Chapter IV.

First Sight of the Victoria N'yanza--Its Physical

Geography--Speculations on its Being the Source of the Nile--Sport on

the Lake--Sultans Machunda and Mahaya--Missionary Accounts of the

Geography--Arab Accounts--Regrets at Inability to Complete the

Discovery--The March Resumed--History of the

Watuta--Hippopotamus-hunting--Adventures--Kahama.

August 3d.--The caravan, after quitting Isamiro, began winding up a

long but gradually inclined hill--which, as it bears no native name, I

shall call Somerset--until it reached its summit, when the vast

expanse of the pale-blue waters of the N'yanza burst suddenly upon my

gaze. It was early morning. The distant sea-line of the north horizon

was defined in the calm atmosphere between the north and west points

of the compass; but even this did not afford me any idea of the

breadth of the lake, as an archipelago of islands (_vide_ Map, Bengal

Archipelago), each consisting of a single hill, rising to a height of

200 or 300 feet above the water, intersected the line of vision to the

left; while on the right the western horn of the Ukéréwé Island cut

off any farther view of its distant waters to the eastward of north. A

sheet of water--an elbow of the sea, however, at the base of the low

range on which I stood--extended far away to the eastward, to where,

in the dim distance, a hummock-like elevation of the mainland marked

what I understood to be the south and east angle of the lake. The

important islands of Ukéréwé and Mzita, distant about twenty or thirty

miles, formed the visible north shore of this firth. The name of the

former of these islands was familiar to us as that by which this

long-sought lake was usually known. It is reported by the natives to

be of no great extent; and though of no considerable elevation, I

could discover several spurs stretching down to the water's edge from

its central ridge of hills. The other island, Mzita, is of greater

elevation, of a hog-backed shape, but being more distant, its physical

features were not so distinctly visible.

In consequence of the northern islands of the Bengal Archipelago

before mentioned obstructing the view, the western shore of the lake

could not be defined: a series of low hill-tops extended in this

direction as far as the eye could reach; while below me, at no great

distance, was the debouchure of the creek, which enters the lake from

the south, and along the banks of which my last three days' journey

had led me. This view was one which, even in a well-known and explored

country, would have arrested the traveller by its peaceful beauty. The

islands, each swelling in a gentle slope to a rounded summit, clothed

with wood between the rugged angular closely-cropping rocks of

granite, seemed mirrored in the calm surface of the lake; on which I

here and there detected a small black speck, the tiny canoe of some

Muanza fisherman. On the gently shelving plain below me, blue smoke

curled above the trees, which here and there partially concealed

villages and hamlets, their brown thatched roofs contrasting with the

emerald green of the beautiful milk-bush, the coral branches of which

cluster in such profusion round the cottages, and form alleys and

hedgerows about the villages as ornamental as any garden shrub in

England. But the pleasure of the mere view vanished in the presence of

those more intense and exciting emotions which are called up by the

consideration of the commercial and geographical importance of the

prospect before me.

I no longer felt any doubt that the lake at my feet gave birth to that

interesting river, the source of which has been the subject of so much

speculation, and the object of so many explorers. The Arabs' tale was

proved to the letter. This is a far more extensive lake than the

Tanganyika; "so broad you could not see across it, and so long that

nobody knew its length."[58] I had now the pleasure of perceiving that

a map I had constructed on Arab testimony, and sent home to the Royal

Geographical Society before leaving Unyanyembé, was so substantially

correct that in its general outlines I had nothing whatever to alter.

Further, as I drew that map after proving their first statements about

the Tanganyika, which were made before my going there, I have every

reason to feel confident of their veracity relative to their travels

north through Karagué, and to Kibuga in Uganda.

When Sheikh Snay told us of the Ukéréwé, as he called the N'yanza, on

our first arrival at Kazé, proceeding westward from Zanzibar, he said,

"If you have come only to see a large bit of water, you had better go

northwards and see the Ukéréwé; for it is much greater in every

respect than the Tanganyika;" and so, as far as I can ascertain, it

is. Muanza, our journey's end, now lay at our feet. It is an open,

well-cultivated plain on the southern end, and lies almost flush with

the lake; a happy, secluded-looking corner, containing every natural

facility to make life pleasant. After descending the hill, we followed

along the borders of the lake, and at first entered Mahaya's Palace,

when the absence of boats arousing my suspicions, made me inquire

where the Arabs, on coming to Muanza, and wishing to visit Ukéréwé,

usually resided. This, I heard, was some way farther on; so with great

difficulty I persuaded the porters to come away and proceed at once to

where they said an Arab was actually living. It was a singular

coincidence that, after Sheikh Snay's caution as to my avoiding Sultan

Mahaya's Palace, by inquiring diligently about him yesterday, and

finding no one who knew his name, the first person I should have

encountered was himself, and that, too, in his own Palace. The reason

of this was, that big men in this country, to keep up their dignity,

have several names, and thus mystify the traveller.

I then proceeded along the shore of the lake in an easterly direction,

and on the way shot a number of red Egyptian geese, which were very

numerous; they are the same sort here as I once saw in the Somali

country. Another goose, which unfortunately I could not kill, is very

different from any I ever saw or heard of: it stands as high as the

Canadian bird, or higher, and is black all over, saving one little

white patch beneath the lower mandible. It was fortunate that I came

on here, for the Arab in question, called Mansur bin Salim, treated me

very kindly, and he had retainers belonging to the country, who knew

as much about the lake as anybody, and were of very great assistance.

I also found a good station for making observations on the lake. It

was Mansur who first informed me of my mistake of the morning; but he

said that the evil reports spread at Unyanyembé about Mahaya had no

foundation; on the contrary, he had found him a very excellent and

obliging person.

To-day we marched eight miles, and have concluded our journey

northwards, a total distance of 226 miles from Kazé, which, occupying

twenty-five days, is at the rate of nine miles per diem, halts

inclusive.

4th.--Early in the morning I took a walk of three miles easterly along

the shore of the lake, and, ascending a small hill (which, to

distinguish it, I have called Observatory Hill), took compass bearings

of all the principal features of the lake. Mansur and a native, the

greatest traveller of the place, kindly accompanied me, and gave me

every obtainable information. This man had traversed the island, as he

called it, of Ukéréwé from north to south. But by his rough mode of

describing it, I am rather inclined to think that instead of its being

an actual island, it is a connected tongue of land, stretching

southwards from a promontory lying at right angles to the eastern

shore of the lake, which, being a wash, affords a passage to the

mainland during the fine season, but during the wet becomes submerged,

and thus makes Ukéréwé temporarily an island.

If this conjecture be true, Mzita must be similarly circumstanced.

Cattle, he says, can cross over from the mainland at all seasons of

the year, by swimming from one elevation of the promontory to another;

but the Warudi, who live upon the eastern shore of the lake, and bring

their ivory for sale to Ukéréwé, usually employ boats for the transit.

A sultan called Machunda lives at the southern extremity of the

Ukéréwé, and has dealings in ivory with all the Arabs who go there.

One Arab at this time was stopping there, and had sent his men

coasting along this said promontory to deal with the natives on the

mainland, as he could not obtain enough ivory on the island itself.

Considering how near the eastern shore of the lake is to Zanzibar, it

appears surprising that it can pay men to carry ivory all the way

round by Unyanyembé. But the Masai, and especially those tribes who

live near to the lake, are so hostile to travellers, that the risk of

going there is considered too great to be profitable, though all Arabs

concur in stating that a surprising quantity of ivory is to be

obtained there at a very cheap rate.

The little hill alluded to as marking the south-east angle of the

lake, I again saw; but so indistinctly, though the atmosphere was very

clear, that I imagined it to be at least forty miles distant. It is

due east of my station on Observatory Hill. I further draw my

conclusions from the fact, that all the hills on the country are much

about the same height--two or three hundred feet above the basial

surface of the land; and I could only see the top of the hill like a

hazy brown spot, contrasted in relief against the clear blue sky.

