add
that this treatment was perfectly successful in my case, and in all
others which occurred in my camp. After the mukunguru had declared
itself, there was no fear, with such a treatment of it, of a second
attack, until at least some days afterwards.
On the third day the camp was visited by the ambassadors of Her Highness
the Sultana of Simbamwenni, who came as her representatives to receive
the tribute which she regards herself as powerful enough to enforce. But
they, as well as Madame Simbamwenni, were informed, that as we knew it
was their custom to charge owners of caravans but one tribute, and as
they remembered the Musungu (Farquhar) had paid already, it was not fair
that I should have to pay again. The ambassadors replied with a "Ngema"
(very well), and promised to carry my answer back to their mistress.
Though it was by no means "very well" in fact, as it will be seen in
a subsequent chapter how the female Simbamwenni took advantage of an
adverse fortune which befell me to pay herself. With this I close the
chapter of incidents experienced during our transit across the maritime
region.