The third division of the country visited is a flat table-land extending
from the Ugogi “Dhun,” or valley, at the western base of the Wasagara
Mountains, in E. long. 36° 14′, to Tura, the eastern district of
Unyamwezi, in E. long. 33° 57′; occupying a diagonal breadth of 155
geographical rectilinear miles. The length from north to south is not so
easily estimated. The Wahumba and the Wataturu in the former, and the
Wahehe and Warori in the latter direction, are migratory tribes that
spurn a civilised frontier; according to the Arabs, however, the Wagogo
extend three long marches on an average to the north and four or five
southwards. This, assuming the march at 15 miles, would give a total of
120. The average of the heights observed is 3,650 feet, with a gradual
rise westwards to Jiwe la Mkoa, which attains an altitude of 4,200
feet(?).
The third region, situated to leeward of a range whose height compels
the south-east trades to part with their load of vapours, and distant
from the succession of inland seas, which, stationed near the centre of
the African continent, act as reservoirs to restore the balance of
humidity, is an arid, sterile land, a counterpart, in many places, of
the Kalahari and the Karroo, or South African desert-plains. The general
aspect is a glaring yellow flat, darkened by long growths of acrid,
saline, and succulent plants, thorny bush, and stunted trees, and the
colouring is monotonous in the extreme. It is sprinkled with isolated
dwarf cones bristling with rocks and boulders, from whose interstices
springs a thin forest of gums, thorns, and mimosas. The power of igneous
agency is displayed in protruding masses of granitic formation, which
rise from the dead level with little foundationary elevation; and the
masses of sandstone, superincumbent upon the primitive base in other
parts of the country, here disappear. On the north rises the long
tabular range of the Wahumba Hills, separated by a line of lower ground
from the plateau. Southwards, a plain, imperceptibly shelving, trends
towards the Rwaha River. There are no rivers in Ugogo: the periodical
rains are carried off by large nullahs, whose clay banks are split and
cut during the season of potent heat into polygonal figures like piles
of columnar basalt. On the sparkling nitrous salinas and the dull-yellow
or dun-coloured plains the mirage faintly resembles the effects of
refraction in desert Arabia. The roads are mere foot-tracks worn through
the fields and bushes. The kraals are small dirty circles enclosing a
calabash or other tree, against which goods are stacked. The boothies
are made of dried canes and stubble, surrounded by a most efficient
_chevaux de frise_ of thorn-boughs. At the end of the dry season they
are burnt down by inevitable accident. The want of wood prevents their
being made solidly, and for the same reason “bois de vache” is the usual
fuel of the country.
The formation of the subsoil is mostly sandstone bearing a ruddy sand.
The surface is in rare places a brown vegetable humus, extending but a
few inches in depth, or more generally a hard yellow-reddish ferruginous
clay covered with quartz nodules of many colours, and lumps of carbonate
of lime, or white and siliceous sand, rather resembling a well-metalled
road or an “untidy expanse of gravel-walk” than the rich moulds which
belong to the fertile African belt. In many parts are conical anthills
of pale red earth; in others ironstone crops out of the plain; and
everywhere fine and coarse grits abound. The land is in parts condemned
to perpetual drought, and nowhere is water either good or plentiful. It
is found in the serpentine beds of nullahs, and after rain in ziwa,
vleys, tanks, pools, or ponds, filled by a gentle gravitation, and
retained by a strong clay, in deep pits excavated by the people, or in
shallow holes “crowed” in the ground. The supplies of this necessary
divide the country into three great districts. On the east is Marenga
Mk’hali, a thick bush, where a few villages, avoided by travellers, are
scattered north and south of the road. The heart of the region is Ugogo,
the most populous and the best cultivated country, divided into a number
of small and carefully cultivated clearings by tracts of dense bush and
timberless woods, a wall of verdure during the rains, and in the hot
season a system of thorns and broomwork which serves merely to impede a
free circulation of the air. These seams of waste land appear strange in
a country populated of old; the Arabs, however, declare that the land is
more thinly inhabited than it used to be. Mgunda Mk’hali, the western
division, is a thin forest and a heap of brakey jungle. The few hills
are thickly clothed with vegetation, probably because they retain more
moisture than the plains.