Indeed, had my attention not been drawn to it, I should probably have

overlooked it, and have thought there was only a sea horizon before

me. On facing to the W.N.W., I could only see a sea horizon; and on

inquiring how far back the land lay, was assured that, beyond the

island of Ukéréwé, there was an equal expanse of it east and west, and

that it would be more than double the distance of the little hill

before alluded to, or from eighty to one hundred miles in breadth.[59]

On my inquiring about the lake's length, the man faced to the north,

and began nodding his head to it; at the same time he kept throwing

forward his right hand, and, making repeated snaps of his fingers,

endeavoured to indicate something immeasurable; and added, that nobody

knew, but he thought it probably extended to the end of the world. To

the east of the Observatory, a six hours' journey, probably fourteen

or fifteen miles, the village of Sukuma is situated, and there canoes

are obtainable for crossing to Ukéréwé, which island being six hours'

paddling, and lying due north of it, must give the firth a breadth of

about fifteen miles.

Whilst walking back to camp, I shot two red geese and a florikan, like

those I once shot in the Somali country. This must have been a dainty

dish for my half-starved Arab companion, who had lost all his property

on first arriving here, and was now living on Mahaya's generosity. It

appears that nine months ago he was enabled, by the assistance of

Mahaya, to hire some boats and men at Sukuma, and had sent his

property, consisting of fifteen loads of cloth and 250 jembis or hoes,

by them to Ukéréwé, to exchange for ivory. But by the advice of

Mahaya, and fearing to trust himself as a stranger amongst the

islanders, he did not accompany his merchandise. Sultan Machunda, a

man of the highest character by Unyanyembé report, on seeing such a

prize enter his port, gave orders for its seizure, and will now give

no redress to the unfortunate Mansur. All Mahaya's exertions to

recover it have proved abortive: and Mansur has therefore been

desirous of taking his revenge by making an attack in person on

Ukéréwé, but the "generous" Mahaya said, "No; your life is yet safe,

do not risk it; but let my men do what they can, and in the meanwhile,

as I have been a party to your losses, I will feed you and your

people; and if I do not succeed in the end, you shall be my guest

until I can amass sufficient property to reimburse your losses."

Mansur has all this time been living, like the slaves of the country,

on jowari porridge, which is made by grinding the seed into flour and

boiling it in water until it forms a good thick paste, when master and

man sit round the earthen pot it is boiled in, pick out lumps, and

suck it off their fingers. It was a delicious sight yesterday, on

coming through Muanza, to see the great deference paid to the sick

Beluch, Shadad, mistaken for the great Arab merchant (Mundewa), my

humble self, in consequence of his riding my donkey, and to perceive

the stoical manner in which he treated their attentions; but, more

fortunate than I usually have been, he escaped the rude peeping and

peering of the crowd, for he did not, like his employer, wear "double

eyes" (spectacles).

During the last five or six marches, the word Marabu (Arab), instead

of Mzungu (European), has usually been applied to me; and no one, I am

sure, would have discovered the difference, were it not that the

tiresome pagazis, to increase their own dignity and importance,

generally gave the clue by singing the song of "the White Man." The

Arabs at Unyanyembé had advised my donning their habit for the trip,

in order to attract less attention: a vain precaution, which I believe

they suggested more to gratify their own vanity by seeing an

Englishman lower himself to their position, than for any benefit that

I might receive by doing so. At any rate, I was more comfortable and

better off in my flannel shirt, long togs, and wide-awake, than I

should have been, both mentally and physically, had I degraded myself,

and adopted their hot, long, and particularly uncomfortable gown.

Sultan Mahaya sent a messenger to say that he was hurt at the cavalier

manner in which I treated him yesterday; and, to show his wounded

feelings, gave an order to his subjects that no man should supply me

with provisions, or render me any assistance during my sojourn at

Muanza. Luckily my larder was well supplied with game, or I should

have had to go supperless to bed, for no inducement would prevail on

the people to sell anything to me after the mandate had been

proclaimed. This morning, however, we settled the difference, in the

most amicable manner, thus: previous to my departure for Observatory

Hill, I sent the Jemadar, the Kirangozi, and a large deputation of the

Beluches and pagazis, to explain away the reason of my having left his

house so rudely, and to tender apologies, which were accompanied, as

an earnest of good-will, with a large hongo, consisting of one

barsati, one dhoti merikani, and one gora kiniki, as also an

intimation that I would pay him a visit the next day. This pleased him

excessively; it was considered a visit of itself; and he returned the

usual bullock, with a notification that I must remain where I was, to

enable him to return the compliment I had paid him, for he intended

walking out to see me on the morrow.

5th.--As my time was getting short, I forestalled Mahaya in his

intentions, and changed ground to the Palace, a rural-looking little

place, perched on a small rocky promontory, shrouded by green trees,

facing the N.W. side of the lake. Mahaya received me with great

courtesy, arranged a hut comfortably, and presented a number of eggs

and fresh milk, as he had heard that I was partial to such fare. He is

a man of more than ordinary stature, a giant in miniature, with

massive and muscular but well-proportioned limbs: he must number fifty

years or more. His dress was the ordinary barsati; his arms were set

off by heavy brass and copper ornaments encircling the wrists, and by

numberless sambo, or thin circles made from the twisted fibres of an

aloetic plant, on each of which a single infi, or white porcelain bead

resembling a little piece of tobacco-pipe, was strung; these ranged in

massive rows down the whole of his upper arm. Just above his

elbow-joints sat a pair of large ivory rings. On his forehead two

small goat or deer horns were fastened by thin talismanic ornaments of

thong for keeping off the evil eye; and, finally, his neck was adorned

with two strings of very coarse blue beads. Mahaya has the fame of

being the best and most just sultan in these quarters, and his benign

square countenance, lit up with a pleasing expression when in

conversation, confirms this opinion, though a casual observer passing

by that dark, broad, massive face, still more darkened by a matting of

short, close, and tightly-curled-up ringlets, would be apt to carry

away a contrary impression.[60]

Before leaving Kazé I notified my intention of visiting Ukéréwé,

supposing I could do so in three or four days, and explained to my men

my wishes on this point. Hearing this, they told both Mahaya and

Mansur, in direct terms, that I was going, and so needlessly set them

to work finessing to show how much they were in earnest in their

consideration of me. However, they have both been very warm in

dissuading me from visiting Ukéréwé, apparently quite in a parental

way, for each seems to think himself in a measure my guardian. Mahaya

thinks it his duty to caution those who visit him from running into

danger, which a journey to Ukéréwé, he considers, would be. Mansur, on

the other hand, says, as I have come from his Sultan Majid, he also is

bound to render me any assistance in his power; but strongly advises

my giving up the notion of going across the water. I could get boats

from Sukuma, he said, but there would be great delay in the business,

as I should have first to send over and ask permission from Machunda

to land, and then the collecting men and boats would occupy a long

time.

As regards the collection of boats taking a long time, these arguments

are very fair, as I know from experience; but the only danger would

consist in the circumstance of the two sultans being at enmity with

each other, as in this land any one coming direct from an enemy's

country is suspected and treated as an enemy. This difficulty I should

have avoided by going straight to Sukuma (where the boats, I am

inclined to think, usually do start from, though all concur in stating

that this is their point of departure), and there obtaining boats

direct. However, I told them that I should have gone if I had found

boats ready at once to take me across; but now I saw the probability

of so much delay, that I could not afford to waste time in trying to

obtain boats, which, had I succeeded in getting, I should have

employed my time not in going to Ukéréwé, but to the more elevated and

friendly island of Mzita, this being a more suitable observatory than

the former. These negroes' manoeuvres are quite incomprehensible. If

Mahaya had desired to fleece me--and one can hardly give a despotic

negro credit for anything short of that--he surely would have tried to

detain me under false hopes, and have thus necessitated my spending

cloths in his village; while, on the contrary, he lost all chance of

gaining anything by giving advice which induced me to leave him at

once, never to return again to see him.

