note: project gutenberg also has an html version of this file which includes the original illustrations. see -h.htm or -h.zip: (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/ / / / / / -h/ -h.htm) or (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/ / / / / / -h.zip) the last journals of david livingstone, in central africa, from to his death. continued by a narrative of his last moments and sufferings, obtained from his faithful servants chuma and susi, by horace waller, f.r.g.s., rector of twywell, northampton. in two volumes.--vol. i. [ - ] with portrait, maps, and illustrations. london: john murray, albemarle street. introduction. in the midst of the universal sorrow caused by the intelligence that dr. livingstone had lost his life at the furthest point to which he had penetrated in his search for the true sources of the nile, a faint hope was indulged that some of his journals might survive the disaster: this hope, i rejoice to say, has been realized beyond the most sanguine expectations. it is due, in the first place, to his native attendants, whose faithfulness has placed his last writings at our disposal, and also to the reader, before he launches forth upon a series of travels and scientific geographical records of the most extraordinary character, to say that in the following narrative of seven years' continuous work and new discovery _no break whatever occurs_. we have not to deplore the loss, by accident or carelessness, of a single entry, from the time of livingstone's departure from zanzibar in the beginning of to the day when his note-book dropped from his hand in the village of ilala at the end of april, . i trust it will not be uninteresting if i preface the history with a few words on the nature of these journals and writings as they have come to hand from central africa. it will be remembered that when mr. stanley returned to england in , dr. livingstone entrusted to his care a very large letts' diary, sealed up and consigned to the safe keeping of his daughter, miss agnes livingstone. upon the confirmation of the worst news, this book was examined and found to contain a considerable portion of the notes which her father made during his travels previous to the time of mr. stanley's meeting him. the doctor's custom was always to have metallic note-books in use, in which the day's jottings were recorded. when time and opportunity served, the larger volume was posted up with scrupulous care. it seems, however, that in the last three or four years of his life this excellent rule had to give way to the toils of travel and the exhaustion of most distressing illnesses. whilst in the manyuema country he ran out of note-books, ink, and pencils, and had to resort to shifts which at first made it a very debateable point whether the most diligent attempt at deciphering would suceeed after all. such pocket-books as remained at this period of his travels were utilized to the last inch of paper. in some of them we find lunar observations, the names of rivers, and the heights of hills advancing towards the middle from one end, whilst from the other the itinerary grows day by day, interspersed with map routes of the march, botanical notes, and carefully made drawings. but in the mean time the middle portion of the book was filling up with calculations, private memoranda, words intended for vocabularies, and extracts from books, whilst here and there the stain of a pressed flower causes indistinctness; yet the thread of the narrative runs throughout. noting but his invariable habit of constantly repeating the month and year obviates hopeless confusion. nor is this all; for pocket-books gave out at last, and old newspapers, yellow with african damp, were sewn together, and his notes were written across the type with a substitute for ink made from the juice of a tree. to miss livingstone and to the rev. c.a. alington i am very much indebted for help in the laborious task of deciphering this portion of the doctor's journals. their knowledge of his handwriting, their perseverance, coupled with good eyes and a strong magnifying-glass, at last made their task a complete success. in comparing this great mass of material with the journal brought home by mr. stanley, one finds that a great deal of most interesting matter can be added. it would seem that in the hurry of writing and copying despatches previous to his companion's departure, the doctor rapidly entered up as much from his note-books as time and space permitted. most fortunately, he still carried the greater part of these original notes till the time of his death, so that they were forthcoming when his effects were subsequently saved. this brings us to the second instalment of the journals, for we have thus acknowledged the first to have reached us on mr. stanley's return. when the battered tin travelling-case, which was with livingstone to the last, was opened at the foreign office in the spring of this year, not only were these valuable papers disclosed which i have mentioned, but it was found also that livingstone had kept a copious journal during his stay at unyanyembé in some copy-books, and that when his stock of note-books was replenished a daily record of his subsequent travels had been made. it was with fear and trembling that one looked to see whether all had been saved or only part, but with satisfaction and thankfulness i have subsequently discovered that his men preserved every single line, besides his maps, which now come to light for the first time. thus much on the material of the diaries: it remains to say a few words on the map which accompanies these journals. it has been compiled from dr. livingstone's original drawings and note-books, with the corrections and additions he made from time to time as the work of exploration progressed, and the details of physical geography became clearer to him. the compiler, mr. john bolton[ ], implicitly following the original outline of the drawing as far as possible, has honestly endeavoured to give such a rendering of the entire work, as the doctor would have done had he lived to return home, and superintend the construction; and i take this opportunity of expressing my sincere gratification that mr. bolton's rare technical skill, scientific knowledge, and unwearying labour have been available for the purpose. amongst almost the last words that livingstone wrote, i find an unfinished letter to myself, in which he gives me very clear and explicit directions concerning the geographical notes he had previously sent home, and i am but carrying out the sacred duty which is attached to a last wish when i call attention to the fact, that he particularly desired in this letter that _no positions gathered from his observations for latitude and longitude, nor for the levels of the lakes, &c., should be considered correct till sir thomas maclear had examined them_. the position of casembe's town, and of a point near pambetté at the s.e., and of lake liemba (tanganyika), have been computed and corrected by sir t. maclear and dr. mann. the observations for latitude were taken at short intervals, and where it has been possible to test them they have been found very correct, but i repeat that until the imprimatur of his old friend at the cape of good hope stands over the whole of livingstone's work, the map must be accepted as open to further corrections. the journey from kabwabwata to mparru has been inserted _entirely_ from notes, as the traveller was too ill to mark the route: this is the only instance in all his wanderings where he failed to give some indication on his map of the nature of the ground over which he passed. the journey front mikindany bay to lake nyassa has also been laid down from his journal and latitudes in consequence of the section of this part of his route (which he left at ujiji) not having arrived in england at this date.[ ] it will be observed that the outline of lake nyassa differs from that on any published map: it has been drawn from the original exploratory survey of its southern shores made by dr. livingstone in - . for some reason this original plan was not adhered to by a former draughtsman, but the lake has here been restored to a more accurate bearing and position. how often shall we see in the pages of this concluding chapter of his life, that unwavering determination which was pre-eminently the great characteristic of david livingstone! naturally endowed with unusual endurance, able to concentrate faculties of no ordinary kind upon whatever he took in hand, and with a dread of exaggeration which at times almost militated against the importance of some of his greatest discoveries, it may be doubted if ever geographer went forth strengthened with so much true power. let us add to these a sincere trust that slavery, the "great open sore of the world," as he called it, might under god's good guidance receive healing at his hands; a fervent hope that others would follow him after he had removed those difficulties which are comprised in a profound ignorance of the physical features of a new country, and we have the marching orders of him who left us in august never to return alive. privileged to enjoy his near personal friendship for a considerable period in africa, and also at home, it has been easy to trace--more especially from correspondence with him of late years--that livingstone wanted just some such gigantic problem as that which he attacked at the last to measure his strength against: that he finally overrated and overtaxed it i think all must admit. he had not sufficiently allowed for an old wound which his constitution received whilst battling with dysentery and fever, on his celebrated journey across africa, and this finally sapped his vital powers, and, through the irritation of exhaustion, insidiously clouded much of his happiness. many of his old friends were filled with anxiety when they found that he intended to continue the investigation of the nile sources, for the letters sent home by mr. stanley raised the liveliest apprehensions, which, alas! soon proved themselves well grounded. the reader must be warned that, however versed in books of african travel he may be, the very novelty of his situation amongst these pages will render him liable perhaps to a danger which a timely word may avert. truly it may be said he has an _embarras de richesses!_ to follow an explorer who by his individual exertions has filled up a great space in the map of africa, who has not only been the first to set foot on the shores of vast inland seas, but who, with the simple appliances of his bodily stature for a sounding pole and his stalwart stride for a measuring tape, lays down new rivers by the hundreds, is a task calculated to stagger him. it may be provoking to find livingstone busily engaged in bargaining for a canoe upon the shores of bangweolo, much as he would have secured a boat on his own native clyde; but it was not in his nature to be subject to those paroxysms in which travellers too often indite their discoveries and descriptions. at the same time these journals will be found to contain innumerable notes on the habits of animals, birds, and fishes, many of them probably new species, and on phenomena in every direction which the keen eye searched out as the great traveller moved amongst some of the grandest scenes of this beautiful world: it may be doubted if ever eye so keen was backed by so much perseverance to shield it from a mere superficial habit of noticing. let his adventures speak for themselves. amongst the greatest facts recorded here the geographer will perceive that the doctor has placed it beyond doubt that lake nyassa belongs to a totally distinct system of waters to that which holds lake tanganyika, and the rivers running north and west. he was too sagacious to venture the surmise that tanganyika has a subterranean outlet without having duly weighed the probabilities in the scale with his elaborate observations: the idea gathers force when we remember that in the case of limestone cliffs, water so often succeeds in breaking bounds by boring through the solid rock. no more interesting problem is left to solve, and we shall yet learn whether, through the caverns of western kabogo, this lake adds its waters to the vast northerly flow of rivers we now read of for the first time, and which are undoubtedly amongst the largest in the world. i cannot close these remarks without stating how much obliged i am to mr. james young, f.r.s., of kelly, for having ensured the presence of the doctor's men, chuma and susi. ever ready to serve his old friend livingstone, he took care that they should be at my elbow so long as i required them to help me amidst the pile of mss. and maps. their knowledge of the countries they travelled in is most remarkable, and from constantly aiding their master by putting questions to the natives respecting the course of rivers, &c., i found them actual geographers of no mean attainments. in one instance, when in doubt concerning a particular watershed, to my surprise susi returned a few hours afterwards with a plan of the whole system of rivers in the region under examination, and i found his sketch tally well with the doctor's map. known to me previously for years on the zambesi and shiré it was a pleasure to have them with me for four months. amongst other good services they have aided the artist by reproducing the exact facsimile of the hut in which dr. livingstone expired, besides making models of the "kitanda" on which he was carried, and of the village in which his body lay for fourteen days. i need not add what ready and valuable assistance i have derived from the doctor's old companion dr. kirk wherever i have found it necessary to apply to him; some of the illustrations are more particularly owing to his kindness. it only remains to say that it has been thought advisable to retain all the strictly scientific matter found in dr. livingstone's journals for future publication. when one sees that a register of the daily rainfall was kept throughout, that the temperature was continually recorded, and that barometrical and hypsometrical observations were made with unflagging thoroughness of purpose year in and year out, it is obvious that an accumulated mass of information remains for the meteorologist to deal with separately, which alone must engross many months of labour. a constant sense of great responsibility has been mine throughout this task, for one cannot doubt that much of the future welfare of distant tribes and races depends upon livingstone obtaining through these records a distinct hearing for their woes, their misery, and above all for their willingness to welcome men drawn towards them by motives like his. at the same time memory and affection have not failed to bring back vividly the man, the traveller, and the friend. may that which he has said in his journals suffer neither loss of interest nor depth of meaning at the compiler's hands. horace waller. twywell rectory, thrapston, northamptonshire. _nov. , ._ footnotes: [ ] attached to mr. stanford's staff. [ ] in february last this section of the map (as we suppose), together with some of the doctor's papers, was sent off from ujiji by lieutenant cameron. nothing, however, had arrived on the nd september at zanzibar, and h.m. consul, captain prideaux, entertained serious doubts at that time whether they would ever come to hand. all livingstone's journals were saved through other instrumentality, as i have shown. contents. chapter i. arrival at zanzibar. hearty reception by said majid, the sultan. murder of baron van der decken. the slave-market. preparations for starting to the interior. embarkation in h.m.s. _penguin_ and dhow. rovuma bay impracticable. disembarks at mikindany. joy at travelling once more. trouble with sepoys. camels attacked by tsetse fly, and by sepoys. jungle sappers. meets old enemies. the makondé. lake nangandi. gum-copal diggings. chapter ii. effect of _pioneer's_ former visit. the poodle chitané. result of tsetse bites. death of camels and buffaloes. disaffection of followers. disputed right of ferry. mazitu raids. an old friend. severe privations. the river loendi. sepoys mutiny. dr. roscher. desolation. tattooing. ornamental teeth. singular custom. death of the nassick boy, richard. a sad reminiscence. chapter iii. horrors of the slave-trader's track. system of cultivation. pottery. special exorcising. death of the last mule. rescue of chirikaloma's wife. brutalities of the slave-drivers. mtarika's. desperate march to mtaka's. meets arab caravans. dismay of slavers. dismissal of sepoys. mataka. the waiyau metropolis. great hospitality and good feeling. mataka restores stolen cattle. life with the chief. beauty of country and healthiness of climate. the waiyau people and their peculiarities. regrets at the abandonment of bishop mackenzie's plans. chapter iv. geology and description of the waiyau land. leaves mataka's. the nyumbo plant. native iron-foundry. blacksmiths. makes for the lake nyassa. delight at seeing the lake once more. the manganja or nyassa tribe. arab slave crossing. unable to procure passage across. the kungu fly. fear of the english amongst slavers. lake shore. blue ink. chitané changes colour. the nsaka fish. makalaosé drinks beer. the sanjika fish. london antiquities. lake rivers. mukaté's. lake pamalombé. mponda's. a slave gang. wikatani discovers his relatives and remains. chapter v. crosses cape maclear. the havildar demoralised. the discomfited chief. reaches marenga's town. the earth-sponge. description of marenga's town. rumours of mazitu. musa and the johanna men desert. reaches kimsusa's. his delight at seeing the doctor once more. the fat ram. kimsusa relates his experience of livingstone's advice. chuma finds relatives. kimsusa solves the transport difficulty nobly. another old fishing acquaintance. description of the people and country on the west of the lake. the kanthundas. kauma. iron-smelting. an african sir colin campbell. milandos. chapter vi. progress northwards. an african forest. destruction by mazitu. native salutations. a disagreeable chief. on the watershed between the lake and the loangwa river. extensive iron-workings. an old nimrod. the bua river. lovely scenery. difficulties of transport. chilobé. an african pythoness. enlists two waiyou bearers. ill. the chitella bean. rains set in. arrives at the loangwa. chapter vii. crosses the loangwa. distressing march. the king-hunter. great hunger. christmas feast necessarily postponed. loss of goats. honey-hunters. a meal at last. the babisa. the mazitu again. chitembo's. end of . the new year. the northern brim of the great loangwa valley. accident to chronometers. meal gives out. escape from a cobra capella. pushes for the chambezé. death of chitané. great pinch for food. disastrous loss of medicine chest. bead currency. babisa. the chambezé. reaches chitapangwa's town. meets arab traders from zanzibar. sends off letters. chitapangwa and his people. complications. chapter viii. chitapangwa's parting oath. course laid for lake tanganyika. moamba's village. another watershed. the babemba tribe. ill with fever. threatening attitude of chibué's people. continued illness. reaches cliffs overhanging lake liemba. extreme beauty of the scene. dangerous fit of insensibility. leaves the lake. pernambuco cotton. rumours of war between arabs and nsama. reaches chitimba's village. presents sultan's letter to principal arab, hamees. the war in itawa. geography of the arabs. ivory traders and slave-dealers. appeal to the koran. gleans intelligence of the wasongo, to the eastward, and their chief, meréré. hamees sets out against nsama. tedious sojourn. departure for ponda. native cupping. chapter ix. peace negotiations with nsama. geographical gleanings. curious spider. reaches the river lofu. arrives at nsama's. hamees marries the daughter of nsama. flight of the bride. conflagration in arab quarters. anxious to visit lake moero. arab burial. serious illness. continues journey. slave-traders on the march. reaches moero. description of the lake. information concerning the chambezé and luapula. hears of lake bemba. visits spot of dr. lacerda's death. casembe apprised of livingstone's approach. meets mohamad bogharib. lakelet mofwé. arrives at casembe's town. chapter x. grand reception of the traveller. casembe and his wife. long stay in the town. goes to explore moero. despatch to lord clarendon, with notes on recent travels. illness at the end of . further exploration of lake moero. flooded plains. the river luao. visits kabwabwata. joy of arabs at mohamad bin salleh's freedom. again ill with fever. stories of underground dwellings. chapter xi riot in the camp. mohamad's account of his long imprisonment. superstitions about children's teeth. concerning dreams. news of lake chowambé. life of the arab slavers. the katanga gold supply. muabo. ascent of the rua mountains. syde bin habib. birthday, th march, . hostility of mpwéto. contemplates visiting lake bemba. nile sources. men desert. the shores of moero. visits fungafunga. return to casembe's. obstructiveness of "cropped-ears." accounts of pereira and dr. lacerda. major monteiro. the line of casembes. casembe explains the connection of the lakes and the luapula. queen moäri. arab sacrifice. kapika gets rid of his wife. chapter xii. prepares to examine lake bemba. starts from casembe's th june, . dead leopard. moenampanda's reception. the river luongo. weird death-song of slaves. the forest grave. lake bemba changed to lake bangweolo. chikumbi's. the imbozhwa people. kombokombo's stockade. mazitu difficulties. discovers lake bangweolo on th july, . the lake chief mapuni. description of the lake. prepares to navigate it. embarks for lifungé island. immense size of lake. reaches mpabala island. strange dream. fears of canoe men. return to shore. march back. sends letters. meets banyamwezi. reviews recent explorations at length. disturbed state of country. chapter xiii. cataracts of the kalongosi. passage of the river disputed. leeches and method of detaching them. syde bin habib's slaves escape. enormous collection of tusks. ill. theory of the nile sources. tribute to miss tinné. notes on climate. separation of lake nyassa from the nile system. observations on victoria nyanza. slaves dying. repentant deserters. mohamad bogharib. enraged imbozhwa. an attack. narrow escape. renewed attack. a parley. help arrives. bin juma. march from the imbozhwa country. slaves escape. burial of syde bin habib's brother. singular custom. an elephant killed. native game-laws. rumour of baker's expedition. christmas dinners. illustrations. [dr. livingstone, though no artist, had acquired a practice of making rude sketches of scenes and objects, which have furnished material for the engravers in the illustrations for this book.] full-page illustrations. . portrait of dr. livingstone. (from a photograph by annan) . slavers revenging their losses . slaves abandoned . chitapangwa receiving dr. livingstone . the village on lake liemba--tanganyika . the arrival of hamees' bride . discovery of lake bangweolo smaller illustrations. . dr. livingstone's house, zanzibar . dhow used for transport of dr. livingstone's camels . a thorn-climber . tomahawk and axe . carved door, zanzibar . tattoo of matambwÉ . imitation of basket-work in pottery . digging-stick weighted with round stone . manganja and machinga women . tatoo on women . carved stool made of a single wooden block . women's teeth hollowed out . mode of forging hoes . mallet for separating fibres of bark . the chief chitapangwa . chitapangwa's wives . filed teeth of queen moÄh . a forest grave general map of dr. livingstone's own discoveries chapter i. arrival at zanzibar. hearty reception by said majid, the sultan. murder of baron van der decken. the slave-market. preparations for starting to the interior. embarkation in h.m.s. _penguin_ and dhow. rovuma bay impracticable. disembarks at mikindany. joy at travelling once more. trouble with sepoys. camels attacked by tsetse fly, and by sepoys. jungle sappers. meets old enemies. the makondé. lake nangandi. gum-copal diggings. zanzibar, _ th january, ._--after a passage of twenty-three days from bombay we arrived at this island in the _thule_, which was one of captain sherard osborne's late chinese fleet, and now a present from the bombay government to the sultan of zanzibar. i was honoured with the commission to make the formal presentation, and this was intended by h.e. the governor-in-council to show in how much estimation i was held, and thereby induce the sultan to forward my enterprise. the letter to his highness was a commendatory epistle in my favour, for which consideration on the part of sir bartle frere i feel deeply grateful. it runs as follows:-- to his highness sejuel majid, sultan of zanzibar. (_copy._) "your highness,--i trust that this will find you in the enjoyment of health and happiness. "i have requested my friend, dr. david livingstone, who is already personally well and favourably known to your highness, to convey to you the assurance of the continual friendship and goodwill of her majesty's government in india. "your highness is already aware of the benevolent objects of dr. livingstone's life and labours, and i feel assured that your highness will continue to him the favour and protection which you have already shown to him on former occasions, and that your highness will direct every aid to be given him within your highness's dominions which may tend to further the philanthropic designs to which he has devoted himself, and which, as your highness is aware, are viewed with the warmest interest by her majesty's government both in india and england. "i trust your highness will favour me with continued accounts of your good health and welfare. "i remain, your highness's sincere friend, (signed) "h.b.e. frere. "bombay castle, _ nd january, ._" when we arrived dr. seward, the acting consul, was absent at the seychelles on account of serious failure of health: mr. schultz, however, was representing him, but he too was at the time away. dr. seward was expected back daily, and he did arrive on the st. i requested a private interview with the sultan, and on the following day ( th) called and told him the nature of my commission to his highness. he was very gracious, and seemed pleased with the gift, as well he might, for the _thule_ is fitted up in the most gorgeous manner. we asked a few days to put her in perfect order, and this being the ramadân, or fasting month, he was all the more willing to defer a visit to the vessel. dr. seward arranged to have an audience with the sultan, to carry out his instructions, which were to present me in a formal manner; captain bradshaw of the _wasp_, with captain leatham of the _vigilant_, and bishop tozer, were to accompany us in full dress, but the sultan had a toothache and gumboil, and could not receive us; he, however, placed one of his houses at my disposal, and appointed a man who speaks english to furnish board for my men and me, and also for captain brebner, of the _thule_, and his men. [illustration: livingstone's house, zanzibar.] _ th february, ._--the sultan being still unable to come, partly on account of toothache and partly on account of ramadân, he sent his commodore, captain abdullah, to receive the _thule_. when the english flag was hauled down in the _thule_, it went up to the mainmast of the _iskander shah_, and was saluted by twenty-one guns; then the _wasp_ saluted the arab flag with an equal number, which honour being duly acknowledged by a second royal salute from the _iskander shah_, captain abdullah's frigate, the ceremony ended. next day, the th, we were received by the sultan, and through his interpreter, i told him that his friend, the governor of bombay, had lately visited the south mahratta princes, and had pressed on them the necessity of education; the world was moving on, and those who neglected to acquire knowledge would soon find that power slipped through their fingers, and that the bombay government, in presenting his highness with a portion of steam power, showed its desire to impart one of the greatest improvements of modern times, not desiring to monopolize power, but hoping to lift up others with themselves, and i wished him to live a hundred years and enjoy all happiness. the idea was borrowed partly from sir bartle frere's addresses, because i thought it would have more weight if he heard a little from that source than if it emanated from myself. he was very anxious that captain brebner and his men, in returning to india, should take a passage from him in the _nadir shah_, one of his men-of-war, and though he had already placed his things aboard the _vigilant_, to proceed to seychelles, and thence to bombay, we persuaded captain brebner to accept his highness's hospitality. he had evidently set his heart on sending them back with suitable honours, and an hour after consent was given to go by the _nadir shah_, he signed an order for the money to fit her out. _ th february, ._--one of the foremost subjects that naturally occupied my mind here was the sad loss of the baron van der decken, on the river juba, or aljib. the first intimation of the unfortunate termination of his explorations was the appearance of lieutenant von schich at this place, who had left without knowing whether his leader were dead or alive, but an attack had been made on the encampment which had been planned after the steamer struck the rocks and filled, and two of the europeans were killed. the attacking party came from the direction in which the baron and dr. link went, and three men of note in it were slain. von schich went back from zanzibar to brava to ascertain the fate of the baron, and meanwhile several native sailors from zanzibar had been allowed to escape from the scene of confusion to brava. _ th february, ._--all the europeans went to pay visits of congratulation to his highness the sultan upon the conclusion of the ramadân, when sweetmeats were placed before us. he desired me to thank the governor of bombay for his magnificent gift, and to state that although he would like to have me always with him, yet he would show me the same favour in africa which he had done here: he added that the _thule_ was at my service to take me to the rovuma whenever i wished to leave. i replied that nothing had been wanting on his part; he had done more than i expected, and i was sure that his excellency the governor would be delighted to hear that the vessel promoted his health and prosperity; nothing would delight him more than this. he said that he meant to go out in her on wednesday next ( th): bishop tozer, captain fraser, dr. steere, and all the english were present. the sepoys came in and did obeisance; and i pointed out the nassick lads as those who had been rescued from slavery, educated, and sent back to their own country by the governor. surely he must see that some people in the world act from other than selfish motives. in the afternoon sheikh sulieman, his secretary, came with a letter for the governor, to be conveyed by lieutenant brebner, i.n., in the _nadir shah_, which is to sail to-morrow. he offered money to the lieutenant, but this could not be heard of for a moment. the translation of the letter is as follows, and is an answer to that which i brought. to his excellency the governor of bombay. [after compliments.] "... the end of my desire is to know ever that your excellency's health is good. as for me--your friend--i am very well. "your honoured letter borne by dr. livingstone duly reached me, and all that you said about him i understood. "i will show him respect, give him honour, and help him in all his affairs; and that i have already done this, i trust he will tell you. "i hope you will let me rest in your heart, and that you will send me many letters. "if you need anything i shall be glad, and will give it. "your sincere friend, "majid bin said. "dated nd shaul, ( th february, )." _ nd march, ._--a northern dhow came in with slaves; when this was reported to the sultan he ordered it to be burned, and we saw this done from the window of the consulate; but he has very little power over northern arabs. he has shown a little vigour of late. he wished to raise a revenue by a charge of per cent. on all articles brought into town for sale, but this is clearly contrary to treaty, which provides that no monopoly shall be permitted, and no dues save that of per cent. import duty. the french consul bullies him: indeed the french system of dealing with the natives is well expressed by that word; no wonder they cannot gain influence among them: the greatest power they exercise is by lending their flag to slaving dhows, so that it covers that nefarious traffic. the stench arising from a mile and a half or two square miles of exposed sea beach, which is the general depository of the filth of the town, is quite horrible. at night it is so gross or crass one might cut out a slice and manure a garden with it: it might be called stinkibar rather than zanzibar. no one can long enjoy good health here. on visiting the slave-market i found about slaves exposed for sale, the greater part of whom came from lake nyassa and the shiré river; i am so familiar with the peculiar faces and markings or tattooings, that i expect them to recognize me. indeed one woman said that she had heard of our passing up lake nyassa in a boat, but she did not see me: others came from chipéta, s.w. of the lake. all who have grown up seem ashamed at being hawked about for sale. the teeth are examined, the cloth lifted up to examine the lower limbs, and a stick is thrown for the slave to bring, and thus exhibit his paces. some are dragged through the crowd by the hand, and the price called out incessantly: most of the purchasers were northern arabs and persians. this is the period when the sultan's people may not carry slaves coastwise; but they simply cannot, for the wind is against them. many of the dhows leave for madagascar, and thence come back to complete their cargoes. the arabs are said to treat their slaves kindly, and this also may be said of native masters; the reason is, master and slave partake of the general indolence, but the lot of the slave does not improve with the general progress in civilization. while no great disparity of rank exists, his energies are little tasked, but when society advances, wants multiply; and to supply these the slave's lot grows harder. the distance between master and man increases as the lust of gain is developed, hence we can hope for no improvement in the slave's condition, unless the master returns to or remains in barbarism. _ th march, ._--rains have begun now that the sun is overhead. we expect the _penguin_ daily to come from johanna, and take us to the rovuma. it is an unwholesome place; six of my men have fever; few retain health long, and considering the lowness of the island, and the absence of sanitary regulations in the town, it is not to be wondered at. the sultan has little power, being only the successor to the captain of the horde of arabs who came down and overran the island and maritime coasts of the adjacent continent. he is called only said or syed, never sultan; and they can boast of choosing a new one if he does not suit them. some coins were found in digging here which have cufic inscriptions, and are about years old. the island is low; the highest parts may not be more than feet above the sea; it is of a coral formation, with sandstone conglomerate. most of the plants are african, but clove-trees, mangoes, and cocoa-nut groves give a luxuriant south sea island look to the whole scenery. we visited an old man to-day, the richest in zanzibar, who is to give me letters to his friends at tanganyika, and i am trying to get a depôt of goods for provisions formed there, so that when i reach it i may not be destitute. _ th march, ._--i have arranged with koorje, a banian, who farms the custom-house revenue here, to send a supply of beads, cloth, flour, tea, coffee, and sugar, to ujiji, on lake tanganyika. the arab there, with whom one of koorje's people will remain in charge of the goods, is called thani bin suelim. yesterday we went to take leave of the sultan, and to thank him for all his kindness to me and my men, which has indeed been very great. he offered me men to go with me, and another letter if i wished it. he looks very ill. i have received very great kindness during my stay from dr. and mrs. seward. they have done everything for me in their power: may god almighty return it all abundantly into their bosoms, in the way that he best can. dr. seward's views of the policy pursued here i have no doubt are the right ones; in fact, the only ones which can be looked back to with satisfaction, or that have probability of success among a race of pariah arabs. the _penguin_ came a few days ago, and lieutenant garforth in command agrees to take me down to the rovuma river, and land me there. i have a dhow to take my animals: six camels, three buffaloes, and a calf, two mules, and four donkeys. i have thirteen sepoys, ten johanna men, nine nassick boys, two shupanga men, and two wayaus, wekatani and chuma.[ ] [it may be well to point out that several of these men had previously been employed by dr. livingstone on the zambesi and shiré; thus musa, the johanna man, was a sailor on the _lady nyassa_, whilst susi and amoda were engaged at shupanga to cut wood for the _pioneer_. the two waiyau lads, wakatani and chuma, were liberated from the slavers by the doctor and bishop mackenzie in , and lived for three years with the mission party at chibisa's before they were engaged by livingstone. the nassick lads were entire strangers, and were trained in india.] _ th march, ._--we start this morning at a.m. i trust that the most high may prosper me in this work, granting me influence in the eyes of the heathen, and helping me to make my intercourse beneficial to them. _ nd march, ._--we reached rovuma bay to-day, and anchored about two miles from the mouth of the river, in five fathoms. i went up the left bank to see if the gullies which formerly ran into the bay had altered, so as to allow camels to cross them: they seemed to have become shallower. there was no wind for the dhow, and as for the man-of-war towing her, it was out of the question. on the rd the cutter did try to tow the dhow, but without success, as a strong tide runs constantly out of the river at this season. a squall came up from the s.e., which would have taken the dhow in, but the master was on board the _penguin_, and said he had no large sail. i got him off to his vessel, but the wind died away before we could reach the mouth of the river. _ th march, ._--i went to the dhow, and there being no wind i left orders with the captain to go up the right bank should a breeze arise. mr. fane, midshipman, accompanied me up the left bank above, to see if we could lead the camels along in the water. near the point where the river first makes a little bend to the north, we landed and found three formidable gullies, and jungle so thick with bush, date-palms, twining bamboo, and hooked thorns, that one could scarcely get along. further inland it was sticky mud, thickly planted over with mangrove roots and gullies in whose soft banks one sank over the ankles. no camels could have moved, and men with extreme difficulty might struggle through; but we never could have made an available road. we came to a she-hippopotamus lying in a ditch, which did not cover her; mr. fane fired into her head, and she was so upset that she nearly fell backward in plunging up the opposite bank: her calf was killed, and was like sucking-pig, though in appearance as large as a full-grown sow. we now saw that the dhow had a good breeze, and she came up along the right bank and grounded at least a mile from the spot where the mangroves ceased. the hills, about two hundred feet high, begin about two or three miles above that, and they looked invitingly green and cool. my companion and i went from the dhow inland, to see if the mangroves gave way, to a more walkable country, but the swamp covered over thickly with mangroves only became worse the farther we receded from the river. the whole is flooded at high tides, and had we landed all the men we should have been laid up with fever ere we could have attained the higher land, which on the right bank bounds the line of vision, and the first part of which lies so near. i thought i had better land on the sand belt on the left of rovuma bay, and then explore and get information from the natives, none of whom had as yet come near us, so i ordered the dhow to come down to the spot next day, and went on board the _penguin_. lieutenant garforth was excessively kind, and though this is his best time for cruising in the north, he most patiently agreed to wait and help me to land. _ th march, ._--during the night it occurred to me that we should be in a mess if after exploration and information from the natives we could find no path, and when i mentioned this, lieutenant garforth suggested that we should proceed to kilwa, so at a.m. i went up to the dhow with mr. fane, and told the captain that we were going there. he was loud in his protestations against this, and strongly recommended the port of mikindany, as quite near to rovuma, nyassa, and the country i wished to visit, besides being a good landing-place, and the finest port on the coast. thither we went, and on the same evening landed all our animals in mikindany bay, which lies only twenty-five miles n. of rovuma. the _penguin_ then left. the rovuma is quite altered from what it was when first we visited it. it is probable that the freshets form banks inside the mouth, which are washed out into the deep bay, and this periodical formation probably has prevented the arabs from using the rovuma as a port of shipment. it is not likely that mr. may[ ] would have made a mistake if the middle were as shoal as now: he found soundings of three fathoms or more. [illustration: dhow used for transport of dr. livingstone's camels.] _ th march, ._--i hired a house for four dollars a month and landed all our goods from the dhow. the bay gives off a narrow channel, about yards wide and yards long, the middle is deep, but the sides are coral reefs and shoal: the deep part seems about yards wide. outside in the bay of mikindany there is no anchorage except on the edge of the reef where the _penguin_ got seven fathoms, but further in it was only two fathoms. the inner bay is called pemba, not pimlea, as erroneously printed in the charts of owen. it is deep and quite sheltered; another of a similar round form lies somewhat to the south: this bay may be two miles square. the cattle are all very much the worse for being knocked about in the dhow. we began to prepare saddles of a very strong tree called ntibwé, which is also used for making the hooked spear with which hippopotami are killed--the hook is very strong and tough; i applied also for twenty carriers and a banian engaged to get them as soon as possible. the people have no cattle here, they are half-caste arabs mostly, and quite civil to us. _ th march, ._--a few of the nassick boys have the slave spirit pretty strongly; it goes deepest in those who have the darkest skins. two gallah men are the most intelligent and hardworking among them; some look on work with indifference when others are the actors. now that i am on the point of starting on another trip into africa i feel quite exhilarated: when one travels with the specific object in view of ameliorating the condition of the natives every act becomes ennobled. whether exchanging the customary civilities, or arriving at a village, accepting a night's lodging, purchasing food for the party, asking for information, or answering polite african enquiries as to our objects in travelling, we begin to spread a knowledge of that people by whose agency their land will yet become enlightened and freed from the slave-trade. the mere animal pleasure of travelling in a wild unexplored country is very great. when on lands of a couple of thousand feet elevation, brisk exercise imparts elasticity to the muscles, fresh and healthy blood circulates through the brain, the mind works well, the eye is clear, the step is firm, and a day's exertion always makes the evening's repose thoroughly enjoyable. we have usually the stimulus of remote chances of danger either from beasts or men. our sympathies are drawn out towards our humble hardy companions by a community of interests, and, it may be, of perils, which make us all friends. nothing but the most pitiable puerility would lead any manly heart to make their inferiority a theme for self-exaltation; however, that is often done, as if with the vague idea that we can, by magnifying their deficiencies, demonstrate our immaculate perfections. the effect of travel on a man whose heart is in the right place is that the mind is made more self-reliant: it becomes more confident of its own resources--there is greater presence of mind. the body is soon well-knit; the muscles of the limbs grow as hard as a board, and seem to have no fat; the countenance is bronzed, and there is no dyspepsia. africa is a most wonderful country for appetite, and it is only when one gloats over marrow bones or elephant's feet that indigestion is possible. no doubt much toil is involved, and fatigue of which travellers in the more temperate climes can form but a faint conception; but the sweat of one's brow is no longer a curse when one works for god: it proves a tonic to the system, and is actually a blessing. no one can truly appreciate the charm of repose unless he has undergone severe exertion. _ th march, ._--the point of land which on the north side of the entrance to the harbour narrows it to about yards is alone called pemba; the other parts have different names. looking northwards from the point, the first hundred yards has ninety square houses of wattled daub; a ruin (a mosque) has been built of lime and coral. the whole point is coral, and the soil is red, and covered over with dense tropical vegetation, in which the baobab is conspicuous. dhows at present come in with ease by the easterly wind which blows in the evening, and leave next morning, the land wind taking them out. while the camels and other animals are getting over their fatigues and bad bruises, we are making camels' saddles, and repairing those of the mules and buffaloes. oysters abound on all the rocks and on the trees over which the tide flows: they are small, but much relished by the people. the arabs here are a wretched lot physically--thin, washed-out creatures--many with bleared eyes. _ - th march, ._--- this harbour has somewhat the shape of a bent bow or the spade on a playing-card, the shaft of the arrow being the entrance in; the passage is very deep, but not more than yards wide, and it goes in nearly s.w.; inside it is deep and quite secure, and protected from all winds. the lands westward rise at once to about feet, and john, a hill, is the landmark by which it is best known in coming along the coast--so say the arabs. the people have no cattle, but say there are no tsetse flies: they have not been long here, _i.e._ under the present system; but a ruin on the northern peninsula or face of the entrance, built of stone and lime--arab-fashion, and others on the north-west, show that the place has been known and used of old. the adjacent country has large game at different water pools, and as the whole country is somewhat elevated it probably is healthy. there is very little mangrove, but another enclosed piece of water to the south of this probably has more. the language of the people here is swaheli; they trade a little in gum-copal and orchilla weed. an agent of the zanzibar custom-house presides over the customs, which are very small, and a jemidar acknowledging the sultan is the chief authority; but the people are little superior to the natives whom they have displaced. the jemidar has been very civil to me, and gives me two guides to go on to adondé, but no carriers can be hired. water is found in wells in the coral rock which underlies the whole place. _ th april, ._--when about to start from pemba, at the entrance to the other side of the bay one of our buffaloes gored a donkey so badly that he had to be shot: we cut off the tips of the offender's horns, on the principle of "locking the stable-door when the steed is stolen," and marched. we came to level spots devoid of vegetation, and hard on the surface, but a deposit of water below allowed the camels to sink up to their bodies through the crust. hauling them out, we got along to the jemidar's house, which is built of coral and lime. hamesh was profuse in his professions of desire to serve, but gave a shabby hut which let in rain and wind. i slept one night in it, and it was unbearable, so i asked the jemidar to allow me to sleep in his court-room, where many of the sepoys were: he consented, but when i went refused; then, being an excitable, nervous arab, he took fright, mustered all his men, amounting to about fifteen, with matchlocks; ran off, saying he was going to kill a lion; came back, shook hands nervously with me, vowing it was a man who would not obey him, "it was not you." our goods were all out in the street, bound on the pack-saddles, so at night we took the ordinary precaution of setting a guard. this excited our dignitary, and after dark all his men were again mustered with matches lighted. i took no notice of him, and after he had spent a good deal of talk, which we could hear, he called musa and asked what i meant. the explanations of musa had the effect of sending him to bed, and in the morning, when i learned how much i had most unintentionally disturbed him, i told him that i was sorry, but it did not occur to me to tell him about an ordinary precaution against thieves. he thought he had given me a crushing reply when he said with vehemence, "but there are no thieves here." i did not know till afterwards that he and others had done me an ill turn in saying that no carriers could be hired from the independent tribes adjacent. they are low-coast arabs, three-quarters african, and, as usual, possess the bad without the good qualities of both parents. many of them came and begged brandy, and laughed when they remarked that they could drink it in secret but not openly; they have not, however, introduced it as an article of trade, as we christians have done on the west coast. _ th april, ._--we made a short march round to the south-west side of the lake, and spent the night at a village in that direction. there are six villages dotted round the inner harbour, and the population may amount to or souls--coast arabs and their slaves; the southern portion of the harbour is deep, from ten to fourteen fathoms, but the north-western part is shoal and rocky. very little is done in the way of trade; some sorghum, sem-sem seed, gum-copal, and orchilla weed, constitute the commerce of the port: i saw two banian traders settled here. _ th april, ._--went about south from kindany with a somalie guide, named ben ali or bon ali, a good-looking obliging man, who was to get twenty dollars to take us up to ngomano. our path lay in a valley, with well-wooded heights on each side, but the grass towered over our heads, and gave the sensation of smothering, whilst the sun beat down on our heads very fiercely, and there was not a breath of air stirring. not understanding camels, i had to trust to the sepoys who overloaded them, and before we had accomplished our march of about seven miles they were knocked up. _ th april, ._--we spent the sunday at a village called nyañgedi. here on the evening of the th april our buffaloes and camels were first bitten by the tsetse fly.