To The Northward Can Be Seen Some Low Hills, Which Are
Occupied By Wahumba, A Subtribe Of The Warlike Masai; And On The
West Is The Large Forest-Wilderness Of Mgunda Mkhali.
Ugogo,
lying under the lee side of the Usagara hills, is comparatively
sterile.
Small outcrops of granite here and there poke through
the surface, which, like the rest of the rolling land, being
covered with bush, principally acacias, have a pleasing
appearance after the rains have set in, but are too brown and
desert-looking during the rest of the year. Large prairies of
grass also are exposed in many places, and the villagers have
laid much ground bare for agricultural purposes.
Altogether, Ugogo has a very wild aspect, well in keeping with
the natives who occupy it, who, more like the Wazaramo than the
Wasagara, carry arms, intended for use rather than show. The
men, indeed, are never seen without their usual arms - the spear,
the shield, and the assage. They live in flat-topped, square,
tembe villages, wherever springs of water are found, keep cattle
in plenty, and farm enough generally to supply not only their own
wants, but those of the thousands who annually pass in caravans.
They are extremely fond of ornaments, the most common of which is
an ugly tube of the gourd thrust through the lower lobe of the
ear. Their colour is a soft ruddy brown, with a slight infusion
of black, not unlike that of a rich plum. Impulsive by nature,
and exceedingly avaricious, they pester travellers beyond all
conception, by thronging the road, jeering, quizzing, and
pointing at them; and in camp, by intrusively forcing their way
into the midst of the kit, and even into the stranger's tent.
Caravans, in consequence, never enter their villages, but camp
outside, generally under the big "gouty-limbed" trees - encircling
their entire camp sometimes with a ring-fence of thorns to
prevent any sudden attack.
To resume the thread of the journey: we found, on arrival in
Ugogo, very little more food than in Usagara for the Wagogo were
mixing their small stores of grain with the monkey-bread seeds of
the gouty-limbed tree. Water was so scarce in the wells at this
season that we had to buy it at the normal price of country beer;
and, as may be imagined where such distress in food was existing,
cows, goats, sheep, and fowls were also selling at high rates.
Our mules here gave us the slip again, and walked all the way
back to Marenga Mkhali, where they were found and brought back by
some Wagogo, who took four yards of merikani in advance, with a
promise of four more on return, for the job - their chief being
security for their fidelity. This business detained us two days,
during which time I shot a new variety of florikan, peculiar in
having a light blue band stretching from the nose over the eye to
the occiput. Each day, while we resided here, cries were raised
by the villagers that the Wahumba were coming, and then all the
cattle out in the plains, both far and near, were driven into the
village for protection.
At last, on the 26th, as the mules were brought it, I paid a
hongo or tax of four barsati and four yards of chintz to the
chief, and departed, but not until one of my porters, a Mhehe,
obtained a fat dog for his dinner; he had set his heart on it,
and would not move until he had killed it, and tied it on to his
load for the evening's repast. Passing through the next
villages - a collection called Kifukuro - we had to pay another
small tax of two barsati and four yards of chintz to the chief.
There we breakfasted, and pushed on, carrying water to a bivouac
in the jungles, as the famine precluded our taking the march more
easily.
Pushing on again, we cleared out of the woods, and arrived at the
eastern border of the largest clearance of Ugogo, Kanyenye. Here
we were forced to halt a day, as the mules were done up, and
eight of the Wanyamuezi porters absconded, carrying with them the
best part of their loads. There was also another inducement for
stopping here; for, after stacking the loads, as we usually did
on arriving in camp, against a large gouty-limbed tree, a hungry
Mgogo, on eyeing our guns, offered his services to show us some
bicornis rhinoceros, which, he said paid nightly visits to
certain bitter pools that lay in the nullah bottoms not far off.
This exciting intelligence made me inquire if it was not possible
to find them at once; but, being assured that they lived very far
off, and that the best chance was the night, I gave way, and
settled on starting at ten, to arrive at the ground before the
full moon should rise.
I set forth with the guide and two of the sheikh's boys, each
carrying a single rifle, and ensconced myself in the nullah, to
hide until our expected visitors should arrive, and there
remained until midnight. When the hitherto noisy villagers
turned into bed, the silvery moon shed her light on the desolate
scene, and the Mgogo guide, taking fright, bolted. He had not,
however, gone long, when, looming above us, coming over the
horizon line, was the very animal we wanted.
In a fidgety manner the beast then descended, as if he expected
some danger in store - and he was not wrong; for, attaching a bit
of white paper to the fly-sight of my Blissett, I approached him,
crawling under cover of the banks until within eighty yards of
him, when, finding that the moon shone full on his flank, I
raised myself upright and planted a bullet behind his left
shoulder. Thus died my first rhinoceros.
To make the most of the night, as I wanted meat for my men to
cook, as well as a stock to carry with them, or barter with the
villagers for grain, I now retired to my old position, and waited
again.
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