At my request, Mahaya assembled all his principal men, and we went

into a discussion about the lake; but not a soul knew anything about

its northern extremity, although people had sometimes travelled in

canoes, coasting along its shores by the Karagué district to as far, I

believe, as the Line.[61] His wife, a pretty crummy little creature of

the Wanyoro tribe, came farther from the north than anybody present,

and gave me the names of many districts in the Uganda country, which,

she says, lies along the seashore. She had never heard of there being

any end to the lake, and supposed, if any way of going round it did

exist, she would certainly have known it. It is well known that there

is no communication between the east and west shores of the lake,

excepting by a few occasional canoe-parties coasting along the

southern end, because the waters are so very broad they dare not

venture.[62] That there can be no high mountain-range intersecting the

N'yanza from the watercourses which we hear of north of the equator,

as some people have supposed, is evident from the numerous accounts

given of the kingdom of Uganda being so flat and marshy from the

equator to 2° or 3° north latitude; whilst I must have seen any, did

they exist, on the south side of the equator, being only 150 miles

from it when standing on its southern shore. Now, judging from all the

information given us by the several Egyptian expeditions and

missionaries sent up the Nile, who came across small hills in 4½°

north latitude and 32° east longitude, which are intersected by the

Nile in the same way that the East Coast Range is intersected by the

interior plateau rivers (Lufiji and Kingani), as we saw on our passage

inwards from Zanzibar; and further, by the Arabs telling us that all

the country on the same meridian, from the Line up to the second

parallel north latitude, is flat and full of watercourses; and then

again, by knowing the respective heights of the N'yanza on the one

side, being nearly 4000 feet, and the Nile's bed in latitude 5° N., or

beyond the small hills alluded to, being under 2000 feet--it would

indeed be a marvel if this lake is not the fountain of the Nile.[63]

The reason why those expeditions sent up the Nile have failed in

discovering the N'yanza, is clearly attributable to the important

rapids which must exist in consequence of this great variation of

altitude between the north end of the N'yanza (which, let us suppose,

is on the equator) and the position, in 4° 44' north latitude, at

which the expeditions and missions arrived, the rise of the river

being 2000 feet in 300 miles.

Indeed, by all accounts of the country lying between the N'yanza, as

seen by the Arabs in Uganda, and let us say Gondokoro, a mission

station on the Nile, in north latitude 4° 44', which was occupied by

two Austrian missionaries, Knoblecher and Dooyak, we find it is

somewhat analogous to what we observed between the low Mrima or

maritime plain in front of Zanzibar, and the high interior plateau,

divided from one another by the East Coast Range, which is of granitic

formation, the same in its nature exactly as those which they

describe, and intersected by rivers so rapid and boisterous that no

canoes can live upon them; as, for instance, we found the Kingani and

Lufiji rivers were when passing over the East Coast Range. There the

land dropped from 2000 or more feet to less than 300 in the short

distance of 100 miles.

I will now proceed to give, first, the missionary account in 4° 44'

N., and then the Arab one in 2° N.--a debatable bit of ground,

extending over 2° 44', or 160 English miles. Talking of the

missionaries, "these two men," says Dr Petermann, "kept an annual

hygrometrical and meteorological register with great precision and

scientific regularity.[64] They had various instruments with them;

they fixed their station, Gondokoro, at 4° 44' north latitude by

astronomical observations, and determined the altitude of the Nile's

bed to be only 1605 feet above the sea, by numerous good barometrical

observations.... Gondokoro is surrounded on three sides by small

granitic hills, ranging about 2000 feet high, which are intersected by

the Nile coming from the south, as the king of the Bari country says,

from 200 to 300 miles;" which is equivalent to saying from the

N'yanza, as it lies exactly on the place he directs us to.

As the Arabs do not keep thermometers, scientific instruments, or

properly distributed months and seasons, I must say for them that from

2° to 6° south latitude we found the mean temperature in the hottest

month, August, to be only 80°; that Uganda must be quite 4000 feet

above the sea, to be higher than the lake which it borders; that the

rainy season is during our winter months, but most so in the spring;

and that the rivers, as we see by the Malagarazi, increase more after

than before that date; that as the movement of the rains tends from

the southward to the northward, advancing with the sun, the same

influence that swells the Malagarazi would also affect the Uganda

rivers, as they rise merely on opposite sides of the axis of the same

mountains. The Arabs say, as we also have found it, "that thunder

accompanies nearly all the storms, and the lightning there is

excessive, and so destructive that the King of Uganda expresses the

greatest dread of it--indeed his own palace has been often destroyed

by lightning. The Kitangulé and Katonga rivers are affected by the

rainy season in the same proportion as the Malagarazi, and flow

north-easterly towards the lake.[65] There the Kivira (island) river

(Nile) of which they bring information, flows somewhere to the

northward, and is not a slow sluggish stream like the other two, but

is rapid and boisterous, showing that the country drops to the

northward." Now here, in 3° north latitude, where this river is said

to flow with such great rapidity, I think will be found the southern

base-line of those small hills, 2000 feet high, lying to the south of

Gondokoro, as the missionaries describe them; though these hills, to

any one looking at them from the northern side, where the land is low,

might appear a barrier to the waters of the lake lying beyond them.

This idea would not occur to any one standing on the southern side,

where the land is nearly, if not quite, as high as these hills

themselves. Indeed, from the levels given, the two countries about

Kibuga[66] (Palace of Uganda) and Gondokoro may be described as two

landings, with the fall between them representing a staircase formed

by the hills in question. The country in latitudes 2° and 5° north is

therefore terraced like a hanging garden.[67]

The N'yanza, as we now see, is a large expansive sheet of water, flush

with the basial surface of the country, and lies between the Mountains

of the Moon (on its western side), having, according to Dr Krapf,

snowy Kænia on its eastern flank. Krapf tells us of a large river

flowing down from the western side of this snowy peak, and trending

away to the north-west in a direction, as will be seen by the map,

leading right into my lake. Now, returning again to the western side,

we find that the N'yanza is plentifully supplied by those streams

coming from the Lunæ Montes, of which the Arabs, one and all, give

such consistent and concise accounts; and the flowings of which, being

north-easterly, must, in course of time and distance, commingle with

those north-westerly off-flowings, before mentioned, of Mount Kænia.

My impression is, after hearing everybody's story on the matter, that

these streams enter at opposite sides of the lake, on the northern

side of the equator, and are consequently very considerable feeders to

it. To help at once in the argument that the N'yanza exists as a large

sheet of water to the north of the equator, I will anticipate a story

recorded in my diary, by adverting to it before its order of

succession. On the return to Unyanyembé, a native of Msalala told me

that he had once travelled up the western shore of the N'yanza to the

district of Kitara, or Uddu-Uganda, where, he says, coffee grows, and

which place, by fair computation of the distances given as their

travelling rates, I believe to be in about 1° north lat. To the east

of this land, at no great distance from the shore, he described the

island of Kitiri as occupied by a tribe called Watiri, who also grow

coffee; and there the sea was of such great extent, and when winds

blew was so boisterous, that the canoes, although as large as the

Tanganyika ones (which he had also seen), did not trust themselves

upon it.

The lake has the credit of being very deep, which I cannot believe. It

certainly presents the appearance of the temporary deposit of a vast

flood overspreading a large flat surface, rather than the usual

characteristics of a lake or inland sea lying in a deep hollow, or

shut in, like the Tanganyika, by mountains.[68] The islands about it

are low hill-tops, standing out like paps on the soft placid bosom of

the waters, and are precisely similar to those amongst which I have

been travelling; indeed, any part of the country inundated to the same

extent would wear the same aspect.

Its water appears, perhaps owing to the disturbing influence of the

wind, of a dirty-white colour, but it is very good and sweet, though

not so pleasant to my taste as the very clear Tanganyika water. The

natives, however, who have wonderfully keen palates for detecting the

relative distinctions in such matters, differ from me, and affirm that

all the inhabitants prefer it to any other, and consequently never dig

wells on the margin of the lake; whereas the Tanganyika water is

invariably shunned, nobody ever drinking it unless from necessity; not

so much because they consider it to be unwholesome, as because it does

not quench or satisfy the thirst so well as spring-water. Whether this

peculiarity in the qualities of the waters is to be attributed to the

N'yanza lying on a foundation chiefly composed of iron, or whether the

one lake is drained by a river, whilst the other is not, I must leave

for other and superior talents to decide.