[ ] we had passed through some pieces of dense jungle which, though they offered no obstruction to foot-passengers, but rather an agreeable shade, had to be cut for the tall camels, and fortunately we found the makondé of this village glad to engage themselves by the day either as woodcutters or carriers. we had left many things with the jemidar from an idea that no carriers could be procured. i lightened the camels, and had a party of woodcutters to heighten and widen the path in the dense jungle into which we now penetrated. every now and then we emerged on open spaces, where the makondé have cleared gardens for sorghum, maize, and cassava. the people were very much more taken up with the camels and buffaloes than with me. they are all independent of each other, and no paramount chief exists. their foreheads may be called compact, narrow, and rather low; the _alae nasi_ expanded laterally; lips full, not excessively thick; limbs and body well formed; hands and feet small; colour dark and light-brown; height middle size, and bearing independent. _ th april, ._--we reached a village called narri, lat. ° ' " s. many of the men had touches of fever. i gave medicine to eleven of them, and next morning all were better. food is abundant and cheap. our course is nearly south, and in "wadys," from which, following the trade-road, we often ascend the heights, and then from the villages, which are on the higher land, we descend to another on the same wady. no running water is seen; the people depend on wells for a supply. _ th april, ._--at tandahara we were still ascending as we went south; the soil is very fertile, with a good admixture of sand in it, but no rocks are visible. very heavy crops of maize and sorghum are raised, and the cassava bushes are seven feet in height. the bamboos are cleared off them, spread over the space to be cultivated and burned to serve as manure. iron is very scarce, for many of the men appear with wooden spears; they find none here, but in some spots where an ooze issued from the soil iron rust appeared. at each of the villages where we spent a night we presented a fathom of calico, and the headman always gave a fowl or two, and a basket of rice or maize. the makondé dialect is quite different from swaheli, but from their intercourse with the coast arabs many of the people here have acquired a knowledge of swaheli. [illustration: a thorn-climber.] _ th april, ._--on starting we found the jungle so dense that the people thought "there was no cutting it:" it continued upwards of three miles. the trees are not large, but so closely planted together that a great deal of labour was required to widen and heighten the path: where bamboos prevail they have starved out the woody trees. the reason why the trees are not large is because all the spaces we passed over were formerly garden ground before the makondé had been thinned by the slave-trade. as soon as a garden is deserted, a thick crop of trees of the same sorts as those formerly cut down springs up, and here the process of woody trees starving out their fellows, and occupying the land without dense scrub below, has not had time to work itself out. many are mere poles, and so intertwined with climbers as to present the appearance of a ship's ropes and cables shaken in among them, and many have woody stems as thick as an eleven-inch hawser. one species may be likened to the scabbard of a dragoon's sword, but along the middle of the flat side runs a ridge, from which springs up every few inches a bunch of inch-long straight sharp thorns. it hangs straight for a couple of yards, but as if it could not give its thorns a fair chance of mischief, it suddenly bends on itself, and all its cruel points are now at right angles to what they were before. darwin's observation shows a great deal of what looks like instinct in these climbers. this species seems to be eager for mischief; its tangled limbs hang out ready to inflict injury on all passers-by. another climber is so tough it is not to be broken by the fingers; another appears at its root as a young tree, but it has the straggling habits of its class, as may be seen by its cords stretched some fifty or sixty feet off; it is often two inches in diameter; you cut it through at one part and find it reappear forty yards off. [illustration: tomahawk and axe.] another climber is like the leaf of an aloe, but convoluted as strangely as shavings from the plane of a carpenter. it is dark green in colour, and when its bark is taken off it is beautifully striated beneath, lighter and darker green, like the rings of growth on wood; still another is a thin string with a succession of large knobs, and another has its bark pinched up all round at intervals so as to present a great many cutting edges. one sort need scarcely be mentioned, in which all along its length are strong bent hooks, placed in a way that will hold one if it can but grapple with him, for that is very common and not like those mentioned, which the rather seem to be stragglers from the carboniferous period of geologists, when pachydermata wriggled unscathed among tangled masses worse than these. we employed about ten jolly young makondé to deal with these prehistoric plants in their own way, for they are accustomed to clearing spaces for gardens, and went at the work with a will, using tomahawks well adapted for the work. they whittled away right manfully, taking an axe when any trees had to be cut. their pay, arranged beforehand, was to be one yard of calico per day: this is not much, seeing we are still so near the sea-coast. climbers and young trees melted before them like a cloud before the sun! many more would have worked than we employed, but we used the precaution of taking the names of those engaged. the tall men became exhausted soonest, while the shorter men worked vigorously still--but a couple of days' hard work seemed to tell on the best of them. it is doubtful if any but meat-eating people can stand long-continued labour without exhaustion: the chinese may be an exception. when french navvies were first employed they could not do a tithe of the work of our english ones; but when the french were fed in the same style as the english, they performed equally well. here the makondé have rarely the chance of a good feed of meat: it is only when one of them is fortunate enough to spear a wild hog or an antelope that they know this luxury; if a fowl is eaten they get but a taste of it with their porridge. _ th april, ._--we now began to descend the northern slope down to the rovuma, and a glimpse could occasionally be had of the country; it seemed covered with great masses of dark green forest, but the undulations occasionally looked like hills, and here and there a sterculia had put on yellow foliage in anticipation of the coming winter. more frequently our vision was circumscribed to a few yards till our merry woodcutters made for us the pleasant scene of a long vista fit for camels to pass: as a whole, the jungle would have made the authors of the natty little hints to travellers smile at their own productions, good enough, perhaps, where one has an open country with trees and hills; by which to take bearings, estimate distances, see that one point is on the same latitude, another on the same longitude with such another, and all to be laid down fair and square with protractor and compass, but so long as we remained within the vegetation, that is fed by the moisture from the indian ocean, the steamy, smothering air, and dank, rank, luxuriant vegetation made me feel, like it, struggling for existence,--and no more capable of taking bearings than if i had been in a hogshead and observing through the bunghole! an old monyiñko headman presented a goat and asked if the sepoys wished to cut its throat: the johannees, being of a different sect of mahometans, wanted to cut it in some other way than their indian co-religionists: then ensued a fierce dispute as to who was of the right sort of moslem! it was interesting to see that not christians alone, but other nations feel keenly on religious subjects. i saw rocks of grey sandstone (like that which overlies coal) and the rovuma in the distance. didi is the name of a village whose headsman, chombokëa, is said to be a doctor; all the headmen pretend or are really doctors; however one, fundindomba, came after me for medicine for himself. _ th april, ._--to-day we succeeded in reaching the rovuma, where some very red cliffs appear on the opposite heights, and close by where it is marked on the map that the _pioneer_ turned back in . here we rested on sunday th. _ th april, ._--our course now lay westwards, along the side of that ragged outline of table-land, which we had formerly seen from the river as flanking both sides. there it appeared a range of hills shutting in rovuma, here we had spurs jutting out towards the river, and valleys retiring from a mile to three miles inland. sometimes we wended our way round them, sometimes rose over and descended their western sides, and then a great deal of wood-cutting was required. the path is not straight, but from one village to another. we came perpetually on gardens, and remarked that rice was sown among the other grain; there must be a good deal of moisture at other times to admit of this succeeding: at present the crops were suffering for want of rain. we could purchase plenty of rice for the sepoys, and well it was so, for the supply which was to last till we arrived at ngomano was finished on the th. an old doctor, with our food awaiting, presented me with two large bags of rice and his wife husked it for us. _ th april, ._--i had to leave the camels in the hands of the sepoys: i ordered them to bring as little luggage as possible, and the havildar assured me that two buffaloes were amply sufficient to carry all they would bring. i now find that they have more than full loads for two buffaloes, two mules, and two donkeys; but when these animals fall down under them, they assure me with so much positiveness that they are not overloaded, that i have to be silent, or only, as i have several times done before, express the opinion that they will kill these animals. this observation on my part leads them to hide their things in the packs of the camels, which also are over-burdened. i fear that my experiment with the tsetse will be vitiated, but no symptoms yet occur in any of the camels except weariness.[ ] the sun is very sharp; it scorches. nearly all the sepoys had fever, but it is easily cured; they never required to stop marching, and we cannot make over four or five miles a day, which movement aids in the cure. in all cases of fever removal from the spot of attack should be made: after the fever among the sepoys, the nassick boys took their turn along with the johannees. _ th april, ._--ben ali misled us away up to the north in spite of my protest, when we turned in that direction; he declared that was the proper path. we had much wood-cutting, and found that our course that day and next was to enable him to visit and return from one of his wives--a comely makondé woman! he brought her to call on me, and i had to be polite to the lady, though we lost a day by the zigzag. this is one way by which the arabs gain influence; a great many very light-coloured people are strewed among the makondé, but only one of these had the arab hair. on asking ali whether any attempts had been made by arabs to convert those with whom they enter into such intimate relationships, he replied that the makondé had no idea of a deity--no one could teach them, though makondé slaves when taken to the coast and elsewhere were made mahometans. since the slave-trade was introduced this tribe has much diminished in numbers, and one village makes war upon another and kidnaps, but no religious teaching has been attempted. the arabs come down to the native ways, and make no efforts to raise the natives to theirs; it is better that it is so, for the coast arab's manners and morals would be no improvement on the pagan african! _ th april, ._--we were led up over a hill again, and on to the level of the plateau (where the evaporation is greater than in the valley), and tasted water of an agreeable coldness for the first time this journey. the people, especially the women, are very rude, and the men very eager to be employed as woodcutters. very merry they are at it, and every now and then one raises a cheerful shout, in which all join. i suppose they are urged on by a desire to please their wives with a little clothing. the higher up the rovuma we ascend the people are more and more tattooed on the face, and on all parts of the body. the teeth are filed to points, and huge lip-rings are worn by the women; some few mabeha men from the south side of the river have lip-rings too. _ th april, ._--a johanna man allowed the camels to trespass and destroy a man's tobacco patch: the owner would not allow us after this to pass through his rice-field, in which the route lay. i examined the damage, and made the johanna man pay a yard of calico for it, which set matters all right. tsetse are biting the buffaloes again. elephants, hippopotami, and pigs are the only game here, but we see none: the tsetse feed on them. in the low meadow land, from one to three miles broad, which lies along both banks, we have brackish pools, and one, a large one, which we passed, called wrongwé, had much fish, and salt is got from it. _ st april, ._--after a great deal of cutting we reached the valley of mehambwé to spend sunday, all glad that it had come round again. here some men came to our camp from ndondé, who report that an invasion of mazitu had three months ago swept away all the food out of the country, and they are now obliged to send in every direction for provisions. when saluting, they catch each other's hands and say, "ai! ai!" but the general mode (introduced, probably by the arabs) is to take hold of the right hand, and say, "marhaba" (welcome). a wall-eyed ill-looking fellow, who helped to urge on the attack on our first visit in , and the man to whom i gave cloth to prevent a collision, came about us disguised in a jacket. i knew him well, but said nothing to him.[ ] _ rd april, ._--when we marched this morning we passed the spot where an animal had been burned in the fire, and on enquiry i found that it is the custom when a leopard is killed to take off the skin and consume the carcase thus, because the makondé do not eat it. the reason they gave for not eating flesh which is freely eaten by other tribes, is that the leopard devours men; this shows the opposite of an inclination to cannibalism. all the rocks we had seen showed that the plateau consists of grey sandstone, capped by a ferruginous sandy conglomerate. we now came to blocks of silicified wood lying on the surface; it is so like recent wood, that no one who has not handled it would conceive it to be stone and not wood: the outer surface preserves the grain or woody fibre, the inner is generally silica. buffaloes bitten by tsetse again show no bad effects from it: one mule is, however, dull and out of health; i thought that this might be the effect of the bite till i found that his back was so strained that he could not stoop to drink, and could only eat the tops of the grasses. an ox would have been ill in two days after the biting on the th. a carrier stole a shirt, and went off unsuspected; when the loss was ascertained, the man's companions tracked him with ben ali by night, got him in his hut, and then collected the headmen of the village, who fined him about four times the value of what had been stolen. they came back in the morning without seeming to think that they had done aught to be commended; this was the only case of theft we had noticed, and the treatment showed a natural sense of justice. _ th april, ._--we had showers occasionally, but at night all the men were under cover of screens. the fevers were speedily cured; no day was lost by sickness, but we could not march more than a few miles, owing to the slowness of the sepoys; they are a heavy drag on us, and of no possible use, except when acting as sentries at night. when in the way between kendany and rovuma, i observed a plant here, called _mandaré_, the root of which is in taste and appearance like a waxy potato; i saw it once before at the falls below the barotsé valley, in the middle of the continent; it had been brought there by an emigrant, who led out the water for irrigation, and it still maintained its place in the soil. would this not prove valuable in the soil of india? i find that it is not cultivated further up the country of the makondé, but i shall get ali to secure some for bombay. _ th april, ._--a serpent bit jack, our dog, above the eye, the upper eyelid swelled very much, but no other symptoms appeared, and next day all swelling was gone; the serpent was either harmless, or the quantity of poison injected very small. the pace of the camels is distressingly slow, and it suits the sepoys to make it still slower than natural by sitting down to smoke and eat. the grass is high and ground under it damp and steamy. _ th april, ._--on the th we reached narri, and resolved to wait the next day and buy food, as it is not so plentiful in front; the people are eager traders in meal, fowls, eggs, and honey; the women are very rude. yesterday i caught a sepoy, pando, belabouring a camel with a big stick as thick as any part of his arm, the path being narrow, it could not get out of his way; i shouted to him to desist; he did not know i was in sight, to-day the effect of the bad usage is seen in the animal being quite unable to move its leg: inflammation has set up in the hip-joint. i am afraid that several bruises which have festered on the camels, and were to me unaccountable, have been wilfully bestowed. this same pando and another left zanzibar drunk: he then stole a pair of socks from me, and has otherwise been perfectly useless, even a pimple on his leg was an excuse for doing nothing for many days. we had to leave this camel at narri under charge of the headman. _ th april, ._--the hills on the north now retire out of our sight. a gap in the southern plateau gives passage to a small river, which arises in a lakelet of some size, eight or ten miles inland: the river and lakelet are both called nangadi; the latter is so broad that men cannot be distinguished, even by the keen eyes of the natives on the other side: it is very deep, and abounds in large fish; the people who live there are mabiha. a few miles above this gap the southern highland falls away, and there are lakelets on marshes, also abounding in fish, an uninhabited space next succeeds, and then we have the matambwé country, which extends up to ngomano. the matambwé seem to be a branch of the makondé, and a very large one: their country extends a long way south, and is well stocked with elephants and gum-copal trees. they speak a language slightly different from that of the makondé, but they understand them. the matambwé women are, according to ali, very dark, but very comely, though they do wear the lip-ring. they carry their ivory, gum-copal, and slaves to ibo or wibo. _ th april, ._--we spend sunday, the th, on the banks of the rovuma, at a village called nachuchu, nearly opposite konayumba, the first of the matambwé, whose chief is called kimbembé. ali draws a very dark picture of the makondé. he says they know nothing of a deity, they pray to their mothers when in distress or dying; know nothing of a future state, nor have they any religion except a belief in medicine; and every headsman is a doctor. no arab has ever tried to convert them, but occasionally a slave taken to the coast has been circumcised in order to be clean; some of them pray, and say they know not the ordeal or muavi. the nassick boys failed me when i tried to communicate some knowledge through them. they say they do not understand the makondé language, though some told me that they came from ndondé's, which is the head-quarters of the makondé. ali says that the makondé blame witches for disease and death; when one of a village dies, the whole population departs, saying "that is a bad spot." they are said to have been notorious for fines, but an awe has come over them, and no complaints have been made, though our animals in passing the gardens have broken a good deal of corn. ali says they fear the english. this is an answer to my prayer for influence on the minds of the heathen. i regret that i cannot speak to them that good of his name which i ought. i went with the makondé to see a specimen of the gum-copal tree in the vicinity of this village. the leaves are in pairs, glossy green, with the veins a little raised on both face and back; the smaller branches diverge from the same point: the fruit, of which we saw the shells, seems to be a nut; some animal had in eating them cut them through. the bark of the tree is of a light ash colour; the gum was oozing from the bark at wounded places, and it drops on the ground from branches; it is thus that insects are probably imbedded in the gum-copal. the people dig in the vicinity of modern trees in the belief that the more ancient trees which dropped their gum before it became an article of commerce must have stood there. "in digging, none may be found on one day but god (mungu) may give it to us on the next." to this all the makondé present assented, and showed me the consciousness of his existence was present in their minds. the makondé get the gum in large quantities, and this attracts the coast arabs, who remain a long time in the country purchasing it. hernia humoralis abounds; it is ascribed to beer-drinking. _ th april, ._--many ulcers burst forth on the camels; some seem old dhow bruises. they come back from pasture, bleeding in a way that no rubbing against a tree would account for. i am sorry to suspect foul play: the buffaloes and mules are badly used, but i cannot be always near to prevent it. bhang[ ] is not smoked, but tobacco is: the people have no sheep or goats; only fowls, pigeons, and muscovy ducks are seen. honey is very cheap; a good large pot of about a gallon, with four fowls, was given for two yards of calico. buffaloes again bitten by tsetse, and by another fly exactly like the house-fly, but having a straight hard proboscis instead of a soft one; other large flies make the blood run. the tsetse does not disturb the buffaloes, but these others and the smaller flies do. the tsetse seem to like the camel best; from these they are gorged with blood--they do not seem to care for the mules and donkeys. [illustration: carved door, zanzibar.] footnotes: [ ] dhow is the name given to the coasting vessel of east africa and the indian ocean. [ ] the commander of h.m.s. _pioneer_ in . [ ] those who have read the accounts given by african travellers will remember that the bites inflicted by two or three of these small flies will visually lay the foundation of a sickness which destroys oxen, horses, and dogs in a few weeks. [ ] dr. livingstone was anxious to try camels and indian buffaloes in a tsetse country to see the effect upon them. [ ] this refers to an attack made upon the boats of the _pioneer_ when the doctor was exploring the river rovuma in . [ ] a species of hemp. chapter ii. effect of _pioneer's_ former visit. the poodle chitané. result of tsetse bites. death of camels and buffaloes. disaffection of followers. disputed right of ferry. mazitu raids. an old friend. severe privations. the river loendi. sepoys mutiny. dr. roscher. desolation. tattooing. ornamental teeth. singular custom. death of the nassick boy, richard. a sad reminiscence. _ st may, ._--we now came along through a country comparatively free of wood, and we could move on without perpetual cutting and clearing. it is beautiful to get a good glimpse out on the surrounding scenery, though it still seems nearly all covered with great masses of umbrageous foliage, mostly of a dark green colour, for nearly all of the individual trees possess dark glossy leaves like laurel. we passed a gigantic specimen of the kumbé, or gum-copal tree. kumba means to dig. changkumbé, or things dug, is the name of the gum; the arabs call it "sandarusé." did the people give the name kumbé to the tree after the value of the gum became known to them? the malolé, from the fine grained wood of which all the bows are made, had shed its fruit on the ground; it looks inviting to the eye--an oblong peach-looking thing, with a number of seeds inside, but it is eaten by maggots only. when we came to ntandé's village, we found it enclosed in a strong stockade, from a fear of attack by mabiha, who come across the river and steal their women when going to draw water: this is for the ibo market. they offered to pull down their stockade and let us in if we would remain over-night, but we declined. before reaching ntandé we passed the ruins of two villages; the owners were the attacking party when we ascended the rovuma in . i have still the old sail, with four bullet-holes through it, made by the shots which they fired after we had given cloth and got assurances of friendship. the father and son of this village were the two men seen by the second boat preparing to shoot; the fire of her crew struck the father on the chin and the son on the head. it may have been for the best that the english are thus known as people who can hit hard when unjustly attacked, as we on this occasion most certainly were: never was a murderous assault more unjustly made or less provoked. they had left their villages and gone up over the highlands away from the river to their ambush whilst their women came to look at us. _ nd may, ._--mountains again approach us, and we pass one which was noticed in our first ascent from its resemblance to a table mountain. it is or feet high, and called liparu: the plateau now becomes mountainous, giving forth a perennial stream which comes down from its western base and forms a lagoon on the meadow-land that flanks the rovuma. the trees which love these perpetual streams spread their roots all over the surface of the boggy banks, and make a firm surface, but at spots one may sink a yard deep. we had to fill up these deep ditches with branches and leaves, unload the animals, and lead them across. we spent the night on the banks of the liparu,[ ] and then proceeded on our way. _ rd may, ._--we rested in a makoa village, the head of which was an old woman. the makoa or makoané are known by a half-moon figure tattooed on their foreheads or elsewhere. our poodle dog chitané chased the dogs of this village with unrelenting fury, his fierce looks inspired terror among the wretched pariah dogs of a yellow and white colour, and those looks were entirely owing to its being difficult to distinguish at which end his head or tail lay. he enjoyed the chase of the yelping curs immensely, but if one of them had turned he would have bolted the other way. a motherly-looking woman came forward and offered me some meal; this was when we were in the act of departing: others had given food to the men and no return had been made. i told her to send it on by her husband, and i would purchase it, but it would have been better to have accepted it: some give merely out of kindly feeling and with no prospect of a return. many of the makoa men have their faces thickly tattooed in double, raised lines of about half an inch in length. after the incisions are made charcoal is rubbed in and the flesh pressed out, so that all the cuts are raised above the level of the surface. it gives them rather a hideous look, and a good deal of that fierceness which our kings and chiefs of old put on whilst having their portraits taken. _ th may, ._--the stream, embowered in perpetual shade and overspread with the roots of water-loving, broad-leaved trees, we found to be called nkonya. the spot of our encampment was an island formed by a branch of it parting and re-entering it again: the owner had used it for rice. the buffaloes were bitten again by tsetse on nd, and also to-day, from the bites of other flies (which look much more formidable than tsetse), blood of arterial colour flows down; this symptom i never saw before, but when we slaughtered an ox which had been tsetse bitten, we observed that the blood had the arterial hue. the cow has inflammation of one eye, and a swelling on the right lumbar portion of the pelvis: the grey buffalo has been sick, but this i attribute to unmerciful loading; for his back is hurt: the camels do not seem to feel the fly, though they get weaker from the horrid running sores upon them and hard work. there are no symptoms of tsetse in mules or donkeys, but one mule has had his shoulder sprained, and he cannot stoop to eat or drink. we saw the last of the flanking range on the north. the country in front is plain, with a few detached granitic peaks shot up. the makoa in large numbers live at the end of the range in a place called nyuchi. at nyamba, a village where we spent the night of the th, was a doctoress and rain-maker, who presented a large basket of soroko, or, as they call it in india, "mung," and a fowl. she is tall and well made, with fine limbs and feet, and was profusely tattooed all over; even her hips and buttocks had their elaborate markings: no shame is felt in exposing these parts. a good deal of salt is made by lixiviation of the soil and evaporating by fire. the head woman had a tame khanga tolé or tufted guinea-fowl, with bluish instead of white spots. in passing along westwards after leaving the end of the range, we came first of all on sandstone hardened by fire; then masses of granite, as if in that had been contained the igneous agency of partial metamorphosis; it had also lifted up the sandstone, so as to cause a dip to the east. then the syenite or granite seemed as if it had been melted, for it was all in striae, which striae, as they do elsewhere, run east and west. with the change in geological structure we get a different vegetation. instead of the laurel-leaved trees of various kinds, we have african ebonies, acacias, and mimosae: the grass is shorter and more sparse, and we can move along without wood-cutting. we were now opposite a hill on the south called simba, a lion, from its supposed resemblance to that animal. a large mabiha population live there, and make raids occasionally over to this side for slaves. _ th may, ._--tsetse again. the animals look drowsy. the cow's eye is dimmed; when punctured, the skin emits a stream of scarlet blood. the people hereabouts seem intelligent and respectful. at service a man began to talk, but when i said, "ku soma mlungu,"--"we wish to pray to god," he desisted. it would be interesting to know what the ideas of these men are, and to ascertain what they have gained in their communings with nature during the ages past. they do not give the idea of that boisterous wickedness and disregard of life which we read of in our own dark ages, but i have no one to translate, although i can understand much of what is said on common topics chiefly from knowing other dialects. _ th may, ._--a camel died during the night, and the grey buffalo is in convulsions this morning. the cruelty of these sepoys vitiates my experiment, and i quite expect many camels, one buffalo, and one mule to die yet; they sit down and smoke and eat, leaving the animals loaded in the sun. if i am not with them, it is a constant dawdling; they are evidently unwilling to exert themselves, they cannot carry their belts and bags, and their powers of eating and vomiting are astounding. the makondé villages are remarkably clean, but no sooner do we pass a night in one than the fellows make it filthy. the climate does give a sharp appetite, but these sepoys indulge it till relieved by vomiting and purging. first of all they breakfast, then an hour afterwards they are sitting eating the pocketfuls of corn maize they have stolen and brought for the purpose, whilst i have to go ahead, otherwise we may be misled into a zigzag course to see ali's friends; and if i remain behind to keep the sepoys on the move, it deprives me of all the pleasure of travelling. we have not averaged four miles a day in a straight line, yet the animals have often been kept in the sun for eight hours at a stretch. when we get up at a.m. we cannot get under weigh before o'clock. sepoys are a mistake. _ th may, ._--we are now opposite a mountain called nabungala, which resembles from the north-east an elephant lying down. another camel, a very good one, died on the way: its shiverings and convulsions are not at all like what we observed in horses and oxen killed by tsetse, but such may lie the cause, however. the only symptom pointing to the tsetse is the arterial-looking blood, but we never saw it ooze from the skin after the bite of the gad-fly as we do now. _ th may, ._--we arrived at a village called jpondé, or lipondé, which lies opposite a granitic hill on the other-side of the river (where we spent a night on our boat trip), called nakapuri; this is rather odd, for the words are not makondé but sichuana, and signify goat's horn, from the projections jutting out from the rest of the mass. i left the havildar, sepoys, and nassick boys here in order to make a forced march forward, where no food is to be had, and send either to the south or westwards for supplies, so that after they have rested the animals and themselves five days they may come. one mule is very ill; one buffalo drowsy and exhausted; one camel a mere skeleton from bad sores; and another has an enormous hole at the point of the pelvis, which sticks out at the side. i suspect that this was made maliciously, for he came from the field bleeding profusely; no tree would have perforated a round hole in this way. i take all the goods and leave only the sepoys' luggage, which is enough for all the animals now. _ th may, ._--i went on with the johanna men and twenty-four carriers, for it was a pleasure to get away from the sepoys and nassick boys; the two combined to overload the animals. i told them repeatedly that they would kill them, but no sooner had i adjusted the burdens and turned my back than they put on all their things. it was however such continual vexation to contend with the sneaking spirit, that i gave up annoying myself by seeing matters, though i felt certain that the animals would all be killed. we did at least eight miles pleasantly well, and slept at moedaa village. the rocks are still syenite. we passed a valley with the large thorny acacias of which canoes are often made, and a euphorbiaceous tree, with seed-vessels as large as mandarin oranges, with three seeds inside. we were now in a country which, in addition to the mazitu invasion, was suffering from one of those inexplicable droughts to which limited and sometimes large portions of this country are subject. it had not been nearly so severe on the opposite or south side, and thither too the mazitu had not penetrated. rushes, which plagued us nearer the coast, are not observed now; the grass is all crisp and yellow; many of the plants are dead, and leaves are fallen off the trees as if winter had begun. the ground is covered with open forest, with here and there thick jungle on the banks of the streams. all the rivulets we have passed are mere mountain torrents filled with sand, in which the people dig for water. we passed the spot where an arab called birkal was asked payment for leave to pass. after two and a half days' parley he fought, killed two makondé, and mortally wounded a headman, which settled the matter; no fresh demand has been made. ali's brother also resisted the same sort of demand, fought several times, or until three makondé and two of his people were killed; they then made peace, and no other exactions have been made. _ th may, ._--we now found a difficulty in getting our carriers along, on account of exhaustion from want of food. in going up a sand stream called nyédé, we saw that all moist spots had been planted with maize and beans, so the loss caused by the mazitu, who swept the land like a cloud of locusts, will not be attended by much actual starvation. we met a runaway woman: she was seized by ali, and it was plain that he expected a reward for his pains. he thought she was a slave, but a quarter of a mile off was the village she had left, and it being doubtful if she were a runaway at all, the would-be fugitive slave-capture turned out a failure. _ th may, ._--about ' e.n.e. of matawatawa, or nyamatololé, our former turning point. _ th may, ._--we halted at a village at matawatawa. a pleasant-looking lady, with her face profusely tattooed, came forward with a bunch of sweet reed, or _sorghum saceliaratum_, and laid it at my feet, saying, "i met you here before," pointing to the spot on the river where we turned. i remember her coming then, and that i asked the boat to wait while she went to bring us a basket of food, and i think it was given to chiko, and no return made. it is sheer kindliness that prompts them sometimes, though occasionally people do make presents with a view of getting a larger one in return: it is pleasant to find that it is not always so. she had a quiet, dignified manner, both in talking and walking, and i now gave her a small looking-glass, and she went and brought me her only fowl and a basket of cucumber-seeds, from which oil is made; from the amount of oily matter they contain thov are nutritious when roasted and eaten as nuts. she made an apology, saying they were hungry times at present. i gave her a cloth, and so parted with kanañgoné, or, as her name may be spelled, kanañoné. the carriers were very useless from hunger, and we could not buy anything for them; for the country is all dried up, and covered sparsely with mimosas and thorny acacias. _ th may, ._--i could not get the carriers on more than an hour and three-quarters: men tire very soon on empty stomachs. we had reached the village of hassané, opposite to a conical hill named chisulwé, which is on the south side of the river, and evidently of igneous origin. it is tree-covered, while the granite always shows lumps of naked rock. all about lie great patches of beautiful dolomite. it may have been formed by baking of the tufa, which in this country seems always to have been poured out with water after volcanic action. hassané's daughter was just lifting a pot of french beans, boiled in their pods, off the fire when we entered the village, these he presented to me, and when i invited him to partake, he replied that he was at home and would get something, while i was a stranger on a journey. he, like all the other headmen, is a reputed doctor, and his wife, a stout old lady, a doctoress; he had never married any wife but this one, and he had four children, all of whom lived with their parents. we employed one of his sons to go to the south side and purchase food, sending at the same time some carriers to buy for themselves. the siroko and rice bought by hassané's son we deposited with him for the party behind, when they should arrive. the amount of terror the mazitu inspire cannot be realized by us. they shake their shields and the people fly like stricken deer. i observed that a child would not go a few yards for necessary purposes unless grandmother stood in sight. matumora, as the arabs call the chief at ngomano, gave them a warm reception, and killed several of them: this probably induced them to retire. _ th and th may, ._--miserably short marches from hunger, and i sympathise with the poor fellows. those sent to buy food for themselves on the south bank were misled by a talkative fellow named chikungu, and went off north, where we knew nothing could be had. his object was to get paid for three days, while they only loitered here. i suppose hunger has taken the spirit out of them; but i told them that a day in which no work was done did not count: they admitted this. we pay about two feet of calico per day, and a fathom or six feet for three days' carriage. _ th may, ._--with very empty stomachs they came on a few miles and proposed to cross to the south side; as this involved crossing the luendi too, i at first objected, but in hopes that we might get food for them we consented, and were taken over in two very small canoes. i sent ali and musa meanwhile to the south to try and get some food. i got a little green sorghum for them and paid them off. these are the little troubles of travelling, and scarce worth mentioning. a granitic peak now appears about ' off, to the w.s.w. it is called chihoka. _ th may, ._--at our crossing place metamorphic rocks of a chocolate colour stood on edge; and in the country round we have patches of dolomite, sometimes as white as marble. the country is all dry: grass and leaves crisp and yellow. though so arid now, yet the great abundance of the dried stalks of a water-loving plant, a sort of herbaceous acacia, with green pea-shaped flowers, proves that at other times it is damp enough. the marks of people's feet floundering in slush, but now baked, show that the country can be sloppy. the headman of the village where we spent the night of th is a martyr to rheumatism. he asked for medicine, and when i gave some he asked me to give it to him out of my own hand. he presented me with a basket of siroko and of green sorghum as a fee, of which i was very glad, for my own party were suffering, and i had to share out the little portion of flour i had reserved to myself. _ th may, ._--coming on with what carriers we could find at the crossing place, we reached the confluence without seeing it; and matumora being about two miles up the loendi, we sent over to him for aid. he came over this morning early,--a tall, well-made man, with a somewhat severe expression of countenance, from a number of wrinkles on his forehead. he took us over the loendi, which is decidedly the parent stream of the rovuma, though that as it comes from the west still retains the name loendi from the south-west here, and is from to yards wide, while the rovuma above matawatawa is from to , full of islands, rocks, and sandbanks. the loendi has the same character. we can see the confluence from where we cross about ' to the north. both rivers are rapid, shoal, and sandy; small canoes are used on them, and the people pride themselves on their skilful management: in this the women seem in no way inferior to the men. in looking up the loendi we see a large granitic peak called nkanjé, some miles off, and beyond it the dim outline of distant highlands, in which seams of coal are exposed. pieces of the mineral are found in loendi's sands. matumora has a good character in the country, and many flee to him from oppression. he was very polite; sitting on the right bank till all the goods were carried over, then coming in the same canoe wifn me himself, he opened a fish basket in a weir and gave me the contents, and subsequently a little green sorghum. he literally has lost all his corn, for he was obliged to flee with his people to marumba, a rocky island in rovuma, about six miles above matawatawa. he says that both loendi and rovuma come out of lake nyassa; a boat could not ascend, however, because many waterfalls are in their course: it is strange if all this is a myth. matumora asked if the people through whose country i had come would preserve the peace i wished. he says he has been assailed on all sides by slave-hunters: he alone has never hunted for captives: if the people in front should attack me he would come and fight them: finally he had never seen a european before (dr. roscher travelled as an arab), nor could i learn where likumbu at ngomano lives; it was with him that roscher is said to have left his goods. the mazitu had women, children, oxen and goats with them. the whole tribe lives on plundering the other natives by means of the terror their shields inspire; had they gone further down the rovuma, no ox would have survived the tsetse. _ th may, ._--i paid ali to his entire satisfaction, and entrusted him with a despatch, "no. geographical," and then sent off four men south to buy food. here we are among matambwé. two of matumora's men act as guides. we are about ' south and by west of the confluence ngomano. lat. ° ' " s.; long. ° ' " e. abraham, one of the nassick boys, came up and said he had been sent by the sepoys, who declared they would come no further. it was with the utmost difficulty they had come so