The climate of Ugogo is markedly arid. During the transit of the
Expedition in September and October, the best water-colours faded and
hardened in their pans; India-rubber, especially the prepared article in
squares, became viscid, like half-dried birdlime; “Macintosh” was
sticking plaister, and the best vulcanized elastic-bands tore like brown
paper. During almost the whole year a violent east-wind sweeps from the
mountains. There are great changes in the temperature, whilst the
weather apparently remains the same, and alternate currents of hot and
cold air were observed. In the long summer the climate much resembles
that of Sindh; there are the same fiery suns playing upon the naked
surface with a painful dazzle, cool crisp nights, and clouds of dust.
The succulent vegetation is shrivelled up and carbonised by heat, and
the crackling covering of clayey earth and thin sand, whose particles
are unbound by dew or rain, rises in lofty whirling columns like
water-spouts when the north wind from the Wahumba Hills meets the gusts
of Usagara, which are soon heated to a furnace-breath by the glowing
surface. These “p’hepo” or “devils” scour the plain with the rapidity of
horsemen, and, charged with coarse grain and small pebbles, strike with
the violence of heavy hail. The siccity and repercussion of heat produce
an atmosphere of peculiar brilliancy in Ugogo: the milky haze of the
coast-climate is here unknown. The sowing season, at which time also
trees begin to bud and birds to breed, is about the period of the sun’s
greatest southern declination, and the diminution of temperature
displays in these regions the effects of the tepid winds and the warm
vernal showers of the European continent. There is no Vuli, and thus the
climate is unrefreshed by the copious tropical rains. About the middle
of November the country is visited by a few preliminary showers,
accompanied by a violent tramontana, and the vital principle which
appears extinct starts once more into sudden and excessive activity.
Towards the end of December the Masika, or rainy season, commences with
the wind shifting from the east to the north and north-east, blowing
steadily from the high grounds eastward and westward of the Nyanza Lake,
which have been saturated by heavy falls beginning in September. The
“winter” seldom exceeds the third month, and the downfall is desultory
and uncertain, causing frequent droughts and famine. For this reason the
land is much inferior in fertility to the other regions, and the cotton
and tobacco, which flourish from the coast to the Tanganyika Lake, are
deficient in Ugogo, whilst rice is supplanted by the rugged sorghum and
maize.
Arab and other travellers unaccustomed to the country at first suffer
from the climate, which must not, however, be condemned. They complain
of the tourbillons, the swarms of flies, and the violent changes from
burning heat to piercing cold, which is always experienced in that
region when the thermometer sinks below 60°-55° F. Their thin tents,
pitched under a ragged calabash, cannot mitigate the ardour of an
unclouded sun; the salt-bitter water, whose nitrous and saline deposits
sometimes tarnish a silver ring like the fumes of sulphur, affects their
health; whilst the appetite, stimulated by a purer atmosphere and the
coolness of the night air, is kept within due bounds only by deficiency
in the means of satisfying it. Those who have seen Africa further west,
are profuse in their praises of the climate on their return-march from
the interior. The mukunguru, or seasoning fever, however, rarely fails
to attack strangers. It is, like that of the second region, a violent
bilious attack, whose consequences are sleeplessness, debility, and
severe headaches: the hot fit compared with the algid stage is unusually
long and rigorous. In some districts the parexia is rarely followed by
the relieving perspiration; and when natural diaphoresis appears, it by
no means denotes the termination of the paroxysm. Other diseases are
rare, and the terrible ulcerations of K’hutu and Eastern Usagara are
almost unknown in Ugogo. There is little doubt that the land, if it
afforded good shelter, purified water, and regular diet, would be
eminently wholesome.