Fish and crocodiles are said to be very abundant in the lake; but with

all my endeavours to obtain some specimens, I have succeeded in seeing

only two sorts--one similar to those taken at Ujiji, of a perch-like

form, and another very small, resembling our common minnow, but not

found in the Ujiji market. The quantity of mosquitoes on the borders

of the lake is perfectly marvellous; the grass, bushes, and everything

growing there, are literally covered with them. As I walked along its

shores, disturbing the vegetation, they rose in clouds, and kept

tapping, in dozens at a time, against my hands and face, in the most

disagreeable manner. Unlike the Indian mosquito, they are of a light

dun-brown colour. The Muanza dogs are the largest that I have yet seen

in Africa, and still are not more than twenty inches high; but Mahaya

says the Ukéréwé dog is a fine animal, and quite different from any on

the mainland. There are very few canoes about here, and those are of

miserable construction, and only fitted for the purpose they turn them

to--catching fish close to the shore. The paddle the fishermen use is

a sort of mongrel between a spade and a shovel. The fact of there

being no boats of any size here, must be attributed to the want of

material for constructing them. On the route from Kazé there are no

trees of any girth, save the calabash, the wood of which is too soft

for boat-building. I hear that the island of Ukéréwé has two sultans

besides Machunda, and that it is very fertile and populous. Mahaya

says, "All the tribes, from the Wasukuma (or Northern Wanyamuézi,

Sukuma meaning the north), along the south and east of the lake, are

so savage and inhospitable to travellers, that it would be impossible

to go amongst them unless accompanied by a large and expensive

escort."

6th.--As no further information about the lake could be gained, I bade

Mahaya and the Sheikh adieu, leaving as a token of recollection one

shukka merikani for the former, one dhoti kiniki for his wife, and a

fundo of beads for the poor Arab, and retraced my steps by a double

march back to Ukumbi. Whilst passing alongside the archipelago, I shot

two geese and a crested crane. What a pity it seemed I could not pluck

the fruit almost within my grasp! Had I had but a little more time,

and a few loads of beads, I could with ease have crossed the Line, and

settled every question which we had come all this distance to

ascertain. Indeed, to perform that work, nobody could have started

under more advantageous circumstances than were then within my

power--all hands being in first-rate condition and health, and all in

the right temper for it. But now a new and expensive expedition must

be formed, for the capabilities of the country on the eastern flank of

the Mountains of the Moon, and along the western shores of the

N'yanza, are so notoriously great that it is worthy of serious

attention. My reluctance to return may be easier imagined than

described. I felt as much tantalised as the unhappy Tantalus must have

been when unsuccessful in his bobbings for cherries in the

cherry-orchard, and as much grieved as any mother would be at losing

her first-born, and resolved and planned forthwith to do everything

that lay in my power to visit the lake again.

7th.--We made a march of fourteen miles, passing our second station in

Urima by two miles, partly to avoid the chief of that village, a

testy, rude, and disagreeable man, who, on the last occasion,

inhospitably tried to turn us out of a hut in his village, because we

would not submit to his impudent demand of a cloth for the

accommodation--a proceeding quite at variance with anything we had met

in our former receptions; and we resisted the imposition with a

pertinacity equal to his own. Besides this, by coming on the little

extra distance, we arrived at the best and cheapest place for

purchasing cows and jembies.

8th.--Halt. I purchased two jembies for one shukka merikani, but could

not come to any terms with these grasping savages about their cows,

although their country teems with them, and they are sold at

wonderfully cheap prices to ordinary traders. They would not sell to

me unless I gave double value for them. The fauna of this country is

most disappointing. Nearly all the animals that exist here are also to

be found in the south of Africa, where they range in far greater

numbers. But then we must remember that a caravan route usually takes

the more fertile and populous tracks, and that many animals might be

found in the recesses of the forests not far off, although there are

so few on the line. The elephants are finer here than in any part of

the world, and have been known to carry tusks exceeding 500 lb. the

pair in weight. The principal wild animals besides these are the lion,

leopard, hyena, fox, pig, Cape buffalo, gnu, kudu, hartebeest, pallah,

steinboc, and the little madoka, or Saltiana gazelle. The giraffe,

zebra, rhinoceros, and hippopotamus are all common. The game-birds are

the bustard, florikan, guinea-fowl, partridge, quail, snipe, various

geese and ducks, and a very dark-coloured rock-pigeon or sand-grouse.

The birds in general have very tame plumage, and are much more scarce,

generally speaking, than one finds in most other countries.

The traveller on entering these agricultural districts meets with a

treatment quite opposite to what he does from the pastoral tribes,

such, for instance, as the Somali, Gallas, Masai, &c. &c. Here they at

once hail his advent as a matter of good omen, or the precursor of

good fortune, and allow him to do and see whatever he likes. They

desire his settling amongst them, appreciate the benefits of commerce

and civilisation, and are not suspicious, like the plundering

pastorals, of every one coming with evil intentions towards them. The

Somali, about as bad a lot as any amongst the rovers, will not admit a

stranger into their country, unless accompanied by one of their tribe,

who becomes answerable for the traveller's actions, and even with this

passport he is watched with the eyes of Argus. Every strange act

committed by him, no matter how simple, absurd, or trifling, is at

once debated about in council, and always ends to Viator's

disadvantage.

They add to everything they see or hear, by conjuring up the most

ridiculous phantoms; and the more ridiculous they are, the more firmly

do they at last believe in them themselves. The worse their grounds

are, the more jealously do they guard against anybody's seeing them;

and woe betide any one who should frequent any particular spot too

often: he is at once set down as designing a plot against it, to

fortify the place and take it from them; this idea is their greatest

bugbear. Among that tribe blood shed by any means--by the stealthy

knife or in fair fight--is deemed meritorious and an act of heroism.

No one is ever sure of his life unless he has force to carry him

through, or can rely on the chief of the clan as his pillar of safety.

This latter plan is probably the safer one, for, as the old adage

goes, "There is honour amongst thieves;" so with these savages it is a

matter of importance to their honour and dignity, according to their

quaint notions of rectitude, to protect their trust to their utmost;

whereas, on the contrary, were that trust not reposed in them, they

would feel justified in taking any liberties, or act in opposition to

any of those general laws which guide the conduct of civilised men.

I would not, however, desire the African agricultural people to be

considered models of perfection. Individually, or in small bodies, the

mass of them are very far from being so, for they would commit any

excesses without the slightest feelings of compunction. The fear of

retribution alone keeps their hands from blood and plunder. The chiefs

and principal men, if they have no higher motives, keep their

different tribes in order, and do not molest travellers without good

cause, or from provocation, as they know that protecting the traveller

is the only way in which they can keep up that connection with the

commerce of the coast which they all so much covet. It may be worthy

of remark that I have always found the lighter-coloured savages more

boisterous and warlike than those of a dingier hue. The ruddy black,

fleshy-looking Wazaramo and Wagogo are much lighter in colour than any

of the other tribes, and certainly have a far superior, more manly and

warlike independent spirit and bearing than any of the others.[69]

9th.--We started early, and crossed the Jordans by a ferry at a place

lower down than on the first occasion. After leaving the low land, we

rose up to the higher ground where we had first gained a sight of the

N'yanza's waters, and now took our final view. To myself the parting

with it was a matter of great regret; but I believe I was the sole

sufferer from disappointment in being obliged to go south, when all my

thoughts or cares were in the north. But this feeling was much

alleviated by seeing the happy, contented, family state to which the

whole caravan had at length arrived. Going home has the same

attraction with these black people that it has with schoolboys. The

Beluches have long since behaved to admiration, and now even the lazy

pagazis, since completing their traffic, have lighter hearts, and

begin to feel a freshness dawn upon them. We soon entered our old

village in Néra, having completed fourteen miles. Here the chief, who

had travelled up the western shore of the N'yanza, assured me that

canoes like the Tanganyika ones were used by the natives, and were

made from large trees which grew on the mountain-slopes overlooking

the lake. The disagreeable-mannered Wasukuma (or north men) are now

left behind; their mode of articulation is most painful to the

civilised ear. Each word uttered seems to begin with a T'hu or T'ha,

producing a sound like that of spitting sharply at an offensive

object. Any stranger with his back turned would fancy himself insulted

by the speaker.