far, or that the havildar had forced them on, they would not obey him--would not get up in the mornings to march; lay in the paths, and gave their pouches and muskets to the natives to carry: they make themselves utterly useless. the black buffalo is dead; one camel ditto, and one mule left behind ill. were i not aware of the existence of the tsetse, i should say they died from sheer bad treatment and hard work. i sent a note to be read to the sepoys stating that i had seen their disobedience, unwillingness, and skulking, and as soon as i received the havildar's formal evidence, i would send them back. i regretted parting with the havildar only. a leopard came a little after dark while the moon was shining, and took away a little dog from among us; it is said to have taken off a person a few days ago. _ nd may, ._--the men returned with but little food in return for much cloth. matumora is very friendly, but he has nothing to give save a little green sorghum, and that he brings daily. a south wind blows strongly every afternoon. the rains ceased about the middle of may, and the temperature is lowered. a few heavy night showers closed the rainy season. _ rd-- th may, ._--i took some lunar observations. _ th may, ._--matumora is not ndondé. a chief to the south-west of this owns that name and belongs to the matumbwé tribe. _ th may, ._--i sent musa westwards to buy food, and he returned on the evening of th without success; he found an arab slave-dealer waiting in the path, who had bought up all the provisions. about p.m. we saw two men pass our door with two women in a chain; one man carried fire in front, the one behind, a musket. matumora admits that his people sell each other. _ th may, ._--the havildar and abraham came up. havildar says that all i said in my note was true, and when it was read to the sepoys they bewailed their folly, he adds that if they were all sent away disgraced, no one would be to blame but themselves. he brought them to hassané's, but they were useless, though they begged to be kept on: i may give them another trial, but at present they are a sad incumbrance. south-west of this the manganja begin; but if one went by them, there is a space beyond in the south-west without people. the country due west of this is described by all to be so mountainous and beset by mazitu, that there is no possibility of passing that way. i must therefore make my way to the middle of the lake, cross over, and then take up my line of . _ nd june, ._--the men sent to the matambwé south-east of this returned with a good supply of grain. the sepoys won't come; they say they cannot,--a mere excuse, v because they tried to prevail on the nassick boys to go slowly like them, and wear my patience out. they killed one camel with the butt ends of their muskets, beating it till it died. i thought of going down disarming them all, and taking five or six of the willing ones, but it is more trouble than profit, so i propose to start westwards on monday the th, or tuesday the th. my sepoys offered ali eight rupees to take them to the coast, thus it has been a regularly organized conspiracy. from the appearance of the cow-buffalo, i fear the tsetse is its chief enemy, but there is a place like a bayonet wound on its shoulder, and many of the wounds or bruises on the camels were so probed that i suspect the sepoys. many things african are possessed of as great vitality in their line as the african people. the white ant was imported accidentally into st. helena from the coast of guinea, and has committed such ravages in the town of st. james, that numerous people have been ruined, and the governor calls out for aid against them. in other so-called new countries a wave of english weeds follows the tide of english emigration, and so with insects; the european house-fly chases away the blue-bottle fly in new zealand. settlers have carried the house-fly in bottles and boxes for their new locations, but what european insect will follow us and extirpate the tsetse? the arabs have given the makondé bugs, but we have the house-fly wherever we go, the blue-bottle and another like the house-fly, but with a sharp proboscis; and several enormous gad-flies. here there is so much room for everything. in new zealand the norwegian rat is driven off by even the european mouse; not to mention the hanoverian rat of waterton, which is lord of the land. the maori say that "as the white man's rat has driven away the native rat, so the european fly drives away our own; and as the clover kills our fern, so will the maori disappear before the white man himself." the hog placed ashore by captain cook has now overrun one side of the island, and is such a nuisance that a large farmer of , acres has given sixpence per head for the destruction of some , , and without any sensible diminution; this would be no benefit here, for the wild hogs abound and do much damage, besides affording food for the tsetse: the brutes follow the ewes with young, and devour the poor lambs as soon as they make their appearance. _ rd june, ._--the cow-buffalo fell down foaming at the mouth, and expired. the meat looks fat and nice, and is relished by the people, a little glariness seemed to be present on the foreleg, and i sometimes think that, notwithstanding the dissimilarity of the symptoms observed in the camels and buffaloes now, and those we saw in oxen and horses, the evil may be the tsetse, after all, but they have been badly used, without a doubt. the calf has a cut half an inch deep, the camels have had large ulcers, and at last a peculiar smell, which portends death. i feel perplexed, and not at all certain as to the real causes of death. i asked matumora if the matambwé believed in god, he replied, that he did not know him, and i was not to ask the people among whom i was going if they prayed to him, because they would imagine that i wished them to be killed. i told him that we loved to speak about him, &c. he said, when they prayed they offered a little meal and then prayed, but did not know much about him. they have all great reverence for the deity, and the deliberate way in which they say "we don't know him" is to prevent speaking irreverently, as that may injure the country. the name is "mulungu": makochera afterwards said, that "he was not good, because he killed so many people." _ th june, ._--left ngomano. i was obliged to tell the nassick boys that they must either work or return, it was absurd to have them eating up our goods, and not even carrying their own things, and i would submit to it no more: five of them carry bales, and two the luggage of the rest. abraham and richard are behind. i gave them bales to carry, and promised them ten rupees per month, to begin on this date. abraham has worked hard all along, and his pay may be due from th april, the day we started from kindany. _ th june, ._--we slept at a village called lamba, on the banks of the rovuma, near a brawling torrent of yards, or perhaps, with many islands and rocks in it. the country is covered with open forest, with patches of cultivation everywhere, but all dried up at present and withered, partly from drought and partly from the cold of winter. we passed a village with good ripe sorghum cut down, and the heads or ears all laid neatly in a row, this is to get it dried in the sun, and not shaken out by the wind, by waving to and fro; besides it is also more easily watched from being plundered by birds. the sorghum occasionally does not yield seed, and is then the _sorghum saccharatum_, for the stalk contains abundance of sugar, and is much relished by the natives. now that so much has failed to yield seed, being indeed just in flower, the stalks are chewed as if sugar-cane, and the people are fat thereon; but the hungry time is in store when these stalles are all done. they make the best provision in their power against famine by planting beans and maize in moist spots. the common native pumpkin forms a bastard sort in the same way, but that is considered very inferior. _ th june, ._--great hills of granite are occasionally in sight towards the north, but the trees, though scraggy, close in the view. we left a village, called mekosi, and goon came to a slaving party by a sand stream. they said that they had bought two slaves, but they had run away from them, and asked us to remain with them; more civil than inviting. we came on to makochera, the principal headman in this quarter, and found him a merry laughing mortal, without any good looks to recommend his genial smile,--low forehead, covered with deep wrinkles; flat nose, somewhat of the assyrian shape; a big mouth and lean body. he complained of the machinga (a waiyau tribe north of him and the rovuma) stealing his people. lat. of village, ° ' " s. the river being about ' north, still shows that it makes a trend to the north after we pass ngomano. makochera has been an elephant hunter. few acknowledge as a reason for slaving that sowing and spinning cotton for clothing is painful. i waited some days for the nassick boys, who are behind, though we could not buy any food except at enormous prices and long distances off. _ th june, ._--the havildar and two sepoys came up with abraham, but richard, a nassick boy, is still behind from weakness. i sent three off to help him with the only cordials we could muster. the sepoys sometimes profess inability to come on, but it is unwillingness to encounter hardship: i must move on whether they come or not, for we cannot obtain food here. i sent the sepoys some cloth, and on the th proposed to start, but every particle of food had been devoured the night before, so we despatched two parties to scour the country round, and give any price rather than want. i could not prevail on makochera to give me a specimen of poetry; he was afraid, neither he nor his forefathers had ever seen an englishman. he thought that god was not good because he killed so many people. dr. roscher must have travelled as an arab if he came this way, for he was not known.[ ] _ th june, ._--we now left and marched through the same sort of forest, gradually ascending in altitude as we went west, then we came to huge masses of granite, or syenite, with flakes peeling off. they are covered with a plant with grassy-looking leaves and rough stalk which strips into portions similar to what are put round candles as ornaments. it makes these hills look light grey, with patches of black rock at the more perpendicular parts; the same at about ten miles off look dark blue. the ground is often hard and stony, but all covered over with grass and plants: looking down at it, the grass is in tufts, and like that on the kalahari desert. trees show uplands. one tree of which bark cloth is made, pterocarpus, is abundant. timber-trees appear here and there, but for the most part the growth is stunted, and few are higher than thirty feet. we spent the night by a hill of the usual rounded form, called njeñgo. the rovuma comes close by, but leaves us again to wind among similar great masses. lat. ° ' " s. _ th june, ._--a very heavy march through the same kind of country, no human habitation appearing; we passed a dead body--recently, it was said, starved to death. the large tract between makochera's and our next station at ngozo hill is without any perennial stream; water is found often by digging in the sand streams which we several times crossed; sometimes it was a trickling rill, but i suspect that at other seasons all is dry, and people are made dependent on the rovuma alone. the first evidence of our being near the pleasant haunts of man was a nice little woman drawing water at a well. i had become separated from the rest: on giving me water she knelt down, and, as country manners require, held it up to me with _both_ hands. i had been misled by one of the carriers, who got confused, though the rounded mass of ngozo was plainly visible from the heights we crossed east of it. an arab party bolted on hearing of our approach: they don't trust the english, and this conduct increases our importance among the natives. lat. ° ' " s. _ th june, ._--our carriers refuse to go further, because they say that they fear being captured here on their return. _ th june, ._--i paid off the carriers, and wait for a set from this. a respectable man, called makoloya, or impandé, visited me, and wished to ask some questions as to where i was going, and how long i should be away. he had heard from a man who came from ibo, or wibo, about the bible, a large book which was consulted. [illustration: tattoo of matambwé.] _ th june, ._--makoloya brought his wife and a little corn, and says that his father told him that there is a god, but nothing more. the marks on their foreheads and bodies are meant only to give beauty in the dance, they seem a sort of heraldic ornament, for they can at once tell by his tattoo to what tribe or portion of tribe a man belongs. the tattoo or tembo of the matambwé and upper makondé very much resembles the drawings of the old egyptians; wavy lines, such as the ancients made to signify water, trees and gardens enclosed in squares, seem to have been meant of old for the inhabitants who lived on the rovuma, and cultivated also, the son takes the tattoo of his father, and thus it has been perpetuated, though the meaning now appears lost. the makoa have the half or nearly full moon, but it is, they say, all for ornament. some blue stuff is rubbed into the cuts (i am told it is charcoal), and the ornament shows brightly in persons of light complexion, who by the bye are common. the makondé and matambwé file their front teeth to points; the machinga, a waiyan tribe, leave two points on the sides of the front teeth, and knock out one of the middle incisors above and below. [illustration: machinga and waiyan teeth.] _ th june, ._--i am now as much dependent on carriers as if i had never bought a beast of burden--but this is poor stuff to fill a journal with. we started off to metaba to see if the chief there would lend some men. the headman, kitwanga, went a long way to convoy us; then turned, saying he was going to get men for musa next day. we passed near the base of the rounded masses ngozo and mekanga, and think, from a near inspection, that they are over feet above the plain, possibly feet, and nearly bare, with only the peculiar grassy plant on some parts which are not too perpendicular. the people are said to have stores of grain on them, and on one the chief said there is water; he knows of no stone buildings of the olden time in the country. we passed many masses of ferruginous conglomerate, and i noticed that most of the gneiss dips westwards. the striae seem as if the rock had been partially molten: at times the strike is north and south, at others east and west; when we come to what may have been its surface, it is as if the striae had been stirred with a rod while soft. we slept at a point of the rovuma, above a cataract where a reach of comparatively still water, from to yards wide, allows a school of hippopotami to live: when the river becomes fordable in many places, as it is said to do in august and september, they must find it difficult to exist. _ th june, ._--another three hours' march brought us from the sleeping-place on the rovuma to metaba, the chief of which, kinazombé, is an elderly man, with a cunning and severe cast of countenance, and a nose assyrian in type; he has built a large reception house, in which a number of half-caste arabs have taken up their abode. a great many of the people have guns, and it is astonishing to see the number of slave-taming sticks abandoned along the road as the poor wretches gave in, and professed to have lost all hope of escape. many huts have been built by the arabs to screen themselves from the rain as they travelled. at kinazombé's the second crop of maize is ready, so the hunger will not be very much felt. _ th june, ._--we heard very sombre accounts of the country in front:--four or five days to mtarika, and then ten days through jungle to mataka's town: little food at mtarika's, but plenty with mataka, who is near the lake. the rovuma trends southerly after we leave ngozo, and masusa on that river is pointed out as south-west from metaba, so at ngozo the river may be said to have its furthest northing. masusa is reported to be five days, or at least fifty miles, from metaba. the route now becomes south-west. the cattle of africa are like the indian buffalo, only partially tamed; they never give their milk without the presence of the calf or its stuffed skin, the "fulchan." the women adjacent to mozambique partake a little of the wild animal's nature, for, like most members of the inferior races of animals, they refuse all intercourse with their husbands when enceinte and they continue this for about three years afterwards, or until the child is weaned, which usually happens about the third year. i was told, on most respectable authority, that many fine young native men marry one wife and live happily with her till this period; nothing will then induce her to continue to cohabit with him, and, as the separation is to continue for three years, the man is almost compelled to take up with another wife: this was mentioned to me as one of the great evils of society. the same absurdity prevails on the west coast, and there it is said that the men acquiesce from ideas of purity. it is curious that trade-rum should form so important an article of import on the west coast while it is almost unknown on the east coast, for the same people began the commerce in both instances. if we look north of cape delgado, we might imagine that the religious convictions of the arabs had something to do with the matter, but the portuguese south of cape delgado have no scruples in the matter, and would sell their grandfathers as well as the rum if they could make money by the transaction, they have even erected distilleries to furnish a vile spirit from the fruit of the cashew and other fruits and grain, but the trade does not succeed. they give their slaves also rewards of spirit, or "maata bicho" ("kill the creature," or "craving within"), and you may meet a man who, having had much intercourse with portuguese, may beg spirits, but the trade does not pay. the natives will drink it if furnished gratis. the indispensable "dash" of rum on the west coast in every political transaction with independent chiefs is, however, quite unknown. the moslems would certainly not abstain from trading in spirits were the trade profitable. they often asked for brandy from me in a sly way--as medicine; and when reminded that their religion forbade it, would say, "oh, but we can drink it in secret." it is something in the nature of the people quite inexplicable, that throughout the makondé country hernia humoralis prevails to a frightful extent; it is believed by the natives to be the result of beer drinking, so they cannot be considered as abstemious. _ th june, ._--finding that musa did not come up with the goods i left in his charge, and fearing that all was not right, we set off with all our hands who could carry, after service yesterday morning, and in six hours' hard tramp arrived here just in time, for a tribe of wanindi, or manindi, who are either ajawas (waiyau),[ ] or pretended mazitu, had tried to cross the rovuma from the north bank. they came as plunderers, and musa having received no assistance was now ready to defend the goods. a shot or two from the people of kitwanga made the wanindi desert after they had entered the water. six sepoys and simon had come up this length; reuben and mabruki reported richard to be dead. this poor boy was left with the others at lipondé, and i never saw him again. i observed him associating too much with the sepoys; and often felt inclined to reprove him, as their conversation is usually very bad, but i could not of my own knowledge say so. he came on with the others as far as hassané or pachassané: there he was too weak to come further, and as the sepoys were notoriously skulkers, i feared that poor richard was led away by them, for i knew that they had made many attempts to draw away the other nassick boys from their duty. when, however, abraham came up and reported richard left behind by the sepoys, i became alarmed, and sent off three boys with cordials to help him on: two days after abraham left he seems to have died, and i feel very sorry that i was not there to do what i could. i am told now that he never consented to the sepoy temptation: he said to abraham that he wished he were dead, he was so much troubled. the people where he died were not v$ry civil to simon. the sepoys had now made themselves such an utter nuisance that i felt that i must take the upper hand with them, so i called them up this morning, and asked if they knew the punishment they had incurred by disobeying orders, and attempting to tamper with the nassick boys to turn them back. i told them they not only remained in the way when ordered to march, but offered eight rupees to ali to lead them to the coast, and that the excuse of sickness was nought, for they had eaten heartily three meals a day while pretending illness. they had no excuse to offer, so i disrated the naik or corporal, and sentenced the others to carry loads; if they behave well, then they will get fatigue pay for doing fatigue duty, if ill, nothing but their pay. their limbs are becoming contracted from sheer idleness; while all the other men are well and getting stronger they alone are disreputably slovenly and useless-looking. their filthy habits are to be reformed, and if found at their habit of sitting down and sleeping for hours on the march, or without their muskets and pouches, they are to be flogged. i sent two of them back to bring up two comrades, left behind yesterday. all who have done work are comparatively strong. [we may venture a word in passing on the subject of native recruits, enlisted for service in africa, and who return thither after a long absence. all the nassick boys were native-born africans, and yet we see one of them succumb immediately. the truth is that natives; under these circumstances, are just as liable to the effects of malaria on landing as europeans, although it is not often that fever assumes a dangerous form in such cases. the natives of the interior have the greatest dread of the illnesses which they say are sure to be in store for them if they visit the coast.] _ th june, ._--i gave the sepoys light loads in order to inure them to exercise and strengthen them, and they carried willingly so long as the fright was on them, but when the fear of immediate punishment wore off they began their skulking again. one, perim, reduced his load of about lbs. of tea by throwing away the lead in which it was rolled, and afterwards about lbs. of the tea, thereby diminishing our stock to lbs. [dr. livingstone's short stay in england in - was mainly taken up with compiling an account of his travels on the zambesi and shiré: during this time his mother expired in scotland at a good old age. when he went back to africa he took with him, as part of his very scanty travelling equipment, a number of letters which he received from friends at different times in england, and he very often quoted them when he had an opportunity of sending letters home. we come to an entry at this time which shows that in these reminiscences he had not thus preserved an unmixed pleasure. he says:--] i lighted on a telegram to-day:--"your mother died at noon on the th june." this was in : it affected me not a little. footnotes: [ ] further on we found it called nkonya. [ ] it will be remembered that this german traveller was murdered near lake nyassa. the native chiefs denounced his assassins, and sent them to zanzibar, where they were executed.--ed. [ ] further westward amongst the manganja or nyassa people the waiyan tribe is called "ajawa," and we find livingstone always speaking of them as ajawas in his previous explorations on the river rovuma. (see 'the zambesi and its tributaries.')--ed. chapter iii. horrors of the slave-trader's track. system of cultivation. pottery. special exorcising. death of the last mule. rescue of chirikaloma's wife. brutalities of the slave-drivers. mtarika's. desperate march to mtaka's. meets arab caravans. dismay of slavers. dismissal of sepoys. mataka. the waiyan metropolis. great hospitality and good feeling. mataka restores stolen cattle. life with the chief. beauty of country and healthiness of climate. the waiyan people and their peculiarities. regrets at the abandonment of bishop mackenzie's plans. _ th june, ._--we passed a woman tied by the neck to a tree and dead, the people of the country explained that she had been unable to keep up with the other slaves in a gang, and her master had determined that she should not become the property of anyone else if she recovered after resting for a time. i may mention here that we saw others tied up in a similar manner, and one lying in the path shot or stabbed[ ], for she was in a pool of blood. the explanation we got invariably was that the arab who owned these victims was enraged at losing his money by the slaves becoming unable to march, and vented his spleen by murdering them; but i have nothing more than common report in support of attributing this enormity to the arabs. _ th june, ._--having returned to metaba, we were told by kinazombé, the chief, that no one had grain to sell but himself. he had plenty of powder and common cloth from the arabs, and our only chance with him was parting with our finer cloths and other things that took his fancy. he magnified the scarcity in front in order to induce us to buy all we could from him, but he gave me an ample meal of porridge and guinea-fowl before starting. _ st june, ._--we had difficulties about carriers, but on reaching an island in the rovuma, called chimiki, we found the people were makoa and more civil and willing to work than the waiyau: we sent men back to bring up the havildar to a very civil headman called chirikaloma. _ nd june, ._--a poor little boy with prolapsus ani was carried yesterday by his mother many a weary mile, lying over her right shoulder--the only position he could find ease in,--an infant at the breast occupied the left arm, and on her head were carried two baskets. the mother's love was seen in binding up the part when we halted, whilst the coarseness of low civilization was evinced in the laugh with which some black brutes looked at the sufferer. _ rd june, ._--the country is covered with forest, much more open than further east. we are now some feet above the sea. the people all cultivate maize near the rovuma, and on islands where moisture helps them, nearly all possess guns, and plenty of powder and fine beads,--red ones strung on the hair, and fine blue ones in rolls on the neck, fitted tightly like soldiers' stocks. the lip-ring is universal; teeth filed to points. _ th june, ._--immense quantities of wood are cut down, collected in heaps, and burned to manure the land, but this does not prevent the country having an appearance of forest. divine service at . a.m.; great numbers looking on. they have a clear idea of the supreme being, but do not pray to him.. cold south winds prevail; temp. °. one of the mules is very ill--it was left with the havildar when we went back to ngozo, and probably remained uncovered at night, for as soon as we saw it, illness was plainly visible. whenever an animal has been in their power the sepoys have abused it. it is difficult to feel charitably to fellows whose scheme seems to have been to detach the nassick boys from me first, then, when the animals were all killed, the johanna men, afterwards they could rule me as they liked, or go back and leave me to perish; but i shall try to feel as charitably as i can in spite of it all, for the mind has a strong tendency to brood over the ills of travel. i told the havildar when i came up to him at metaba what i had done, and that i was very much displeased with the sepoys for compassing my failure, if not death; an unkind word had never passed my lips to them: to this he could bear testimony. he thought that they would only be a plague and trouble to me, but he "would go on and die with me." stone boiling is unknown in these countries, but ovens are made in anthills. holes are dug in the ground for baking the heads of large game, as the zebra, feet of elephants, humps of rhinoceros, and the production of fire by drilling between the palms of the hands is universal. it is quite common to see the sticks so used attached to the clothing or bundles in travelling; they wet the blunt end of the upright stick with the tongue, and dip it in the sand to make some particles of silica adhere before inserting it in the horizontal piece. the wood of a certain wild fig-tree is esteemed as yielding fire readily. in wet weather they prefer to carry fire in the dried balls of elephants' dung which are met with--the male's being about eight inches in diameter and about a foot long: they also employ the stalk of a certain plant which grows on rocky places for the same purpose. we bought a senzé, or _aulacaudatus swindernianus_, which had been dried over a slow fire. this custom of drying fish, flesh, and fruits, on stages over slow fires, is practised very generally: the use of salt for preservation is unknown. besides stages for drying, the makondé use them about six feet high for sleeping on instead of the damp ground: a fire beneath helps to keep off the mosquitoes, and they are used by day as convenient resting-places and for observation. pottery seems to have been known to the africans from the remotest times, for fragments are found everywhere, even among the oldest fossil bones in the country. their pots for cooking, holding water and beer, are made by the women, and the form is preserved by the eye alone, for no sort of machine is ever used. a foundation or bottom is first laid, and a piece of bone or bamboo used to scrape the clay or to smooth over the pieces which are added to increase the roundness; the vessel is then left a night: the next morning a piece is added to the rim--as the air is dry several rounds may be added--and all is then carefully smoothed off; afterwards it is thoroughly sun-dried. a light fire of dried cow-dung, or corn-stalks, or straw, and grass with twigs, is made in a hole in the ground for the final baking. ornaments are made on these pots of black lead, or before being hardened by the sun they are ornamented for a couple or three inches near the rim, all the tracery being in imitation of plaited basket work. chirikaloma says that the surname of the makoa, to whom he belongs, is mirazi--others have the surname melola or malola--chimposola. all had the half-moon mark when in the south-east, but now they leave it off a good deal and adopt the waiyau marks, because of living in their country. they show no indications of being named after beasts and birds. mirazi was an ancestor; they eat all clean animals, but refuse the hyaena, leopard, or any beast that devours dead men.[ ] _ th june, ._--on leaving chirikaloma we came on to namalo, whose village that morning had been deserted, the people moving off in a body towards the matambwé country, where food is more abundant. a poor little girl was left in one of the huts from being too weak to walk, probably an orphan. the arab slave-traders flee from the path as soon as they hear of our approach. the rovuma is from to yards wide here. no food to be had for either love or money. near many of the villages we observe a wand bent and both ends inserted into the ground: a lot of medicine, usually the bark of trees, is buried beneath it. when sickness is in a village, the men proceed to the spot, wash themselves with the medicine and water, creep through beneath the bough, then bury the medicine and the evil influence together. this is also used to keep off evil spirits, wild beasts, and enemies. chirikaloma told us of a child in his tribe which was deformed from his birth. he had an abortive toe where his knee should have been; some said to his mother, "kill him;" but she replied, "how can i kill my son?" he grew up and had many fine sons and daughters, but none deformed like himself: this was told in connection with an answer to my question about the treatment of albinoes: he said they did not kill them, but they never grew to manhood. on inquiring if he had ever heard of cannibals, or people with tails, he replied, "yes, but we have always understood that these and other monstrosities are met with only among you sea-going people." the other monstrosities he referred to were those who are said to have eyes behind the head as well as in front: i have heard of them before, but then i was near angola, in the west. the rains are expected here when the pleiades appear in the east soon after sunset; they go by the same name here as further south--lemila or the "hoeings." in the route along the rovuma, we pass among people who are so well supplied with white calico by the slave-trade from kilwa, that it is quite a drug in the market: we cannot get food for it. if we held on westwards we should cross several rivers flowing into the rovuma from the southward, as the zandulo, the sanjenzé, the lochiringo, and then, in going round the north end of nyassa, we should pass among the nindi, who now inhabit the parts vacated by the mazitu, and imitate them in having shields and in marauding. an arab party went into their country, and got out again only by paying a whole bale of calico; it would not be wise in me to venture there at present, but if we return this way we may; meanwhile we shall push on to mataka, who is only a few days off from the middle of the lake, and has abundance of provisions. _ th june, ._--my last mule died. in coming along in the morning we were loudly accosted by a well-dressed woman who had just had a very heavy slave-taming stick put on her neck; she called in such an authoritative tone to us to witness the flagrant injustice of which she was the victim that all the men stood still and went to hear the case. she was a near relative of chirikaloma, and was going up the river to her husband, when the old man (at whose house she was now a prisoner) caught her, took her servant away from her, and kept her in the degraded state we saw. the withes with which she was bound were green and sappy. the old man said in justification that she was running away from chirikaloma, and he would be offended with him if he did not secure her. i asked the officious old gentleman in a friendly tone what he expected to receive from chirikaloma, and he said, "nothing." several slaver-looking fellows came about, and i felt sure that the woman had been seized in order to sell her to them, so i gave the captor a cloth to pay to chirikaloma if he were offended, and told him to say that i, feeling ashamed to see one of his relatives in a slave-stick, had released her, and would, take her on to her husband. she is evidently a lady among them, having many fine beads and some strung on elephant's hair: she has a good deal of spirit too, for on being liberated she went into the old man's house and took her basket and calabash. a virago of a wife shut the door and tried to prevent her, as well as to cut off the beads from her person, but she resisted like a good one, and my men thrust the door open and let her out, but minus her slave. the other wife--for old officious had two--joined her sister in a furious tirade of abuse, the elder holding her sides in regular fishwife fashion till i burst into a laugh, in which the younger wife joined. i explained to the different headmen in front of this village what i had done, and sent messages to chirikaloma explanatory of my friendly deed to his relative, so that no misconstruction should be put on my act. we passed a slave woman shot or stabbed through the body and lying on the path: a group of mon stood about a hundred yards off on one side, and another of women on the other side, looking on; they said an arab who passed early that morning had done it in anger at losing the price he had given for her, because she was unable to walk any longer. _ th june, ._--to-day we came upon a man dead from starvation, as he was very thin. one of our men wandered and found a number of slaves with slave-sticks on, abandoned by their master from want of food; they were too weak to be able to speak or say where they had come from; some were quite young. we crossed the tulosi, a stream coming from south, about twenty yards wide. at chenjewala's the people are usually much startled when i explain that the numbers of slaves we see dead on the road have been killed partly by those who sold them, for i tell them that if they sell their fellows, they are like the man who holds the victim while the arab performs the murder. chenjewala blamed machemba, a chief above him on the rovuma, for encouraging the slave-trade; i told him i had travelled so much among them that i knew all the excuses they could make, each headman blamed some one else. "it would be better if you kept your people and cultivated more largely," said i, "oh, machemba sends his men and robs our gardens after we have cultivated," was the reply. one man said that the arabs who come and tempt them with fine clothes are the cause of their selling: this was childish, so i told them they would very soon have none to sell: their country was becoming jungle, and all their people who did not die in the road would be making gardens for arabs at kilwa and elsewhere. _ th june, ._--when we got about an hour from chenjewala's we came to a party in the act of marauding; the owners of the gardens made off for the other side of the river, and waved to us to go against the people of machemba, but we stood on a knoll with all our goods on the ground, and waited to see how matters would turn out. two of the marauders came to us and said they had captured five people. i suppose they took us for arabs, as they addressed musa. they then took some green maize, and so did some of my people, believing that as all was going, they who were really starving might as well have a share. i went on a little way with the two marauders, and by the footprints thought the whole party might amount to four or five with guns; the gardens and huts were all deserted. a poor woman was sitting, cooking green maize, and one of the men ordered her to follow him. i said to him, "let her alone, she is dying." "yes," said he, "of hunger," and went'on without her. we passed village after village, and gardens all deserted! we were now between two contending parties. we slept at one garden; and as we were told by chenjewala's people to take what we liked, and my men had no food, we gleaned what congo beans, bean leaves, and sorghum stalks we could,--poor fare enough, but all we could get. _ th june, ._--we came onto machemba's brother, chimseia, who gave us food at once. the country is now covered with deeper soil, and many large acacia-trees grow in the rich loam: the holms too are large, and many islands afford convenient maize grounds. one of the nassiek lads came up and reported his bundle, containing yards of calico, had been stolen; he went aside, leaving it on the path (probably fell asleep), and it was gone when he came back. i cannot impress either on them or the sepoys that it is wrong to sleep on the march. akosakoné, whom we had liberated, now arrived at the residence of her husband, who was another brother of machemba. she behaved like a lady all through, sleeping at a fire apart from the men. the ladies of the different villages we passed condoled with her, and she related to them the indignity that had been done to her. besides this she did us many services: she bought food for us, because, having a good address, we saw that she could get double what any of our men could purchase for the same cloth; she spoke up for us when any injustice was attempted, and, when we were in want of carriers, volunteered to carry a bag of beads on her head. on arriving at machemba's brother, chimseia, she introduced me to him, and got him to be liberal to us in food on account of the service we had rendered to her. she took leave of us all with many expressions of thankfulness, and we were glad that we had not mistaken her position or lavished kindness on the undeserving. one johanna man was caught stealing maize, then another, after i had paid for the first. i sent a request to the chief not to make much of a grievance about it, as i was very much ashamed at my men stealing; he replied that he had liked me from the first, and i was not to fear, as whatever service he could do he would most willingly in order to save me pain and trouble. a sepoy now came up having given his musket to a man to carry, who therefore demanded payment. as it had become a regular nuisance for the sepoys to employ people to carry for them, telling them that i would pay, i demanded why he had promised in my name. "oh, it was but a little way he carried the musket," said he. chimseia warned us next morning, th june, against allowing any one to straggle or steal in front, for stabbing and plundering were the rule. the same sepoy who had employed a man to carry his musket now came forward, with his eyes fixed and shaking all over. this, i was to understand, meant extreme weakness; but i had accidentally noticed him walking quite smartly before this exhibition, so i ordered him to keep close to the donkey that carried the havildar's luggage, and on no account to remain behind the party. he told the havildar that he would sit down only for a little while; and, i suppose, fell asleep, for he came up to us in the evening as naked as a robin. i saw another person bound to a tree and dead--a sad sight to see, whoever was the perpetrator. so many slave-sticks lie along our path, that i suspect the people here-about make a practice of liberating what slaves they cian find abandoned on the march, to sell them again. a large quantity of maize is cultivated at chimsaka's, at whose place we this day arrived. we got a supply, but being among thieves, we thought it advisable to move on to the next place (mtarika's). when starting, we found that fork, kettle, pot, and shot-pouch had been taken. the thieves, i observed, kept up a succession of jokes with chuma and wikatani and when the latter was enjoying them, gaping to the sky, they were busy putting the things of which he had charge under their cloths! i spoke to the chief, and he got the three first articles back for me. a great deal if not all the lawlessness of this quarter is the result of the slave-trade, for the arabs buy whoever is brought to them and in a country covered with forest as this is, kidnapping can be prosecuted with the greatest ease; elsewhere the people are honest, and have a regard for justice. _ st july, ._--as we approach mtarika's place, the country becomes more mountainous and the land sloping for a mile down to the south bank of the rovuma supports a large population. some were making new gardens by cutting down trees and piling the branches for burning; others had stored tip large quantities of grain and were moving it to a new locality, but they were all so well supplied with calico (merikano) that they would not look at ours: the market was in fact glutted by slavers from (quiloa) kilwa. on asking why people were seen tied to trees to die as we had seen them, they gave the usual answer that the arabs tie them thus and leave them to perish, because they are vexed, when the slaves can walk no further, that they have lost their money by them. the path is almost strewed with slave-sticks, and though the people denied it, i suspect that they make a practice of following slave caravans and cutting off the sticks from those who fall out in the march, and thus stealing them. by selling them again they get the quantities of cloth we see. some asked for gaudy prints, of which we had none, because we knew that the general taste of the africans of the interior is for strength rather than show in what they buy. the rovuma here is about yards broad, and still keeps up its character of a rapid stream, with sandy banks and islands: the latter are generally occupied, as being defensible when the river is in flood. _ nd july, ._--we rested at mtarika's old place; and though we had to pay dearly with our best table-cloths[ ] for it, we got as much as made one meal a day. at the same dear rate we could give occasionally only two ears of maize to each man; and if the sepoys got their comrades' corn into their hands, they eat it without shame. we had to bear a vast amount of staring, for the people, who are waiyau, have a great deal of curiosity, and are occasionally rather rude. they have all heard of our wish to stop the slave-trade, and are rather taken aback when told that by selling they are part and part guilty of the mortality of which we had been unwilling spectators. some were dumbfounded when shown that in the eye of their maker they are parties to the destruction of human life which accompanies this traffic both by sea and land. if they did not sell, the arabs would not come to buy. chuma and wakatani render what is said very eloquently in chiyau, most of the people being of their tribe, with only a sprinkling of slaves. chimseia, chimsaka, mtarika, mtendé, makanjela, mataka, and all the chiefs and people in our route to the lake, are waiyau, or waiau.