In the uninviting landscape a tufty, straggling grass, like living hay,
often raised on little mounds, with bald places between, thinly strewed
with bits of quartz and sandstone, replaces the tall luxuriant herbage
of the maritime plain, and the arboraceous and frutescent produce of the
mountains. The dryness of the climate, and the poverty of the soil, are
displayed in the larger vegetation. The only tree of considerable growth
is the calabash, and it is scattered over the country widely apart. A
variety of frankincense overspreads the ground; the bark is a deep
burnished bronze, whitened above with an incrustation, probably nitrous,
that resembles hoar-frost; and the long woody twigs are bleached by the
falling off of the outer integuments. The mukl or bdellium tree rises
like a dwarf calabash from a low copse. The Arabs declare this produce
of Ugogo (_Balsamodendron Africanum?_), to be of good quality. Rubbed
upon a stone and mixed with water it is applied with a pledget of cotton
to sluggish and purulent sores; and women use it for fumigation. The
Africans ignore its qualities, and the Baloch, though well acquainted
with the bdellium, gugal, or guggur, in their own country, did not
observe it in Ugogo. The succulent plants, cactus, aloe, and euphorbia,
will not burn; the air within them expands with heat, and the juices
gushing out extinguish the flame. Amongst various salsolæ, or saltworts,
the shrub called by the Arabs arak, the Capparis Sodata of Sindh and
Arabia, with its currant-like bunches of fruit, is conspicuous for its
evergreen verdure; the ragged and stunted mtungulu rains its apples upon
the ground; and the mbembu, in places sheltered from the sun, bears a
kind of medlar which is eagerly sought by the hungry traveller. The
euphorbiæ here rise to the height of 35 or 40 feet, and the hard woody
stem throws out a mass of naked arms, in the shape of a huge cap,
impervious to the midday sun.
Wild animals abound through these jungles, and the spoor lasts long upon
the crisp gravelly soil. In some districts they visit by night the
raised clay water-troughs of the cultivators. The elephant prefers the
thick jungle, where he can wallow in the pools and feed delicately upon
succulent roots and fruits, bark, and leaves. The rhinoceros loves the
dark clumps of trees, which guard him from the noonday sun, and whence
he can sally out all unexpected upon the assailant. The mbogo, or Bos
Caffer, driven from his favourite spots, low grassy plains bordering on
streams, wanders, like the giraffe, through the thinner forests. As in
Unyamwezi, the roar of the lion strikes the ear by night, and the cry of
the ostrich by day. The lion upon this line of Eastern Africa is often
heard, but rarely seen; on only two occasions its footprints appeared
upon the road. The king of beasts, according to the Arabs, is of
moderate stature: it seldom attains its maximum of strength, stature,
and courage, except in plain countries where game abounds, as in the
lands north of the Cape, or in hills and mountains, where cattle can be
lifted at discretion, as in Northern Africa. In Unyamwezi its spoils,
which are yellow, like those of the Arab lion, with a long mane, said to
hang over the eyes, and with a whitish tinge under the jaws, become the
property of the Sultan. The animal is more common in the high lands of
Karagwah than in the low countries; it has, however, attacked the mbogo,
or wild bull, and has destroyed cattle within sight of the Arabs at
Kazeh in Unyanyembe. The lion is rarely a man-eater; this peculiarity,
according to some writers, being confined to old beasts, whose worn
teeth are unfit for fight.
The “polygamous bird” was first observed on the Ugogo plateau; it
extends through Unyamwezi and Usukuma to Ujiji. The eggs are sold,
sometimes fresh, but more generally stale. Emptied and dried, they form
the principal circulating-medium between the Arab merchants and the
coffee-growing races near the Nyanza Lake, who cut them up and grind
them into ornamental disks and crescents. The young birds are caught,
but are rarely tamed. In Usukuma the bright and glossy feathers of the
old male are much esteemed for adorning the hair; yet, curious to say,
the bird is seldom hunted. Moreover, these East Africans have never
attempted to export the feathers, which, when white and uninjured, are
sold, even by the Somal, for 8 dollars per lb. The birds are at once
wild and stupid, timid and headstrong: their lengthened strides and
backward glances announce terror at the sight of man, and it is
impossible to stalk them in the open grounds, which they prefer. The
leopard and the cynhyæna, the koodoo and the different species of
antelope, are more frequently killed in these deserts than in any other
part of the line. Hog of reddish colour, and hares with rufous fur, are
sometimes started by caravans. The hyrax of the Somali country basks
upon the rocks and boulders, and the carapace of a small land-turtle,
called khasa, fastened to a branch, serves as a road-sign. The k’hwalu,
a small green parrot, with yellow shoulders, the upupa or hoopoe, a
great variety of fly-catchers, larks with jet-black heads and yellow
bodies, small bustards, hornbills, nightjars, muscicapæ, green pigeons,
sparrow-hawks, and small doves, are seen in every jungle. Near the
settlements the white-necked raven and the common chíl of India (Falco
cheela), attest the presence of man, as the monkey does the proximity of
water. The nest of the loxia swings to and fro in the fierce simoom; the
black Bataleur eagle of Somaliland, a splendid bird, towering shily in
the air, with his light under-plume gleaming like a silver plate, and
large vultures (condors?) flocking from afar, denote the position of a
dead or dying animal.
