Page:Central African Mission.djvu/13

Rh The mountain people chose a grandson of his, who took the name of Kimweri, and was in possession of Vuga at the time of Mr. Alington's visit. The lower country behind the mountains, that is, to the westward, was held by a son of old Kimweri's, named Semboja, and there was constant war between the two claimants. Before Mr. Alington left the country, young Kimweri died of small-pox, and was succeeded by a brother named Chenyegera. The war became more and more embittered, and Semboja, finding that the Shambalas would not receive him, encouraged all the neighbouring tribes to prey upon them. Chenyegera and his great men, finding themselves without money or arms, began selling their own people to the coast Arabs as slaves. Vuga was taken by Semboja and burnt, and a great part of the mountain country was depopulated, and relapsed into forest land. At last the people rose upon their chiefs and killed most of them, and so a peace of exhaustion has come at last. Semboja is in possession of most of the country and is rebuilding Vuga. He is a Mahommedan, and has been supposed throughout to have had the silent support of the Zanzibar Arabs. Chenyegera is among the mountains not very far from Magila. This last place itself has not been touched by the war, being geographically and politically in the Shambala country, but in language belonging to the valley people. These last have lately been at war with