[ ] on the southern slope down to the river there are many oozing springs and damp spots where rice has been sown and reaped. the adjacent land has yielded large crops of sorghum, congo-beans, and pumpkins. successive crowds of people came to gaze. my appearance and acts often cause a burst of laughter; sudden standing up produces a flight of women and children. to prevent peeping into the hut which i occupy, and making the place quite dark, i do my writing in the verandah. chitané, the poodle dog, the buffalo-calf, and our only remaining donkey are greeted with the same amount of curiosity and laughter-exciting comment as myself. every evening a series of loud musket reports is heard from the different villages along the river; these are imitation evening guns. all copy the arabs in dress and chewing tobacco with "nora" lime, made from burnt river shells instead of betel-nut and lime. the women are stout, well-built persons, with thick arms and legs; their heads incline to the bullet shape; the lip-rings are small; the tattoo a mixture of makoa and waiyau. fine blue and black beads are in fashion, and so are arm-coils of thick brass wire. very nicely inlaid combs are worn in the hair; the inlaying is accomplished by means of a gum got from the root of an orchis called _nangazu_. _ rd july, ._--a short march brought us to mtarika's new place. the chief made his appearance only after he had ascertained all he could about us. the population is immense; they are making new gardens, and the land is laid out by straight lines about a foot broad, cut with the hoe; one goes miles without getting beyond the marked or surveyed fields. mtarika came at last; a big ugly man, with large mouth and receding forehead. he asked to see all our curiosities, as the watch, revolver, breech-loading rifle, sextant. i gave him a lecture on the evil of selling his people, and he wished me to tell all the other chiefs the same thing. they dislike the idea of guilt being attached to them for having sold many who have lost their lives on their way down to the sea-coast. we had a long visit from mtarika next day; he gave us meal, and meat of wild hog, with a salad made of bean-leaves. a wretched swaheli arab, ill with rheumatism, came for aid, and got a cloth. they all profess to me to be buying ivory only. _ th july, ._--we left for mtendé, who is the last chief before we enter on a good eight days' march to mataka's; we might have gone to kandulo's, who is near the rovuma, and more to the north, but all are so well supplied with everything by slave-traders that we have difficulty in getting provisions at all. mataka has plenty of all kinds of food. on the way we passed the burnt bones of a person avho was accused of having eaten human flesh; he had been poisoned, or, as they said, killed by poison (muave?), and then burned. his clothes were hung, up on trees by the wayside as a warning to others. the country was covered with scraggy forest, but so undulating that one could often see all around from the crest of the waves. great mountain masses appear in the south and south-west. it feels cold, and the sky is often overcast. _ th july, ._--i took lunars yesterday, after which mtendé invited us to eat at his house where he had provided a large mess of rice porridge and bean-leaves as a relish. he says that many arabs pass him and many of them die in their journeys. he knows no deaf or dumb person in the country. he says that he cuts the throats of all animals to be eaten, and does not touch lion or hyaena. _ th july, ._--we got men from mtendé to carry loads and show the way. he asked a cloth to ensure his people going to the journey's end and behaving properly; this is the only case of anything like tribute being demanded in this journey: i gave him a cloth worth s. d. upland vegetation prevails; trees are dotted here and there among bushes five feet high, and fine blue and yellow flowers are common. we pass over a succession of ridges and valleys as in londa; each valley has a running stream or trickling rill; garden willows are in full bloom, and also a species of sage with variegated leaves beneath the flowers. when the sepoy perim threw away the tea and the lead lining, i only reproved him and promised him punishment if he committed any other wilful offence, but now he and another skulked behind and gave their loads to a stranger to carry, with a promise to him that i would pay. we waited two hours for them; and as the havildar said that they would not obey him, i gave perim and the other some smart cuts with a cane, but i felt that i was degrading myself, and resolved not to do the punishment myself again. _ th july, ._--hard travelling through a depopulated country. the trees are about the size of hop-poles with abundance of tall grass; the soil is sometimes a little sandy, at other times that reddish, clayey sort which yields native grain so well. the rock seen uppermost is often a ferruginous conglomerate, lying on granite rocks. the gum-copal tree is here a mere bush, and no digging takes place for the gum: it is called mchenga, and yields gum when wounded, as also bark, cloth, and cordage when stripped. mountain masses are all around us; we sleep at linata mountain. _ th july, ._--the masuko fruit abounds: the name is the same here as in the batoka country; there are also rhododendrons of two species, but the flowers white. we slept in a wild spot, near mount leziro, with many lions roaring about us; one hoarse fellow serenaded us a long time, but did nothing more. game is said to be abundant, but we saw none, save an occasional diver springing away from the path. some streams ran to the north-west to the lismyando, which flows n. for the rovuma; others to the south-east for the loendi. _ th and th july, ._--nothing to interest but the same weary trudge: our food so scarce that we can only give a handful or half a pound of grain to each person per day. the masuko fruit is formed, but not ripe till rains begin; very few birds are seen or heard, though there is both food and water in the many grain-bearing grasses and running streams, which we cross at the junction of every two ridges. a dead body lay in a hut by the wayside; the poor thing had begun to make a garden by the stream, probably in hopes of living long enough (two months or so) on wild fruits to reap a crop of maize. _ th july, ._--a drizzling mist set in during the night and continued this morning, we set off in the dark, however, leaving our last food for the havildar and sepoys who had not yet come up. the streams are now of good size. an arab brandy bottle was lying broken in one village called msapa. we hurried on as fast as we could to the luatizé, our last stage before getting to mataka's; this stream is rapid, about forty yards wide, waist deep, with many podostemons on the bottom. the country gets more and more undulating and is covered with masses of green foliage, chiefly masuko trees, which have large hard leaves. there are hippopotami further down the river on its way to the loendi. a little rice which had been kept for me i divided, but some did not taste food. _ th july, ._--a good many stragglers behind, but we push on to get food and send it back to them. the soil all reddish clay, the roads baked hard by the sun, and the feet of many of us are weary and sore: a weary march and long, for it is perpetually up and down now. i counted fifteen running streams in one day: they are at the bottom of the valley which separates the ridges. we got to the brow of a ridge about an hour from mataka's first gardens, and all were so tired that we remained to sleep; but we first invited volunteers to go on and buy food, and bring it back early next morning: they had to be pressed to do this duty. _ th july, ._--as our volunteers did not come at a.m., i set off to see the cause, and after an hour of perpetual up and down march, as i descended the steep slope which overlooks the first gardens, i saw my friends start up at the apparition--they were comfortably cooking porridge for themselves! i sent men of mataka back with food to the stragglers behind and came on to his town. an arab, sef rupia or rubea, head of a large body of slaves, on his way to the coast, most kindly came forward and presented an ox, bag of flour, and some cooked meat, all of which were extremely welcome to half-famished men, or indeed under any circumstances. he had heard of our want of food and of a band of sepoys, and what could the english think of doing but putting an end to the slave-trade? had he seen our wretched escort, all fear of them would have vanished! he had a large safari or caravan under him. this body is usually divided into ten or twelve portions, and all are bound to obey the leader to á certain extent: in this case there were eleven parties, and the traders numbered about sixty or seventy, who were dark coast arabs. each underling had his men under him, and when i saw them they were busy making the pens of branches in which their slaves and they sleep. sef came on with me to mataka's, and introduced me in due form with discharges of gunpowder. i asked him to come back next morning, and presented three cloths with a request that he would assist the havildar and sepoys, if he met them, with food: this he generously did. we found mataka's town situated in an elevated valley surrounded by mountains; the houses numbered at least , and there were many villages around. the mountains were pleasantly green, and had many trees which the people were incessantly cutting down. they had but recently come here: they were besieged by mazitu at their former location west of this; after fighting four days they left unconquered, having beaten the enemy off. mataka kept us waiting some time in the verandah of his large square house, and then made his appearance, smiling with his good-natured face. he is about sixty years of age, dressed as an arab, and if we may judge from the laughter with which his remarks were always greeted, somewhat humorous. he had never seen any but arabs before. he gave me a square house to live in, indeed the most of the houses here are square, for the arabs are imitated in everything: they have introduced the english pea, and we were pleased to see large patches of it in full bearing, and ripe in moist hollows which had been selected for it. the numerous springs which come out at various parts are all made use of. those parts which are too wet are drained, whilst beds are regularly irrigated by water-courses and ridges: we had afterwards occasion to admire the very extensive draining which has been effected among the hills. cassava is cultivated on ridges along all the streets in the town, which give it a somewhat regular and neat appearance. peas and tobacco were the chief products raised by irrigation, but batatas and maize were often planted too: wheat would succeed if introduced. the altitude is about feet above the sea: the air at this time is cool, and many people have coughs. mataka soon sent a good mess of porridge and cooked meat (beef); he has plenty of cattle and sheep: and the next day he sent abundance of milk. we stand a good deal of staring unmoved, though it is often accompanied by remarks by no means complimentary; they think that they are not understood, and probably i do misunderstand sometimes. the waiyau jumble their words as i think, and mataka thought that i did not enunciate anything, but kept my tongue still when i spoke. town of matak, moembé. _ th july, ._--the safari under sef set off this morning for kilwa. sef says that about of the kilwa people died this year, so slaving as well as philanthropy is accompanied with loss of life: we saw about seven of their graves; the rest died on the road up. there are two roads from this to the lake, one to loséwa, which is west of this, and opposite kotakota; the other, to makatu, is further south: the first is five days through deserted country chiefly; but the other, seven, among people and plenty of provisions all the way. it struck me after sef had numbered up the losses that the kilwa people sustained by death in their endeavours to «nslave people, similar losses on the part of those who go to "proclaim liberty to the captives, the opening of the prison to them that are bound,"--to save and elevate, need not be made so very much of as they sometimes are. soon after our arrival we heard that a number of mataka's waiyau had, without his knowledge, gone to nyassa, and in a foray carried off cattle and people: when they came home with the spoil, mataka ordered all to be sent back whence they came. the chief came up to visit me soon after, and i told him that his decision was the best piece of news i had heard in the country: he was evidently pleased with my approbation, and, turning to his people, asked if they heard what i said. he repeated my remark, and said, "you silly fellows think me wrong in returning the captives, but all wise men will approve of it," and he then scolded them roundly. i was accidentally spectator of this party going back, for on going out of the town i saw a meat market opened, and people buying with maize and meal. on inquiring, i was told that the people and cattle there were the nyassas, and they had slaughtered an ox, in order to exchange meat for grain as provisions on the journey. the women and children numbered fifty-four, and about a dozen boys were engaged in milking the cows: the cattle were from twenty-five to thirty head. the change from hard and scanty fare caused illness in several of our party. i had tasted no animal food except what turtle-doves and guinea-fowls could be shot since we passed matawatawa,--true, a fowl was given by mtendé. the last march was remarkable for the scarcity of birds, so eight days were spent on porridge and rice without relish. i gave mataka a trinket, to be kept in remembrance of his having sent back the nyassa people: he replied that he would always act in a similar manner. as it was a spontaneous act, it was all the more valuable. the sepoys have become quite intolerable, and if i cannot get rid of them we shall all starve before we accomplish what we wish. they dawdle behind picking up wild fruits, and over our last march (which we accomplished on the morning of the eighth day) they took from fourteen to twenty-two days. retaining their brutal feelings to the last they killed the donkey which i lent to the havildar to carry his things, by striking it on the head when in boggy places into which they had senselessly driven it loaded; then the havildar came on (his men pretending they could go no further from weakness), and killed the young buffalo and eat it when they thought they could hatch up a plausible story. they said it had died, and tigers came and devoured it--they saw them. "did you see the stripes of the tiger?" said i. all declared that they saw the stripes distinctly. this gave us an idea of their truthfulness, as there is no striped tiger in all africa. all who resolved on skulking or other bad behaviour invariably took up with the sepoys; their talk seemed to suit evil-doers, and they were such a disreputable-looking lot that i was quite ashamed of them. the havildar had no authority, and all bore the sulky dogged look of people going where they were forced but hated to go. this hang-dog expression of countenance was so conspicuous that i many a time have heard the country people remark, "these are the slaves of the party." they have neither spirit nor pluck as compared with the africans, and if one saw a village he turned out of the way to beg in the most abject manner, or lay down and slept, the only excuse afterwards being, "my legs were sore." having allowed some of them to sleep at the fire in my house, they began a wholesale plunder of everything they could sell, as cartridges, cloths, and meat, so i had to eject them. one of them then threatened to shoot my interpreter simon if he got him in a quiet place away from the english power. as this threat had been uttered three times, and i suspect that something of the kind had prevented the havildar exerting his authority, i resolved to get rid of them by sending them back to the coast by the first trader. it is likely that some sympathizers will take their part, but i strove to make them useful. they had but poor and scanty fare in a part of the way, but all of us suffered alike. they made themselves thoroughly disliked by their foul talk and abuse, and if anything tended more than another to show me that theirs was a moral unfitness for travel, it was the briskness assumed when they knew they were going back to the coast. i felt inclined to force them on, but it would have been acting from revenge, and to pay them out, so i forbore. i gave mataka forty-eight yards of calico, and to the sepoys eighteen yards, and arranged that he should give them food till suleiman, a respectable trader, should arrive. he was expected every day, and we passed him near the town. if they chose to go and get their luggage, it was of course all safe for them behind. the havildar begged still to go on with me, and i consented, though he is a drag on the party, but he will count in any difficulty. abraham recognised his uncle among the crowds who came to see us. on making himself known he found that his mother and two sisters had been sold to the arabs after he had been enslaved. the uncle pressed him to remain, and mataka urged, and so did another uncle, but in vain. i added my voice, and could have given him goods to keep him afloat a good while, but he invariably replied, "how can i stop where i have no mother and no sister?" the affection seems to go to the maternal side. i suggested that he might come after he had married a wife, but i fear very much that unless some european would settle, none of these nassick boys will come to this country. it would be decidedly better if they were taught agriculture in the simplest form, as the indian. mataka would have liked to put his oxen to use, but abraham could not help him with that. he is a smith, or rather a nothing, for unless he could smelt iron he would be entirely without materials to work with. _ th- th july, ._--one day, calling at mataka's, i found as usual a large crowd of idlers, who always respond with a laugh to everything he utters as wit. he asked, if he went to bombay what ought he to take to secure some gold? i replied, "ivory," he rejoined, "would slaves not be a good speculation?" i replied that, "if he took slaves there for sale, they would put him in prison." the idea of the great mataka in "chokee" made him wince, and the laugh turned for once against him. he said that as all the people from the coast crowd to him, they ought to give him something handsome for being here to supply their wants. i replied, if he would fill the fine well-watered country we had passed over with people instead of sending them off to kilwa, he would confer a benefit on visitors, but we had been starved on the way to him; and i then told him what the english would do in road-making in a fine country like this. this led us to talk of railways, ships, ploughing with oxen--the last idea struck him most. i told him that i should have liked some of the nassick boys to remain and teach this and other things, but they might be afraid to venture lest they should be sold again. the men who listened never heard such decided protests against selling each other into slavery before! the idea of guilt probably floated but vaguely in their minds, but the loss of life we have witnessed (in the guilt of which the sellers as well as the buyers participate) comes home very forcibly to their minds. mataka has been an active hand in slave wars himself, though now he wishes to settle down in quiet. the waiyau generally are still the most active agents the slave-traders have. the caravan leaders from kilwa arrive at a waiyau village, show the goods they have brought, are treated liberally by the elders, and told to wait and enjoy themselves, slaves enough to purchase all will be procured: then a foray is made against the manganja, who have few or no guns. the waiyau who come against them are abundantly supplied with both by their coast guests. several of the low coast arabs, who differ in nothing from the waiyau, usually accompany the foray, and do business on their own account: this is the usual way in which a safari is furnished with slaves. makanjela, a waiyau chief about a third of the way from mtendé's to mataka, has lost the friendship of all his neighbours by kidnapping and selling their people; if any of mataka's people are found in the district between makanjela and moembé, they are considered fair game and sold. makanjela's people cannot piss mataka to go to the manganja, so they do what they can by kidnapping and plundering all who fall into their hands. when i employed two of mataka's people to go back on the th with food to the havildar and sepoys, they went a little way and relieved some, but would not venture as far as the luatizé, for fear of losing their liberty by makanjela's people. i could not get the people of the country to go back; nor could i ask the nassick boys, who had been threatened by the sepoys with assassination,--and it was the same with the johanna men, because, though mahometans, the sepoys had called them caffirs, &c., and they all declared, "we are ready to do anything for you, but we will do nothing for these hindis." i sent back a sepoy, giving him provisions; he sat down in the first village, ate all the food, and returned. an immense tract of country lies uninhabited. to the north-east of moembé we have at least fifty miles of as fine land as can be seen anywhere, still bearing all the marks of having once supported a prodigious iron-smelting and grain-growing population. the clay pipes which are put on the nozzles of their bellows and inserted into the furnace are met with everywhere--often vitrified. then the ridges on which they planted maize, beans, cassava, and sorghum, and which they find necessary to drain off the too abundant moisture of the rains, still remain unlevelled to attest the industry of the former inhabitants; the soil being clayey, resists for a long time the influence of the weather. these ridges are very regular, for in crossing the old fields, as the path often compels us to do, one foot treads regularly on the ridge, and the other in the hollow, for a considerable distance. pieces of broken pots, with their rims ornamented with very good imitations of basket-work, attest that the lady potters of old followed the example given them by their still more ancient mothers,--their designs are rude, but better than we can make them without referring to the original. [illustration: imitation of basket-work in pottery.] no want of water has here acted to drive the people away, as has been the case further south. it is a perpetual succession of ridge and valley, with a running stream or oozing bog, where ridge is separated from ridge: the ridges become steeper and narrower as we approach mataka's. i counted fifteen running burns of from one to ten yards wide in one day's march of about six hours; being in a hilly or rather mountainous region, they flow rapidly and have plenty of water-power. in july any mere torrent ceases to flow, but these were brawling burns with water too cold ( °) for us to bathe in whose pores were all open by the relaxing regions nearer the coast. the sound, so un-african, of gushing water dashing over rocks was quite familiar to our ears. this district, which rises up west of mataka's to feet above the sea, catches a great deal of the moisture brought up by the easterly winds. many of the trees are covered with lichens. while here we had cold southerly breezes, and a sky so overcast every day after a.m., that we could take no astronomical observations: even the latitude was too poor to be much depended on. ° ' s. may have been a few miles from this. the cattle, rather a small breed, black and white in patches, and brown, with humps, give milk which is duly prized by these waiyau. the sheep are the large-tailed variety, and generally of a black colour. fowls and pigeons are the only other domestic animals we see, if we except the wretched village dogs which our-poodle had immense delight in chasing. the waiyau are far from a handsome race, but they are not the prognathous beings one sees on the west coast either. their heads are of a round shape; compact foreheads, but not particularly receding; the alae nasi are flattened out; lips full, and with the women a small lip-ring just turns them up to give additional thickness. their style of beauty is exactly that which was in fashion when the stone deities were made in the caves of elephanta and kenora near bombay. À favourite mode of dressing the hair into little knobs, which was in fashion there, is more common in some tribes than in this. the mouths of the women would not be so hideous with a small lip-ring if they did not file their teeth to points, but they seem strong and able for the work which falls to their lot. the men are large, strong-boned fellows, and capable of enduring great fatigue, they undergo a rite which once distinguished the jews about the age of puberty, and take a new name on the occasion; this was not introduced by the arabs, whose advent is a recent event, and they speak of the time before they were inundated with european manufactures in exchange for slaves, as quite within their memory. young mataka gave me a dish of peas, and usually brought something every time he made a visit, he seems a nice boy, and his father, in speaking of learning to read, said he and his companions could learn, but he himself was too old. the soil seems very fertile, for the sweet potatoes become very large, and we bought two loads of them for three cubits and two needles; they quite exceeded cwt. the maize becomes very large too; one cob had seeds. the abundance of water, the richness of soil, the available labour for building square houses, the coolness of the climate, make this nearly as desirable a residence as magomero; but, alas! instead of three weeks' easy sail up the zambesi and shiré, we have spent four weary months in getting here: i shall never cease bitterly to lament the abandonment of the magomero mission. moaning seems a favourite way of spending the time with some sick folk. for the sake of the warmth, i allowed a nassick boy to sleep in my house; he and i had the same complaint, dysentery, and i was certainly worse than he, but did not moan, while he played at it as often as he was awake. i told him that people moaned only when too ill to be sensible of what they were doing; the groaning ceased, though he became worse. three sepoys played at groaning very vigorously outside my door; they had nothing the matter with them, except perhaps fatigue, which we all felt alike; as these fellows prevented my sleeping, i told them quite civilly that, if so ill that they required to groan, they had better move off a little way, as i could not sleep; they preferred the verandah, and at once forbore. the abundance of grain and other food is accompanied by great numbers of rats or large mice, which play all manner of pranks by night; white ants have always to be guarded against likewise. anyone who would find an antidote to drive them away would confer a blessing; the natural check is the driver ant, which when it visits a house is a great pest for a time, but it clears the others out. footnotes: [ ] there is a double purpose in these murders; the terror inspired in the minds of the survivors spurs them on to endure the hardships of the march: the portuese drivers are quite alive to the merits of this stimulus.--ed. [ ] a tribal distinction turns on the customs prevailing with respect to animal food, _e.g._ one tribe will eat the elephant, the next looks on such flesh as unclean, and so with other meat. the neighbouring manganja gladly eat the leopard and hyaena.--ed. [ ] a coloured cloth manufactured expressly for barter in east africa. [ ] this is pronounced "y-yow."--ed. chapter iv. geology and description of the waiyau land. leaves mataka's. the nyumbo plant. native iron-foundry. blacksmiths. makes for the lake nyassa. delight at seeing the lake once more. the manganja or nyassa tribe. arab slave crossing. unable to procure passage across. the kungu fly. fear of the english amongst slavers. lake shore. blue ink. chitané changes colour. the nsaka fish. makalaosé drinks beer. the sanjika fish. london antiquities. lake rivers. mukaté's. lake pamalombé. mponda's. a slave gang. wikatani discovers his relatives and remains. _ th july, ._--we proposed to start to-day, but mataka said that he was not ready yet: the flour had to be ground, and he had given us no meat. he had sent plenty of cooked food almost every day. he asked if we would slaughter the ox he would give here, or take it on; we preferred to kill it at once. he came on the th with a good lot of flour for us, and men to guide us to nyassa, telling us that this was moembé, and his district extended all the way to the lake: he would not send us to loséwa, as that place had lately been plundered and burned. in general the chiefs have shown an anxiety to promote our safety. the country is a mass of mountains. on leaving mataka's we ascended considerably, and about the end of the first day's march, near magola's village, the barometer showed our greatest altitude, about feet above the sea. there were villages of these mountaineers everywhere, for the most part of houses or more each. the springs were made the most use of that they knew; the damp spots drained, and the water given a free channel for use in irrigation further down: most of these springs showed the presence of iron by the oxide oozing out. a great many patches of peas are seen in full bearing and flower. the trees are small, except in the hollows: there is plenty of grass and flowers near streams and on the heights. the mountain-tops may rise or feet above their flanks, along which we wind, going perpetually up and down the steep ridges of which the country is but a succession. looking at the geology of the district, the plateaux on each side of the rovuma are masses of grey sandstone, capped with masses of ferruginous conglomerate; apparently an aqueous deposit. when we ascend the rovuma about sixty miles, a great many pieces and blocks of silicified wood appear on the surface of the soil at the bottom of the slope up the plateaux. this in africa is a sure indication of the presence of coal beneath, but it was not observed cropping out; the plateaux are cut up in various directions by wadys well supplied with grass and trees on deep and somewhat sandy soil: but at the confluence of the loendi highlands they appear in the far distance. in the sands of the loendi pieces of coal are quite common.[ ] before reaching the confluence of the rovuma and loendi, or say about ninety miles from the sea, the plateau is succeeded by a more level country, having detached granitic masses shooting up some or feet. the sandstone of the plateau has at first been hardened, then quite metamorphosed into a chocolate-coloured schist. as at chilolé hill, we have igneous rocks, apparently trap, capped with masses of beautiful white dolomite. we still ascend in altitude as we go westwards, and come upon long tracts of gneiss with hornblende. the gneiss is often striated, all the striae looking one way--sometimes north and south, and at other times east and west. these rocks look as if a stratified rock had been nearly melted, and the strata fused together by the heat. from these striated rocks have shot up great rounded masses of granite or syenite, whose smooth sides and crowns contain scarcely any trees, and are probably from to feet above the sea. the elevated plains among these mountain masses show great patches of ferruginous conglomerate, which, when broken, look like yellow haematite with madrepore holes in it: this has made the soil of a red colour. on the watershed we have still the rounded granitic hills jutting above the plains (if such they may be called) which are all ups and downs, and furrowed with innumerable running rills, the sources of the rovuma and loendi. the highest rock observed with mica schist was at an altitude of feet. the same uneven country prevails as we proceed from the watershed about forty miles down to the lake, and a great deal of quartz in small fragments renders travelling-very difficult. near the lake, and along its eastern shore, we have mica schist and gneiss foliated, with a great deal of hornblende; but the most remarkable feature of it is that the rocks are all tilted on edge, or slightly inclined to the lake. the active agent in effecting this is not visible. it looks as if a sudden rent had been made, so as to form the lake, and tilt all these rocks nearly over. on the east side of the lower part of the lake we have two ranges of mountains, evidently granitic: the nearer one covered with small trees and lower than the other; the other jagged and bare, or of the granitic forms. but in all this country no fossil-yielding rock was visible except the grey sandstone referred to at the beginning of this note. the rocks are chiefly the old crystalline forms. one fine straight tall tree in the hollows seemed a species of fig: its fruit was just forming, but it was too high for me to ascertain its species. the natives don't eat the fruit, but they eat the large grubs which come out of it. the leaves were fifteen inches long by five broad: they call it unguengo. _ th july, ._--at magola's village. although we are now rid of the sepoys, we cannot yet congratulate ourselves on being rid of the lazy habits of lying down in the path which they introduced. a strong scud comes up from the south bringing much moisture with it: it blows so hard above, this may be a storm on the coast. temperature in mornings °. _ th july, ._--a short march brought us to pezimba's village, which consists of houses and huts. it is placed very nicely on a knoll between two burns, which, as usual, are made use of for irrigating peas in winter time. the headman said that if we left now we had a good piece of jungle before us, and would sleep twice in it before reaching mbanga. we therefore remained. an arab party, hearing of our approach, took a circuitous route among the mountains to avoid coming in contact with us. in travelling to pezimba's we had commenced our western descent to the lake, for we were now lower than magola's by feet. we crossed many rivulets and the lochesi, a good-sized stream. the watershed parts some streams for loendi and some for rovuma. there is now a decided scantiness of trees. many of the hill-tops are covered with grass or another plant; there is pleasure now in seeing them bare. ferns, rhododendrons, and a foliaged tree, which looks in the distance like silver-fir, are met with. the mandaré root is here called nyumbo, when cooked it has a slight degree of bitterness with it which cultivation may remove. mica schist crowned some of the heights on the watershed, then gneiss, and now, as we descend further, we have igneous rocks of more recent eruption, porphyry and gneiss, with hornblende. a good deal of ferruginous conglomerate, with holes in it, covers many spots; when broken, it looks like yellow haematite, with black linings to the holes: this is probably the ore used in former times by the smiths, of whose existence we now find still more evidence than further east. _ st july, ._--i had presented pezimba with a cloth, so he cooked for us handsomely last night, and this morning desired us to wait a little as he had not yet sufficient meal made to present: we waited and got a generous present. it was decidedly milder here than at mataka's, and we had a clear sky. in our morning's march we passed the last of the population, and went on through a fine well-watered fruitful country, to sleep near a mountain called mtéwiré, by a stream called msapo. a very large arab slave-party was close by our encampment, and i wished to speak to them; but as soon as they knew of our being near they set off in a pathless course across country, and were six days in the wilderness.[ ] _ st august, ._--we saw the encampment of another arab party. it consisted of ten pens, each of which, from the number of fires it contained, may have held from eighty to a hundred slaves. the people of the country magnified the numbers, saying that they would reach from this to mataka's; but from all i can learn, i think that from to slaves is the commoner gang. this second party went across country very early this morning. we saw the fire-sticks which the slaves had borne with them. the fear they feel is altogether the effect of the english name, for we have done nothing to cause their alarm. _ nd august, ._--there was something very cheering to me in the sight at our encampment of yellow grass and trees dotted over it, as in the bechuana country. the birds were singing merrily too, inspired by the cold, which was °, and by the vicinity of some population. gum-copal trees and bushes grow here as well as all over the country; but gum is never dug for, probably because the trees were never large enough to yield the fossil gum. marks of smiths are very abundant and some furnaces are still standing. much cultivation must formerly have been where now all is jungle. we arrived at mbanga, a village embowered in trees, chiefly of the euphorbia, so common in the manganja country further south. kandulo, the headman, had gone to drink beer at another village, but sent orders to give a hut and to cook for us. we remained next day. took lunars. we had now passed through, at the narrowest part, the hundred miles of depopulated country, of which about seventy are on the n.e. of mataka. the native accounts differ as to the cause. some say slave wars, and assert that the makoa from the vicinity of mozambique played an important part in them; others say famine; others that the people have moved to and beyond nyassa.[ ] certain it is, from the potsherds strewed over the country, and the still remaining ridges on which beans, sorghum, maize, and cassava, were planted, that the departed population was prodigious. the waiyau, who are now in the country, came from the other side of the rovuma, and they probably supplanted the manganja, an operation which we see going on at the present day. _ th august, ._--an hour and a half brought us to miulé, a village on the same level with mbanga; and the chief pressing us to stay, on the plea of our sleeping two nights in the jungle, instead of one if we left early next morning, we consented. i asked him what had become of the very large iron-smelting population of this region; he said many had died of famine, others had fled to the west of nyassa: the famine is the usual effect of slave wars, and much death is thereby caused--probably much more than by the journey to the coast. he had never heard any tradition of stone hatchets having been used, nor of stone spear-heads or arrowheads of that material, nor had he heard of any being turned up by the women in hoeing. the makondé, as we saw, use wooden spears where iron is scarce. i saw wooden hoes used for tilling the soil in the bechuana and bataka countries, but never stone ones. in i saw a bushwoman in the cape colony with a round stone and a hole through it; on being asked she showed me how it was used by inserting the top of a digging-stick into it, and digging a root. the stone was to give the stick weight. [illustration.] the stones still used as anvils and sledge-hammers by many of the african smiths, when considered from their point of view, show sounder sense than if they were burdened with the great weights we use. they are unacquainted with the process of case-hardening, which, applied to certain parts of our anvils, gives them their usefulness, and an anvil of their soft iron would not do so well as a hard stone. it is true a small light one might be made, but let any one see how the hammers of their iron bevel over and round in the faces with a little work, and he will perceive that only a wild freak would induce any sensible native smith to make a mass equal to a sledge-hammer, and burden himself with a weight for what can be better performed by a stone. if people are settled, as on the coast, then they gladly use any mass of cast iron they may find, but never where, as in the interior, they have no certainty of remaining any length of time in one spot. _ th august, ._--we left miulé, and commenced our march towards lake nyassa, and slept at the last of the streams that flow to the loendi. in mataka's vicinity, n.e., there is a perfect brush of streams flowing to that river: one forms a lake in its course, and the sources of the rovuma lie in the same region. after leaving mataka's we crossed a good-sized one flowing to loendi, and, the day after leaving pezimba's, another going to the chiringa or lochiringa, which is a tributary of the rovuma. _ th august, ._--we passed two cairns this morning at the beginning of the very sensible descent to the lake. they are very common in all this southern africa in the passes of the mountains, and are meant to mark divisions of countries, perhaps burial-places, but the waiyau who accompanied us thought that they were merely heaps of stone collected by some one making a garden. the cairns were placed just about the spot where the blue waters of nyassa first came fairly into view. we now came upon a stream, the misinjé, flowing into the lake, and we crossed it five times; it was about twenty yards wide, and thigh deep. we made but short stages when we got on the lower plateau, for the people had great abundance of food, and gave large presents of it if we rested. one man gave four fowls, three large baskets of maize, pumpkins, eland's fat--a fine male, as seen by his horns,--and pressed us to stay, that he might see our curiosities as well as others. he said that at one day's distance south of him all sorts of animals, as buffaloes, elands, elephants, hippopotami, and antelopes, could be shot. _ th august, ._--we came to the lake at the confluence of the misinjé, and felt grateful to that hand which had protected us thus far on our journey. it was as if i had come back to an old home i never expected again to see; and pleasant to bathe in the delicious waters again, hear the roar of the sea, and dash in the rollers. temp. ° at a.m., while the air was °. i feel quite exhilarated. the headman here, mokalaosé, is a real manganja, and he and all his people exhibit the greater darkness of colour consequent on being in a warm moist climate; he is very friendly, and presented millet, porridge, cassava, and hippopotamus meat boiled and asked if i liked milk, as he had some of mataka's cattle here. his people bring sanjika the best lake fish, for sale; they are dried on stages over slow fires, and lose their fine flavour by it, but they are much prized inland. i bought fifty for a fathom of calico; when fresh, they taste exactly like the best herrings, _i.e._ as we think, but voyagers' and travellers' appetites are often so whetted as to be incapable of giving a true verdict in matters of taste. [it is necessary to explain that livingstone knew of an arab settlement on the western shore of the lake, and that he hoped to induce the chief man jumbé to give him a passage to the other side.] _ th august, ._--i sent seyed majid's letter up to jumbé, but the messenger met some coast arabs at the loangwa, which may be seven miles from this, and they came back with him, haggling a deal about the fare, and then went off, saying that they would bring the dhow here for us. finding that they did not come, i sent musa, who brought back word that they had taken the dhow away over to jumbé at kotakota, or, as they pronounce it, ngotagota. very few of the coast arabs can read; in words they are very polite, but truthfulness seems very little regarded. i am resting myself and people--working up journal, lunars, and altitudes--but will either move south or go to the arabs towards the north soon. mokalaosé's fears of the waiyau will make him welcome jumbé here, and then the arab will some day have an opportunity of scattering his people as he has done those at kotakota. he has made loséwa too hot for himself. when the people there were carried off by mataka's people, jumbé seized their stores of grain, and now has no post to which he can go there. the loangwa arabs give an awful account of jumbé's murders and selling the people, but one cannot take it all in; at the mildest it must have been bad. this is all they ever do; they cannot form a state or independent kingdom: slavery and the slave-trade are insuperable obstacles to any permanence inland; slaves can escape so easily, all therefore that the arabs do is to collect as much money as they can by hook and by crook, and then leave the country. we notice a bird called namtambwé, which sings very nicely with a strong voice after dark here at the misinjé confluence. _ th august, ._--two headmen came down country from villages where we slept, bringing us food, and asking how we are treated; they advise our going south to mukaté's, where the lake is narrow. _ th- th august, ._--map making; but my energies were sorely taxed by the lazy sepoys, and i was usually quite tired out at night. some men have come down from mataka's, and report the arrival of an englishman with cattle for me, "he has two eyes behind as well as two in front:" this is enough of news for awhile! mokalaosé has his little afflictions, and he tells me of them. a wife ran away, i asked how many he had; he told me twenty in all: i then thought he had nineteen too many. he answered with the usual reason, "but who would cook for strangers if i had but one?" we saw clouds of "kungu" gnats on the lake; they are not eaten here. an ungenerous traveller coming here with my statement in his hand, and finding the people denying all knowledge of how to catch and cook them, might say that i had been romancing in saying i had seen them made into cakes in the northern part of the lake; when asking here about them, a stranger said, "they know how to use them in the north; we do not." mokalaosé thinks that the arabs are afraid that i may take their dhows from them and go up to the north. he and the other headmen think that the best way will be to go to mukaté's in the south. all the arabs flee from me, the english name being in their minds inseparably connected with recapturing slavers: they cannot conceive that i have any other object in view; they cannot read seyed majid's letter. _ st august, ._--started for the loangwa, on the east side of the lake; hilly all the way, about seven miles. this river may be twenty yards wide near its confluence; the misinjé is double that: each has accumulated a promontory of deposit and enters the lake near its apex. we got a house from a waiyau man on a bank about forty feet above the level of nyassa, but i could not sleep for the manoeuvres of a crowd of the minute ants which infested it. they chirrup distinctly; they would not allow the men to sleep either, though all were pretty tired by the rough road up. _ nd august, ._--we removed to the south side of the loangwa, where there are none of these little pests. _ rd august, ._--proposed to the waiyau headman to send a canoe over to call jumbé, as i did not believe in the assertions of the half-caste arab here that he had sent for his. all the waiyau had helped me, and why not he? he was pleased with this, but advised waiting till a man sent to loséwa should return. _ th august, ._--a leopard took a dog out of a house next to ours; he had bitten a man before, but not mortally. _ th august, ._--news come that the two dhows have come over to loséwa (loséfa). the mazitu had chased jumbé up the hills: had they said, on to an island, i might have believed them. _ th august, ._--the fear which the english have inspired in the arab slave-traders is rather inconvenient. all flee from me as if i had the plague, and i cannot in consequence transmit letters to the coast, or get across the lake. they seem to think that if i get into a dhow i will be sure to burn it. as the two dhows on the lake are used for nothing else but the slave-trade, their owners have no hope of my allowing them to escape, so after we have listened to various lies as excuses, we resolve to go southwards, and cross at the point of departure of the shiré from the lake. i took lunars several times on both sides of the moon, and have written a despatch for lord clarendon, besides a number of private letters. _ rd september, ._--went down to confluence of the misinjé and came to many of the eatable insect "kungu,"--they are caught by a quick motion of the hand holding a basket. we got a cake of these same insects further down; they make a buzz like a swarm of bees, and are probably the perfect state of some lake insect. i observed two beaches of the lake: one about fifteen feet above the present high-water mark, and the other about forty above that; but between the two the process of disintegration, which results from the sudden cold and heat in these regions, has gone on so much that seldom is a well-rounded smoothed one seen; the lower beach is very well marked. the strike of large masses of foliated gneiss is parallel with the major axis of the lake, and all are tilted on edge. some are a little inclined to the lake, as if dipping to it westwards, but others are as much inclined the opposite way, or twisted. i made very good blue ink from the juice of a berry, the fruit of a creeper, which is the colour of port wine when expressed. a little ferri carb. ammon., added to this is all that is required. the poodle dog chitané is rapidly changing the colour of its hair. all the parts corresponding to the ribs and neck are rapidly becoming red; the majority of country dogs are of this colour. the manganja, or wa-nyassa, are an aboriginal race; they have great masses of hair, and but little, if any, of the prognathous in the profile. their bodies and limbs are very well made, and the countenance of the men is often very pleasant. the women are very plain and lumpy, but exceedingly industrious in their gardens from early morning till about a.m., then from p.m. till dark, or pounding corn and grinding it: the men make twine or nets by day, and are at their fisheries in the evenings and nights. they build the huts, the women plaster them. a black fish, the nsaka, makes a hole, with raised edges, which, with the depth from which they are taken, is from fifteen to eighteen inches, and from two to three feet broad. it is called by the natives their house. the pair live in it for some time, or until the female becomes large for spawning; this operation over, the house is left. i gave