The country throughout is well stocked with cattle, and bullocks are

cheap, two dhotis, equal to four dollars, being the price of a

moderate-sized animal; but milch cows are dear, in consequence of the

great demand for sour curd. Sheep and goats sell according to their

skills; a large one is preferred to a shukka, equal to one dollar; but

a dhoti, the proper price of three small goats, is scarcely the value

of the largest. The bane of this people is their covetousness. They do

not object to sell cheaply to a poor man, yet they hang back at the

sight of much cloth, and price their stock, not at its value, but at

what they want, or think they may get, obstinately abiding by their

decision to the last. Cattle are driven from this to Unyanyembé, and

consequently must be cheaper here than in those more southern parts:

still I could not purchase them so well; indeed, a traveller can never

expect to buy at a reasonable rate in a land where every man is a

sultan, and his hut a castle--where no laws regulate the market, and

every proprietor is grasping. Bombay suggests that to buy cattle cheap

from the Washenzi (savages), you should give them plenty of time to

consider the advantages and disadvantages of the transaction, for

their minds are not capable of arriving at a rapid conclusion; but

friend Bombay forgets that, whilst waiting to beat them down a cloth

or two, four or five are consumed by the caravan in waiting. The

women, especially the younger ones, are miserably clad here; a fringe,

like the thong kilt of the Nubian maidens, made of aloe fibres, with a

single white bead at the end of each string, is the general wear; it

is suspended by a strap tied round the waist. Hanging over the belly,

it covers about a foot of _ground_ in breadth, but not more than seven

or eight inches in depth. The fibrous strings, white by nature, soon

turn black, and look like India-rubber, the effect of butter first

rubbed in, and then of constant friction on the grimy person. The

dangling, waving motion of this strange appendage, as the wearer moves

along, reminded me of the common fly-puzzler sometimes attached to

horses' head-stalls. Amongst a crowd of fifty or sixty people, not

more than two or three have a cloth of native make, and rarely one of

foreign manufacture is to be seen. Some women have stood before me in

the very primitive costume of a bunch of leafy twigs.

But far worse clad than these are the Wataturu, a tribe living to the

eastward, and the Watuta, living to the westward of this place,

besides the Warori and others.

Of the first mentioned, the Wataturu, a people living a little to the

northward of Turu, I have only seen a few males, and they were stark

naked. The Wataturu despise any one who is weak enough to cover his

person, considering that he does so only to conceal his natural

imperfections. Their women are currently reported to be as naked as

the men, but I did not see any of them, and cannot vouch for it.

The Watuta, on the other hand, require a special notice, because they

are the naked Zulu Kafirs whose peculiar costume, if such it may be

called, has caused so much risibility at the Cape of Good Hope. In the

very first instance, I am inclined to believe these Watuta were

Cushites, who migrated from the shores of the Caspian Sea, across

Arabia and the Red Sea, to Abyssinia. There, mixing with the negro

aborigines, they became in process of time woolly-headed. Later still,

they broke off from the parent stock, lost their original name, and

took instead that of Masai. By some unaccountable means they then

separated from the Masai and migrated south to the Cape of Good Hope;

here they appear to have changed their name to Kafir, from which a

branch of the tribe were called Zulu Kafirs. These Zulu Kafirs

becoming restless, after a time migrated again to the west of the

Nyassa, and there settled with their flocks and herds, devastating the

Babisa's country. From thence again they have been migrating in

detachments north, up the east side of the Tanganyika Lake. Whilst

doing so they came at Fipa on the Wapoka, another offshoot of the

Cushite-Abyssinians, who, crossing the Nile, took the name of Wahuma,

and have spread as far down south as Fipa, where their name, in course

of time, had changed from Wahuma to Watusi, and from Watusi to Wapoka,

in the same way as the Watuta had changed their name from Masai to

Kafir and Zulu Kafir, and again from that to Watuta. Now, these Watuta

are still pushing northwards, fighting, plundering, and conquering

wherever they go. They have knocked the Watusi out of the southern

hills of Urundi, overlooking the Tanganyika Lake, and have spread to

the southern limits of Usui, devastating the countries _en route_, in

the same way as they have done on the west of the Nyassa. Strange as

it may appear, neither these Watuta nor the Watusi know anything of

their common origin. They are very different in physical form and

appearance from one another; for, whilst the Watusi _alias_ Wahuma

retain their Abyssinian type, the Watuta _alias_ Zulu Kafirs are much

more like the Somali and Masai--thus, I think, showing that the Wahuma

have detached themselves at a later period than the Kafirs from the

parent stock. The Wahuma are certainly the finer-looking people of the

two, but the Watuta are rougher in nature. Both, however, are strictly

pastoral, though the Wahuma in the equatorial regions affect to

maintain large kingdoms.[70]

It is to be hoped that India, when once aroused to the advantages of

dealing more extensively with this country, will never lose sight of

the fact that the negro as well as more enlightened man can detect the

difference between good and poor stuffs; that the nation which makes

the strongest stuffs will be considered to be the honestest; and the

more lasting the material, the more readily it will be taken. In

sending cloths great care should be taken that every piece be of the

same length, and always evenly divisible by cubits, or eighteen-inch

measure. If the Lion and the Unicorn, figuring on the outside of each

piece--Thân or Gora, as it is called respectively in India and

Africa--were security of its being English manufacture, and, by being

so, sure to be of uniform quality and size, much respect would be

given to it; and "Shukka Anglési" (English shukka) would soon take the

place of "merikani," which are by different mills, and of different

lengths and qualities. The only reason for the negro taking a large

goat-skin in preference to a shukka, is because it is stronger.

On coming here I had the misfortune to make my donkey over to Bombay,

to save his foot, which had been galled by too constant walking; for

though unable to ride, he was too proud to say nay, and was therefore

placed upon it, carrying the gun consigned to his charge, Captain

Burton's smooth elephant. Now Bombay rode much after the fashion of a

sailor, trusting more to balance and good-luck than skill in sticking

on; and the consequence was, that with the first side-step the donkey

made he came to the ground an awkward cropper, falling heavily on the

small of the stock of the gun, which snapped short off, the piece

being thus irredeemably damaged. At first I rated him heartily, for

this was the second of Captain Burton's guns which had been damaged in

my hands. I then told Bombay of the circumstances which led to the

accident to the first gun. It occurred whilst hippopotamus-shooting on

the coast rivers opposite to Zanzibar; and as Bombay had a little

experience in that way to relate, we had long yarns about such sport,

which served to improve our Hindustani (the language I always

conversed with him in), as well as to divert our useless yet

unavoidable feelings of regret at the accident, and also killed time.

One day, when on the Tanga river near its mouth, I was busily engaged

teasing hippopotami, with one man, a polesman, in a very small canoe,

just capable of carrying what it had on board, myself in the bows,

with my 4-bore Blissett in hand, while Captain Burton's monster

elephant-gun, a double-barrelled 6-bore, weighing, I believe, 20 lb.,

was lying at the stern in the poler's charge.

The river was a tidal one, of no great breadth, and the margin was

covered by a thick growth of the mangrove shrub, on the boughs of

which the sharp-edged shells of the tree-oyster stuck in strings and

clusters in great numbers. The best time to catch the hippopotamus is

when the tide is out and the banks are bared, for then you find him

wallowing in the mud or basking on the sand (when there is any), like

jungle-hog, and with a well-directed shot on the ear, or anywhere

about the brain-pan, you have a good chance of securing him. I

especially mention this, as it is quite labour in vain, in places

where the water is deep, to fire at these animals, unless you can kill

them outright, as they dive under like a water-rat, and are never seen

more if they are only wounded. I, like most raw hands at this

particular kind of sport, began in a very different way from what, I

think, a more experienced hunter would have done, by chasing them in

the water, and firing at their heads whenever they appeared above it;

and even fired slugs about their eyes and ears, in hopes that I might

irritate them sufficiently to make them charge the canoe. This teasing

proved pretty successful; for when the tide had run clean out, only

pools and reaches, connecting by shallow runnels the volume of the

natural stream, remained for the hippopotami to sport about in; and my

manoeuvring in these confined places became so irritating, that a

large female came rapidly under water to the stern of the canoe, and

gave it such a sudden and violent cant with her head or withers, that

that end of the vessel shot up in the air, and sent me sprawling on my

back, with my legs forced up by the seat--a bar of wood--at right

angles to my body; whilst the poler and the big double gun were driven

like a pair of shuttlecocks, flying right and left of the canoe high

up into the air.

The gun on one side fell plump into the middle of the stream, and the

man on the other dropped, _post_ first, on to the hippopotamus's back,

but rapidly scrambled back into the canoe. The hippopotamus then, as

is these animals' wont, renewed the attack, but I was ready to receive

her, and as she came rolling porpoise-fashion close by the side of the

canoe, I fired a quarter of a pound of lead, backed by four drams of

powder, into the middle of her back, the muzzle of the rifle almost

touching it. She then sank, and I never saw her more; but the gun

(after lying on the sandy bottom the whole of that night), I managed,

by the aid of several divers, to find on the following day.