Until late years the Wagogo, being more numerous than they are now,
deterred travellers from traversing their country: in those early days
the road to Unyamwezi, running along the left or northern bank of the
Rwaha, through the Warori tribe, struck off near Usanga and Usenga. It
is related, when the first caravan, led by Jumah Mfumbi, the late Diwan
of Saadani, entered Ugogo, that the people, penetrated with admiration
of his corpulence, after many experiments to find out whether it was
real or not, determined that he was and must be the Deity. Moreover,
after coming to this satisfactory conclusion, they resolved that, being
the Deity, he could improve their country by heavy rains; and when he
protested against both these resolutions, they proposed to put him to
death. A succession of opportune showers, however, released him. By
degrees the ever-increasing insolence and violence of the Warori drove
travellers to this northern line, and the Wagogo learned to see
strangers without displaying this Lybian mania for sacrificing them.
Three main roads, leading from Western Usagara westward, cross the
Desert of Marenga Mk’hali. The most northern is called Yá Nyiká--of the
wilderness--a misnomer, if the assertion of the guides be correct that
it is well watered, and peopled by the subjects of eight sultans. The
central line, described in the preceding pages, is called, from its
middle station, Marenga Mk’hali: it is invariably preferred when water
is scarce. The southern road is termed Nyá Ngáhá, a continuation of the
Kiringwana route, previously alluded to: it has provisions, but the
people cause much trouble.
The superiority of climate, and probably the absence of that luxuriant
vegetation which distinguishes the eastern region, have proved
favourable to the physical development of the races living in and about
Ugogo. The Wagogo, and their northern neighbours the Wahumba, are at
once distinguishable from the wretched population of the alluvial
valleys, and of the mountains of Usagara; though living in lower
altitudes, they are a fairer race--and therefore show better blood--than
the Wanyamwezi. These two tribes, whose distinctness is established by
difference of dialect, will be described in order.
The Wagogo extend from the landward base of Usagara in direct distance
to Mdáburu a five days’ march: on the north they are bounded by the
Watáturu, on the south by the Wabena tribes; the breadth of their
country is computed at about eight stages. In the north, however, they
are mingled with the Wahumba, in the south-east with the Wahehe, and in
the south with the Warori.
The Wagogo display the variety of complexion usually seen amongst
slave-purchasing races: many of them are fair as Abyssinians; some are
black as negroes. In the eastern and northern settlements they are a
fine, stout, and light-complexioned race. Their main peculiarity is the
smallness of the cranium compared with the broad circumference of the
face at and below the zygomata: seen from behind the appearance is that
of a small half-bowl fitted upon one of considerably larger bias; and
this, with the widely-extended ears, gives a remarkable expression to
the face. Nowhere in Eastern Africa is the lobe so distended. Pieces of
cane an inch or two in length, and nearly double the girth of a man’s
finger, are so disposed that they appear like handles to the owner’s
head. The distinctive mark of the tribe is the absence of the two lower
incisors; but they are more generally recognised by the unnatural
enlargement of their ears--in Eastern Africa the “aures perforatæ” are
the signs, not of slavery, but of freedom. There is no regular tattoo,
though some of the women have two parallel lines running from below the
bosom down the abdomen, and the men often extract only a single lower
incisor. The hair is sometimes shaved clean, at others grown in
mop-shape--more generally it is dressed in a mass of tresses, as amongst
the Egyptians, and the skin, as well as the large bunch of corkscrews,
freely stained with ochre and micaceous earths, drips with ghee, the
pride of rank and beauty. The Wagogo are not an uncomely race: some of
the younger women might even lay claim to prettiness. The upper part of
the face is often fine, but the lips are ever thick, and the mouth
coarse; similarly the body is well formed to the haunches, but the lean
calf is placed peculiarly high up the leg. The expression of the
countenance, even in the women, is wild and angry; and the round eyes
are often reddened and bleared by drink. The voice is strong, strident,
and commanding.