mokalaosé some pumpkin seed and peas. he took me into his house, and presented a quantity of beer. i drank a little, and seeing me desist from taking more, he asked if i wished a servant-girl to "_pata mimba_." not knowing what was meant, i offered the girl the calabash of beer, and told her to drink, but this was not the intention. he asked if i did not wish more; and then took the vessel, and as he drank the girl performed the operation on himself. placing herself in front, she put both hands round his waist below the short ribs, and pressing gradually drew them round to his belly in front. he took several prolonged draughts, and at each she repeated the operation, as if to make the liquor go equally over the stomach. our topers don't seem to have discovered the need for this. _ th september, ._--our march is along the shore to ngombo promontory, which approaches so near to senga or tsenga opposite, as to narrow the lake to some sixteen or eighteen miles. it is a low sandy point, the edge fringed on the north-west and part of the south with a belt of papyrus and reeds; the central parts wooded. part of the south side has high sandy dunes, blown up by the south wind, which strikes it at right angles there. one was blowing as we marched along the southern side eastwards, and was very tiresome. we reached panthunda's village by a brook called lilolé. another we crossed before coming to it is named libesa: these brooks form the favourite spawning grounds of the sanjika and mpasa, two of the best fishes of the lake. the sanjika is very like our herring in shape and taste and size; the mpasa larger every way: both live on green herbage formed at the bottom of the lake and rivers. _ th september, ._--chirumba's village being on the south side of a long lagoon, we preferred sleeping on the mainland, though they offered their cranky canoes to ferry us over. this lagoon is called pansangwa. _ th september, ._--in coming along the southern side of ngombo promontory we look eastwards, but when we leave it we turn southwards, having a double range of lofty mountains on our left. these are granitic in form, the nearer range being generally the lowest, and covered with scraggy trees; the second, or more easterly, is some feet above the sea, bare and rugged, with jagged peaks shooting high into the air. this is probably the newest range. the oldest people have felt no earthquake, but some say that they have heard of such things from their elders. we passed very many sites of old villages, which are easily known by the tree euphorbia planted round an umbelliferous one, and the sacred fig. one species here throws out strong buttresses in the manner of some mangroves instead of sending down twiners which take root, as is usually the ease with the tropical fig. these, with millstones--stones for holding the pots in cooking--and upraised clay benches, which have been turned into brick by fire in the destruction of the huts, show what were once the "pleasant haunts of men." no stone implements ever appear. if they existed they could not escape notice, since the eyes in walking are almost always directed to the ground to avoid stumbling on stones or stumps. in some parts of the world stone implements are so common they seem to have been often made and discarded as soon as formed, possibly by getting better tools; if, indeed, the manufacture is not as modern as that found by mr. waller. passing some navvies in the city who were digging for the foundation of a house, he observed a very antique-looking vase, wet from the clay, standing on the bank. he gave ten shillings for it, and subsequently, by the aid of a scrubbing brush and some water, detected the hieroglyphics "copeland late spode" on the bottom of it! here the destruction is quite recent, and has been brought about by some who entertained us very hospitably on the misinjé, before we came to the confluence. the woman chief, ulenjelenjé, or njelenjé, bore a part in it for the supply of arab caravans. it was the work of the masininga, a waiyau tribe, of which her people form a part. they almost depopulated the broad fertile tract, of some three or four miles, between the mountain range and the lake, along which our course lay. it was wearisome to see the skulls and bones scattered about everywhere; one would fain not notice them, but they are so striking as one trudges along the sultry path, that it cannot be avoided. _ th september, ._--we spent sunday at kandango's village. the men killed a hippopotamus when it was sleeping on the shore; a full-grown female, feet inches from the snout to the insertion of the tail, and feet inches high at the withers. the bottom here and all along southwards now is muddy. many of the _siluris glanis_ are caught equal in length to an eleven or a twelve-pound salmon, but a great portion is head; slowly roasted on a stick stuck in the ground before the fire they seemed to me much more savoury than i ever tasted them before. with the mud we have many shells: north of ngombo scarcely one can be seen, and there it is sandy or rocky. _ th september, ._--in marching southwards we came close to the range (the lake lies immediately on the other side of it), but we could not note the bays which it forms; we crossed two mountain torrents from sixty to eighty yards broad, and now only ankle deep. in flood these bring down enormous trees, which are much battered and bruised among the rocks in their course; they spread over the plain, too, and would render travelling here in the rains impracticable. after spending the night at a very civil headman's chefu, we crossed the lotendé, another of these torrents: each very lofty mass in the range seemed to give rise to one. nothing of interest occurred as we trudged along. a very poor headman, pamawawa, presented a roll of salt instead of food: this was grateful to us, as we have been without that luxury some time. _ th september, ._--we crossed the rivulet nguena, and then went on to another with a large village by it, it is called pantoza pangone. the headman had been suffering from sore eyes for four months, and pressed me to stop and give him medicine, which i did. _ th september, ._--we crossed a strong brook called nkoré. my object in mentioning the brooks which were flowing at this time, and near the end of the dry season, is to give an idea of the sources of supply of evaporation. the men enumerate the following, north of the misinjé. those which are greater are marked thus +, and the lesser ones -. . misinjé + has canoes. . loangwa - . leséfa - . lelula - . nchamanjé - . musumba + . fubwé + . chia - . kisanga + . bweka - . chifumero + has canoes. . loangwa - . mkoho - . mangwelo - at n. end of lake. including the above there are twenty or twenty-four perennial brooks and torrents which give a good supply of water in the dry season; in the wet season they are supplemented by a number of burns, which, though flowing now, have their mouths blocked up with bars of sand, and yield nothing except by percolation; the lake rises at least four feet perpendicularly in the wet season, and has enough during the year from these perennial brooks to supply the shiré's continual flow. [it will be remembered that the beautiful river shiré carries off the waters of lake nyassa and joins the zambesi near mount morambala, about ninety miles from the sea. it is by this water-way that livingstone always hoped to find an easy access to central africa. the only obstacles that exist are, first, the foolish policy of the portuguese with regard to customs' duties at the mouth of the zambesi; and secondly, a succession of cataracts on the shiré, which impede navigation for seventy miles. the first hindrance may give way under more liberal views than those which prevail at present at the court of lisbon, and then the remaining difficulty--accepted as a fact--will be solved by the establishment of a boat service both above and below the cataracts. had livingstone survived he would have been cheered by hearing that already several schemes are afoot to plant missions in the vicinity of lake nyassa, and we may with confidence look to the revival of the very enterprise which he presently so bitterly deplores as a thing of the past, for bishop steere has fully determined to re-occupy the district in which fell his predecessor, bishop mackenzie, and others attached to the universities mission.] in the course of this day's march we were pushed close to the lake by mount gomé, and, being now within three miles of the end of the lake, we could see the whole plainly. there we first saw the shiré emerge, and there also we first gazed on the broad waters of nyassa. many hopes have been disappointed here. far down on the right bank of the zambesi lies the dust of her whose death changed all my future prospects; and now, instead of a check being given to the slave-trade by lawful commerce on the lake, slave-dhows prosper! an arab slave-party fled on hearing of us yesterday. it is impossible not to regret the loss of good bishop mackenzie, who sleeps far down the shiré, and with him all hope of the gospel being introduced into central africa. the silly abandonment of all the advantages of the shiré route by the bishop's successor i shall ever bitterly deplore, but all will come right some day, though i may not live to participate in the joy, or even see the commencement of better times. in the evening we reached the village of cherekalongwa on the brook pamchololo, and were very jovially received by the headman with beer. he says that mukaté,[ ] kabinga, and mponda alone supply the slave-traders now by raids on the manganja, but they go s.w. to the maravi, who, impoverished by a mazitu raid, sell each other as well. _ th, september, ._--at cherekalongwa's (who has a skin disease, believed by him to have been derived from eating fresh-water turtles), we were requested to remain one day in order that he might see us. he had heard much about us; had been down the shiré, and as far as mosambique, but never had an englishman in his town before. as the heat is great we were glad of the rest and beer, with which he very freely supplied us. i saw the skin of a phenembe, a species of lizard which devours chickens; here it is named salka. it had been flayed by a cut up the back--body, inches; across belly, inches. after nearly giving up the search for dr. roscher's point of reaching the lake--because no one, either arab or native, had the least idea of either nusseewa or makawa, the name given to the place--i discovered it in lesséfa, the accentuated _é_ being sounded as our _e_ in _set_. this word would puzzle a german philologist, as being the origin of nussewa, but the waiyau pronounce it loséwa, the arabs lusséwa, and roscher's servant transformed the _l_ and _é_ into _n_ and _ee_, hence nusseewa. in confirmation of this rivulet leséfa, which is opposite kotakota, or, as the arabs pronounce it, nkotakota, the chief is mangkaka (makawa), or as there is a confusion of names as to chief it may be mataka, whose town and district is called moembé, the town pamoembe = mamemba. i rest content with kingomango so far verifying the place at which he arrived two months after we had discovered lake nyassa. he deserved all the credit due to finding the way thither, but he travelled as an arab, and no one suspected him to be anything else. our visits have been known far and wide, and great curiosity excited; but dr. roscher merits the praise only of preserving his _incognito_ at a distance from kilwa: his is almost the only case known of successfully assuming the arab guise--burckhardt is the exception. when mr. palgrave came to muscat, or a town in oman where our political agent col. desborough was stationed, he was introduced to that functionary by an interpreter as hajee ali, &c. col. desborough replied, "you are no hajee ali, nor anything else but gifford palgrave, with whom i was schoolfellow at the charter house." col. desborough said he knew him at once, from a peculiar way of holding his head, and palgrave begged him not to disclose his real character to his interpreter, on whom, and some others, he had been imposing. i was told this by mr. dawes, a lieutenant in the indian navy, who accompanied colonel pelly in his visit to the nejed, riad, &c, and took observations for him. _tañgaré_ is the name of a rather handsome bean, which possesses intoxicating qualities. to extract these it is boiled, then peeled, and new water supplied: after a second and third boiling it is pounded, and the meal taken to the river and the water allowed to percolate through it several times. twice cooking still leaves the intoxicating quality; but if eaten then it does not cause death: it is curious that the natives do not use it expressly to produce intoxication. when planted near a tree it grows all over it, and yields abundantly: the skin of the pod is velvety, like our broad beans. another bean, with a pretty white mark on it, grows freely, and is easily cooked, and good: it is here called _gwingwiza_. _ th september, ._--we were now a short distance south of the lake, and might have gone west to mosauka's (called by some pasauka's) to cross the shiré there, but i thought that my visit to mukaté's, a waiyau chief still further south, might do good. he, mponda, and kabinga, are the only three chiefs who still carry on raids against the manganja at the instigation of the coast arabs, and they are now sending periodical marauding parties to the maravi (here named malola) to supply the kilwa slave-traders. we marched three hours southwards, then up the hills of the range which flanks all the lower part of the lake. the altitude of the town is about feet above the lake. the population near the chief is large, and all the heights as far as the eye can reach are crowned with villages. the second range lies a few miles off, and is covered with trees as well as the first, the nearest high mass is mañgoché. the people live amidst plenty. all the chiefs visited by the arabs have good substantial square houses built for their accommodation. mukaté never saw a european before, and everything about us is an immense curiosity to him and to his people. we had long visits from him. he tries to extract a laugh out of every remark. he is darker than the generality of waiyau, with a full beard trained on the chin, as all the people hereabouts have--arab fashion. the courts of his women cover a large space, our house being on one side of them. i tried to go out that way, but wandered, so the ladies sent a servant to conduct me out in the direction i wished to go, and we found egress by passing through some huts with two doors in them. _ th september, ._--at mukaté's. the prayer book does not give ignorant persons any idea of an unseen being addressed, it looks more like reading or speaking to the book: kneeling and praying with eyes shut is better than, our usual way of holding divine service. we had a long discussion about the slave-trade. the arabs have told the chief that our object in capturing slavers is to get them into our own possession, and make them of our own religion. the evils which we have seen--the skulls, the ruined villages, the numbers who perish on the way to the coast and on the sea, the wholesale murders committed by the waiyau to build up arab villages elsewhere--these things mukaté often tried to turn off with a laugh, but our remarks are safely lodged in many hearts. next day, as we went along, our guide spontaneously delivered their substance to the different villages along our route. before we reached him, a headman, in convoying me a mile or two, whispered to me, "speak to mukaté to give his forays up." it is but little we can do, but we lodge a protest in the heart against a vile system, and time may ripen it. their great argument is, "what could we do without arab cloth?" my answer is, "do what you did before the arabs came into the country." at the present rate of destruction of population, the whole country will soon be a desert. an earthquake happened here last year, that is about the end of it or beginning of this (the crater on the grand. comoro island smoked for three months about that time); it shook all the houses and everything, but they observed no other effects.[ ] no hot springs are known here. _ th september, ._--we marched down from mukaté's and to about the middle of the lakelet pamalombé. mukaté had no people with canoes near the usual crossing place, and he sent a messenger to see that we were fairly served. here we got the manganja headmen to confess that an earthquake had happened; all the others we have inquired of have denied it; why, i cannot conceive. the old men said that they had felt earthquakes twice, once near sunset and the next time at night--they shook everything, and were accompanied with noise, and all the fowls cackled; there was no effect on the lake observed. they profess ignorance of any tradition of the water having stood higher. their traditions say that they came originally from the west, or west north-west, which they call "maravi;" and that their forefathers taught them to make nets and kill fish. they have no trace of any teaching by a higher instructor; no carvings or writings on the rocks; and they never heard of a book until we came among them. their forefathers never told them that after or at death they went to god, but they had heard it said of such a one who died, "god took him." _ th september, ._--we embarked the whole party in eight canoes, and went up the lake to the point of junction between it and the prolongation of nyassa above it, called massangano ("meetings"), which took us two hours. a fishing party there fled on seeing us, though we shouted that we were a travelling party (or "olendo "). mukaté's people here left us, and i walked up to the village of the fugitives with one attendant only. their suspicions were so thoroughly aroused that they would do nothing. the headman (pima) was said to be absent; they could not lend us a hut, but desired us to go on to mponda's. we put up a shed for ourselves, and next morning, though we pressed them for a guide, no one would come. from pima's village we had a fine view of pamalombé and the range of hills on its western edge, the range which flanks the lower part of nyassa,--on part of which mukaté lives,--the gap of low land south of it behind which shirwa lake lies, and chikala and zomba nearly due south from us. people say hippopotami come from lake shirwa into lake nyassa. there is a great deal of vegetation in pamalombé, gigantic rushes, duckweed, and great quantities of aquatic plants on the bottom; one slimy translucent plant is washed ashore in abundance. fish become very fat on these plants; one called "kadiakola" i eat much of; it has a good mass of flesh on it. it is probable that the people of lake tanganyika and nyassa, and those on the rivers shiré and zambesi, are all of one stock, for the dialects vary very little.[ ] i took observations on this point. an arab slave-party, hearing of us, decamped. _ th september, ._--when we had proceeded a mile this morning we came to or people making salt on a plain impregnated with it. they lixiviate the soil and boil the water, which has filtered through a bunch of grass in a hole in the bottom of a pot, till all is evaporated and a mass of salt left. we held along the plain till we came to mponda's, a large village, with a stream running past. the plain at the village is very fertile, and has many large trees on it. the cattle of mponda are like fatted madagascar beasts, and the hump seems as if it would weigh lbs.[ ] the size of body is so enormous that their legs, as remarked by our men, seemed very small. mponda is a blustering sort of person, but immensely interested in everything european. he says that he would like to go with me. "would not care though he were away ten years." i say that he may die in the journey.--"he will die here as well as there, but he will see all the wonderful doings of our country." he knew me, having come to the boat, to take a look _incognito_ when we were here formerly. we found an arab slave-party here, and went to look at the slaves; seeing this; mponda was alarmed lest we should proceed to violence in his town, but i said to him that we went to look only. eighty-five slaves were in a pen formed of dura stalks _(holcus sorghum_). the majority were boys of about eight or ten years of age; others were grown men and women. nearly all were in the taming-stick; a few of the younger ones were in thongs, the thong passing round the neck of each. several pots were on the fires cooking dura and beans. a crowd went with us, expecting a scene, but i sat down, and asked a few questions about the journey, in front. the slave-party consisted of five or six half-caste coast arabs, who said that they came from zanzibar; but the crowd made such a noise that we could not hear ourselves speak. i asked if they had any objections to my looking at the slaves, the owners pointed out the different slaves, and said that after feeding them, and accounting for the losses in the way to the coast, they made little by the trip. i suspect that the gain is made by those who ship them to the ports of arabia, for at zanzibar most of the younger slaves we saw went at about seven dollars a head. i said to them it was a bad business altogether. they presented fowls to me in the evening. _ th september, ._--the chief begged so hard that i would stay another day and give medicine to a sick child, that i consented. he promised plenty of food, and, as an earnest of his sincerity, sent an immense pot of beer in the evening. the child had been benefited by the medicine given yesterday. he offered more food than we chose to take. the agricultural class does not seem to be a servile one: all cultivate, and the work is esteemed. the chief was out at his garden when we arrived, and no disgrace is attached to the field labourer. the slaves very likely do the chief part of the work, but all engage in it, and are proud of their skill. here a great deal of grain is raised, though nearly all the people are waiyau or machinga. this is remarkable, as they have till lately been marauding and moving from place to place. the manganja possessed the large breed of humped cattle which fell into the hands of the waiyau, and knew how to milk them. their present owners never milk them, and they have dwindled into a few instead of the thousands of former times.[ ] a lion killed a woman early yesterday morning, and ate most of her undisturbed. it is getting very hot; the ground to the feet of the men "burns like fire" after noon, so we are now obliged to make short marches, and early in the morning chiefly. wikatani--bishop mackenzie's favourite boy--met a brother here, and he finds that he has an elder brother and a sister at kabinga's. the father who sold him into slavery is dead. he wishes to stop with his relatives, and it will be well if he does. though he has not much to say, what he does advance against the slave-trade will have its weight, and it will all be in the way of preparation for better times and more light. the elder brother was sent for, but had not arrived when it was necessary for us to leave mponda's on the rivulet ntemangokwé. i therefore gave wikatani some cloth, a flint gun instead of the percussion one he carried, some flints, paper to write upon, and commended him to mponda's care till his relatives arrived. he has lately shown a good deal of levity, and perhaps it is best that he should have a touch of what the world is in reality. [in a letter written about this time dr. livingstone, in speaking of wikatani, says, "he met with a brother, and found that he had two brothers and one or two sisters living down at the western shore of lake pamelombé under kabinga. he thought that his relatives would not again sell him. i had asked him if he wished to remain, and he at once said yes, so i did not attempt to dissuade him: his excessive levity will perhaps be cooled by marriage. i think he may do good by telling some of what he has seen and heard. i asked him if he would obey an order from his chief to hunt the manganja, and he said, 'no.' i hope he won't. in the event of any mission coming into the country of mataka, he will go there. i gave him paper to write to you,[ ] and, commending him to the chiefs, bade the poor boy farewell. i was sorry to part with him, but the arabs tell the waiyau chiefs that our object in liberating slaves is to make them our own and turn them to our religion. i had declared to them, through wikatani as interpreter, that they never became our slaves, and were at liberty to go back to their relatives if they liked; and now it was impossible to object to wikatani going without stultifying my own statements." it is only necessary to repeat that wikatani and chuma had been liberated from the slavers by dr. livingstone and bishop mackenzie in ; they were mere children when set free. we must not forget to record the fact that when mr. young reached maponda, two years afterwards, to ascertain whether the doctor really had been murdered, as musa declared, he was most hospitably received by the chief, who had by this time a great appreciation of everything english.] the lines of tattoo of the different tribes serve for ornaments, and are resorted to most by the women; it is a sort of heraldry closely resembling the highland tartans. [illustration: manganja and machinga women (from a drawing by the late dr. meller).] footnotes: [ ] coal was shown to a group of natives when first the _pioneer_ ascended the river shiré. members of numerous tribes were present, and all recognised it at once as makala or coal.--ed. [ ] dr. livingstone heard this subsequently when at casembe's. [ ] the greater part were driven down into the manganja country by war and famine combined, and eventually filled the slave gangs of the portuguese, whose agents went from tette and senna to procure them.--ed. [ ] pronounced mkata by the waiyau.--ed. [ ] earthquakes are by no means uncommon. a slight shock was felt in at magomero; on asking the natives if they knew the cause of it, they replied that on one occasion, after a very severe earthquake which shook boulders off the mountains, all the wise men of the country assembled to talk about it and came to the following conclusion, that a star had fallen from heaven into the sea, and that the bubbling caused the whole earth to rock; they said the effect was the same as that caused by throwing, a red-hot stone into a pot of water.--ed. [ ] the waiyau language differs very much from the nyassa, and is exceedingly difficult to master: it holds good from the coast to nyassa, but to the west of the lake the nyassa tongue is spoken over a vast tract.--ed. [ ] we shall see that more to the north the hump entirely disappears. [ ] it is very singular to witness the disgust with which the idea of drinking milk is received by most of these tribes when we remember that the caffre nations on the south, and again, tribes more to the north, subsist principally on it. a lad will undergo punishment rather than milk a goat. eggs are likewise steadily eschewed.--ed. [ ] to myself.--ed. chapter v. crosses cape maclear. the havildar demoralised. the discomfited chief. beaches marenga's town. the earth-sponge. description of marenga's town. rumours of mazitu. musa and the johanna men desert. beaches kimsusa's. his delight at seeing the doctor once more. the fat ram. kimsusa relates his experience of livingstone's advice. chuma finds relatives. kimsusa solves the transport difficulty nobly. another old fishing acquaintance. description of the people and country on the west of the lake. the kanthundas. kauma. iron-smelting. an african sir colin campbell. milandos. _ st september, ._--we marched westwards, making across the base of cape maclear. two men employed as guides and carriers, went along grumbling that their dignity was so outraged by working--"only fancy waiyau carrying like slaves!!" they went but a short distance, and took advantage of my being in front to lay down the loads, one of which consisted of the havildar's bed and cooking things; here they opened the other bundle and paid themselves--the gallant havildar sitting and looking on. he has never been of the smallest use, and lately has pretended to mysterious pains in his feet; no swelling or other symptom accompanied this complaint. on coming to pima's village he ate a whole fowl and some fish for supper, slept soundly till daybreak, then on awaking commenced a furious groaning--"feet were so bad." i told him that people usually moaned when insensible, but he had kept quiet till he awaked; he sulked at this, and remained all day, though i sent a man to carry his kit for him, and when he came up he had changed the seat of his complaint from his feet to any part of his abdomen. he gave off his gun-belt and pouch to the carrier. this was a blind to me, for i examined and found that he had already been stealing and selling his ammunition: this is all preparatory to returning to the coast with some slave-trader. nothing can exceed the ease and grace with which sepoys can glide from a swagger into the most abject begging of food from the villagers. he has remained behind. _ nd september, ._--the hills we crossed were about feet above nyassa, generally covered with trees; no people were seen. we slept by the brook sikoché. rocks of hardened sandstone rested on mica schist, which had an efflorescence of alum on it, above this was dolomite; the hills often capped with it and oak-spar, giving a snowy appearance. we had a waiyau party with us--six handsomely-attired women carried huge pots of beer for their husbands, who very liberally invited us to partake. after seven hours' hard travelling we came to the village, where we spend sunday by the torrent usangazi, and near a remarkable mountain, namasi. the chief, a one-eyed man, was rather coy--coming _incognito_ to visit us; and, as i suspected that he was present, i asked if the chief were an old woman, afraid to look at and welcome a stranger? all burst into a laugh, and looked at him, when he felt forced to join in it, and asked what sort of food we liked best. chuma put this clear enough by saying, "he eats everything eaten by the waiyau." this tribe, or rather the machinga, now supersede the manganja. we passed one village of the latter near this, a sad, tumble-down affair, while the waiyau villages are very neat, with handsome straw or reed fences all around their huts. _ th september, ._--we went only - / miles to the village of marenga, a very large one, situated at the eastern edge of the bottom of the heel of the lake. the chief is ill of a loathsome disease derived direct from the arabs. raised patches of scab of circular form disfigure the face and neck as well as other parts. his brother begged me to see him and administer some remedy for the same complaint. he is at a village a little way off, and though sent for, was too ill to come or to be carried. the tribe is of babisa origin. many of these people had gone to the coast as traders, and returning with arms and ammunition joined the waiyau in their forays on the manganja, and eventually set themselves up as an independent tribe. the women do not wear the lip-ring, though the majority of them are waiyau. they cultivate largely, and have plenty to eat. they have cattle, but do not milk them. the bogs, or earthen sponges,[ ] of this country occupy a most important part in its physical geography, and probably explain the annual inundations of most of the rivers. wherever a plain sloping towards a narrow opening in hills or higher ground exists, there we have the conditions requisite for the formation of an african sponge. the vegetation, not being of a heathy or peat-forming kind, falls down, rots, and then forms rich black loam. in many cases a mass of this loam, two or three feet thick, rests on a bed of pure river sand, which is revealed by crabs and other aquatic animals bringing it to the surface. at present, in the dry season, the black loam is cracked in all directions, and the cracks are often as much as three inches wide, and very deep. the whole surface has now fallen down, and rests on the sand, but when the rains come, the first supply is nearly all absorbed in the sand. the black loam forms soft slush, and floats on the sand. the narrow opening prevents it from moving off in a landslip, but an oozing spring rises at that spot. all the pools in the lower portion of this spring-course are filled by the first rains, which happen south of the equator when the sun goes vertically over any spot. the second, or greater rains, happen in his course north again, when all the bogs and river-courses being wet, the supply runs off, and forms the inundation: this was certainly the case as observed on the zambesi and shiré, and, taking the different times for the sun's passage north of the equator, it explains the inundation of the nile. _ th september, ._--marenga's town on the west shore of lake nyassa is very large, and his people collected in great numbers to gaze at the stranger. the chief's brother asked a few questions, and i took the occasion to be a good one for telling him something about the bible and the future state. the men said that their fathers had never told them aught about the soul, but they thought that the whole man rotted and came to nothing. what i said was very nicely put by a volunteer spokesman, who seemed to have a gift that way, for all listened most attentively, and especially when told that our father in heaven loved all, and heard prayers addressed to him. marenga came dressed in a red-figured silk shawl, and attended by about ten court beauties, who spread a mat for him, then a cloth above, and sat down as if to support him. he asked me to examine his case inside a hut. he exhibited his loathsome skin disease, and being blacker than his wives, the blotches with which he was covered made him appear very ugly. he thought that the disease was in the country before arabs came. another new disease acquired from them was the small-pox. _ th september, ._--an arab passed us yesterday, his slaves going by another route across the base of cape maclear. he told musa that all the country in front was full of mazitu; that forty-four arabs and their followers had been killed by them at kasungu, and he only escaped. musa and all the johanna men now declared that they would go no farther. musa said, "no good country that; i want to go back to johanna to see my father and mother and son." i took him to marenga, and asked the chief about the mazitu. he explained that the disturbance was caused by the manganja finding that jumbé brought arabs and ammunition into the country every year, and they resented it in consequence; they would not allow more to come, because they were the sufferers, and their nation was getting destroyed. i explained to musa that we should avoid the mazitu: marenga added, "there are no mazitu near where you are going;" but musa's eyes _stood out_ with terror, and he said, "i no can believe that man." but i inquired, "how can you believe the arab so easily?" musa answered, "i ask him to tell me true, and he say true, true," &c. when we started, all the johanna men walked off, leaving the goods on the ground. they have been such inveterate thieves that i am not sorry to get rid of them; for though my party is now inconveniently small, i could not trust them with flints in their guns, nor allow them to remain behind, for their object was invariably to plunder their loads. [here then we have livingstone's account of the origin of that well-told story, which at first seemed too true. how mr. edward young, r.n., declared it to be false, and subsequently proved it untrue, is already well known. this officer's quick voyage to lake nyassa reflected the greatest credit on him, and all hearts were filled with joy when he returned and reported the tale of livingstone's murder to be merely an invention of musa and his comrades.] i ought to mention that the stealing by the johanna men was not the effect of hunger; it attained its height when we had plenty. if one remained behind, we knew his object in delaying was stealing. he gave what he filched to the others, and musa shared the dainties they bought with the stolen property. when spoken to he would say, "i every day tell johanna men no steal doctor's things." as he came away and left them in the march, i insisted out his bringing up all his men; this he did not relish, and the amount stolen was not small. one stole fifteen pounds of fine powder, another seven, another left six table-cloths out of about twenty-four; another called out to a man to bring a fish, and he would buy it with beads, the beads being stolen, and musa knew it all and connived at it; but it was terror that drove him away at last. with our goods in canoes we went round the bottom of the heel of nyassa, slept among reeds, and next morning ( th) landed at msangwa, which is nearly opposite kimsusa's, or katosa's, as the makololo called him. a man had been taken off by a crocodile last night; he had been drinking beer, and went down to the water to cool himself, where he lay down, and the brute seized him. the water was very muddy, being stirred up by an east wind, which lashed the waves into our canoes, and wetted our things. the loud wail of the women is very painful to hear; it sounds so dolefully. _ th, september, ._--we reached kinisusa's, below mount mulundini, of kirk's range.[ ] the chief was absent, but he was sent for immediately: his town has much increased since i saw it last. _ th september, ._--another arab passed last night, with the tale that his slaves had all been taken from him by the mazitu. it is more respectable to be robbed by them than by the manganja, who are much despised and counted nobodies. i propose to go west of this among the maravi until quite away beyond the disturbances, whether of mazitu or manganja. _ th september, ._--we enjoy our sunday here. we have-abundance of food from kimsusa's wife. the chief wished me to go alone and enjoy his drinking bout, and then we could return to this place together; but this was not to my taste. _ st october, ._--kimsusa, or mehusa, came this morning, and seemed very glad again to see his old friend. he sent off at once to bring an enormous ram, which had either killed or seriously injured a man. the animal came tied to a pole to keep him off the man who held it, while a lot more carried him. he was prodigiously fat;[ ] this is a true african way of showing love--plenty of fat and beer. accordingly the chief brought a huge basket of "pombe," the native beer, and another of "nsima," or porridge, and a pot of cooked meat; to these were added a large basket of maize. so much food had been brought to us, that we had at last to explain that we could not carry it. [the doctor states a fact in the next few lines which shows that the africans readily profit by advice which appeals to their common sense, and we make this observation in full knowledge of similar instances.] kimsusa says that they felt earthquakes at the place mponda now occupies, but none where he is now. he confirms the tradition that the manganja came from the west or w.n.w. he speaks more rationally about the deity than some have done, and adds, that it was by following the advice which i gave him the last time i saw him, and not selling his people, that his village is now three times its former size. he has another village besides, and he was desirous that i should see that too; that was the reason he invited me to come, but the people would come and visit me. _ nd october, ._--kimsusa made his appearance early with a huge basket of beer, inches high and inches in diameter. he served it out for a time, taking deep draughts himself, becoming extremely loquacious in consequence. he took us to a dense thicket behind his town, among numbers of lofty trees, many of which i have seen nowhere else; that under which we sat bears a fruit in clusters, which is eatable, and called "_mbedwa_." a space had been cleared, and we were taken to this shady spot as the one in which business of importance and secrecy is transacted. another enormous basket of beer was brought here by his wives, but there was little need for it, for kimsusa talked incessantly, and no business was done. _ rd october, ._--the chief came early, and sober. i rallied him on his previous loquacity, and said one ought to find time in the morning if business was to be done: he took it in good part, and one of his wives joined in bantering him. she is _the_ wife and the mother of the sons in whom he delights, and who will succeed him. i proposed to him to send men with me to the babisa country, and i would pay them there, where they could buy ivory for him with the pay, and, bringing it back, he would be able to purchase clothing without selling his people. he says that his people would not bring the pay or anything else back. when he sends to purchase ivory he gives the price to arabs or babisa, and they buy for him and conduct his business honestly; but his people, the manganja, cannot be trusted: this shows a remarkable state of distrust, and, from previous information, it is probably true. a party of the arab khambuiri's people went up lately to the maravi country above this, and immediately west of kirk's range, to purchase slaves: but they were attacked by the maravi, and dispersed with slaughter: this makes kimsusa's people afraid to venture there. they had some quarrel with the maravi also of their own, and no intercourse now took place. a path further south was followed by mponda lately, and great damage done, so it would not be wise to go on his footsteps. kimsusa said he would give me carriers to go up to the maravi, but he wished to be prepaid: to this i agreed, but even then he could not prevail on anyone to go. he then sent for an old mobisa man, who has a village under him, and acknowledges kimsusa's power. he says that he fears that, should he force his manganja to go, they would leave us on the road, or run away on the first appearance of danger; but this mobisa man would be going to his own country, and would stick by us. meanwhile the chief overstocks us with beer and other food. _ th october, ._--the mobisa man sent for came, but was so ignorant of his own country, not knowing the names of the chief babisa town or any of the rivers, that i declined his guidance. he would only have been a clog on us; and anything about the places in front of us we could ascertain at the villages where we touch by inquiry as well as he could. a woman turned up here, and persuaded chuma that she was his aunt. he wanted to give her at once a fathom of calico and beads, and wished me to cut his pay down for the purpose. i persuaded him to be content with a few beads for her. he gave her his spoon and some other valuables, fully persuaded that she was a relative, though he was interrogated first as to his father's name, and tribe, &c., before she declared herself. it shows a most forgiving disposition on the part of these boys to make presents to those who, if genuine relations, actually sold them. but those who have been caught young, know nothing of the evils of slavery, and do not believe in its ills. chuma, for instance, believes now that he was caught and sold by the manganja, and not by his own waiyau, though it was just in the opposite way that he became a slave, and he asserted and believes that no waiyau ever sold his own child. when reminded that wikatani was sold by his own father, he denied it; then that the father of chimwala, another boy, sold him, his mother, and sister, he replied, "these are machinga." this is another tribe of waiyau; but this showed that he was determined to justify his countrymen at any rate. i mention this matter, because though the oxford and cambridge mission have an advantage in the instruction of boys taken quite young from slavers, yet these same boys forget the evils to which they were exposed and from which they were rescued, and it is even likely that they will, like chuma, deny that any benefit was conferred upon them by their deliverance. this was not stated broadly by chuma, but his tone led one to believe that he was quite ready to return to the former state. _ th october, ._--the chief came early with an immense basket of beer, as usual. we were ready to start: he did not relish this; but i told him it was clear that his people set very light by his authority. he declared that he would force them or go himself, with his wives as carriers. this dawdling and guzzling had a bad effect on my remaining people. simon, a nassick lad, for instance, overheard two words which he understood; these were "mazitu" and "lipululu," or desert; and from these he conjured up a picture of mazitu rushing out upon us from the jungle, and killing all without giving us time to say a word! to this he added scraps of distorted information: khambuiri was a very bad chief in front, &c., all showing egregious cowardice; yet he came to give me advice. on asking what he knew (as he could not speak the language), he replied that he heard the above two words, and that chuma could not translate them, but he had caught them, and came to warn me. the chief asked me to stay over to-day, and he would go with his wives to-morrow; i was his friend, and he would not see me in difficulties without doing his utmost. he says that there is no danger of our not finding people for carrying loads. it is probable that khambuiri's people went as marauders, and were beaten off in consequence. _ th october, ._--we marched about seven miles to the north to a village opposite the pass tapiri, and on a rivulet, godedza. it was very hot. kimsusa behaves like a king: his strapping wives came to carry loads, and shame his people. many of the young men turned out and took the loads, but it was evident that they feared retaliation if they ventured up the pass. one wife carried beer, another meal; and as soon as we arrived, cooking commenced: porridge and roasted goat's flesh made a decent meal. a preparation of meal called "toku" is very refreshing and brings out all the sugary matter in the grain: he gave me some in the way, and, seeing i liked it, a calabash full was prepared for me in the evening. kimsusa delights in showing me to his people as his friend. if i could have used his pombe, or beer, it would have put some fat on my bones, but it requires a strong digestion; many of the chiefs and their wives live on it almost entirely. a little flesh is necessary to relieve the acidity it causes; and they keep all flesh very carefully, no matter how high it may become: drying it on a stage over a fire prevents entire putridity. _ th october, ._--i heard hooping-cough[ ] in the village. we found our visitors so disagreeable that i was glad to march; they were waiyau, and very impudent, demanding gun or game medicine to enable them to shoot well: they came into the hut uninvited, and would take no denial. it is probable that the arabs drive a trade in gun medicine: it is inserted in cuts made above the thumb, and on the forearm. their superciliousness shows that they feel themselves to be the dominant race. the manganja trust to their old bows and arrows; they are much more civil than ajawa or waiyau. [the difference between these two great races is here well worthy of the further notice which livingstone no doubt would have given it. as a rule, the manganja are extremely clever in all the savage arts and manufactures. their looms turn out a strong serviceable cotton cloth; their iron weapons and implements show a taste for design which is not reached by the neighbouring tribes, and in all matters that relate to husbandry they excel: but in dash and courage they are deficient. the waiyau, on the contrary, have round apple-shaped heads, as distinguished from the long well-shaped heads of the poor manganja; they are jocular and merry, given to travelling, and bold in war--these are qualities which serve them well as they are driven from pillar