Then Emerging From The Wilderness, We Came Into The Open
Cultivated District Of Tura, Or "Put Down" - Called So By
The
natives because it was, only a few years ago, the first cleared
space in the wilderness, and served as
A good halting-station,
after the normal ten day's march in the jungles, where we had now
been struggling more than a month.
The whole place, once so fertile, was now almost depopulated and
in a sad state of ruin, showing plainly the savage ravages of
war; for the Arabs and their slaves, when they take the field,
think more of plunder and slavery than the object they started
on - each man of the force looking out for himself. The
incentives, too, are so great; - a young woman might be caught
(the greatest treasure of earth), or a boy or a girl, a cow or a
goat - all of the fortunes, of themselves too irresistible to be
overlooked when the future is doubtful. Here Sheikh Said broke
down in health of a complaint which he formerly had suffered
from, and from which I at once saw he would never recover
sufficiently well to be ever effective again. It was a sad
misfortune, as the men had great confidence in him, being the
representative of their Zanzibar government: still it could not
be helped; for, as a sick man is, after all, the greatest
possible impediment to a march, it was better to be rid of him
than have the trouble of dragging him; so I made up my mind, as
soon as we reached Kaze, I would drop him there with the Arabs.
He could not be moved on the 16th, so I marched across the plain
and put up in some villages on its western side. Whilst waiting
for the sheikh's arrival, some villagers at night stole several
loads of beads, and ran off with them; but my men, finding the
theft out in time, hunted them down, and recovered all but one
load - for the thieves had thrown their loads down as soon as they
found they were hotly pursued.
Early this morning I called all the head men of the village
together, and demanded the beads to be restored to me; for, as I
was living with them, they were responsible, according to the
laws of the country. They acknowledged the truth and force of my
demand, and said they would each give me a cow as an earnest,
until their chief, who was absent, arrived. This, of course, was
objected to, as the chief, in his absence, must have deputed some
one to govern for him, and I expected him to settle at once, that
I might proceed with the march. Then selecting five of my head
men to conduct the case, with five of their elders, it was
considered my losses were equivalent to thirty head of cattle.
As I remitted the penalty to fifteen head, these were made over
to me, and we went on with the march - all feeling delighted with
the issue but the Hottentots, who, not liking the loss of the
second fifteen cows, said that in Kafirland, where the laws of
the country are the same as here, the whole would have been
taken, and, as it was, they thought I was depriving them of their
rights to beef.
By a double march, the sheikh riding in a hammock slung on a
pole, we now made Kuale, or "Partridge" nullah, which, crossing
the road to the northward, drains these lands to the Malagarazi
river, and thence into the Tanganyika lake. Thence, having spent
the night in the jungle, we next morning pushed into the
cultivated district of Rubuga, and put up in some half-deserted
tembes, where the ravages of war were even more disgusting to
witness than at Tura. The chief, as I have said, was a slave,
placed there by the Arabs on the condition that he would allow
all traders and travellers to help themselves without payment as
long as they chose to reside there. In consequence of this wicked
arrangement, I found it impossible to keep my men from picking
and stealing. They looked upon plunder as their fortune and
right, and my interference as unjustifiable.
By making another morning and evening march, we then reached the
western extremity of this cultivated opening; where, after
sleeping the night, we threaded through another forest to the
little clearance of Kigue, and in one more march through forest
arrived in the large and fertile district of Unyanyembe, the
centre of Unyamuezi - the Land of the Moon - within five miles of
Kaze which is the name of a well in the village of Tbora, now
constituted the great central slave and ivory merchants' depot.
My losses up to this date (23d) were as follows: - One Hottentot
dead and five returned; one freeman sent back with the
Hottentots, and one flogged and turned off; twenty-five of Sultan
Majid's gardeners deserted; ninety-eight of the original
Wanyamuezi porters deserted; twelve mules and three donkeys dead.
Besides which, more than half of my property had been stolen;
whilst the travelling expenses had been unprecedented, in
consequence of the severity of the famine throughout the whole
length of the march.
Chapter V
Unyamuezi
The Country and People of U-n-ya-muezi - Kaze, the Capital - Old
Musa - The Naked Wakidi - The N'yanza, and the Question of the
River Running in or out - The Contest between Mohinna and "Short-
legs" - Famine - The Arabs and Local Wars - The Sultana of
Unyambewa - Ungurue "The Pig" - Pillage.
U-n-ya-muezi - Country of Moon - must have been one of the largest
kingdoms in Africa. It is little inferior in size to England,
and of much the same shape, though now, instead of being united,
it is cut up into petty states. In its northern extremities it
is known by the appellation U-sukuma - country north; and in the
southern, U-takama - country south. There are no historical
traditions known to the people; neither was anything ever written
concerning their country, as far as we know, until the Hindus,
who traded with the east coast of Africa, opened commercial
dealings with its people in salves and ivory, possibly some time
prior to the birth of our Saviour, when, associated with their
name, Men of the Moon, sprang into existence the Mountains of the
Moon.
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