Bombay says that on one occasion, when coming down the Pangani river

in a canoe with several other men, an irritated hippopotamus charged

and upset it, upon which he and all his friends dived under water and

then swam to the shore, leaving the hippopotamus to vent his rage on

the shell of the canoe, which he most spitefully stuck to. This, he

assures me, is the proper way to dodge a hippopotamus, and escape the

danger of a bite from him. On another occasion, when I was

hippopotamus-hunting in one of the boats of the Artemise, in an inlet

of the sea close to Kaolé, I chased a herd of hippopotami in deep

water, till one of the lot, coming as usual from below, drove a tusk

clean through the boat with such force that he partially hoisted her

out of the water; but the brute did no further damage, for I kept him

off by making the men splash their oars rapidly whilst making for the

shore, where we just arrived in time to save ourselves from sinking.

The day previous to this adventure, I bagged a fine young male

hippopotamus close to this spot, by hitting him on the ear when

standing in shallow water. The ivory of these animals is more prized

than that of the elephant, and, in consequence of the superior

hardness of its enamel, it is in great requisition with the dentist.

Hippopotami are found all down this coast in very great numbers, but

especially in the deltas of the rivers, or up the streams themselves,

and afford an easy, remunerative, and pleasant sport to any man who is

not addicted to much hard exercise. The Panjani, Kingani, and Lufiji

rivers are full of them, as well as all the other minor feeders to the

sea along that coast. If these animals happen to be killed in places

so far distant from the sea that the tidal waters have not power to

draw them out to the ocean depths, their bodies will be found, when

inflated with gas, after decomposition, floating on the surface of the

water a day or two afterwards, and can easily be secured by the

sportsman, if he be vigilant enough to take them before the hungry

watchful savages come and secure them, to appease their rapacious

appetites. Mussulmans will even eat these amphibious creatures without

cutting their throats, looking on them as cold-blooded animals,

created in the same manner as fish.

The following day, 10th August, we made a halt to try our fortune

again in purchasing cows, but failed as usual; so the following

morning we decamped at dawn, and marched thirteen miles to our

original station in Southern Néra. Here I purchased four goats for one

dhoti merikani, the best bargain I ever made. Thunder had rumbled, and

clouds overcast the skies for two days; and this day a delicious

cooling shower fell. The people said it was the little rains--_chota

barsât_, as we call it in India--expected yearly at this time, as the

precursor of the later great falls.

As Seedi Bombay was very inquisitive to-day about the origin of

Seedis, his caste, and as he wished to know by what law of nature I

accounted for their cruel destiny in being the slaves of all men, I

related the history of Noah, and the dispersion of his sons on the

face of the globe; and showed him that he was of the black or Hametic

stock, and by the common order of nature, they, being the weakest, had

to succumb to their superiors, the Japhetic and Semitic branches of

the family; and, moreover, they were likely to remain so subject until

such time as the state of man, soaring far above the beast, would be

imbued by a better sense of sympathy and good feeling, and would then

leave all such ungenerous appliances of superior force to the brute.

Bombay, on being made a Mussulman by his Arab master, had received a

very different explanation of the degradation of his race, and

narrated his story as follows:--"The Arabs say that Mahomet, whilst on

the road from Medina to Mecca, one day happened to see a widow woman

sitting before her house, and asked her how she and her three sons

were; upon which the troubled woman (for she had concealed one of her

sons on seeing Mahomet's approach, lest he, as is customary when there

are three males of a family present, should seize one and make him do

porterage), said, 'Very well; but I've only two sons.' Mahomet,

hearing this, said to the woman, reprovingly, 'Woman, thou liest; thou

hast three sons and for trying to conceal this matter from me,

henceforth remember that this is my decree--that the two boys which

thou hast not concealed shall multiply and prosper, have fair faces,

become wealthy, and reign lords over all the earth; but the progeny of

your third son shall, in consequence of your having concealed him,

produce Seedis as black as darkness, who will be sold in the market

like cattle, and remain in perpetual servitude to the descendants of

the other two."

12th.--We returned to our former quarters, the village of Salawé; but

I did not enjoy such repose as on the former visit, for the people

were in their cups, and, _nolens volens_, persisted in entering my

hut. Sometimes I rose and drove them out, at other times I turned

round and feigned to sleep; but these manoeuvres were of no avail;

still they poured in, and one old man, more impudent than the rest,

understanding the trick, seized my pillow by the end, and, tugging at

it as a dog pulls at a quarter of horse, roused me with loud impatient

"Whu-hu" and "Hi, hi's," until at last, out of patience, I sent my

boots whirling at his head. This cleared the room, but only for a

moment: the boisterous, impudent crowd, true to savage nature,

enjoying the annoyance they had occasioned, returned exultingly, with

shouts and grins, in double numbers.

The Beluches then interfered, and, in their zeal to keep order,

irritated some drunkards, who at once became pugnacious. On seeing the

excited state of these drunkards, bawling and stepping about in long,

sudden, and rapid strides, with brandished spears and agitated bows,

endeavouring to exasperate the rest of the mob against us, I rose, and

going out before them, said that I came forth for their satisfaction,

and that they might now stand and gaze as long as they liked; but I

hoped, as soon as their legs and arms were tired, that they would

depart in peace. The words acted with magical effect upon them; they

urgently requested me to retire again, but finding that I did not,

they took themselves homewards. The sultan arrived late in the

evening, he said from a long distance, on purpose to see me, and was

very importunate in his desire for my halting a day. As I had paid all

the other sultans the compliment of a visit, he should consider it a

slight if I did not stay a little while with him. On the occasion of

my passing northwards he had been absent, and could not entertain me;

so I must now accept a bullock, which he would send for on the morrow.

A long debate ensued, which ended by my giving him one shukka merikani

and one dhoti kiniki.

13th.--Travelling through the Nindo Wilderness to-day, the Beluches

were very much excited at the quantity of game they saw; but though

they tried their best, they did not succeed in killing any. Troops of

zebras, and giraffe, some varieties of antelopes roaming about in

large herds, a buffalo and one ostrich, were the chief visible tenants

of this wild. We saw the fresh prints of a very large elephant; and I

have no doubt that by any sportsman, if he had but leisure to learn

their haunts and watering-places, a good account might be made of

them--but one and all are wild in the extreme. Ostrich-feathers bedeck

the frizzly polls of many men and women, but no one has ever heard of

any having been killed or snared by huntsmen. These ornaments, as well

as the many skulls and skins seen in every house, are said to be found

lying about in places where the animals have died a natural death.

14th.--We left, as we did yesterday, an hour before dawn, and crossed

the second broad wilderness to Kahama. At 9 A.M. I called the usual

halt to eat my rural breakfast of cold fowl, sour curd, cakes, and

eggs, in a village on the south border of the desert. As the houses

were devoid of all household commodities, I asked the people stopping

there to tend the fields to explain the reason, and learnt that their

fear of the plundering Wamanda was such that they only came there

during the day to look after their crops, and at night they retired to

some distant place of safe retreat in the jungles, where they stored

all their goods and chattels. These people, in time of war, thus

putting everything useful out of the way of the forager's prying eyes,

it is very seldom that blood is spilt. This country being full of

sweet springs, accounts for the denseness of the population and

numberless herds of cattle. To look upon its resources, one is struck

with amazement at the waste of the world: if instead of this district

being in the hands of its present owners, it were ruled by a few

scores of Europeans, what an entire revolution a few years would bring

forth! An extensive market would be opened to the world, the present

nakedness of the land would have a covering, and industry and commerce

would clear the way for civilisation and enlightenment.

At present the natural inert laziness and ignorance of the people is

their own and their country's bane. They are all totally unaware of

the treasures at their feet. This dreadful sloth is in part engendered

by the excessive bounty of the land in its natural state; by the

little want of clothes or other luxuries, in consequence of the

congenial temperature; and from the people having no higher object in

view than the first-coming meal, and no other stimulus to exertion by

example or anything else. The great cause, however, is their want of a

strong protecting government to preserve peace, without which nothing

can prosper. Thus they are, both morally and physically, little better

than brutes, and as yet there is no better prospect in store for them.