to post through slave wars and internal dissension, but they have not the brains of the manganja, nor the talent to make their mark in any direction where brains are wanted.] a manganja man, who formerly presented us with the whole haul of his net, came and gave me four fowls: some really delight in showing kindness. when we came near the bottom of the pass tapiri, kimsusa's men became loud against his venturing further; he listened, then burst away from them: he listened again, then did the same; and as he had now got men for us, i thought it better to let him go. in three hours and a quarter we had made a clear ascent of feet above the lake. the first persons we met were two men and a boy, who were out hunting with a dog and basket-trap. this is laid down in the run of some small animal; the dog chases it, and it goes into the basket which is made of split bamboo, and has prongs looking inwards, which prevent its egress: mouse traps are made in the same fashion. i suspected that the younger of the men had other game in view, and meant, if fit opportunity offered, to insert an arrow in a waiyau, who was taking away his wife as a slave. he told me before we had gained the top of the ascent that some waiyau came to a village, separated from his by a small valley, picked a quarrel with the inhabitants, and then went and took the wife and child of a poorer countryman to pay these pretended offences. _ th october, ._--at the first village we found that the people up here and those down below were mutually afraid of each other. kimsusa came to the bottom of the range, his last act being the offer of a pot of beer, and a calabash of toku, which latter was accepted. i paid his wives for carrying our things: they had done well, and after we gained the village where we slept, sang and clapped their hands vigorously till one o'clock in the morning, when i advised them to go to sleep. the men he at last provided were very faithful and easily satisfied. here we found the headman, kawa, of mpalapala, quite as hospitable. in addition to providing a supper, it is the custom to give breakfast before starting. resting on the th to make up for the loss of rest on sunday; we marched on tuesday (the th), but were soon brought to a stand by gombwa, whose village, tamiala, stands on another ridge. gombwa, a laughing, good-natured man, said that he had sent for all his people to see me; and i ought to sleep, to enable them to look on one the like of whom had never come their way before. intending to go on, i explained some of my objects in coming through the country, advising the people to refrain from selling each other, as it ends in war and depopulation. he was cunning, and said, "well, you must sleep here, and all my people will come and hear those words of peace." i explained that i had employed carriers, who expected to be paid though i had gone but a small part of a day; he replied, "but they will go home and come again to-morrow, and it will count but one day:" i was thus constrained to remain. _ th october, ._--both barometer and boiling-point showed an altitude of upwards of feet above the sea. this is the hottest month, but the air is delightfully clear, and delicious. the country is very fine, lying in long slopes, with mountains rising all around, from to feet above this upland. they are mostly jagged and rough (not rounded like those near to mataka's): the long slopes are nearly denuded of trees, and the patches of cultivation are so large and often squarish in form, that but little imagination is requisite to transform the whole into the cultivated fields of england; but no hedgerows exist. the trees are in clumps on the tops of the ridges, or at the villages, or at the places of sepulture. just now the young leaves are out, but are not yet green. in some lights they look brown, but with transmitted light, or when one is near them, crimson prevails. a yellowish-green is met sometimes in the young leaves, and brown, pink, and orange-red. the soil is rich, but the grass is only excessively rank in spots; in general it is short. a kind of trenching of the ground is resorted to; they hoe deep, and draw it well to themselves: this exposes the other earth to the hoe. the soil is burned too: the grass and weeds are placed in flat heaps, and soil placed over them: the burning is slow, and most of the products of combustion are retained to fatten the field; in this way the people raise large crops. men and women and children engage in field labour, but at present many of the men are engaged in spinning buazé[ ] and cotton. the former is made into a coarse sacking-looking stuff, immensely strong, which seems to be worn by the women alone; the men are clad in uncomfortable goatskins. no wild animals seem to be in the country, and indeed the population is so large they would have very unsettled times of it. at every turning we meet people, or see their villages; all armed with bows and arrows. the bows are unusually long: i measured one made of bamboo, and found that along the bowstring it measured six feet four inches. many carry large knives of fine iron; and indeed the metal is abundant. young men and women wear the hair long, a mass of small ringlets comes down and rests on the shoulders, giving them the appearance of the ancient egyptians. one side is often cultivated, and the mass hangs jauntily on that side; some few have a solid cap of it. not many women wear the lip-ring: the example of the waiyau has prevailed so far; but some of the young women have raised lines crossing each other on the arms, which must have cost great pain: they have also small cuts, covering in some cases the whole body. the maravi or manganja here may be said to be in their primitive state. we find them very liberal with their food: we give a cloth to the headman of the village where we pass the night, and he gives a goat, or at least cooked fowls and porridge, at night and morning. [illustration: tattoo on women.] we were invited by gombwa in the afternoon to speak the same words to his people that we used to himself in the morning. he nudged a boy to respond, which is considered polite, though he did it only with a rough hem! at the end of each sentence. as for our general discourse we mention our relationship to our father: his love to all his children--the guilt of selling any of his children--the consequence; _e.g._ it begets war, for they don't like to sell their own, and steal from other villagers, who retaliate. arabs and waiyau invited into the country by their selling, foster feuds, and war and depopulation ensue. we mention the bible--future state--prayer: advise union, that they should unite as one family to expel enemies, who came first as slave-traders, and ended by leaving the country a wilderness. in reference to union, we showed that they ought to have seen justice done to the man who lost his wife and child at their very doors; but this want of cohesion is the bane of the manganja. if the evil does not affect themselves they don't care whom it injures; and gombwa confirmed this, by saying that when he routed khambuiri's people, the villagers west of him fled instead of coming to his aid. we hear that many of the manganja up here are fugitives from nyassa. _ th october, ._--kawa and his people were with us early this morning, and we started from tamiala with them. the weather is lovely, and the scenery, though at present tinged with yellow from the grass, might be called glorious. the bright sun and delicious air are quite exhilarating. we passed a fine flowing rivulet, called levizé, going into the lake, and many smaller runnels of delicious cold water. on resting by a dark sepulchral grove, a tree attracted the attention, as nowhere else seen: it is called bokonto, and said to bear eatable fruit. many fine flowers were just bursting into full blossom. after about four hours' march we put up at chitimba, the village of kañgomba, and were introduced by kawa, who came all the way for the purpose. _ th october, ._--a very cold morning, with a great bank of black clouds in the east, whence the wind came. therm. °; in hut °. the huts are built very well. the roof, with the lower part plastered, is formed so as not to admit a ray of light, and the only visible mode of ingress for it is by the door. this case shows that winter is cold: on proposing to start, breakfast was not ready: then a plan was formed to keep me another day at a village close by, belonging to one kulu, a man of kauma, to whom we go next. it was effectual, and here we are detained another day. a curiously cut-out stool is in my hut, made by the mkwisa, who are south-west of this: it is of one block, but hollowed out, and all the spaces indicated are hollow too: about - / feet long by - / foot high. [illustration: curiously cut-out stool of one block of wood hollowed out.] _ th october, ._--we march westerly, with a good deal of southing. kulu gave us a goat, and cooked liberally for us all. he set off with us as if to go to kauma's in our company, but after we had gone a couple of miles he slipped behind, and ran away. some are naturally mean, and some naturally noble: the mean cannot help showing their nature, nor can the noble; but the noble-hearted must enjoy life most. kulu got a cloth, and he gave us at least its value; but he thought he had got more than he gave, and so by running away that he had done us nicely, without troubling himself to go and introduce us to kauma. i usually request a headman of a village to go with us. they give a good report of us, if for no other reason than for their own credit, because no one likes to be thought giving his countenance to people other than respectable, and it costs little. we came close to the foot of several squarish mountains, having perpendicular sides. one, called "ulazo pa malungo," is used by the people, whose villages cluster round its base as a storehouse for grain. large granaries stand on its top, containing food to be used in case of war. a large cow is kept up there, which is supposed capable of knowing and letting the owners know when war is coming.[ ] there is a path up, but it was not visible to us. the people are all kanthunda, or climbers, not maravi. kimsusa said that he was the only maravi chief, but this i took to be an ebullition of beer bragging: the natives up here, however, confirm this, and assert that they are not maravi, who are known by having markings down the side of the face. we spent the night at a kanthunda village on the western side of a mountain called phunzé (the _h_ being an aspirate only). many villages are planted round its base, but in front, that is, westwards, we have plains, and there the villages are as numerous: mostly they are within half a mile of each other, and few are a mile from other hamlets. each village has a clump of trees around it: this is partly for shade and partly for privacy from motives of decency. the heat of the sun causes the effluvia to exhale quickly, so they are seldom offensive. the rest of the country, where not cultivated, is covered with grass, the seed-stalks about knee deep. it is gently undulating, lying in low waves, stretching n.e. and s.w. the space between each wave is usually occupied by a boggy spot or watercourse, which in some cases is filled with pools with trickling rills between. all the people are engaged at present in making mounds six or eight feet square, and from two to three feet high. the sods in places not before hoed are separated from the soil beneath and collected into flattened heaps, the grass undermost; when dried, fire is applied and slow combustion goes on, most of the products of the burning being retained in the ground, much of the soil is incinerated. the final preparation is effected by the men digging up the subsoil round the mound, passing each hoeful into the left hand, where it pulverizes, and is then thrown on to the heap. it is thus virgin soil on the top of the ashes and burned ground of the original heap, very clear of weeds. at present many mounds have beans and maize about four inches high. holes, a foot in diameter and a few inches deep, are made irregularly over the surface of the mound, and about eight or ten grains put into each: these are watered by hand and calabash, and kept growing till the rains set in, when a very early crop is secured. _ th october, ._--after leaving phunzé, we crossed the leviñgé, a rivulet which flows northwards, and then into lake nyassa; the lines of gentle undulation tend in that direction. some hills appear on the plains, but after the mountains which we have left behind they are mere mounds. we are over feet above the sea, and the air is delicious; but we often pass spots covered with a plant which grows in marshy places, and its heavy smell always puts me in mind that at other seasons this may not be so pleasant a residence. the fact of even maize being planted on mounds where the ground is naturally quite dry, tells a tale of abundant humidity of climate. kauma, a fine tall man, with a bald head and pleasant manners, told us that some of his people had lately returned from the chibisa or babisa country, whither they had gone to buy ivory, and they would give me information about the path. he took a fancy to one of the boys' blankets; offering a native cloth, much larger, in exchange, and even a sheep to boot; but the owner being unwilling to part with his covering, kauma told me that he had not sent for his babisa travellers on account of my boy refusing to deal with him. a little childish this, but otherwise he was very hospitable; he gave me a fine goat, which, unfortunately, my people left behind. the chief said that no arabs ever came his way, nor portuguese native traders. when advising them to avoid the first attempts to begin the slave-trade, as it would inevitably lead to war and depopulation, kauma replied that the chiefs had resolved to unite against the waiyau of mpondé should he come again on a foray up to the highlands; but they are like a rope of sand, there is no cohesion among them, and each village is nearly independent of every other: they mutually distrust each other. _ th october, ._--spent sunday here. kauma says that his people are partly kanthunda and partly chipéta. the first are the mountaineers, the second dwellers on the plains. the chipéta have many lines of marking: they are all only divisions of the great manganja tribe, and their dialects differ very slightly from that spoken by the same people on the shiré. the population is very great and very ceremonious. when we meet anyone he turns aside and sits down: we clap the hand on the chest and say, "re peta--re peta," that is, "we pass," or "let us pass:" this is responded to at once by a clapping of the hands together. when a person is called at a distance he gives two loud claps of assent; or if he rises from near a superior he does, the same thing, which is a sort of leave-taking. we have to ask who are the principal chiefs in the direction which we wish to take, and decide accordingly. zomba was pointed out as a chief on a range of hills on our west: beyond him lies undi m'senga. i had to take this route, as my people have a very vivid idea of the danger of going northwards towards the mazitu. we made more southing than we wished. one day beyond zomba and w.s.w. is the part called chindando, where the portuguese formerly went for gold. they don't seem to have felt it worth while to come here, as neither ivory nor gold could be obtained if they did. the country is too full of people to allow any wild animals elbow-room: even the smaller animals are hunted down by means of nets and dogs. we rested at pachoma; the headman offering a goat and beer, but i declined, and went on to molomba. here kauma's carriers turned because a woman had died that morning as we left the village. they asserted that had she died before we started not a man would have left: this shows a reverence for death, for the woman was no relative of any of them. the headman of molomba was very poor but very liberal, cooking for us and presenting a goat: another headman from a neighbouring village, a laughing, good-natured old man, named chikala, brought beer and a fowl in the morning. i asked him to go on with us to mironga, it being important, as above-mentioned, to have the like of his kind in our company, and he consented. we saw mount ngala in the distance, like a large sugar-loaf shot up in the air: in our former route to kasungu we passed north of it. _ th october, ._--crossed the rivulet chikuyo going n. for the lake, and mironga being but one-and-a-half hour off, we went on to chipanga: this is the proper name of what on the zambesi is corrupted into shupanga. the headman, a miserable hemp-consuming[ ] leper, fled from us. we were offered a miserable hut, which we refused, chikala meanwhile went through the whole village seeking a better, which we ultimately found: it was not in this chief to be generous, though chikala did what he could in trying to indoctrinate him: when i gave him a present he immediately proposed to _sell_ a goat! we get on pretty well however. zomha is in a range of hills to our west, called zala nyama. the portuguese, in going to casembe, went still further west than this. passing on we came to a smithy, and watched the founder at work drawing off slag from the bottom of his furnace. he broke through the hardened slag by striking it with an iron instrument inserted in the end of a pole, when the material flowed out of the small hole left for the purpose in the bottom of the furnace. the ore (probably the black oxide) was like sand, and was put in at the top of the furnace, mixed with charcoal. only one bellows was at work, formed out of a goatskin, and the blast was very poor. many of these furnaces, or their remains, are met with on knolls; those at work have a peculiarly tall hut built over them. on the eastern edge of a valley lying north and south, with the diampwé stream flowing along it, and the dzala nyama range on the western side, are two villages screened by fine specimens of the _ficus indica_. one of these is owned by the headman theresa, and there we spent the night. we made very short marches, for the sun is very powerful, and the soil baked hard, is sore on the feet: no want of water, however, is felt, for we come to supplies every mile or two. the people look very poor, having few or no beads; the ornaments being lines and cuttings on the skin. they trust more to buazé than cotton. i noticed but two cotton patches. the women are decidedly plain; but monopolize all the buazé cloth. theresa was excessively liberal, and having informed us that zomba lived some distance up the range and was not the principal man in these parts, we, to avoid climbing the hills, turned away to the north, in the direction of the paramount chief, chisumpi, whom we found to be only traditionally great. _ th october, ._--in passing along we came to a village embowered in fine trees; the headman is kaveta, a really fine specimen of the kanthunda, tall, well-made, with a fine forehead and assyrian nose. he proposed to us to remain over night with him, and i unluckily declined. convoying us out a mile, we parted with this gentleman, and then came to a smith's village, where the same invitation was given and refused. a sort of infatuation drove us on, and after a long hot march we found the great chisumpi, the facsimile in black of sir colin campbell; his nose, mouth, and the numerous wrinkles on his face were identical with those of the great general, but here all resemblance ceased. two men had preceded us to give information, and when i followed i saw that his village was one of squalid misery, the only fine things about being the lofty trees in which it lay. chisumpi begged me to sleep at a village about half a mile behind: his son was browbeating him on some domestic affair, and the older man implored me to go. next morning he came early to that village, and arranged for our departure, offering nothing, and apparently not wishing to see us at all. i suspect that though paramount chief, he is weak-minded, and has lost thereby all his influence, but in the people's eyes he is still a great one. several of my men exhibiting symptoms of distress, i inquired for a village in which we could rest saturday and sunday, and at a distance from chisumpi. a headman volunteered to lead us to one west of this. in passing the sepulchral grove of chisumpi our guide remarked, "chisumpi's forefathers sleep there." this was the first time i have heard the word "sleep" applied to death in these parts. the trees in these groves, and around many of the villages, are very large, and show what the country would become if depopulated. we crossed the diampwé or adiampwé, from five to fifteen yards wide, and well supplied with water even now. it rises near the ndomo mountains, and flows northwards into the lintipé and lake. we found chitokola's village, called paritala, a pleasant one on the east side of the adiampwé valley. many elephants and other animals feed in the valley, and we saw the bechuana hopo[ ] again after many years. the ambarré, otherwise nyumbo plant, has a pea-shaped, or rather papilionaceous flower, with a fine scent. it seems to grow quite wild; its flowers are yellow. chaola is the poison used by the maravi for their arrows, it is said to cause mortification. one of the wonders usually told of us in this upland region is that we sleep without fire. the boys' blankets suffice for warmth during the night, when the thermometer sinks to °- °, but no one else has covering sufficient; some huts in process of building here show that a thick coating of plaster is put on outside the roof before the grass thatch is applied; not a chink is left for the admission of air. ohitikola was absent from paritala when we arrived on some _milando_ or other. these _milandos_ are the business of their lives. they are like petty lawsuits; if one trespasses on his neighbour's rights in any way it is a _milando_, and the headmen of all the villages about are called on to settle it. women are a fruitful source of _milando_. a few ears of indian corn had been taken by a person, and chitikola had been called a full day's journey off to settle this _milando_. he administered _muavé_[ ] and the person vomited, therefore innocence was clearly established! he came in the evening of the st footsore and tired, and at once gave us some beer. this perpetual reference to food and drink is natural, inasmuch as it is the most important point in our intercourse. while the chief was absent we got nothing; the queen even begged a little meat for her child, who was recovering from an attack of small-pox. there being no shops we had to sit still without food. i took observations for longitude, and whiled away the time by calculating the lunars. next day the chief gave us a goat cooked whole and plenty of porridge: i noticed that he too had the assyrian type of face. footnotes: [ ] dr. livingstone's description of the "sponge" will stand the reader in good stead when he comes to the constant mention of these obstructions in the later travels towards the north.--ed. [ ] so named when dr. livingstone, dr. kirk, and mr. charles livingstone, discovered lake nyassa together. [ ] the sheep are of the black-haired variety: their tails grow to an enormous size. a rain which came from nunkajowa, a waiyau chief, on a former occasion, was found to have a tail weighing lbs.; but for the journey, and two or three days short commons, an extra or lbs. of fat «would have been on it.--ed. [ ] this complaint has not been reported as an african disease before; it probably clings to the higher levels.--ed. [ ] a fine fibre derived from the shoots of a shrub (_securidaca longipedunculata_). [ ] several superstitions of this nature seem to point to a remnant of the old heathen ritual, and the worship of gods in mountain groves. [ ] hemp = bangé is smoked throughout central africa, and if used in excess produces partial imbecility.--ed. [ ] the hopo is a funnel-shaped fence which encloses a considerable tract of country: a "drive" is organised, and animals of all descriptions are urged on till they become jammed together in the neck of the hopo, where they are speared to death or else destroyed in a number of pitfalls placed there for the purpose. [ ] the ordeal poison. chapter vi. progress northwards. an african forest. destruction by mazitu. native salutations. a disagreeable chief. on the watershed between the lake and the loangwa river. extensive iron-workings. an old nimrod. the bua eiver. lovely scenery. difficulties of transport. chilobé. an african pythoness. enlists two waiyou bearers. ill. the chitella bean. rains set in. arrives at the loangwa. we started with chitikola as our guide on the nd of october, and he led us away westwards across the lilongwé river, then turned north till we came to a village called mashumba, the headman of which was the only chief who begged anything except medicine, and he got less than we were in the habit of giving in consequence: we give a cloth usually, and clothing being very scarce this is considered munificent.[ ] we had the zalanyama range on our left, and our course was generally north, but we had to go in the direction of the villages which were on friendly terms with our guides, and sometimes we went but a little way, as they studied to make the days as short as possible. the headman of the last village, chitoku, was with us, and he took us to a village of smiths, four furnaces and one smithy being at work. we crossed the chiniambo, a strong river coming from zalanyama and flowing into the mirongwé, which again goes into lintipé. the country near the hills becomes covered with forest, the trees are chiefly masuko mochenga (the gum-copal tree), the bark-cloth tree and rhododendrons. the heath known at the cape as _rhinoster bosch_ occurs frequently, and occasionally we have thorny acacias. the grass is short, but there is plenty of it. _ th october, ._--our guide, mpanda, led us through the forest by what he meant to be a short cut to chimuna's. we came on a herd of about fifteen elephants, and many trees laid down by these animals: they seem to relish the roots of some kinds, and spend a good deal of time digging them up; they chew woody roots and branches as thick as the handle of a spade. many buffaloes feed here, and we viewed a herd of elands; they kept out of bow-shot only: a herd of the baama or hartebeest stood at paces, and one was shot. while all were rejoicing over the meat we got news, from the inhabitants of a large village in full flight, that the mazitu were out on a foray. while roasting and eating meat i went forward with mpanda to get men from chimuna to carry the rest, but was soon recalled. another crowd were also in full retreat; the people were running straight to the zalanyama range regardless of their feet, making a path for themselves through the forest; they had escaped from the mazitu that morning; "they saw them!" mpanda's people wished to leave and go to look after their own village, but we persuaded them, on pain of a _milando_, to take us to the nearest village, that was at the bottom of zalanyama proper, and we took the spoor of the fugitives. the hard grass with stalks nearly as thick as quills must have hurt their feet sorely, but what of that in comparison with dear life! we meant to take our stand on the hill and defend our property in case of the mazitu coming near; and we should, in the event of being successful, be a defence to the fugitives who crowded up its rocky sides, but next morning we heard that the enemy had gone to the south. had we gone forward, as we intended, to search for men to carry the meat we should have met the marauders, for the men of the second party of villagers had remained behind guarding their village till the mazitu arrived, and they told us what a near escape i had had from walking into their power. _ th october, ._--came along northwards to chimuna's town, a large one of chipéta with many villages around. our path led through the forest, and as we emerged into the open strath in which the villages lie, we saw the large anthills, each the size of the end of a one-storied cottage, covered with men on guard watching for the mazitu. a long line of villagers were just arriving from the south, and we could see at some low hills in that direction the smoke arising from the burning settlements. none but men were present, the women and the chief were at the mountain called pambé; all were fully armed with their long bows, some flat in the bow, others round, and it was common to have the quiver on the back, and a bunch of feathers stuck in the hair like those in our lancers' shakos. but they remained not to fight, but to watch their homes and stores of grain from robbers amongst their own people in case no mazitu came! they gave a good hut, and sent off at once to let the chief at pambé know of our arrival. we heard the cocks crowing up there in the mountain as we passed in the morning. chimuna came in the evening, and begged me to remain a day in his village, pamaloa, as he was the greatest chief the chipéta had. i told him all wished the same thing, and if i listened to each chief we should never get on, and the rains were near, but we had to stay over with him. _ th october, ._--all the people came down to-day from pambé, and crowded to see the strangers. they know very little beyond their own affairs, though these require a good deal of knowledge, and we should be sorely put about if, without their skill, we had to maintain an existence here. their furnaces are rather bottle shaped, and about seven feet high by three broad. one toothless patriarch had heard of books and umbrellas, but had never seen either. the oldest inhabitant had never travelled far from the spot in which he was born, yet he has a good knowledge of soils and agriculture, hut-building, basket-making, pottery, and the manufacture of bark-cloth and skins for clothing, as also making of nets, traps, and cordage. chimuna had a most ungainly countenance, yet did well enough: he was very thankful for a blister on his loins to ease rheumatic pains, and presented a huge basket of porridge before starting, with a fowl, and asked me to fire a gun that the mazitu might hear and know that armed men were here. they all say that these marauders flee from fire-arms, so i think that they are not zulus at all, though adopting some of their ways. in going on to mapuio's we passed several large villages, each surrounded by the usual euphorbia hedge, and having large trees for shade. we are on & level, or rather gently amdulating country, rather bare of trees. at the junctions of these earthen waves we have always an oozing bog, this often occurs in the slope down the trough of this terrestrial sea; bushes are common, and of the kind which were cut down as trees. yellow haematite is very abundant, but the other rocks scarcely appear in the distance; we have mountains both on the east and west. on arriving at mapuio's village, he was, as often happens, invisible, but he sent us a calabash of fresh-made beer, which is very refreshing, gave us a hut, and promised to cook for us in the evening. we have to employ five or six carriers, and they rule the length of the day's march. those from chimuna's village growled at the cubit of calico with which we paid them, but a few beads pleased them perfectly, and we parted good friends. it is not likely i shall ever see them again, but i always like to please them, because it is right to consider their desires. is that not what is meant in "blessed is he that considereth the poor"? there is a great deal of good in these poor people. in cases of _milando_ they rely on the most distant relations and connections to plead their cause, and seldom are they disappointed, though time at certain seasons, as for instance at present, is felt by all to be precious. every man appears with hoe or axe on shoulder, and the people often only sit down as we pass and gaze at us till we are out of sight. [illustration: women's teeth hollowed.] many of the men have large slits in the lobe of the ear, and they have their distinctive tribal tattoo. the women indulge in this painful luxury more than the men, probably because they have very few ornaments. the two central front teeth are hollowed at the cutting edge. many have quite the grecian facial angle. mapuio has thin legs and quite a european face. delicate features and limbs are common, and the spur-heel is as scarce as among europeans; small feet and hands are the rule. clapping the hands in various ways is the polite way of saying "allow me," "i beg pardon," "permit me to pass," "thanks," it is resorted to in respectful introduction and leave-taking, and also is equivalent to "hear hear." when inferiors are called they respond by two brisk claps of the hands, meaning "i am coming." they are very punctilious amongst each other. a large ivory bracelet marks the headman of a village; there is nothing else to show differences of rank. _ th october, ._--we spent sunday at mapuio's and had a long talk with him; his country is in a poor state from the continual incursions of the mazitu, who are wholly unchecked. _ th october, ._--we marched westwards to makosa's village, and could not go further, as the next stage is long and through an ill-peopled country. the morning was lovely, the whole country bathed in bright sunlight, and not a breath of air disturbed the smoke as it slowly curled up from the heaps of burning weeds, which the native agriculturist wisely destroys. the people generally were busy hoeing in the cool of the day. one old man in a village where we rested had trained the little hair he had left into a tail, which, well plastered with fat, he had bent on itself and laid flat on his crown; another was carefully paring a stick for stirring the porridge, and others were enjoying the cool shade of the wild fig-trees which are always planted at villages. it is a sacred tree all over africa and india, and the tender roots which drop down towards the ground are used as medicine--a universal remedy. can it be a tradition of its being like the tree of life, which archbishop whately conjectures may have been used in paradise to render man immortal? one kind of fig-tree is often seen hacked all over to get the sap, which is used as bird-lime; bark-cloth is made of it too. i like to see the men weaving or spinning, or reclining under these glorious canopies, as much as i love to see our more civilized people lolling on their sofas or ottomans. the first rain--a thunder shower--fell in the afternoon, air in shade before it °; wet bulb °. at noon the soil in the sun was °, perhaps more, but i was afraid of bursting the thermometer, as it was graduated only a few degrees above that. this rain happened at the same time that the sun was directly overhead on his way south; it was but a quarter of an inch, but its effect was to deprive us of all chance of getting the five carriers we needed, all were off to their gardens to commit the precious seed to the soil. we got three, but no one else would come, so we have to remain here over to-day ( th october). _ th october, ._--the black traders come from tette to this country to buy slaves, and as a consequence here we come to bugs again, which we left when we passed the arab slave-traders' beat. _ st october, ._--we proceed westwards, and a little south through a country covered with forest trees, thickly planted, but small, generally of bark-cloth and gum-copal trees, masukos, rhododendrons, and a few acacias. at one place we saw ten wild hogs in a group, but no other animal, though marks of elephants, buffaloes, and other animals having been about in the wet season were very abundant. the first few miles were rather more scant of water than usual, but we came to the leué, a fine little stream with plenty of water sand from to yards wide; it is said by the people to flow away westwards into the loangwa. _ st november ._--in the evening we made the chigumokiré, a nice rivulet, where we slept, and the next morning we proceeded to kangené, whose village is situated on a mass of mountains, and to reach which we made more southing than we wished. our appearance on the ascent of the hill caused alarm, and we were desired to wait till our spokesman had explained the unusual phenomenon of a white man. this kept us waiting in the hot sun among heated rocks, and the chief, being a great ugly public-house-keeper looking person, excused his incivility by saying that his brother had been killed by the mazitu, and he was afraid that we were of the same tribe. on asking if mazitu wore clothes like us he told some untruths, and, what has been an unusual thing, began to beg powder and other things. i told him how other chiefs had treated us, which made him ashamed. he represented the country in front to the n.w. to be quite impassable from want of food: the mazitu had stripped it of all provisions, and the people were living on what wild fruits they could pick up. _ nd november, ._--kangené is very disagreeable naturally, and as we have to employ five men as carriers, we are in his power. we can scarcely enter into the feelings of those who are harried by marauders. like scotland in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries harassed by highland celts on one side and by english marchmen on the other, and thus kept in the rearward of civilisation, these people have rest neither for many days nor for few. when they fill their garners they can seldom reckon on eating the grain, for the mazitu come when the harvest is over and catch as many able-bodied young persons as they can to carry away the corn. thus it was in scotland so far as security for life and property was concerned; but the scotch were apt pupils of more fortunate nations. to change of country they were as indifferent as the romans of the olden times; they were always welcome in france, either as pilgrims, scholars, merchants, or soldiers; but the african is different. if let alone the african's mode of life is rather enjoyable; he loves agriculture, and land is to be had anywhere. he knows nothing of other countries, but he has imbibed the idea of property in man. this kangené told me that he would like to give me a slave to look after my goats: i believe he would rather give a slave than a goat! we were detained by the illness of simon for four days. when he recovered we proposed to the headman to start with five of his men, and he agreed to let us have them; but having called them together such an enormous demand was made for wages, and in advance, that on the th of november we took seven loads forward through a level uninhabited country generally covered with small trees, slept there, and on the morning of the th, after leaving two men at our depôt, came back, and took the remaining five loads. kangené was disagreeable to the last. he asked where we had gone, and, having described the turning point as near the hill chimbimbé, he complimented us on going so far, and then sent an offer of three men; but i preferred not to have those who would have been spies unless he could give five and take on all the loads. he said that he would find the number, and after detaining us some hours brought two, one of whom, primed with beer, babbled out that he was afraid of being killed by us in front. i asked whom we had killed behind, and moved off. the headman is very childish, does women's work--cooking and pounding; and in all cases of that kind the people take after their leader. the chiefs have scarcely any power unless they are men of energy; they have to court the people rather than be courted. we came much further back on our way from mapuio's than we liked; in fact, our course is like that of a vessel baffled with foul winds: this is mainly owing to being obliged to avoid places stripped of provisions or suffering this spoliation. the people, too, can give no information about others at a distance from their own abodes. even the smiths, who are a most plodding set of workers, are as ignorant as the others: they supply the surrounding villages with hoes and knives, and, combining agriculture with handicraft, pass through life. an intelligent smith came as our guide from chimbimbé hill on the th, and did not know a range of mountains about twenty miles off: "it was too far off for him to know the name." _ th november, ._--the country over which we actually travel is level and elevated, but there are mountains all about, which when put on the map make it appear to be a mountainous region. we are on the watershed, apparently between the loangwa of zumbo on the west, and the lake on the east. the leué or leuia is said by the people to flow into the loangwa. the chigumokiré coming from the north in front, eastward of irongwé (the same mountains on which kangené skulks out of sight of mazitu), flows into the leué, and north of that we have the mando, a little stream, flowing into the bua. the rivulets on the west flow in deep defiles, and the elevation on which we travel makes it certain that no water can come from the lower lands on the west. it seems that the portuguese in travelling to casembe did not inquire of the people where the streams they crossed went, for they are often wrongly put, and indicate the direction only in which they appeared to be flowing at their crossing places. the natives have a good idea generally of the rivers into which the streams flow, though they are very deficient in information as to the condition of the people that live on their banks. some of the portuguese questions must have been asked through slaves, who would show no hesitation in answering. maxinga, or machinga, means "mountains" only; once or twice it is put down saxa de maxinga, or machinga, or mcanga, which translated from the native tongue means "rocks of mountains, or mountains of rocks." _ th november, ._--we found the people on the mando to be chawa or ajawa, but not of the waiyau race: they are manganja, and this is a village of smiths. we got five men readily to go back and bring up our loads; and the sound of the hammer is constant, showing a great deal of industry. they combine agriculture, and hunting with nets, with their handicraft. a herd of buffaloes came near the village, and i went and shot one, thus procuring a supply of meat for the whole party and villagers too. the hammer which we hear from dawn till sunset is a large stone, bound with the strong inner bark of a tree, and loops left which form handles. two pieces of bark form the tongs, and a big stone sunk into the ground the anvil. they make several hoes in a day, and the metal is very good; it is all from yellow haematite, which abounds all over this part of the country; the bellows consist of two goatskins with sticks at the open ends, which are opened and shut at every blast. [illustration: forging hoes.] _ th november, ._--a lion came last night and gave a growl or two on finding he could not get our meat: a man had lent us a hunting net to protect it and us from intruders of this sort. the people kept up a shouting for hours afterwards, in order to keep him away by the human voice. we might have gone on, but i had a galled heel from new shoes. wild figs are rather nice when quite ripe. _ th november, ._--we marched northwards round the end of chisia hill, and remained for the night at a blacksmith's, or rather founder's village; the two occupations of founder and smith are always united, and boys taught to be smiths in europe or india would find themselves useless if unable to smelt the ore. a good portion of the trees of the country have been cut down for charcoal, and those which now spring up are small; certain fruit trees alone are left. the long slopes on the undulating country, clothed with fresh foliage, look very beautiful. the young trees alternate with patches of yellow grass not yet burned; the hills are covered with a thick mantle of small green trees with, as usual, large ones at intervals. the people at kalumbi, on the mando (where we spent four days), had once a stockade of wild fig _(ficus indica)_ and euphorbia round their village, which has a running rill on each side of it; but the trees which enabled them to withstand a siege by mazitu fell before elephants and buffaloes during a temporary absence of the villagers; the remains of the stockade are all around it yet. lions sometimes enter huts by breaking through the roof: elephants certainly do, for we saw a roof destroyed by one; the only chance for the inmates is to drive a spear into the belly of the beast while so engaged. a man came and reported the mazitu to be at chanyandula's village, where we are going. the headman advised remaining at his village till we saw whether they came this way or went by another path. the women were sent away, but the men went on with their employments; two proceeded with the building of a furnace on an anthill, where they are almost always placed, and they keep a look-out while working. we have the protection of an all-embracing providence, and trust that he, whose care of his people «xceeds all that our utmost self-love can attain, will shield us and make our way prosperous. _ th november, ._--an elephant came near enough last night to scream at us, but passed on, warned, perhaps, by the shouting of the villagers not to meddle with man. no mazitu having come, we marched on and crossed the bua, eight yards wide and knee deep. it rises in the northern hills a little beyond kanyindula's village, winds round his mountains, and away to the east. the scenery among the mountains is very lovely: they are covered with a close mantle of green, with here and there red and light-coloured patches, showing where grass has been burned off recently and the red clay soil is exposed; the lighter portions are unburned grass or rocks. large trees are here more numerous, and give an agreeable change of contour to the valleys and ridges of the hills; the boughs of many still retain a tinge of red from young leaves. we came to the bua again before reaching kanyenjé, as kanyindula's place is called. the iron trade must have been carried on for an immense time in the country, for one cannot go a quarter of a mile without meeting pieces of slag and broken pots, calcined pipes, and fragments of the furnaces, which are converted by the fire into brick. it is curious that the large stone sledge-hammers now in use are not called by the name stone-hammers, but by a distinct word, "kama:" nyundo is one made of iron. when we arrived at kanyenjé, kanyindula was out collecting charcoal. he sent a party of men to ask if we should remain next day: an old, unintellectual-looking man was among the number sent, who had twenty-seven rings of elephant's skin on his arm, all killed by himself by the spear alone: he had given up fighting elephants since the mazitu came, whom we heard had passed away to the south-east of this place, taking all the crops of last year, and the chief alone has food. he gave us some, which was very acceptable, as we got none at the two villages south of this. kanyindula came himself in the evening, an active, stern-looking man, but we got on very well with him. the people say that they were taught to smelt iron by chisumpi, which is the name of mulungu (god), and that they came from lake nyassa originally; if so, they are greatly inferior to the manganja on the lake in pottery, for the fragments, as well as modern whole vessels, are very coarse; the ornamentation is omitted or merely dots. they never heard of aërolites, but know hail. i notice here that the tree mfu, or mö, having sweet-scented leaves, yields an edible plum in clusters. bua-bwa is another edible fruit-tree with palmated leaves. mbéu is a climbing, arboraceous plant, and yields a very pleasant fruit, which tastes like gooseberries: its seeds are very minute. _ th and th november, ._--rain fell heavily yesterday afternoon, and was very threatening to-day; we remain to sew a calico tent. _ th november, ._--kanyindula came with three