Their superiority of clothing gives the Wagogo, when compared with the
Wasagara or the Wanyamwezi, an aspect of civilisation; a skin garment is
here as rare as a cotton farther west. Even the children are generally
clad. The attire of the men is usually some Arab check or dyed Indian
cotton: many also wear sandals of single hide. Married women are clothed
in “cloths with names,” when wealthy, and in domestics when poor. The
dress of the maidens under puberty is the languti of Hindostan, a kind
of T-bandage, with the front ends depending to the knees; it is
supported by a single or double string of the large blue glass-beads
called Sungomaji. A piece of coarse cotton cloth two yards long, and a
few inches broad, is fastened to the girdle behind, and passing under
the fork, is drawn tightly through the waistbelt in front; from the zone
the lappet hangs mid-down to the shins, and when the wearer is in rapid
motion it has a most peculiar appearance. The ornaments of both sexes
are kitindi, and bracelets and anklets of thick iron and brass-wires,
necklaces of brass chains, disks and armlets of fine ivory, the
principal source of their wealth, and bands of hide-strip with long
hair, bound round the wrists, above the elbows, and below the knees:
they value only the highest priced beads, coral and pink porcelains. As
usual the males appear armed. Some import from Unyamwezi and the
westward regions the long double-edged knife called sime, a “serviceable
dudgeon” used in combat or in peaceful avocations, like the
snick-an-snee of the ancient Dutch. Shields are unknown. The bow is
long: the handle and the horns are often adorned with plates of tin and
zinc, and the string is whipped round the extremities for strength. The
spear resembles that used by the Wanyamwezi in the elephant-hunt: it is
about four feet long, and the head is connected with a stout wooden
handle by an iron neck measuring half the length of the weapon. In
eastern Ugogo, where the Masai are near, the Wagogo have adopted their
huge shovel-headed spears and daggers, like those of the Somal. It is
the fashion for men to appear in public with the peculiar bill-hook used
in Usagara; and in the fields the women work with the large hoe of
Unyamwezi.
The villages of the Wagogo are square Tembe, low and mean-looking for
want of timber. The outer walls are thin poles, planted in the ground
and puddled with mud. The huts, partitioned off like ships’ bunks, are
exceedingly dirty, being shared by the domestic animals, dogs, and
goats. They are scantily furnished with a small stool, a cot of cow’s
hide stretched to a small framework, a mortar for grain, and sundry
gourds and bark corn-bins. About sunset all the population retires, and
the doors are carefully barricaded for fear of the plundering Wahumba.
At night it is dangerous to approach the villages.
The language of Ugogo is harsher than the dialects spoken by their
eastern and western neighbours. In the eastern parts the people
understand the Masai tongue. Many can converse fluently in the
Kisawahili, or coast-tongue. The people, however, despise all strangers
except the Warori and the Wahumba, and distinguish the Wanyamwezi by the
name of Wakonongo, which they also apply to travellers in general.
Within the memory of man one Kafuke, of Unyamwezi, a great merchant, and
a Mtongi or caravan leader, when traversing Ugogo with some thousands of
followers, became involved in a quarrel about paying for water. After
fifteen days of skirmishing, the leader was slain and the party was
dispersed. The effect on both tribes has lasted to the present day.
After the death of Kafuke no rain fell for some years--a phenomenon
attributed by the Wagogo to his powers of magic; and the land was almost
depopulated. The Wanyamwezi, on the other hand, have never from that
time crossed the country without fear and trembling. In the many wars
between the two tribes the Wagogo have generally proved themselves the
better men. This superiority has induced a brawling and bullying manner.
They call themselves Wáná Wádege, or sons of birds--that is to say,
semper parati. The Wanyamwezi studiously avoid offending them; and the
porters will obey the command of a boy rather than risk an encounter.