The climate is a paradox quite beyond my solving, unless the numerous

and severe maladies that we all suffered from, during the first eight

months of our explorations, may be attributed to too much exposure;

and even that does not solve the problem. To all appearance, the whole

of the country to the westward of the East Coast Range is high, dry,

and healthy. No unpleasant exhalations pollute the atmosphere; there

are no extremes of temperature; the air is neither too hot nor too

cold; and a little care in hutting, dressing, and diet should obviate

any evil effects of exposure. Springs of good water, and wholesome

food, are everywhere obtainable. Flies and mosquitoes, the great

Indian pests, are scarcely known, and the tsetse of the south nowhere

exists. During the journey northwards, I always littered down in a hut

at night; but the ticks bit me so hard, and the anxiety to catch stars

between the constantly-fleeting clouds, to take their altitudes,

perhaps preying on my mind, kept me many whole nights consecutively

without obtaining even as much as one wink of sleep--a state of things

I had once before suffered from. But there really was no assignable

cause for this, unless weakness or feverishness could create

wakefulness, and then it would seem surprising that even during the

day, or after much fatigue, I rarely felt the slightest inclination to

close my eyes. Now, on returning, without anything to excite the mind,

and having always pitched the tent at night, I enjoyed cooler nights

and perfect rest. Of diseases, the more common are remittent and

intermittent fevers, and these are the most important ones to avoid,

since they bring so many bad effects after them. In the first place,

they attack the brain, and often deprive one of his senses. Then there

is no rallying from the weakness they produce. A little attack, which

one would only laugh at in India, prostrates you for a week or more,

and this weakness brings on other disorders: cramp, for instance, of

the most painful kind, very often follows. When lying in bed, my toes

have sometimes curled round and looked me in the face; at other times,

when I have put my hand behind my back, it has stuck there until, with

the other hand, I have seized the contracted muscles, and warmed the

part affected with the natural heat, till, relaxation taking place, I

was able to get it back. Another nasty thing is the blindness which I

have already described, and which attacked another of our party in a

manner exactly similar to my complaint. He, like myself, left Africa

with a misty veil floating before his eyes.

There are other disorders, but so foreign to my experience that I dare

not venture to describe them. For as doctors disagree about the

probable causes of their appearance, I most likely would only mislead

if I tried to account for them. However, I think I may safely say they

emanate from general debility, produced by the much-to-be-dreaded

fevers.

15th.--The caravan broke ground at 4 P.M., and, completing the

principal zigzag made to avoid wars, arrived at Senagongo. Kanoni,

followed by a host of men, women, and children, advanced to meet the

caravan, all roaringly intoxicated with joy, and lavishing greetings

of welcome, with showers of "Yambo, Yambo Sanas" ("How are you?" and,

"Very well, I hope?") which we as warmly returned: the shakings of

hands were past number, and the Beluches and Bombay could scarcely be

seen under the hot embraces and sharp kisses of admiring damsels. When

recovered from the shock of this great outburst of feelings, Kanoni

begged me to fire a few shots, to apprise his enemies, and especially

his big brother, of the honours paid him. No time was lost: I no

sooner gave the order than bang, bang went every one of the escort's

guns, and the excited crowd, immediately seeing a supposed antagonist

in the foreground, rushed madly after him. Then spears were

flourished, thrust, stabbed, and withdrawn; arrows were pointed, huge

shields protected black bodies, sticks and stones flew like hail; then

there was a slight retreat, then another advance--dancing to one side,

then to the other--jumping and prancing on the same ground, with

bodies swaying here and bodies swaying there, until at length the

whole foreground was a mass of moving objects, all springs and hops,

like an army of frogs, after the first burst of rain, advancing to a

pond: then again the guns went off, giving a fresh impulse to the

exciting exercise.

Their great principle in their warfare appears to be, that no one

should be still. At each report of the guns, fresh enemies were

discovered retreating, and the numbers of their slain were quite

surprising. These, as they dropped, were, with highly dramatic action,

severally and immediately trampled down and knelt upon, and hacked and

chopped repeatedly with knives, whilst the slayer continued showing

his savage wrath by worrying his supposed victim with all the angry

energy that dogs display when fighting. This triumphal entry over,

Kanoni led us into his boma, and treated us with sour curd. Then, at

my request, he assembled his principal men and greatest travellers to

debate upon the N'yanza. One old man, shrivelled by age, stated that

he had travelled up the western shores of the N'yanza two moons (sixty

days) consecutively, had passed beyond Karagué into a country where

coffee grows abundantly, and is called Muanyé. He described the shrub

as standing between two and three feet high, having the stem nearly

naked, but much branched above; it grows in large plantations, and

forms the principal article of food. The people do not boil and drink

it as we do, but eat the berry raw, with its husk on. The Arabs are

very fond of eating these berries raw, and have often given us some.

They bring them down from Uganda, where, for a pennyworth of beads, a

man can have his fill.

When near these coffee plantations, he (our informer) visited an

island on the lake, called Kitiri, occupied by the Watiri, a naked lot

of beings, who subsist almost entirely on fish and coffee. The Watiri

go about in large canoes like the Tanganyika ones; but the

sea-travelling, he says, is very dangerous. In describing the

boisterous nature of the lake, he made a rumbling, gurgling noise in

his throat, which he increased and diversified by pulling and tapping

at the skin covering the apple, and by puffing and blowing with great

vehemence indicated extraordinary roughness of the elements. The sea

itself, he said, was boundless. Kanoni now told me that the Muingira

Nullah lies one day's journey N.N.W. of this, and drains the western

side of the Msalala district into the southern end of the N'yanza

creek. It is therefore evident that those extensive lays in the Nindo

and Salawé districts which we crossed extend down to this periodical

river, which accounts for there being so many wild animals there:

water being such an attractive object in these hot climes, all animals

group round it. Kanoni is a dark, square, heavy-built man, very fond

of imbibing pombé, and, like many tipplers, overflowing with

human-kindness, especially in his cups. He kept me up several hours

to-night, trying to induce me to accept a bullock, and to eat it in

his boma, in the same manner as I formerly did with his brother. He

was much distressed because I would not take the half of my

requirements in cattle from him, instead of devoting everything to his

brother Kurua; and not till I assured him I could not stay, but

instead would leave Bombay and some Beluches with cloth to purchase

some cows from his people, would he permit of my turning in to rest.

It is strange to see how very soon, when questioning these negroes

about anything relating to geography, their weak brains give way, and

they can answer no questions, or they become so evasive in their

replies, or so rambling, that you can make nothing out of them. It is

easily discernible at what time you should cease to ask any further

questions; for their heads then roll about like a ball upon a wire,

and their eyes glass over and look vacantly about as though vitality

had fled from their bodies altogether. Bombay, though, is a singular

exception to this rule; but then, by long practice, he has become a

great geographer, and delights in pointing out the different features

on my map to his envying neighbours.

16th.--We came to Mgogua this morning, and were received by Kurua with

his usual kind affability. Our entrance to his boma was quiet and

unceremonious, for we came there quite unexpectedly--hardly giving him

time to prepare his musket and return our salute. Though we were

allowed a ready admission, a guinea-fowl I shot on the way was not.

The superstitious people forbade its entrance in full plumage, so it

was plucked before being brought inside the palisade. Kurua again

arranged a hut for my residence, and was as assiduous as ever in his

devotion to my comforts. All the elders of the district soon arrived,

and the usual debates commenced. Kurua chiefly trades with Karagué and

the northern kingdoms, but no one could add to the information I had

already obtained. One of his men stated that he had performed the

journey between Pangani on the east coast of Africa and the N'yanza

three times, in about two months each time. The distance was very

great for the little time it took him; but then he had to go for his

life the whole way, in consequence of the Masai, or Wahuma, as some

call them, being so inimical to strangers of any sort that he dare not

stop or talk anywhere on the way.[71] On leaving Pangani, he passed

through Usumbara, and entered on the country of the warring nomadic

race, the Masai; through their territories he travelled without

halting until he arrived at Usukuma, bordering on the lake. His fear

and speed were such that he did not recognise any other tribes or

countries besides those enumerated.