carriers this morning instead of five, and joined them in demanding prepayment: it was natural for him to side with them, as they have more power than he has, in fact, the chiefs in these parts all court their people, and he could feel more interest in them than in an entire stranger whom he might never see again: however, we came on without his people, leaving two to guard the loads. about four miles up the valley we came to a village named kanyenjeré mponda, at the fountain-eye of the bua, and thence sent men back for the loads, while we had the shelter of good huts during a heavy thunder-shower, and made us willing to remain all night. the valley is lovely in the extreme. the mountains on each side are gently rounded, and, as usual, covered over with tree foliage, except where the red soil is exposed by recent grass-burnings. quartz rocks jut out, and much drift of that material has been carried down by the gullies into the bottom. these gullies being in compact clay, the water has but little power of erosion, so they are worn deep but narrow. some fragments of titaniferous iron ore, with haematite changed by heat, and magnetic, lay in the gully, which had worn itself a channel on the north side of the village. the bua, like most african streams whose sources i have seen, rises in an oozing boggy spot. another stream, the tembwé, rises near the same spot, and flows n.w. into, the loangwa. we saw shuaré palms in its bed. _ st november, ._--we left bua fountain, lat. ° ' south, and made a short march to mokatoba, a stockaded village, where the people refused to admit us till the headman, came. they have a little food here, and sold us some. we have been on rather short commons for some time, and this made our detention agreeable. we rose a little in altitude after leaving this morning, then, though in the same valley, made a little descent towards the n.n.w. high winds came driving over the eastern range, which is called mchinjé, and bring large masses of clouds, which are the rain-givers. they seem to come from the south-east. the scenery of the valley is lovely and rich in the extreme. all the foliage is fresh washed and clean; young herbage is bursting through the ground; the air is deliciously cool, and the birds are singing joyfully: one, called mzié, is a good songster, with a loud melodious voice. large game abounds, but we do not meet with it. we are making our way slowly to the north, where food is said to be abundant. i divided about lbs. of powder among the people of my following to shoot with, and buy goats or other food as we could. this reduces our extra loads to three--four just now, simon being sick again. he rubbed goat's-fat on a blistered surface, and caused an eruption of pimples. _mem._--the people assent by lifting up the head instead of nodding it down as we do; deaf mutes are said to do the same. _ nd november, ._--leaving mokatoba village, and proceeding down the valley, which on the north is shut up apparently by a mountain called kokwé, we crossed the kasamba, about two miles from mokatoba, and yet found it, though so near its source, four yards wide, and knee deep. its source is about a mile above mokatoba, in the same valley, with the bua and tembwé. we were told that elephants were near, and we saw where they had been an hour before; but after seeking about could not find them. an old man, in the deep defile between kokwé and yasika mountains, pointed to the latter, and said, "elephants! why, there they are. elephants, or tusks, walking on foot are never absent;" but though we were eager for flesh, we could not give him credit, and went down the defile which gives rise to the sandili river: where we crossed it in the defile, it was a mere rill, having large trees along its banks, yet it is said to go to the loangwa of zumbo, n.w. or n.n.w. we were now in fact upon the slope which inclines to that river, and made a rapid descent in altitude. we reached silubi's village, on the base of a rocky detached hill. no food to be had; all taken by mazitu, so silubi gave me some masuko fruit instead. they find that they can keep the mazitu off by going up a rocky eminence, and hurling stones and arrows down on the invaders: they can defend themselves also by stockades, and these are becoming very general. on leaving silubi's village, we went to a range of hills, and after passing through found that we had a comparatively level country on the north: it would be called a well-wooded country if we looked at it only from a distance. it is formed into long ridges, all green and wooded; but clumps of large trees, where villages have been, or are still situated, show that the sylvan foliage around and over the whole country is that of mere hop-poles. the whole of this upland region might be called woody, if we bear in mind that where the population is dense, and has been long undisturbed, the trees are cut down to the size of low bush. large districts are kept to about the size of hop-poles, growing on pollards three or four feet from the ground, by charcoal burners, who, in all instances, are smiths too. on reaching zeoré's village, on the lokuzhwa, we found it stockaded, and stagnant pools round three sides of it. the mazitu had come, pillaged all the surrounding villages, looked at this, and then went away; so the people had food to sell. they here call themselves echéwa, and have a different marking from the atumboka. the men have the hair dressed as if a number of the hairs of elephants' tails were stuck around the head: the women wear a small lip-ring, and a straw or piece of stick in the lower lip, which dangles down about level with the lower edge of the chin: their clothing in front is very scanty. the men know nothing of distant places, the manganja being a very stay-at-home people. the stockades are crowded with huts, and the children have but small room to play in the narrow spaces between. _ th november, ._--sunday at zeoré's. the villagers thought we prayed for rain, which was much needed. the cracks in the soil have not yet come together by the «welling of soil produced by moisture. i disabused their minds about rain-making prayers, and found the headman intelligent. i did not intend to notice the lokuzhwa, it is such a contemptible little rill, and not at present running; but in going to our next point, mpandé's village, we go along its valley, and cross it several times, as it makes for the loangwa in the north. the valley is of rich dark red loam, and so many lilies of the amaryllis kind have established themselves as completely to mask the colour of the soil. they form a covering of pure white where the land has been cleared by the hoe. as we go along this valley to the loangwa, we descend in altitude. it is said to rise at "nombé rumé," as we formerly heard. _ th november, ._--zeoré's people would not carry without prepayment, so we left our extra loads as usual and went on, sending men back for them: these, however, did not come till th, and then two of my men got fever. i groan in spirit, and do not know how to make our gear into nine loads only. it is the knowledge that we shall be detained, some two or three months during the heavy rains that makes me cleave to it as means of support. advantage has been taken by the people, of spots where the lokuzhwa goes round three parts of a circle, to erect their stockaded villages. this is the case here, and the water, being stagnant, engenders disease. the country abounds in a fine light blue flowering perennial pea, which the people make use of as a relish. at present the blossoms only are collected and boiled. on inquiring the name, _chilóbé_, the men asked me if we had none in our country. on replying in the negative, they looked with pity on us: "what a wretched, country not to have chilóbé." it is on the highlands above; we never saw it elsewhere! another species of pea _(chilobé weza)_, with reddish flowers, is eaten in the same way; but it has spread but little in comparison. it is worth remarking that porridge of maize or sorghum is never offered without some pulse, beans, or bean leaves, or flowers, they seem to feel the need of it, or of pulse, which is richer in flesh-formers than the porridge. last night a loud clapping of hands by the men was followed by several half-suppressed screams by a woman. they were quite _eldritch_, as if she could not get them out. then succeeded a lot of utterances as if she were in ecstasy, to which a man responded, "moio, moio." the utterances, so far as i could catch, were in five-syllable snatches--abrupt and laboured. i wonder if this "bubbling or boiling over" has been preserved as the form in which the true prophets of old gave forth their "burdens"? one sentence, frequently repeated towards the close of the effusion, was "_linyama uta_," "flesh of the bow," showing that the pythoness loved venison killed by the bow. the people applauded, and attended, hoping, i suppose, that rain would follow her efforts. next day she was duly honoured by drumming and dancing.[ ] prevalent beliefs seem to be persistent in certain tribes. that strange idea of property in man that permits him to be sold to another is among the arabs, manganja, makoa, waiyau, but not among kaffirs or zulus, and bechuanas. if we exclude the arabs, two families of africans alone are slavers on the east side of the continent. _ th november, ._--we march to chilunda's or embora's, still on the lokuzhwa, now a sand-stream about twenty yards wide, with pools in its bed; its course is pretty much north or n.n.w. we are now near the loangwa country, covered with a dense dwarf forest, and the people collected in stockades. this village is on a tongue of land (between lokuzhwa and another sluggish rivulet), chosen for its strength. it is close to a hill named chipemba, and there are ranges of hills both east and west in the distance. embora came to visit us soon after we arrived--a tall man with a yankee face. he was very much tickled when asked if he were a motumboka. after indulging in laughter at the idea of being one of such a small tribe of manganja, he said proudly, "that he belonged to the echéwa, who inhabited all the country to which i was going." they are generally smiths; a mass of iron had just been brought in to him from some outlying furnaces. it is made into hoes, which are sold for native cloths down the loangwa. _ rd december, ._--march through a hilly country covered with dwarf forest to kandé's village, still on the lokuzhwa. we made some westing. the village was surrounded by a dense hedge of bamboo and a species of bushy fig that loves edges of water-bearing streams: it is not found where the moisture is not perennial. kandé is a fine tall smith; i asked him if he knew his antecedents; he said he had been bought by babisa at chipéta, and left at chilunda's, and therefore belonged to no one. two waiyau now volunteered to go on with us, and as they declared their masters were killed by the mazitu, and kandé seemed to confirm them, we let them join. in general, runaway slaves are bad characters, but these two seem good men, and we want them to fill up our complement: another volunteer we employ as goatherd. a continuous tap-tapping in the villages shows that bark cloth is being made. the bark, on being removed from the-tree, is steeped in water, or in a black muddy hole, till the outer of the two inner barks can be separated, then commences the tapping with a mallet to separate and soften the fibres. the head of this is often of ebony, with the face cut into small furrows, which, without breaking, separate and soften the fibres. [illustration.] _ th december, ._--marched westwards, over a hilly, dwarf forest-covered country: as we advanced, trees increased in size, but no people inhabited it; we spent a miserable night at katétté, wetted by a heavy thunder-shower, which lasted a good while. morning _( th december_) muggy, clouded all over, and rolling thunder in distance. went three hours with, for a wonder, no water, but made westing chiefly, and got on to the lokuzhwa again: all the people are collected on it. _ th december, ._--too ill to march. _ th december, ._--went on, and passed mesumbé's village, also protected by bamboos, and came to the hill mparawé, with a village perched on its northern base and well up its sides. the babisa have begun to imitate the mazitu by attacking and plundering manganja villages. muasi's brother was so attacked, and now is here and eager to attack in return. in various villages we have observed miniature huts, about two feet high, very neatly thatched and plastered, here we noticed them in dozens. on inquiring, we were told that when a child or relative dies one is made, and when any pleasant food is cooked or beer brewed, a little is placed in the tiny hut for the departed soul, which is believed to enjoy it. the lokuzhwa is here some fifty yards wide, and running. numerous large pitholes in the fine-grained schist in its bed show that much water has flowed in it. _ th december, ._--a kind of bean called "chitetta" is eaten here, it is an old acquaintance in the bechuana country, where it is called "mositsané," and is a mere plant; here it becomes a tree, from fifteen to twenty feet high. the root is used for tanning; the bean is pounded, and then put into a sieve of bark cloth to extract, by repeated washings, the excessively astringent matter it contains. where the people have plenty of water, as here, it is used copiously in various processes, among bechuanas it is scarce, and its many uses unknown: the pod becomes from fifteen to eighteen inches long, and an inch in diameter. _ th december, ._--a poor child, whose mother had died, was unprovided for; no one not a relative will nurse another's child. it called out piteously for its mother by name, and the women (like the servants in the case of the poet cowper when a child), said, "she is coming." i gave it a piece of bread, but it was too far gone, and is dead to-day. an alarm of mazitu sent all the villagers up the sides of mparawé this morning. the affair was a chase of a hyaena, but everything is mazitu! the babisa came here, but were surrounded and nearly all cut off. muasi was so eager to be off with a party to return the attack on the mazitu, that, when deputed by the headman to give us a guide, he got the man to turn at the first village, so we had to go on without guides, and made about due north. _ th december, ._--we are now detained in the forest, at a place called chondé forest, by set-in rains. it rains every day, and generally in the afternoon; but the country is not wetted till the "set-in" rains commence; the cracks in the soil then fill up and everything rushes up with astonishing rapidity; the grass is quite crisp and soft. after the fine-grained schist, we came on granite with large flakes of talc in it. this forest is of good-sized trees, many of them mopané. the birds now make much melody and noise--all intent on building. _ th december, ._--across an undulating forest country north we got a man to show us the way, if a pathless forest can so be called. we used a game-path as long as it ran north, but left it when it deviated, and rested under a baobab-tree with a marabou's nest--a bundle of sticks on a branch; the young ones uttered a hard chuck, chuck, when the old ones flew over them. a sun-bird, with bright scarlet throat and breast, had its nest on another branch, it was formed like the weaver's nest, but without a tube. i observed the dam picking out insects from the bark and leaves of the baobab, keeping on the wing the while: it would thus appear to be insectivorous as well as a honey-bibber. much spoor of elands, zebras, gnus, kamas, pallahs, buffaloes, reed-bucks, with tsetse, their parasites. _ th december, ._--reached the tokosusi, which is said to rise at nombé rumé, about twenty yards wide and knee deep, swollen by the rains: it had left a cake of black tenacious mud on its banks. here i got a pallah antelope, and a very strange flower called "katendé," which was a whorl of seventy-two flowers sprung from a flat, round root; but it cannot be described. our guide would have crossed the tokosusi, which was running north-west to join the loangwa, and then gone to that river; but always when we have any difficulty the "lazies" exhibit themselves. we had no grain; and three remained behind spending four hours at what we did in an hour and a quarter. our guide became tired and turned, not before securing another; but he would not go over the loangwa; no one likes to go out of his own country: he would go westwards to maranda's, and nowhere else. a "set-in" rain came on after dark, and we went on through slush, the trees sending down heavier drops than the showers as we neared the loangwa; we forded several deep gullies, all flowing north or north-west into it. the paths were running with water, and when we emerged from the large mopané forest, we came on the plain of excessively adhesive mud, on which maranda's stronghold stands on the left bank of loangwa, here a good-sized river. the people were all afraid of us, and we were mortified to find that food is scarce. the mazitu have been here three times, and the fear they have inspired, though they were successfully repelled, has prevented agricultural operations from being carried on. _mem._--a flake of reed is often used in surgical operations among the natives, as being sharper than their knives. footnotes: [ ] a cloth means two yards of unbleached calico. [ ] chuma remembers part of the words of her song to be as follows:-- kowé! kowé! n'andambwi, m'vula léru, korolé ko okwé, waie, ona, kordi, mvula! he cannot translate it as it is pure manganja, but with the exception of the first line--which relates to a little song-bird with a beautiful note, it is a mere reiteration "rain will surely come to-day."--ed. chapter vii. crosses the loangwa. distressing march. the king-hunter. great hunger. christmas feast necessarily postponed. loss of goats. honey-hunters. a meal at last. the babisa. the mazitu again. chitembo's. end of . the new year. the northern brim of the great loangwa valley. accident to chronometers. meal gives out. escape from a cobra capella. pushes for the chambezé. death of chitané. great pinch for food. disastrous loss of medicine chest. bead currency. babisa. the chambezé. beaches chitapangwa's town. meets arab traders from zanzibar. sends off letters. chitapangwa and his people. complications. _ th december, ._--we could get no food at any price on th, so we crossed the loangwa, and judged it to be from seventy to a hundred yards wide: it is deep at present, and it must always be so, for some atumboka submitted to the mazitu, and ferried them over and back again. the river is said to rise in the north; it has alluvial banks with large forest trees along them, bottom sandy, and great sandbanks are in it like the zambesi. no guide would come, so we went on without one. the "lazies" of the party seized the opportunity of remaining behind--wandering, as they said, though all the cross paths were marked.[ ] this evening we secured the latitude ° ' " s., which would make our crossing place about ° ' s. clouds prevented observations, as they usually do in the rainy season. _ december, ._--we went on through a bushy country without paths, and struck the pamazi, a river of sixty yards wide, in steep banks and in flood, and held on as well as we could through a very difficult country, the river forcing us north-west: i heard hippopotami in it. game is abundant but wild; we shot two poku antelopes[ ] here, called "tsébulas," which drew a hunter to us, who consented for meat and pay to show us a ford. he said that the pamazi rises in a range of mountains we can now see (in general we could see no high ground during our marches for the last fortnight), we forded it, thigh deep on one side and breast deep on the other. we made only about three miles of northing, and found the people on the left bank uncivil: they would not lend a hut, so we soon put up a tent of waterproof cloth and branches. _ th december, ._--as the men grumbled at their feet being pierced by thorns in the trackless portions we had passed i was anxious to get a guide, but the only one we could secure would go to molenga's only; so i submitted, though this led us east instead of north. when we arrived we were asked what we wanted, seeing we brought neither slaves nor ivory: i replied it was much against our will that we came; but the guide had declared that this was the only way to casembe's, our next stage. to get rid of us they gave a guide, and we set forward northwards. the mopané forest is perfectly level, and after rains the water stands in pools; but during most of the year it is dry. the trees here were very large, and planted some twenty or thirty yards apart: as there are no branches on their lower parts animals see very far. i shot a gnu, but wandered in coming back to the party, and did not find them till it was getting dark. many parts of the plain are thrown up into heaps, of about the size of one's cap (probably by crabs), which now, being hard, are difficult to walk over; under the trees it is perfectly smooth. the mopané-tree furnishes the iron wood of the portuguese pao ferro: it is pretty to travel in and look at the bright sunshine of early morning; but the leaves hang perpendicularly as the sun rises high, and afford little or no shade through the day,[ ] so as the land is clayey, it becomes hard-baked thereby. we observed that the people had placed corn-granaries at different parts of this forest, and had been careful to leave no track to them--a provision in case of further visits of mazitu. king-hunters[ ] abound, and make the air resound with their stridulous notes, which commence with a sharp, shrill cheep, and then follows a succession of notes, which resembles a pea in a whistle. another bird is particularly conspicuous at present by its chattering activity, its nest consists of a bundle of fine seed-stalks of grass hung at the end of a branch, the free ends being left untrimmed, and no attempt at concealment made. many other birds are now active, and so many new notes are heard, that it is probable this is a richer ornithological region than the zambesi. guinea-fowl and francolins are in abundance, and so indeed are all the other kinds of game, as zebras, pallahs, gnus. _ th december, ._--i got a fine male kudu. we have no grain, and live on meat alone, but i am better off than the men, inasmuch as i get a little goat's-milk besides. the kudu stood five feet six inches high; horns, three feet on the straight. _ th december, ._--reached casembe,[ ] a miserable hamlet of a few huts. the people here are very suspicious, and will do nothing but with a haggle for prepayment; we could get no grain, nor even native herbs, though we rested a day to try. after a short march we came to the nyamazi, another considerable rivulet coming from the north to fall into the loangwa. it has the same character, of steep alluvial banks, as pamazi, and about the same width, but much shallower; loin deep, though somewhat swollen; from fifty to sixty yards wide. we came to some low hills, of coarse sandstone, and on crossing these we could see, by looking back, that for many days we had been travelling over a perfectly level valley, clothed with a mantle of forest. the barometers had shown no difference of level from about feet above the sea. we began our descent into this great valley when we left the source of the bua; and now these low hills, called ngalé or ngaloa, though only feet or so above the level we had left, showed that we had come to the shore of an ancient lake, which probably was let off when the rent of kebra-basa on the zambesi was made, for we found immense banks of well-rounded shingle above--or, rather, they may be called mounds of shingle--all of hard silicious schist with a few pieces of fossil-wood among them. the gullies reveal a stratum of this well-rounded shingle, lying on a soft greenish sandstone, which again lies on the coarse sandstone first observed. this formation is identical with that observed formerly below the victoria falls. we have the mountains still on our north and north-west (the so-called mountains of bisa, or babisa), and from them the nyamazi flows, while pamazi comes round the end, or what appears to be the end, of the higher portion. _( nd december, .)_ shot a bush-buck; and slept on the left bank of nyamazi. _ rd december, ._--hunger sent us on; for a meat diet is far from satisfying: we all felt very weak on it, and soon tired on a march, but to-day we hurried on to kavimba, who successfully beat off the mazitu. it is very hot, and between three and four hours is a good day's march. on sitting down to rest before entering the village we were observed, and all the force of the village issued to kill us as mazitu, but when we stood up the mistake was readily perceived, and the arrows were placed again in their quivers. in the hut four mazitu shields show that they did not get it all their own way; they are miserable imitations of zulu shields, made of eland and water-buck's hides, and ill sewn. a very small return present was made by kavimba, and nothing could be bought except at exorbitant prices. we remained all day on the th haggling and trying to get some grain. he took a fancy to a shirt, and left it to his wife to bargain for. she got the length of cursing and swearing, and we bore it, but could get only a small price for it. we resolved to hold our christmas some other day, and in a better place. the women seem ill-regulated here--kavimba's brother had words with his spouse, and at the end of every burst of vociferation on both sides called out, "bring the muavi! bring the muavi!" or ordeal. _christmas-day, ._--no one being willing to guide us to moerwa's, i hinted to kavimba that should we see a rhinoceros i would kill it. he came himself, and led us on where he expected to find these animals, but we saw only their footsteps. we lost our four goats somewhere--stolen or strayed in the pathless forest, we do not know which, but the loss i felt very keenly, for whatever kind of food we had, a little milk made all right, and i felt strong and well, but coarse food hard of digestion without it was very trying. we spent the th in searching for them, but all in vain. kavimba had a boy carrying two huge elephant spears, with these he attacks that large animal single-handed. we parted from him, as i thought, good friends, but a man who volunteered to act as guide saw him in the forest afterwards, and was counselled by him to leave us as we should not pay him. this hovering near us after we parted makes me suspect kavimba of taking the goats, but i am not certain. the loss affected me more than i could have imagined. a little indigestible porridge, of scarcely any taste, is now my fare, and it makes me dream of better. _ th december, ._--our guide asked for his cloth to wear on the way, as it was wet and raining, and his bark cloth was a miserable covering. i consented, and he bolted on the first opportunity; the forest being so dense he was soon out of reach of pursuit: he had been advised to this by kavimba, and nothing else need have been expected. we then followed the track of a travelling party of babisa, but the grass springs up over the paths, and it was soon lost: the rain had fallen early in these parts, and the grass was all in seed. in the afternoon we came to the hills in the north where nyamazi rises, and went up the bed of a rivulet for some time, and then ascended out of the valley. at the bottom of the ascent and in the rivulet the shingle stratum was sometimes fifty feet thick, then as we ascended we met mica schist tilted on edge, then grey gneiss, and last an igneous trap among quartz rocks, with a great deal of bright mica and talc in them. on resting near the top of the first ascent two honey hunters came to us. they were using the honey-guide as an aid, the bird came to us as they arrived, waited quietly during the half-hour they smoked and chatted, and then went on with them.[ ] the tsetse flies, which were very numerous at the bottom, came up the ascent with us, but as we increased our altitude by another thousand feet they gradually dropped off and left us: only one remained in the evening, and he seemed out of spirits. near sunset we encamped by water on the cool height, and made our shelters with boughs of leafy trees; mine was rendered perfect by dr. stenhouse's invaluable patent cloth, which is very superior to mackintosh: indeed the india-rubber cloth is not to be named in the same day with it. _ th december, ._--three men, going to hunt bees, came to us as we were starting and assured us that moerwa's was near. the first party had told us the same thing, and so often have we gone long distances as "_pafupi_" (near), when in reality they were "_patari_" (far), that we begin to think _pafupi_ means "i wish you to go there," and _patari_ the reverse. in this case _near_ meant an hour and three-quarters from our sleeping-place to moerwa's! when we look back from the height to which we have ascended we see a great plain clothed with dark green forest except at the line of yellowish grass, where probably the loangwa flows. on the east and south-east this plain is bounded at the extreme range of our vision by a wall of dim blue mountains forty or fifty miles off. the loangwa is said to rise in the chibalé country due north of this malambwé (in which district moerwa's village is situated), and to flow s.e., then round to where we found it. moerwa came to visit me in my hut, a rather stupid man, though he has a well-shaped and well-developed forehead, and tried the usual little arts of getting us to buy all we need here though the prices are exorbitant. "no people in front, great hunger there." "we must buy food here and carry it to support us." on asking the names of the next headman he would not inform me, till i told him to try and speak like a man; he then told us that the first lobemba chief was motuna, and the next chafunga. we have nothing, as we saw no animals in our way hither, and hunger is ill to bear. by giving moerwa a good large cloth he was induced to cook a mess of maëre or millet and elephant's stomach; it was so good to get a full meal that i could have given him another cloth, and the more so as it was accompanied by a message that he would cook more next day and in larger quantity. on inquiring next evening he said "the man had told lies," he had cooked nothing more: he was prone to lie himself, and was a rather bad specimen of a chief. the babisa have round bullet heads, snub noses, often high cheek-bones, an upward slant of the eyes, and look as if they had a lot of bushman blood in them, and a good many would pass for bushmen or hottentots. both babisa and waiyau may have a mixture of the race, which would account for their roving habits. the women have the fashion of exposing the upper part of the buttocks by letting a very stiff cloth fall down behind. their teeth are filed to points, they wear no lip-ring, and the hair is parted so as to lie in a net at the back part of the head. the mode of salutation among the men is to lie down nearly on the back, clapping the hands, and making a rather inelegant half-kissing sound with the lips. _ th december, ._--we remain a day at malambwé, but get nothing save a little maëre,[ ] which grates in the teeth and in the stomach. to prevent the mazitu starving them they cultivate small round patches placed at wide intervals in the forest, with which the country is covered. the spot, some ten yards or a little more in diameter, is manured with ashes and planted with this millet and pumpkins, in order that should mazitu come they may be unable to carry off the pumpkins, or gather the millet, the seed of which is very small. they have no more valour than the other africans, but more craft, and are much given to falsehood. they will not answer common questions except by misstatements, but this may arise in our case from our being in disfavour, because we will not sell all our goods to them for ivory. _ th december, ._--marched for chitemba's, because it is said he has not fled from the mazitu, and therefore has food to spare. while resting, moerwa, with all his force of men, women, and dogs, came up, on his way to hunt elephants. the men were furnished with big spears, and their dogs are used to engage the animal's attention while they spear it; the women cook the meat and make huts, and a smith goes with them to mend any spear that may be broken. we pass over level plateaux on which the roads are wisely placed, and do not feel that we are travelling in a mountainous region. it is all covered with dense forest, which in many cases is pollarded, from being cut for bark cloth or for hunting purposes. masuko fruit abounds. from the cisalpinae and gum-copal trees bark cloth is made. we now come to large masses of haematite, which is often ferruginous: there is conglomerate too, many quartz pebbles being intermixed. it seems as if when the lakes existed in the lower lands, the higher levels gave forth great quantities of water from chalybeate fountains, which deposited this iron ore. grey granite or quartz with talc in it or gneiss lie under the haematite. the forest resounds with singing birds, intent on nidification. francolins abound, but are wild. "whip-poor-wills," and another bird, which has a more laboured treble note and voice--"oh, oh, oh!" gay flowers blush unseen, but the people have a good idea of what is eatable and what not. i looked at a woman's basket of leaves which she had collected for supper, and it contained eight or ten kinds, with mushrooms and orchidaceous flowers. we have a succession of showers to-day, from n.e. and e.n.e. we are uncertain when we shall come to a village, as the babisa will not tell us where they are situated. in the evening we encamped beside a little rill, and made our shelters, but we had so little to eat that i dreamed the night long of dinners i had eaten, and might have been eating. i shall make this beautiful land better known, which is an essential part of the process by which it will become the "pleasant haunts of men." it is impossible to describe its rich luxuriance, but most of it is running to waste through the slave-trade and internal wars. _ st december, ._--when we started this morning after rain, all the trees and grass dripping, a lion roared, but we did not see him. a woman had come a long way and built a neat miniature hut in the burnt-out ruins of her mother's house: the food-offering she placed in it, and the act of filial piety, no doubt comforted this poor mourner's heart! we arrived at chitembo's village and found it deserted. the babisa dismantle their huts and carry off the thatch to their gardens, where they live till harvest is over. this fallowing of the framework destroys many insects, but we observed that wherever babisa and arab slavers go they leave the breed of the domestic bug: it would be well if that were all the ill they did! chitembo was working in his garden when we arrived, but soon came, and gave us the choice of all the standing huts: he is an old man, much more frank and truthful than our last headman, and says that chitapanga is paramount chief of all the abemba. three or four women whom we saw performing a rain dance at moerwa's were here doing the same; their faces smeared with meal, and axes in their hands, imitating as well as they could the male voice. i got some maëre or millet here and a fowl. we now end . it has not been so fruitful or useful as i intended. will try to do better in , and be better--more gentle and loving; and may the almighty, to whom i commit my way, bring my desires to pass, and prosper me! let all the sins of ' be blotted out for jesus' sake. * * * * * _ st january, ._--may he who was full of grace and truth impress his character on mine. grace--eagerness to show favour; truth--truthfulness, sincerity, honour--for his mercy's sake. we remain to-day at mbulukuta-chitembo's district, by the boys' desire, because it is new year's day, and also because we can get some food. _ nd and rd january, ._--remain on account of a threatened _set-in_ rain. bought a senzé _(aulocaudatus swindernianus)_, a rat-looking animal; but i was glad to get anything in the shape of meat. _ th january, ._--it is a _set-in_ rain. the boiling-point thermometer shows an altitude of feet above the sea. barometer, feet ditto. we get a little maëre here, and prefer it to being drenched and our goods spoiled. we have neither sugar nor salt, so there are no soluble goods; but cloth and gunpowder get damaged easily. it is hard fare and scanty; i feel always hungry, and am constantly dreaming of better food when i should be sleeping. savoury viands of former times come vividly up before the imagination, even in my waking hours; this is rather odd as i am not a dreamer; indeed i scarcely ever dream but when i am going to be ill or actually so.[ ] we are on the northern brim (or north-western rather) of the great loangwa valley we lately crossed: the rain coming from the east strikes it, and is deposited both above and below, while much of the valley itself is not yet well wetted. here all the grasses have run up to seed, and yet they are not more than two feet or so in the seed-stalks. the pasturage is very fine. the people employ these continuous or _set-in_ rains for hunting the elephant, which gets bogged, and sinks in from fifteen to eighteen inches in soft mud, then even he, the strong one, feels it difficult to escape.[ ] _ th january, ._--still storm-stayed. we shall be off as soon as we get a fair day and these heavy rains cease. _ th january, ._--after service two men came and said that they were going to lobemba, and would guide us to motuna's village; another came a day or two ago, but he had such a villainous look we all shrank from him. these men's faces pleased us, but they did not turn out all we expected, for they guided us away westwards without a path: it was a drizzling rain, and this made us averse to striking off in the forest without them. no inhabitants now except at wide intervals, and no animals either. in the afternoon we came to a deep ravine full of gigantic timber trees and bamboos, with the mavoché river at the bottom. the dampness had caused the growth of lichens all over the trees, and the steep descent was so slippery that two boys fell, and he who carried the chronometers, twice: this was a misfortune, as it altered the rates, as was seen by the first comparison of them together in the evening. no food at motuna's village, yet the headman tried to extort two fathoms of calico on the ground that he was owner of the country: we offered to go out of his village and make our own sheds on "god's land," that is, where it is uncultivated, rather than have any words about it: he then begged us to stay. a very high mountain called chikokwé appeared w.s.w. from this village; the people who live on it are called matumba; this part is named lokumbi, but whatever the name, all the people are babisa, the dependants of the babemba, reduced by their own slaving habits to a miserable jungly state. they feed much on wild fruits, roots, and leaves; and yet are generally plump. they use a wooden hoe for sowing their maëre, it is a sort of v-shaped implement, made from a branch with another springing out of it, about an inch in diameter at the sharp point, and with it they claw the soil after scattering the seed; about a dozen young men were so employed in the usual small patches as we passed in the morning. the country now exhibits the extreme of leafiness and the undulations are masses of green leaves; as far as the eye can reach with distinctness it rests on a mantle of that hue, and beyond the scene becomes dark blue. near at hand many gay flowers peep out. here and there the scarlet martagón (_lilium chalcedonicum_), bright blue or yellow gingers; red, orange, yellow, and pure white orchids; pale lobelias, &c.; but they do not mar the general greenness. as we ascended higher on the plateau, grasses, which have pink and reddish brown seed-vessels imparted distinct shades of their colours to the lawns, and were grateful to the eye. we turned aside early in our march to avoid being wetted by rains, and took shelter in some old babisa sheds; these, when the party is a slaving one, are built so as to form a circle, with but one opening: a ridge pole, or rather a succession of ridge poles, form one long shed all round, with no partitions in the roof-shaped hut. on the _ th of january_ we ascended a hardened sandstone range. two men who accompanied our guide called out every now and then to attract the attention of the honey-guide, but none appeared. a water-buck had been killed and eaten at one spot, the ground showing marks of a severe struggle, but no game was to be seen. buffaloes and elephants come here at certain seasons; at present they have migrated elsewhere. the valleys are very beautiful: the oozes are covered with a species of short wiry grass, which gives the valleys the appearance of well-kept gentlemen's parks; but they are full of water to overflowing--immense sponges in fact;--and one has to watch carefully in crossing them to avoid plunging into deep water-holes, made by the feet of elephants or buffaloes. in the ooze generally the water comes half-way up the shoe, and we go plash, plash, plash, in the lawn-like glade. there are no people here now in these lovely wild valleys; but to-day we came to mounds made of old for planting grain, and slag from iron furnaces. the guide was rather offended because he did not get meat and meal, though he is accustomed to leaves at home, and we had none to give except by wanting ourselves: he found a mess without much labour in the forest. my stock of meal came to an end to-day, but simon gave me some of his. it is not the unpleasantness of eating unpalatable food that teases one, but we are never satisfied; i could brace myself to dispose of a very unsavoury mess, and think no more about it; but this maëre engenders a craving which plagues day and night incessantly. _ th january, ._--we crossed the muasi, flowing strongly to the east to the loangwa river. in the afternoon an excessively heavy thunderstorm wetted us all to the skin before any shelter could be made. two of our men wandered, and other two remained behind lost, as our track was washed out by the rains. the country is a succession of enormous waves, all covered with jungle, and no traces of paths; we were in a hollow, and our firing was not heard till this morning, when we ascended a height and were answered. i am thankful that up one was lost, for a man might wander a long time before reaching a village. simon gave me a little more of his meal this morning, and went without himself: i took my belt up three holes to relieve hunger. we got some wretched wild fruit like that called "jambos" in india, and at midday reached the village of chafunga. famine here too, but some men had killed an elephant and came to sell the dried meat: it was high, and so were their prices; but we are obliged to give our best from this craving hunger. _ th january, ._--sitting down this morning near a tree my head was just one yard off a good-sized cobra, coiled up in the sprouts at its root, but it was benumbed with cold: a very pretty little puff-adder lay in the path, also benumbed; it is seldom that any harm is done by these reptiles here, although it is different in india. we bought up all the food we could get; but it did not suffice for the marches we expect to make to get to the chambezé, where food is said to be abundant, we were therefore again obliged to travel on sunday. we had prayers before starting; but i always feel that i am not doing fight, it lessens the sense of obligation in the minds of my companions; but i have no choice. we went along a rivulet till it ended in a small lake, mapampa or chimbwé, about five miles long, and one and a half broad. it had hippopotami, and the poku fed on its banks. _ th january, ._--we had to cross the chimbwé at its eastern end, where it is fully a mile wide. the guide refused to show another and narrower ford up the stream, which emptied into it from the east; and i, being the first to cross, neglected to give orders about the poor little dog, chitané. the water was waist deep, the bottom soft peaty stuff with deep holes in it, and the northern side infested by leeches. the boys were--like myself--all too much engaged with preserving their balance to think of the spirited little beast, and he must have swam till he sunk. he was so useful in keeping all the country curs off our huts; none dare to approach and steal, and he never stole himself. he shared the staring of the people with his master, then in the march he took charge of the whole party, running to the front, and again to the rear, to see that all was right. he was becoming yellowish-red in colour; and, poor thing, perished in what the boys all call chitané's water. _ th january, ._--march through the mountains, which are of beautiful white and pink dolomite, scantily covered with upland trees and vegetation. the rain, as usual, made us halt early, and wild fruits helped to induce us to stay. in one place we lighted on a party of people living on masuko fruit, and making mats of the shuaré[ ] palm petioles. we have hard lines ourselves; nothing but a little maëre porridge and dampers. we roast a little grain, and boil it, to make believe it is coffee. the guide, a maundering fellow, turned because he was not fed better than at home, and because he knew that but for his obstinacy we should not have lost the dog. it is needless to repeat that it is all forest on the northern slopes of the mountains--open glade and miles of forest; ground at present all sloppy; oozes full and overflowing--feet constantly wet. rivulets rush strongly with _clear_ water, though they are in flood: we can guess which are perennial and which mere torrents that dry up; they flow northwards and westwards to the chambezé. _ th january, ._--detained in an old babisa slaving encampment by set-in rain till noon, then set off in the midst of it. came to hills of dolomite, but all the rocks were covered with white lichens (ash-coloured). the path took us thence along a ridge, which separates the lotiri, running westwards, and the lobo, going northwards, and we came at length to the lobo, travelling along its banks till we reached the village called lisunga, which was about five yards broad, and very deep, in flood, with clear water, as indeed are all the rivulets now; they can only be crossed by felling a tree on the bant and letting it fall across. they do not abrade their banks--vegetation protects them. i observed that the brown ibis, a noisy bird, took care to restrain his loud, harsh voice when driven from the tree in which his nest was placed, and when about a quarter of a mile off, then commenced his loud "ha-ha-ha!" _ th january, ._--the headman of lisunga, chaokila, took our present, and gave nothing in return. a deputy from chitapangwa came afterwards and demanded a larger present, as he was the greater man, and said that if we gave him two fathoms of calico, he would order all the people to bring plenty of food, not here only, but all the way to the paramount chief of lobemba, chitapangwa. i proposed that he should begin by ordering chaokila to give us some in return for our present. this led, as chaokila told us, to the cloth being delivered to the deputy, and we saw that all the starvelings south of the chambezé were poor dependants on the babemba, or rather their slaves, who cultivate little, and then only in the rounded patches above mentioned, so as to prevent their conquerors from taking away more than a small share. the subjects are babisa--a miserable lying lot of serfs. this tribe is engaged in the slave-trade, and the evil effects are seen in their depopulated country and utter distrust of every one. _ th january, ._--raining most of the day. worked out the longitude of the mountain-station said to be mpini, but it will be better to name it chitané's, as i could not get the name from our maundering guide; he probably did not know it. lat, ° ' " s.; long. ° ' " e. altitude above sea (barometer) feet; altitude above sea (boiling-point) feet. ---- diff. .