Page:Littell's Living Age - Volume 130.djvu/190

182 complete oasis in the bosom of parched Ugogo. We formed our camp, and feasted our eyes on the first fresh verdure we had seen since Mpwapwa. We found the chief here more reasonable than the one at Moumé, but still had to pay tribute as usual. We showed some of the people our guns, pistols, watches, etc., and one old man said, that people who were able to make and use such wonderful things, ought surely never to die. From this place we went along by a chain of small ponds, all frequented by waterfowl, and then through a broken country fairly wooded, till we arrived at Kanyenyé or Great Ugogo. Kanyenyé is a level plain, extending between the feet of two ranges of hills, and is ruled over by a chief of great age and decrepitude, concerning whom there are many stories. People say that he is now getting a fourth set of teeth, and that he is over three hundred years old. I have no doubt that he is considerably over the century. His grandchildren are gray and grizzled men.

From his tembe we went on across the plain of Kanyenyé, which in many places is covered with a coating of bitter, nitrous salt, which is collected by the natives and made into small cones like sugarloaves, and sold by them to their neighbors. Ending the plain we came up a sharp ascent, at the top of which was a plateau, on which was a range of rocky hills, through which we marched, and came to Usekhé, where granite boulders of the most fantastic shapes and forms were scattered about. Concerning some of these there are curious stories, which the space at my command does not permit me to relate here.

Our next station was Khoko, which we reached after passing through a thick jungle, and here we camped close to the chief's village, under one of three enormous trees, a species of fig or sycamore; our own party, and other caravans accompanying us, in all amounting to about five hundred people, finding plenty of room under the shade of one.

We had now nearly finished Ugogo, the only other place being Mdaburu, a fertile vale situated on a nullah of the same name, which, in the rainy season, is a furious torrent, and in the bed of which large and deep pools of water are found in the driest seasons. Here, as no white men had ever passed by exactly the same route as that we followed, we were detained in order to be stared at by the people.

Leaving Mdaburu we entered on what used to be dreaded as the mgunda mkali, or "fiery field;" but we found villages springing up all across, most being built by the Wakimbu, who, hiving been expelled from their former homes, are busy colonizing this whilom forest.

Just after leaving Mdaburu we crossed the Mabunguru, another large nullah, and also one of the last affluents of the Rwaha, the more important of the two streams forming the Lufiji. From here we went on rising up over rocky hills, strips of thick jungle, bare sheets of granite, nature in her moist lovely form, if it were not for tracts of miles and miles being blackened by fires, lighted by preceding caravans, both to drive game and to clear a way for marching.

Halfway across this "fiery field," we came to Jiwé la Singa and its surrounding villages. Here there is now a large population, fields well cultivated, numerous villages, some out in the open, others sheltered by groves of trees, but all surrounded by the inevitable stockade.

The fields here are mostly separated from each other by deep ditches and banks, and in one or two places I saw attempts at artificial irrigation. When Haji Abdullah (Burton) passed here in 1859, Jiwé la Singa, and one or two other small hamlets, were all that existed; but now this is one of the most populous and fertile places in eastern Africa.

From Jiwé la Singa, our track again led through the uninhabited woods: spoors of giraffe and other big game were numerous, but caravan marching in Africa is not the way for a shikarry to enjoy himself, the men grunt and groan under their burdens, or some more spirited than the rest strike up a monotonous chant to lighten the fatigues of the way, and all game is most effectually scared. Besides, in these uninhabited tracts water is scarce, and the day's march is in consequence, long, so that on arrival in camp, though game would have been an acceptable addition to our larder, we were too tired to go out shooting, unless we had neglected more necessary work.

During our marches here water was very bad, besides being scarce, and we were often fain to be content with stuff that any decent English dog would turn up his nose at.

At the end of this bit of wilderness we arrived at Urguru, one of the outlying districts of Unyamwesi proper, and yielding to the pressing invitation of the chief of the chiefs, camped in his village.

We were objects of intense curiosity to the inhabitants, and our tents were crowd-