“He is a Mgogo,” said before the Bobadil’s face, makes him feel himself
forty times a man; yet he will fly in terror before one of the Warori or
the Wahumba.
The strength of the Wagogo lies in their comparative numbers. As the
people seldom travel to the coast, their scattered villages are full of
fighting men. Moreover, Uchawi or black magic here numbers few
believers, consequently those drones of the social hive, the Waganga, or
medicine-men, are not numerous. The Wagogo seldom sell their children
and relations, yet there is no order against the practice. They barter
for slaves their salt and ivory, the principal produce of the country.
No caravan ever passes through the country without investing capital in
the salt-bitter substance which is gathered in flakes efflorescing; from
the dried mud upon the surface of the Mbuga, or swampy hollows; the best
and the cheapest is found in the district of Kanyenye. It is washed to
clear it of dirt, boiled till it crystallises, spread upon clean and
smoothed ground, and moulded with the hands into rude cones about half a
foot in length, which are bought at the rate of 7-10 for a Shukkah, and
are sold at a high premium after a few days’ march. Ugogo supplies
western Usagara and the eastern regions of Unyamwezi with this article.
It is, however, far inferior to the produce of the Rusugi pits, in
Uvinza, which, on account of its “sweetness,” finds its way throughout
the centre of Africa. Elephants are numerous in the country: every
forest is filled with deep traps, and during droughthy seasons many are
found dead in the jungle. The country is divided into districts; the
tusks become the property of the Sultan within whose boundaries the
animal falls, and the meat is divided amongst his subjects. Ivory is
given in barter for slaves: this practice assures to caravans a hold
upon the people, who, having an active commerce with the coast, cannot
afford to be shut out from it. The Wagogo are so greedy of serviles that
every gang leaves among them some of its live stock--the principal want
of the listless and indolent cultivator. The wild captives bought in the
interior, wayworn and fond of change, are persuaded by a word to desert;
they take the first opportunity of slipping away from their masters,
generally stealing a weapon and a little cloth or rations for immediate
use. Their new masters send them off the road lest they should be
recognised and claimed: after a time a large hoe is placed in their
hands, and the fools feel, when too late, that they have exchanged an
easy for a hard life. The Wagogo sell their fellow tribe-men only when
convicted of magic; though sometimes parents, when in distress, part
with their children. The same is the case amongst their northern
neighbours, the Wamasai, the Wahumba, and the Wakwafi, who, however, are
rarely in the market, and who, when there, though remarkable for
strength and intelligence, are little prized, in consequence of their
obstinate and untameable characters;--many of them would rather die
under the stick than level themselves with women by using a hoe.
The Wagogo are celebrated as thieves who will, like the Wahehe, rob even
during the day. They are importunate beggars, who specify their long
list of wants without stint or shame; their principal demand is tobacco,
which does not grow in the land; and they resemble the Somal, who never
sight a stranger without stretching out the hand for “Bori.” The men are
idle and debauched, spending their days in unbroken crapulence and
drunkenness, whilst the girls and women hoe the fields, and the boys
tend the flocks and herds. They mix honey with their pombe, or beer, and
each man provides entertainment for his neighbours in turn. After midday
it would be difficult throughout the country to find a chief without the
thick voice, fiery eyes, and moidered manners, which prove that he is
either drinking or drunk.
The Arabs declaim against the Wagogo as a “curst,” ill-conditioned and
boisterous, a violent and extortionate race. They have certainly no idea
of manners: they flock into a stranger’s tent, squat before him, staring
till their curiosity is satisfied, and unmercifully quizzing his
peculiarities. Upon the road a mob of both sexes will press and follow a
caravan for miles. The women, carrying their babes in leopard-skins
bound behind the back, and with unveiled bosoms, stand or run, fiercely
shouting with the excitement of delight, and the girls laugh and deride
the stranger as impudently as boys would in more modest lands. Yet, as
has been said, this curiosity argues to a certain extent improvability;
the most degraded tribes are too apathetic to be roused by strange
sights. Moreover, the Wagogo are not deficient in rude hospitality. A
stranger is always greeted with the “Yambo” salutation. He is not driven
from their doors, as amongst the Wazaramo and Wasagara; and he is
readily taken into brotherhood. The host places the stool for his
guests, seating himself on the ground: he prepares a meal of milk and
porridge, and on parting presents, if he can afford it, a goat or a cow.
