With Regret I Also Sent Back The Camera; Because
I Saw, Had I Allowed My Companion To Keep Working It, The Heat He
Was Subjected To In The Little Tent Whilst Preparing And Fixing
His Plates Would Very Soon Have Killed Him.
The number of
guinea-fowl seen here was most surprising.
A little lighter and much more comfortable for the good riddance
of those grumbling "Tots," we worked up to and soon breasted the
stiff ascent of the Mabruki Pass, which we surmounted without
much difficult. This concluded the first range of these Usagara
hills; and once over, we dropped down to the elevated valley of
Makata, where we halted two days to shoot. As a travelling Arab
informed me that the whole of the Maroro district had been laid
waste by the marauding Wahehe, I changed our plans again, and
directed our attention to a middle and entirely new line, which
in the end would lead us to Ugogi. The first and only giraffe
killed upon the journey was here shot by Grant, with a little 40-
gauge Lancaster rifle, at 200 yards' distance. Some smaller
animals were killed; but I wasted all my time in fruitlessly
stalking some wounded striped eland - magnificent animals, as
large as Delhi oxen - and some other animals, of which I wounded
three, about the size of hartebeest, and much their shape, only
cream-coloured, with a conspicuous black spot in the centre of
each flank. The eland may probably be the animal first mentioned
by Livingstone, but the other animal is not known.
Though reluctant to leave a place where such rare animals were to
be found, the fear of remaining longer on the road induced us to
leave Kikobogo, and at a good stride we crossed the flat valley
of Makata, and ascended the higher lands beyond, where we no
sooner arrived than we met the last down trader from Unyamuezi,
well known to all my men as the great Mamba or Crocodile. Mamba,
dressed in a dirty Arab gown, with coronet of lion's nails
decorating a thread-bare cutch cap, greeted us with all the
dignity of a savage potentate surrounded by his staff of half-
naked officials. As usual, he had been the last to leave the
Unyamuezi, and so purchased all his stock of ivory at a cheap
rate, there being no competitors left to raise the value of that
commodity; but his journey had been a very trying one. With a
party, at his own estimate, of two thousand souls - we did not
see anything like that number - he had come from Ugogo to this, by
his own confession, living on the products of the jungle, and by
boiling down the skin aprons of his porters occasionally for a
soup. Famines were raging throughout the land, and the Arabs
preceding him had so harried the country, that every village was
deserted. On hearing our intention to march upon the direct
line, he frankly said he thought we should never get through for
my men could not travel as he had done, and therefore he advised
our deflecting northwards from New Mbumi to join the track
leading from Rumuma to Ugogi. This was a sad disappointment;
but, rather than risk a failure, I resolved to follow his advice.
After reaching the elevated ground, we marched over rolling tops,
covered with small trees and a rich variety of pretty bulbs, and
reached the habitations of Muhanda, where we no sooner appeared
than the poor villagers, accustomed only to rough handling,
immediately dispersed in the jungles. By dint of persuasion,
however, we induced them to sell us provisions, though at a
monstrous rate, such as no merchant could have afforded; and
having spent the night quietly, we proceeded on to the upper
courses of the M'yombo river, which trends its way northwards to
the Mukondokua river. The scenery was most interesting, with
every variety of hill, roll, plateau, and ravine, wild and
prettily wooded; but we saw nothing of the people. Like
frightened rats, as soon as they caught the sound of our
advancing march, they buried themselves in the jungles, carrying
off their grain with them. Foraging parties, of necessity, were
sent out as soon as the camp was pitched, with cloth for
purchases, and strict orders not to use force; the upshot of
which was, that my people got nothing but a few arrows fired at
them by the lurking villagers, and I was abused for my
squeamishness. Moreover, the villagers, emboldened by my lenity,
vauntingly declared they would attack the camp by night, as they
could only recognise in us such men as plunder their houses and
steal their children. This caused a certain amount of alarm
among my men, which induced them to run up a stiff bush-fence
round the camp, and kept them talking all night.
This morning we marched on as usual, with one of the Hottentots
lashed on a donkey; for the wretched creature, after lying in the
sun asleep, became so sickly that he could not move or do
anything for himself, and nobody would do anything for him. The
march was a long one, but under ordinary circumstances would have
been very interesting, for we passed an immense lagoon, where
hippopotami were snorting as if they invited an attack. In the
larger tree-jungles the traces of elephants, buffaloes,
rhinoceros, and antelopes were very numerous; while a rich
variety of small birds, as often happened, made me wish I had
come on a shooting rather than on a long exploring expedition.
Towards sunset we arrived at New Mbimi, a very pretty and fertile
place, lying at the foot of a cluster of steep hills, and pitched
camp for three days to lay in supplies for ten, as this was
reported to be the only place where we could buy corn until we
reached Ugogo, a span of 140 miles. Mr Mbumi, the chief of the
place, a very affable negro, at once took us by the hand, and
said he would do anything we desired, for he had often been to
Zanzibar.
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