Wishing to ascertain what number of men a populous country like this

could produce in case of an attack, and to gain some idea of savage

tactics, I proposed having a field-day. Kurua was delighted with the

idea, and began roaring and laughing about it with his usual

boisterous energy, to the great admiration of all the company. The

programme was as follows:--At 3 P.M. on the 17th, Kurua and his

warriors, all habited and drawn up in order of battle, were to occupy

the open space in front of the village, whilst my party of Beluches,

suddenly issuing from the village, would personate the enemy and

commence the attack. This came off at the appointed time, and

according to orders the forces were drawn up, and an engagement

ensued. The Beluches, rushing through the passages of the palisaded

village, suddenly burst upon the enemy, and fired and charged

successively; to which the Wamanda replied with equal vigour,

advancing with their frog-like leaps and bounds, dodging and

squatting, and springing and flying in the most wild and fantastic

manner; stabbing with their spears, protecting with their shields,

poising with bows and arrows pointed, and, mingling with the Beluches,

rushed about striking at and avoiding their guns and sabres. But all

was so similar to the Senagongo display that it does not require a

further description. The number of Kurua's forces disappointed me,--I

fear the intelligence of the coming parade did not reach far. The

dresses they wore did credit to their nation--some were decked with

cock-tail plumes, others wore bunches of my guinea-fowl's feathers in

their hair, whilst the chiefs and swells were attired in long red

baize mantles, consisting of a strip of cloth four feet by twenty

inches, at one end of which they cut a slit to admit the head, and

allowed the remainder to hang like a tail behind the back. Their

spears and bows are of a very ordinary kind, and the shield is

constructed something like the Kafir's, from a long strip of bull's

hide, which is painted over with ochreish earth. The fight over, all

hands rushed to the big drums in the cow-yard, and began beating them

as though they deserved a drubbing: this "sweet music" set everybody

on wires in a moment, and dancing never ceased till the sun went down,

and the cows usurped the revelling-place. Kurua now gave me a good

milch cow and calf, and promised two more of the same stamp. Those

which were brought by the common people were mere weeds, and dry

withal; they would not bring any good ones, I think, from fear of the

sultan's displeasure, lest I should prefer theirs to his, and deprive

him of the consequent profits. My chief reason for leaving Bombay

behind at Senagongo was, that business was never done when I was

present. For, besides staring at me all day, the people speculated how

to make the most of the chance offered by a rich man coming so

suddenly amongst them, and in consequence of this avariciousness

offered their cattle at such unreasonable prices as to preclude the

transaction of any business.

18th.--Halt. My anticipations about the way of getting cows proved

correct, for Bombay brought twelve animals, which cost twenty-three

dhotis merikani and nine dhotis kiniki. Kurua now gave me another cow

and calf, and promised me two more when we arrived at the Ukumbi

district, as he did not like thinning one herd too much. I gave in

return for his present one barsati, five dhotis merikani and two

dhotis kiniki, with a promise of some gunpowder when we arrived at

Unyanyembé, for he was still bent on going there with me. Perhaps I

may consider my former obstruction in travel by Kurua a fortunate

circumstance; for though the eldest brother's residence lay directly

in my way, he might not possess so kind a nature as these two younger

brothers.

Still I cannot see any good reason for the Kirangozi abandoning the

proper road: there certainly could be no more danger on the one side

than on the other, and all would have been equally glad to have had

me. It is true that I should have had to pass through his enemies'

hands to the other brother, and such a course usually excites

suspicion; but, by the usual custom of the country, Kurua should have

been treated by him only as a rebellious subject, for though all three

brothers were by different mothers, they are considered in line of

succession as ours are, when legitimately begotten by one mother. Some

time ago the eldest brother made a tool of an Arab trader, and with

that force on his side threatened these two brothers with immediate

destruction unless they resigned to him the entire government, and his

rights as senior. They admitted in his presence the justness of his

words and the folly of waging war, as such a measure could only bring

destruction on all alike; but on his departure they carried on their

rule as before.

Bombay, talking figuratively with me, considers Kurua's stopping me

something like the use the monkey turned the cat's paw to; that is, he

stopped me simply to enhance his dignity, and gain the minds of the

people by leading them to suppose I saw justice in his actions.

Pombé-brewing, the chief occupation of the women, is as regular here

as the revolution of day and night, and the drinking of it just as

constant. It is prepared from bajéri and jowari (common millets): the

first step in the manufacture is malting in the same way as we do

barley; then they range a double street of sticks, usually in the

middle of the village, fill a number of pots with these grains mixed

in water, which they place in continuous line down the street of

sticks, and, setting fire to the whole at once, boil away until the

mess is fit to put aside for refining: this they then do, leaving the

pots standing three days, when fermentation takes place and the liquor

is fit to drink. It has the strength of labourers' beer, and both

sexes drink it alike. This fermented beverage resembles pig-wash, but

is said to be so palatable and satisfying--for the dregs and all are

drunk together--that many entirely subsist upon it. It is a great help

to the slave-masters, for without it they could get nobody to till

their ground; and when the slaves are required to turn the earth, the

master always sits in judgment with lordly dignity, generally under a

tree, watching to see who becomes entitled to a drop.

In the evening my attention was attracted by small processions of men

and women, possessed of the Phépo, or demon, passing up the palisaded

streets, turning into the different courts, and paying each and every

house by turns a visit. The party advanced in slow funereal order,

with gently springing, mincing, jogging action, some holding up twigs,

others balancing open baskets of grain and tools on their heads, and

with their bodies, arms, and heads in unison with the whole

hobbling-bobling motion, kept in harmony to a low, mixed, droning,

humming chorus. As the sultan's door was approached, he likewise rose,

and, mingling in the crowd, performed the same evolutions.

This kind of procession is common at Zanzibar: when any demoniacal

possessions take place among the blacks, it is by this means they cast

out devils. While on the subject of superstition, it may be worth

mentioning what long ago struck me as a singular instance of the

effect of supernatural impression on the uncultivated mind. During

boyhood my old nurse used to tell me with great earnestness of a

wonderful abortion shown about in the _fairs_ of England--a child born

with a pig's head; and as solemnly declared that this freak of nature

was attributable to the child's mother having taken fright at a pig

when in the interesting stage. The case I met in this country was

still more far-fetched, for the abortion was supposed to be producible

by indirect influence on the wife of the husband taking fright. On

once shooting a pregnant doe waterboc, I directed my native huntsman,

a married man, to dissect her womb and expose the embryo; but he

shrank from the work with horror, fearing lest the sight of the kid,

striking his mind, should have an influence on his wife's future

bearing, by metamorphosing her progeny to the likeness of a fawn.

19th.--We bade Kurua adieu in the early morning, as a caravan of his

had just arrived from Karagué, and appointed to meet at the second

station, as marching with cattle would be slow work for him. Our march

lasted nine miles. The succeeding day we passed Ukumbi, and arrived at

Uyombo. On the way I was obliged to abandon one of the donkeys, as he

was completely used up. This made up our thirty-second loss in asses

since leaving Zanzibar. My load of beads was now out, and I had to

purchase rations with cloth--a necessary measure, but not economical,

for the cloth does not go half as far as beads of the same value. I

have remarked throughout this trip, that in all places where Arabs are

not much in the habit of trading, very few cloths find their way, and

in consequence the people take to wearing beads; and beads and baubles

are the only foreign things much in requisition.

As remarks upon the relative value of commodities appear in various

places in this diary, I shall endeavour to give a general idea how it

is that I have found this plentiful country--quite beyond any other I

have seen in Africa in fertility and stock--so comparatively dear to

travel in. The Zanzibar route to Ujiji is now so constantly travelled

over by Arabs and Wasuahili, that the people, seeing the caravans

approach, erect temporary markets, or come hawking things for sale,

and the prices are adapted to the abilities of the purchasers; and at

such markets our Sheikh bought for us, and transacted all business. It

is also to be observed that where things are brought for sale, they

are invariably cheaper than in those places where one has to seek and

ask for them; for in the one instance a livelihood is the consequence

of trade, whereas in the other a chance purchaser is treated as a

windfall to be made the most of. Now this line is just the opposite to

the Ujiji one, and therefore dear; but added to those influences here,

the sultans, to increase their own importance whilst having me their

guest, invariably gave out that I was no peddling Arab or Msuahili,

but a great Mundéwa, or merchant prince of the Wazungu (white or wise

men), and the people took the hint to make me pay or starve. Then

again, not having the Sheikh with me, I had to pay for and settle

everything myself; and from having no variety of beads in this

exclusively bead country, there was great inconvenience.

Kurua now joined us, and reported the abandoned donkey dead. A cool

shower of rain fell, to the satisfaction of every thirsty soul. It is

delightful to observe the freshness which even one partial shower

imparts to all animated nature after a long-continued drought.