The African “Fundi” or “Fattori” of caravans are rarely sober in Ugogo.
The women are well disposed towards strangers of fair complexion,
apparently with the permission of their husbands. According to the
Arabs, the husband of the daughter is also _de jure_ the lover of her
mother.
The Sultan amongst the Wagogo is called Mtemi, a high title. He
exercises great authority, and is held in such esteem by his people,
that a stranger daring to possess the same name would be liable to
chastisement. The ministers, who are generally brothers or
blood-relations, are known as Wázágíra (in the singular Mzágírá), and
the councillors, who are the elders and the honourables of the tribe,
take the Kinyamwezi title “Wányápárá.”
The necessaries of life are dear in Ugogo. The people will rarely barter
their sheep, goats, and cows for plain white or blue cottons, and even
in exchange for milk they demand coral, pink, or blue glass beads. A
moderate sized caravan will expend from six to ten shukkah per diem. The
Wanyamwezi travelling-parties live by their old iron hoes, for which
grain is returned by the people, who hold the metal in request.
The Wahumba, by some called Wahumpa, is one of the terrible pastoral
nations “beyond the rivers of Æthiopia.” To judge from their dialect
they are, like the Wakwafi, a tribe or a subtribe of the great Masai
race, who speak a language partly South-African and partly
Semitico-African, like that of the Somal. The habitat of the Wahumba
extends from the north of Usagara to the eastern shores of the Nyanza or
Ukerewe Lake; it has been remarked that a branch of the Mukondokwa River
rises in their mountains. The blue highlands occupied by this pastoral
race, clearly visible, on the right hand, to the traveller passing from
Ugogo westwards, show where the ancient route from Pangani-town used to
fall into the main trunk-road of Unyamwezi. Having but little ivory,
they are seldom visited by travellers: their country, however, was
explored some years ago by an Arab merchant, Hamid bin Salim, for the
purpose of buying asses. He set out from Tura, in eastern Unyamwezi,
and, traversing the country of the wild Watatúru, arrived on the eighth
day at the frontier district I´ramba, where there is a river which
separates the tribes. He was received with civility; but none have since
followed his example.
The Wahumba are a fair and comely race, with the appearance of
mountaineers, long-legged, and lightly made. They have repeatedly
ravaged the lands of Usagara and Ugogo: in the latter country, near
Usek’he, there are several settlements of this people, who have
exchanged the hide-tent for the hut, and the skin for the cotton-cloth.
They stain their garments with ochreish earth, and their women are
distinguished by wearing Kitindi of full and half-size above and below
the elbows. The ear lobes are pierced and distended by both sexes, as
amongst the Wagogo. In their own land they are purely pastoral; they
grow no grain, despise vegetable food, and subsist entirely upon meat or
milk according to the season. Their habitations are hemispheres of
boughs lashed together and roofed with a cow’s hide; it is the primitive
dwelling-place, and the legs of the occupant protrude beyond the
shelter. Their arms, which are ever hung up close at hand, are
broad-headed spears of soft iron, long “Sine,” or double-edged daggers,
with ribbed wooden handles fastened to the blade by a strip of cow’s
tail shrunk on, and “Rungu,” or wooden knob-kerries, with double bulges
that weight the weapon as it whirls through the air. They ignore and
apparently despise the bow and arrows, but in battle they carry the
Pavoise, or large hide-shield, affected by the Kafirs of the Cape. The
Arabs, when in force, do not fear their attacks.
The Wahumba, like their congeners the Wakwafi, bandage the infant’s leg
from ankle to knee, and the ligature is not removed till the child can
stand upright. Its object is to prevent the development of the calf,
which, according to their physiology, diminishes the speed and endurance
of the runner. The specimens of Wahumba seen in different parts of Ugogo
showed the soleus and gastrocnemeius muscles remarkably shrunken, and
the projection of the leg rising close below the knee.
[Illustration: VIEW IN UNYAMWEZI.]
[Illustration: Ladies’ Smoking Party.]