[ ] nothing but famine and famine prices, the people living on mushrooms and leaves. of mushrooms we observed that they choose five or six kinds, and rejected ten sorts. one species becomes as large as the crown of a man's hat; it is pure white, with a blush of brown in the middle of the crown, and is very good roasted; it is named "motenta;" another, mofeta; rd, boséfwé; th, nakabausa; th, chisimbé, lobulated, green outside, and pink and fleshy inside; as a relish to others: some experience must have been requisite to enable them to distinguish the good from the noxious, of which they reject ten sorts. we get some elephants' meat from the people, but high is no name for its condition. it is very bitter, but we used it as a relish to the maëre porridge: none of the animal is wasted; skin and all is cut up and sold, not one of us would touch it with the hand if we had aught else, for the gravy in which we dip our porridge is like an aqueous solution of aloes, but it prevents the heartburn, which maëre causes when taken alone. i take mushrooms boiled instead; but the meat is never refused when we can purchase it, as it seems to ease the feeling of fatigue which jungle-fruit and fare engenders. the appetite in this country is always very keen, and makes hunger worse to bear: the want of salt, probably, makes the gnawing sensation worse. * * * * * [we now come to a disaster which cannot be exaggerated in importance when we witness its after effects month by month on dr. livingstone. there can be little doubt that the severity of his subsequent illnesses mainly turned upon it, and it is hardly too much to believe that his constitution from this time was steadily sapped by the effects of fever-poison which he was powerless to counteract, owing to the want of quinine. in his allusion to bishop mackenzie's death, we have only a further confirmation of the one rule in all such cases which must be followed, or the traveller in africa goes--not with his life in his hand, but in some luckless box, put in the charge of careless servants. bishop mackenzie had all his drugs destroyed by the upsetting of a canoe, in which was his case of medicines, and in a moment everything was soaked and spoilt. it cannot be too strongly urged on explorers that they should divide their more important medicines in such a way that a _total loss_ shall become well-nigh impossible. three or four tin canisters containing some calomel, dover's powder, colocynth, and, above all, a supply of quinine, can be distributed in different packages, and then, if a mishap occurs similar to that which livingstone relates, the disaster is not beyond remedy.] * * * * * _ th january, ._--a guide refused, so we marched without one. the two waiyau, who joined us at kandé's village, now deserted. they had been very faithful all the way, and took our part in every case. knowing the language well, they were extremely useful, and no one thought that they would desert, for they were free men--their masters had been killed by the mazitu--and this circumstance, and their uniform good conduct, made us trust them more than we should have done any others who had been slaves. but they left us in the forest, and heavy rain came on, which obliterated every vestige of their footsteps. to make the loss the more galling, they took what we could least spare--the medicine-box, which they would only throw away as soon as they came to examine their booty. one of these deserters exchanged his load that morning with a boy called baraka, who had charge of the medicine-box, because he was so careful. this was done, because with the medicine-chest were packed five large cloths and all baraka's clothing and beads, of which he was very careful. the waiyau also offered to carry this burden a stage to help baraka, while he gave his own load, in which there was no cloth, in exchange. the forest was so dense and high, there was no chance of getting a glimpse of the fugitives, who took all the dishes, a large box of powder, the flour we had purchased dearly to help us as far as the chambezé, the tools, two guns, and a cartridge-pouch; but the medicine-chest was the sorest loss of all! i felt as if i had now received the sentence of death, like poor bishop mackenzie. all the other goods i had divided in case of loss or desertion, but had never dreamed of losing the precious quinine and other remedies; other losses and annoyances i felt as just parts of that undercurrent of vexations which is not wanting in even the smoothest life, and certainly not worthy of being moaned over in the experience of an explorer anxious to benefit a country and people--but this loss i feel most keenly. everything of this kind happens by the permission of one who watches over us with most tender care; and this may turn out for the best by taking away a source of suspicion among more superstitious, charm-dreading people further north. i meant it as a source of benefit to my party and to the heathen. we returned to lisunga, and got two men off to go back to chafunga's village, and intercept the deserters if they went there; but it is likely that, having our supply of flour, they will give our route a wide berth and escape altogether. it is difficult to say from the heart, "thy will be done;" but i shall try. these waiyau had few advantages: sold into slavery in early life, they were in the worst possible school for learning to be honest and honourable, they behaved well for a long time; but, having had hard and scanty fare in lobisa, wet and misery in passing through dripping forests, hungry nights and fatiguing days, their patience must have been worn out, and they had no sentiments of honour, or at least none so strong as we ought to have; they gave way to the temptation which their good conduct had led us to put in their way. some we have come across in this journey seemed born essentially mean and base--a great misfortune to them and all who have to deal with them, but they cannot be so blamable as those who have no natural tendency to meanness, and whose education has taught them to abhor it. true; yet this loss of the medicine-box gnaws at the heart terribly. _ st and nd january, ._--remained at lisunga--raining nearly all day; and we bought all the maëre the chief would sell. we were now forced to go on and made for the next village to buy food. want of food and rain are our chief difficulties now, more rain falls here on this northern slope of the upland than elsewhere; clouds come up from the north and pour down their treasures in heavy thunder-showers, which deluge the whole country south of the edge of the plateau: the rain-clouds come from the west chiefly. _ rd january, ._--a march of five and three-quarter hours brought us yesterday to a village, chibanda's stockade, where "no food" was the case, as usual. we crossed a good-sized rivulet, the mapampa (probably ten yards wide), dashing along to the east; all the rest of the way was in dark forest. i sent off the boys to the village of muasi to buy food, if successful, to-morrow we march for the chambezé, on the other side of which all the reports agree in the statement that there plenty of food is to be had. we all feel weak and easily tired, and an incessant hunger teases us, so it is no wonder if so large a space of this paper is occupied by stomach affairs. it has not been merely want of nice dishes, but real biting hunger and faintness. _ th january, ._--four hours through unbroken, dark forest brought us to the movushi, which here is a sluggish stream, winding through and filling a marshy valley a mile wide. it comes from south-east, and falls into the chambezé, about ' north of our encampment. the village of moaba is on the east side of the marshy valley of the movuhi, and very difficult to be approached, as the water is chin-deep in several spots. i decided to make sheds on the west side, and send over for food, which, thanks to the providence which watches over us, we found at last in a good supply of maëre and some ground-nuts; but through, all this upland region the trees yielding bark-cloth, or _nyanda_, are so abundant, that the people are all well-clothed with it, and care but little for our cloth. red and pink beads are in fashion, and fortunately we have red. * * * * * [we may here add a few particulars concerning beads, which form such an important item of currency all through africa. with a few exceptions they are all manufactured in venice. the greatest care must be exercised, or the traveller--ignorant of the prevailing fashion in the country he is about to explore--finds himself with an accumulation of beads of no more value than tokens would be if tendered in this country for coin of the realm. thanks to the kindness of messrs. levin & co., the bead merchants, of bevis marks, e.c., we have been able to get some idea of the more valuable beads, through a selection made by susi and chuma in their warehouse. the waiyou prefer exceedingly small beads, the size of mustard-seed, and of various colours, but they must be opaque: amongst them dull white chalk varieties, called "catchokolo," are valuable, besides black and pink, named, respectively, "bububu" and "sekundereché" = the "dregs of pombe." one red bead, of various sizes, which has a white centre, is always valuable in every part of africa. it is called "sami-sami" by the suahélé, "chitakaraka" by the waiyou, "mangazi," = "blood," by the nyassa, and was found popular even amongst the manyuema, under the name of "maso-kantussi", "bird's eyes." whilst speaking of this distant tribe, it is interesting to observe that one peculiar long bead, recognised as common in the manyuema land, is only sent to the west coast of africa, and _never_ to the east. on chuma pointing to it as a sort found at the extreme limit explored by livingstone, it was at once seen that he must have touched that part of africa which begins to be within the reach of the traders in the portuguese settlements. "machua kanga" = "guinea fowl's eyes," is another popular variety; and the "moiompio" = "new heart," a large pale blue bead, is a favourite amongst the wabisa; but by far the most valuable of all is a small white oblong bead, which, when strung, looks like the joints of the cane root, from which it takes its name, "salani" = cane. susi says that lb. weight of these beads would buy a tusk of ivory, at the south end of tanganyika, so big that a strong man could not carry it more than two hours.] * * * * * _ th january, ._--remain and get our maëre ground into flour. moaba has cattle, sheep, and goats. the other side of the chambezé has everything in still greater abundance; so we may recover our lost flesh. there are buffaloes in this quarter, but we have not got a glimpse of any. if game was to be had, i should have hunted; but the hopo way of hunting prevails, and we pass miles of hedges by which many animals must have perished. in passing-through the forests it is surprising to see none but old footsteps of the game; but the hopo destruction accounts for its absence. when the hedges are burned, then the manured space is planted with pumpkins and calabashes. i observed at chibanda's a few green mushrooms, which, on being peeled, showed a pink, fleshy inside; they are called "chisimba;" and only one or two are put into the mortar, in which the women pound the other kinds, to give relish, it was said, to the mass: i could not ascertain what properties chisimba had when taken alone; but mushroom diet, in our experience, is good only for producing dreams of the roast beef of bygone days. the saliva runs from the mouth in these dreams, and the pillow is wet with it in the mornings. these babisa are full of suspicion; everything has to be paid for accordingly in advance, and we found that giving a present to a chief is only putting it in his power to cheat us out of a supper. they give nothing to each other for nothing, and if this is enlargement of mind produced by commerce, commend me to the untrading african! fish now appear in the rivulets. higher altitudes have only small things, not worth catching. an owl makes the woods resound by night and early morning with his cries, which consist of a loud, double-initial note, and then a succession of lower descending notes. another new bird, or at least new to me, makes the forests ring. when the vultures see us making our sheds, they conclude that we have killed some animal; but after watching awhile, and seeing no meat, they depart. this is suggestive of what other things prove, that it is only by sight they are guided.[ ] with respect to the native head-dresses the colouring-matter, "nkola," which seems to be camwood, is placed as an ornament on the head, and some is put on the bark-cloth to give it a pleasant appearance. the tree, when cut, is burned to bring out the strong colour, and then, when it is developed, the wood is powdered. the gum-copal trees now pour out gum where wounded, and i have seen masses of it fallen on the ground. _ th january, ._--went northwards along the movushi, near to its confluence with chambezé, and then took lodging in a deserted temporary village. in the evening i shot a poku, or tsébula, full-grown male. it measured from snout to insertion of tail, feet inches; tail, foot; height at withers, feet; circumference of chest, feet; face to insertion of horns, - / inches; horns measured on curve, inches. twelve rings on horns, and one had a ridge behind, / inch broad, / inch high, and tapering up the horn; probably accidental. colour: reddish-yellow, dark points in front of foot and on the ears, belly nearly white. the shell went through from behind the shoulder to the spleen, and burst on the other side, yet he ran yards. i felt very thankful to the giver of all good for this meat. _ th january, ._--a set-in rain all the morning, but having meat we were comfortable in the old huts. in changing my dress this morning i was frightened at my own emaciation. _ th january, ._--- we went five miles along the movushi and the chambezé to a crossing-place said to avoid three rivers on the other side, which require canoes just now, and have none. our lat. ° ' s. the chambezé was flooded with clear water, but the lines of bushy trees, which showed its real banks, were not more than forty yards apart, it showed its usual character of abundant animal life in its waters and on its banks, as it wended its way westwards. the canoe-man was excessively suspicious; when prepayment was acceded to, he asked a piece more, and although he was promised full payment as soon as we were all safely across he kept the last man on the south side as a hostage for this bit of calico: he then ran away. they must cheat each other sadly. went northwards, wading across two miles of flooded flats on to which the _clarias capensis_, a species of siluris, comes to forage out of the river. we had the likindazi, a sedgy stream, with hippopotami, on our right. slept in forest without seeing anyone. then next day we met with a party who had come from their village to look for us. we were now in lobemba, but these villagers had nothing but hopes of plenty at chitapangwa's. this village had half a mile of ooze and sludgy marsh in front of it, and a stockade as usual. we observed that the people had great fear of animals at night, and shut the gates carefully, of even temporary villages. when at molemba (chitapangwa's village) afterwards, two men were killed by a lion, and great fear of crocodiles was expressed by our canoe-man at the chambezé, when one washed in the margin of that river. there was evidence of abundance of game, elephants, and buffaloes, but we saw none. _ th january, ._--when near our next stage end we were shown where lightning had struck; it ran down a gum-copal tree without damaging it, then ten yards horizontally, and dividing there into two streams it went up an anthill; the withered grass showed its course very plainly, and next day ( st), on the banks of the mabula, we saw a dry tree which had been struck; large splinters had been riven off and thrown a distance of sixty yards in one direction and thirty yards in another: only a stump was left, and patches of withered grass where it had gone horizontally. _ th january, ._--northwards through almost trackless dripping forests and across oozing bogs. _ st january, ._--through forest, but gardens of larger size than in lobisa now appear. a man offered a thick bar of copper for sale, a foot by three inches. the hard-leafed acacia and mohempi abound. the valleys, with the oozes, have a species of grass, having pink seed-stalks and yellow seeds: this is very pretty. at midday we came to the lopiri, the rivulet which waters chitapanga's stockade, and soon after found that his village has a triple stockade, the inner being defended also by a deep broad ditch and hedge of a solanaceous thorny shrub. it is about yards broad and long. the huts not planted very closely. the rivulets were all making for the chambezé. they contain no fish, except very small ones--probably fry. on the other, or western side of the ridge, near which "malemba" is situated, fish abound worth catching. [illustration: chitapangwa] chitapangwa, or motoka, as he is also called, sent to inquire if we wanted an audience. "we must take something in our hands the first time we came before so great a man." being tired from marching, i replied, "not till the evening," and sent notice at p.m. of my coming. we passed through the inner stockade, and then on to an enormous hut, where sat chitapangwa, with three drummers and ten or more men, with two rattles in their hands. the drummers beat furiously, and the rattlers kept time to the drums, two of them advancing and receding in a stooping posture, with rattles near the ground, as if doing the chief obeisance, but still keeping time with the others. i declined to sit on the ground, and an enormous tusk was brought for me. the chief saluted courteously. he has a fat jolly face, and legs loaded with brass and copper leglets. i mentioned our losses by the desertion of the waiyau, but his power is merely nominal, and he could do nothing. after talking awhile he came along with us to a group of cows, and pointed out one. "that is yours," said he. the tusk on which i sat was sent after me too as being mine, because i had sat upon it. he put on my cloth as token of acceptance, and sent two large baskets of sorghum to the hut afterwards, and then sent for one of the boys to pump him after dark. [illustration: chitapangwa's wives.] _ st february, ._--we found a small party of black arab slave-traders here from bagamoio on the coast, and as the chief had behaved handsomely as i thought, i went this morning and gave him one of our best cloths; but when we were about to kill the cow, a man interfered and pointed out a smaller one. i asked if this was by the orders of the chief. the chief said that the man had lied, but i declined to take any cow at all if he did not give it willingly. the slavers, the headman of whom was magaru mafupi, came and said that they were going off on the nd; (_ nd february, _) but by payment i got them to remain a day, and was all day employed in writing despatches. _ rd february, ._--magaru mafupi left this morning with a packet of letters, for which he is to get rs. at zanzibar.[ ] they came by a much shorter route than we followed, in fact, nearly due west or south-west; but not a soul would tell us of this way of coming into the country when we were at zanzibar. bagamoio is only six hours north of kurdary harbour. it is possible that the people of zanzibar did not know of it themselves, as this is the first time they have come so far. the route is full of villages and people who have plenty of goats, and very cheap. they number fifteen stations, or sultans, as they call the chiefs, and will be at bagamoio in two months:-- . chasa; . lombé; . ucheré; . nyamiro; . zonda; . zambi; . lioti; . méreré; . kirangabana; . nkongozi; . sombogo; . suré; . lomolasenga; . kapass; , chanzé. they are then in the country adjacent to bagamoio. some of these places are two or three days apart from each other. they came to three large rivers: . wembo; . luaha; . luvo; but i had not time to make further inquiries. they had one of speke's companions to tanganyika with them, named janjé, or janja, who could imitate a trumpet by blowing into the palm of his hand. i ordered another supply of cloth and beads, and i sent for a small quantity of coffee, sugar, candles, french preserved meats, a cheese in tin, six bottles of port-wine, quinine, calomel, and resin of jalap, to be sent to ujiji. i proposed to go a little way east with this route to buy goats, but chitapangwa got very angry, saying, i came only to show my things, and would buy nothing: he then altered his tone, and requested me to take the cow first presented and eat it, and as we were all much in need i took it. we were to give only what we liked in addition; but this was a snare, and when i gave two more cloths he sent them back, and demanded a blanket. the boys alone have blankets; so i told him these were not slaves, and i could not take from them what i had once given. though it is disagreeable to be thus victimized, it is the first time we have tasted fat for six weeks and more. _ th february, ._--chitapangwa came with his wife to see the instruments which i explained to them as well as i could, and the books, as well as the book of books, and to my statements he made intelligent remarks. the boys are sorely afraid of him. when abraham does not like to say what i state, he says to me "i don't know the proper word;" but when i speak without him, he soon finds them. he and simon thought that talking in a cringing manner was the way to win him over, so i let them try it with a man he sent to communicate with us, and the result was this fellow wanted to open their bundles, pulled them about, and kept them awake most of the night. abraham came at night: "sir, what shall i do? they won't let me sleep." "you have had your own way," i replied, "and must abide by it." he brought them over to me in the morning, but i soon dismissed both him and them. _ th february, ._--i sent to the chief either to come to me or say avhen i should come to him and talk; the answer i got was that he would come when shaved, but he afterwards sent a man to hear what i had to advance--this i declined, and when the rain ceased i went myself. on coming into his hut i stated that i had given him four times the value of his cow, but if he thought otherwise, let us take the four cloths to his brother moamba, and if he said that i had not given enough, i would buy a cow and send it back. this he did not relish at all. "oh, great englishman! why should we refer a dispute to an inferior. i am the great chief of all this country. ingleze mokolu, you are sorry that you have to give so much for the ox you have eaten. you would not take a smaller, and therefore i gratified your heart by giving the larger; and why should not you gratify my heart by giving cloth sufficient to cover me, and please me?" i said that my cloths would cover him, and his biggest wife too all over, he laughed at this, but still held out; and as we have meat, and he sent maize and calabashes, i went away. he turns round now, and puts the blame of greediness on me. i cannot enter into his ideas, or see his point of view; cannot, in fact, enter into his ignorance, his prejudices, or delusions, so it is impossible to pronounce a true judgment. one who has no humour cannot understand one who has: this is an equivalent case. rain and clouds so constantly, i could not get our latitude till last night, ° ' " s. on th got lunars. long. ° ' " e. altitude above sea, feet, by boiling-point and barometer. _ th february, ._--the chief demands one of my boxes and a blanket; i explain that one day's rain would spoil the contents, and the boys who have blankets, not being slaves, i cannot take from them what i have given. i am told that he declares that he will take us back to the loangwa; make war and involve us in it, deprive us of food, &c.: this succeeds in terrifying the boys. he thinks that we have some self-interest to secure in passing through the country, and therefore he has a right to a share in the gain. when told it was for a public benefit, he pulled down the underlid of the right eye.[ ] he believes we shall profit by our journey, though he knows not in what way. it is possibly only a coincidence, but no sooner do we meet with one who accompanied speke and burton to tanganyika, than the system of mulcting commences. i have no doubt but that janjé told this man how his former employers paid down whatever was demanded of them. _ th february, ._--i had service in the open air, many looking on, and spoke afterwards to the chief, but he believes nothing save what speke and burton's man has told him. he gave us a present of corn and ground-nuts, and says he did not order the people not to sell grain to us. we must stop and eat green maize. he came after evening service, and i explained a little to him, and showed him woodcuts in the 'bible dictionary,' which he readily understood. _ th february, ._--the chief sent us a basket of hippopotamus flesh from the chambezé, and a large one of green maize. he says the three cloths i offered are still mine: all he wants is a box and blanket; if not a blanket, a box must be given, a tin one. he keeps out of my way, by going to the gardens every morning. he is good-natured, and our intercourse is a laughing one; but the boys betray their terrors in their tone of voice, and render my words powerless. the black and white, and the brownish-grey water wagtails are remarkably tame. they come about the huts and even into them, and no one ever disturbs them. they build their nests about the huts. in the bechuana country, a fine is imposed on any man whose boys kill one, but why, no one can tell me. the boys with me aver that they are not killed, because the meat is not eaten! or because they are so tame!! _ th february, ._--i gave one of the boxes at last, chitapangwa offering a heavy arab wooden one to preserve our things, which i declined to take, as i parted with our own partly to lighten a load. abraham unwittingly told me that he had not given me the chiefs statement in full when he pressed me to take his cow. it was, "take and eat the one you like, and give me a blanket." abraham said "he has no blanket." then he said to me, "take it and eat it, and give him any pretty thing you like." i was thus led to mistake the chief, and he, believing that he had said explicitly he wanted a blanket for it, naturally held out. it is difficult to get these lads to say what one wants uttered: either with enormous self-conceit, they give different, and, as they think, better statements, suppress them altogether, or return false answers: this is the great and crowning difficulty of my intercourse. i got ready to go, but the chief was very angry, and came with all his force, exclaiming that i wanted to leave against his will and power, though he wished to adjust matters, and send me away nicely. he does not believe that we have no blankets. it is hard to be kept waiting here, but all may be for the best: it has always turned out so, and i trust in him on whom i can cast all my cares. the lord look on this and help me. though i have these nine boys, i feel quite alone. i gave the chief some seeds, peas, and beans, for which he seemed thankful, and returned little presents of food and beer frequently. the beer of maëre is stuffed full of the growing grain as it begins to sprout, it is as thick as porridge, very strong and bitter, and goes to the head, requiring a strong digestion to overcome it. _february, ._--i showed the chief one of the boys' blankets, which he is willing to part with for two of our cloths, each of which is larger than it, but he declines to receive it, because we have new ones. i invited him, since he disbelieved my assertions, to look in our bales, and if he saw none, to pay us a fine for the insult: he consented in a laughing way to give us an ox. all our personal intercourse has been of the good-natured sort. it is the communications to the boys, by three men who are our protectors, or rather spies, that is disagreeable; i won't let them bring those fellows near me. _ th february, ._--he came early in the morning, and i showed that i had no blanket, and he took the old one, and said that the affair was ended. a long misunderstanding would have been avoided, had abraham told me fully what the chief said at first. _ th february, ._--the chief offered me a cow for à piece of red serge, and after a deal of talk and chitapangwa swearing that no demand would be made after the bargain was concluded, i gave the serge, a cloth, and a few beads for a good fat cow. the serge was two fathoms, a portion of that which miss coutts gave me when leaving england in . the chief is not so bad, as the boys are so cowardly. they assume a chirping, piping tone of voice in speaking to him, and do not say what at last has to be said, because in their cringing souls they believe they know what should be said better than i do. it does not strike them in the least that i have grown grey amongst these people; and it is immense conceit in mere boys to equal themselves to me. the difficulty is greater, because when i do ask their opinions i only receive the reply, "it is as you please, sir." very likely some men of character may arise and lead them; but such as i have would do little to civilise. _ th february, ._--too ill with rheumatic-fever to have service; this is the first attack of it i ever had--and no medicine! but i trust in the lord, who healeth his people. _ th february, ._--this cow we divided at once. the last one we cooked, and divided a full, hearty meal to all every evening. the boom--booming of water dashing against or over the rocks is heard at a good distance from most of the burns in this upland region; hence it is never quite still. the rocks here are argillaceous schist, red and white. _(keel, scotticé.)_ _ th february, ._--chitapangwa begged me to stay another day, that one of the boys might mend his blanket; it has been worn every night since april, and i, being weak and giddy, consented. a glorious day of bright sunlight after a night's rain. we scarcely ever have a twenty-four hours without rain, and never half that period without thunder. the camwood (?) is here called molombwa, and grows very abundantly. the people take the bark, boil, and grind it fine: it is then a splendid blood-red, and they use it extensively as an ornament, sprinkling it on the bark-cloth, or smearing it on the head. it is in large balls, and is now called mkola. the tree has pinnated, alternate lanceolate, leaves, and attains a height of or feet, with a diameter of or inches finely and closely veined above, more widely beneath. i am informed by abraham that the nyumbo (numbo or mumbo) is easily propagated by cuttings, or by cuttings of the roots. a bunch of the stalks is preserved in the soil for planting next year, and small pieces are cut off, and take root easily; it has a pea-shaped flower, but we never saw the seed. it is very much better here than i have seen it elsewhere; and james says that in his country it is quite white and better still; what i have seen is of a greenish tinge after it is boiled. [amongst the articles brought to the coast the men took care not to lose a number of seeds which they found in dr. livingstone's boxes after his death. these have been placed in the hands of the authorities at kew, and we may hope that in some instances they have maintained vitality. it is a great pity that there is such a lack of enterprise in the various european settlements on the east coast of africa. were it otherwise a large trade in valuable woods and other products would assuredly spring up. ebony and lignum vitae abound; dr. livingstone used hardly any other fuel when he navigated the _pioneer_, and no wood was found to make such "good steam." india-rubber may be had for the collecting, and we see that even the natives know some of the dye-woods, besides which the palm-oil tree is found, indigo is a weed everywhere, and coffee is indigenous.] footnotes: [ ] in coming to cross roads it is the custom of the leader to "mark" all side paths and wrong turnings by making a scratch across them with his spear, or by breaking a branch and laying it across: in this way those who follow are able to avoid straying off the proper road.--ed. [ ] heleotragus vardonii. [ ] the tamarind does the same thing in the heat of the day. [ ] a species of kingfisher, which stands flapping its wings and attempting to sing in a ridiculous manner. it never was better described than by one observer who, after watching it through its performance, said it was "a toy-shoppy bird."--ed. [ ] not the great chief near lake moero of the same name. [ ] this extraordinary bird flies from tree to tree in front of the hunter, chirrupping loudly, and will not be content till he arrives at the spot where the bees'-nest is; it then waits quietly till the honey is taken, and feeds on the broken morsels of comb which fall to its share. [ ] eleusine coracana. [ ] it may not be altogether without interest to state that livingstone could fall asleep when he wished at the very shortest notice. a mat, and a shady tree under which to spread it, would at any time afford him a refreshing sleep, and this faculty no doubt contributed much to his great powers of endurance.--ed. [ ] when the elephant becomes confused by the yelping pack of dogs with which he is surrounded, the hunter stealthily approaches behind, and with one blow of a sharp axe hamstrings the huge beast.--ed. [ ] raphia. [ ] top of mountain (barometer) feat. [ ] the experience of all african sportsmen tends towards the same conclusion. vultures probably have their beats high overhead in the sky, too far to be seen by the eye. from this altitude they can watch a vast tract of country, and whenever the disturbed movements of game are observed they draw together, and for the first time are seen wheeling, about at a great height over the spot. so soon as an animal is killed, every tree is filled with them, but the hunter has only to cover the meat with boughs or reeds and the vultures are entirely at a loss--hidden, from view it is hidden altogether: the idea that they are attracted by their keen sense of smell is altogether erroneous,--ed. [ ] these letters reached england safely. [ ] it seems almost too ridiculous to believe that we have here the exact equivalent of the schoolboy's demonstrative "do you see any green in my eye?" nevertheless it looks wonderfully like it!--ed. chapter viii. chitapangwa's parting oath. course laid for lake tanganyika. moamba's village. another watershed. the babemba tribe. ill with fever. threatening attitude of chibué's people. continued illness. reaches cliffs overhanging lake liemba. extreme beauty of the scene. dangerous fit of insensibility. leaves the lake. pernambuco cotton. rumours of war between arabs and nsama. reaches chitimba's village. presents sultan's letter to principal arab harnees. the war in itawa. geography of the arabs. ivory traders and slave-dealers. appeal to the koran. gleans intelligence of the wasongo to the eastward, and their chief, meréré. harnees sets out against nsama. tedious sojourn. departure for ponda. native cupping. _ th february, ._--i told the chief before starting that my heart was sore, because he was not sending me away so cordially as i liked. he at once ordered men to start with us, and gave me a brass knife with ivory sheath, which he had long worn, as a memorial. he explained that we ought to go north as, if we made easting, we should ultimately be obliged to turn west, and all our cloth would be expended ere we reached the lake tanganyika; he took a piece of clay off the ground and rubbed it on his tongue as an oath that what he said was true, and came along with us to see that all was right; and so we parted. we soon ascended the plateau, which encloses with its edge the village and stream of molemba. wild pigs are abundant, and there are marks of former cultivation. a short march brought us to an ooze, surrounded by hedges, game-traps, and pitfalls, where, as we are stiff and weak, we spend the night. rocks abound of the same dolomite kind as on the ridge further south, between the loangwa and chambezé, covered, like them, with lichens, orchids, euphorbias, and upland vegetation, hard-leaved acacias, rhododendrons, masukos. the gum-copal tree, when perforated by a grub, exudes from branches no thicker than one's arm, masses of soft, gluey-looking gum, brownish yellow, and light grey, as much as would fill a soup-plate. it seems to yield this gum only in the rainy season, and now all the trees are full of sap and gum. _ st february, ._--a night with loud and near thunder, and much heavy rain, which came through the boys' sheds. roads all plashy or running with water, oozes full, and rivulets overflowing; rocks of dolomite jutting out here and there. i noticed growing here a spikenard-looking shrub, six feet high, and a foot in diameter. the path led us west against my will. i found one going north; but the boys pretended that they did not see my mark, and went west, evidently afraid of incurring moamba's displeasure by passing him. i found them in an old hut, and made the best of it by saying nothing. they said that they had wandered; that was, they had never left the west-going path. _ nd february, ._--we came to a perennial rivulet running north, the merungu. here we met moamba's people, but declined going to his village, as huts are disagreeable; they often have vermin, and one is exposed to the gaze of a crowd through a very small doorway. the people in their curiosity often make the place dark, and the impudent ones offer characteristic remarks, then raise a laugh, and run away. we encamped on the meningu's right bank in forest, sending word to moamba that we meant to do so. he sent a deputation, first of all his young men, to bring us; then old men, and lastly he came himself with about sixty followers. i explained that i had become sick by living in a little hut at molemba; that i was better in the open air; that huts contained vermin; and that i did not mean to remain any while here, but go on our way. he pressed us to come to his village, and gave us a goat and kid, with a huge calabashful of beer. i promised to go over and visit him next day; and went accordingly. _ rd february, ._--moamba's village was a mile off, and on the left bank of the merengé, a larger stream than the merungu flowing north and having its banks and oozes covered with fine, tall, straight, evergreen trees. the village is surrounded with a stockade, and a dry ditch some fifteen or twenty feet wide, and as many deep. i had a long talk with moamba, a big, stout, public-house-looking person, with a slight outward cast in his left eye, but intelligent and hearty. i presented him with a cloth; and he gave me as much maëre meal as a man could carry, with a large basket of ground-nuts. he wished us to come to the merengé, if not into his village, that he might see and talk with me: i also showed him some pictures in smith's 'bible dictionary,' which he readily understood, and i spoke to him about the bible. he asked me "to come next day and tell him about prayer to god," this was a natural desire after being told that we prayed. he was very anxious to know why we were going to tanganyika; for what we came; what we should buy there; and if i had any relations there. he then showed me some fine large tusks, eight feet six in length. "what do you wish to buy, if not slaves or ivory?" i replied, that the only thing i had seen worth buying was a fine fat chief like him, as a specimen, and a woman feeding him, as he had, with beer. he was tickled at this; and said that when we reached our country, i must put fine clothes on him. this led us to speak of our climate, and the production of wool. _ th february, ._--i went over after service, but late, as the rain threatened to be heavy. a case was in process of hearing, and one old man spoke an hour on end, the chief listening all the while with the gravity of a judge. he then delivered his decision in about five minutes, the successful litigant going off lullilooing. each person, before addressing him, turns his back to him and lies down on the ground, clapping the hands: this is the common mode of salutation. another form here in lobemba is to rattle the arrows or an arrow on the bow, which all carry. we had a little talk with the chief; but it was late before the cause was heard through. he asked us to come and spend one night near him on the merenga, and then go on, so we came over in the morning to the vicinity of his village. a great deal of copper-wire is here made, the wire-drawers using for one part of the process a seven-inch cable. they make very fine wire, and it is used chiefly as leglets and anklets; the chief's wives being laden with them, and obliged to walk in a stately style from the weight: the copper comes from katanga. _ th february, ._--the chief wishes to buy a cloth with two goats, but his men do not bring them up quickly. simon, one of the boys, is ill of fever, and this induces me to remain, though moving from one place to another is the only remedy we have in our power. with the chief's men we did not get on well, but with himself all was easy. his men demanded prepayment for canoes to cross the river loömbé; but in the way that he put it, the request was not unreasonable, as he gave a man to smooth our way, and get canoes, or whatever else was needed, all the way to chibué's. i gave a cloth when he put it thus, and he presented a goat, a spear ornamented with copper-wire, abundance of meal, and beer, and numbo; so we parted good friends, as his presents were worth the cloth. holding a north-westerly course we met with the chikosho flowing west, and thence came to the likombé by a high ridge called losauswa, which runs a long way westward. it is probably a watershed between streams going to the chambezé and those that go to the northern rivers. we have the locopa, loömbé, nikéléngé, then lofubu or lovu; the last goes north into liembe, but accounts are very confused. the chambezé rises in the mambivé country, which is north-east of moamba, but near to it. the forest through which we passed was dense, but scrubby; trees unhealthy and no drainage except through oozes. on the keel which forms a clay soil the rain runs off, and the trees attain a large size. the roads are not soured by the slow process of the ooze drainage. at present all the slopes having loamy or sandy soil are oozes, and full to overflowing; a long time is required for them to discharge their contents. the country generally may be called one covered with forest. _ th march, ._--we came after a short march to a village on the molilanga, flowing east into the loömbé, here we meet with bananas for the first time, called, as in lunda, nkondé. a few trophies from mazitu are hung up: chitapangwa had twenty-four skulls ornamenting his stockade. the babemba are decidedly more warlike than any of the tribes south of them: their villages are stockaded, and have deep dry ditches round them, so it is likely that mochimbé will be effectually checked, and forced to turn his energies to something else than to marauding. our man from moamba here refused to go further, and we were put on the wrong track by the headman wading through three marshes, each at least half a mile broad. the people of the first village we came to shut their gates on us, then came running after us; but we declined to enter their village: it is a way of showing their independence. we made our sheds on a height in spite of their protests. they said that the gates were shut by the boys; but when i pointed out the boy who had done it, he said that he had been ordered to do it by the chief. if we had gone in now we should have been looked on as having come under considerable obligations. _ th march, ._--we went on to a village on the loömbé, where the people showed an opposite disposition, for not a soul was in it--all were out at their farms. when the good wife of the place came she gave us all huts, which saved us from a pelting shower. the boys herding the goats did not stir as we passed down the sides of the lovely valley. the loömbé looks a sluggish stream from a distance. the herdsman said we were welcome, and he would show the crossing next day, he also cooked some food for us. guided by our host, we went along the loömbé westwards till we reached the bridge (rather a rickety affair), which, when the water is low may be used as a weir. the loömbé main stream is feet wide, feet deep, with at least feet of flood beyond it. the water was knee deep on the bridge, but clear; the flooded part beyond was waist deep and the water flowing fast. all the people are now transplanting tobacco from the spaces under the eaves of the huts into the fields. it seems unable to bear the greater heat of summer: they plant also a kind of liranda, proper for the cold weather. we thought that we were conferring a boon in giving peas, but we found them generally propagated all over the country already, and in the cold time too. we went along the diola river to an old hut and made a fire; thence across country to another river, called loendawé, feet wide, and feet deep. _ th march, ._--i have been ill of fever ever since we left moamba's; every step i take jars in the chest, and i am very weak; i can scarcely keep up the march, though formerly i was always first, and had to hold in my pace not to leave the people altogether. i have a constant singing in the ears, and can scarcely hear the loud tick of the chronometers. the appetite is good, but we have no proper food, chiefly maëre meal or beans, or mapemba or ground-nuts, rarely a fowl. the country is full of hopo-hedges, but the animals are harassed, and we never see them. _ th march, ._.--detained by a set-in rain. marks on masses of dolomite elicited the information that a party of londa smiths came once to this smelting ground and erected their works here. we saw an old iron furnace, and masses of haematite, which seems to have been the ore universally used. _ th march, ._--rain held us back for some time, but we soon reached chibué, a stockaded village. like them all, it is situated by a stream, with a dense clump of trees on the waterside of some species of mangrove. they attain large size, have soft wood, and succulent leaves; the roots intertwine in the mud, and one has to watch that he does not step where no roots exist, otherwise he sinks up to the thigh. in a village the people feel that we are on their property, and crowd upon us inconveniently; but outside, where we usually erect our sheds, no such feeling exists, we are each on a level, and they don't take liberties. the balungu are marked by three or four little knobs on the temples, and the lobes of the ears are distended by a piece of wood, which is ornamented with beads; bands of beads go across the forehead and hold up the hair. chibué's village is at the source of the lokwéna, which goes n. and n.e.; a long range of low hills is on our n.e., which are the mambwé, or part of them. the chambezé rises in them, but further south. here the lokwéna, round whose source we came on starting this morning to avoid wet feet, and all others north and west of this, go to the lofu or lobu, and into liemba lake. those from the hills on our right go east into the loanzu and so into the lake. _ th march, ._--we now are making for kasonso, the chief of the lake, and a very large country all around it, passing the lochenjé, five yards wide, and knee deep, then to the chañumba. all flow very rapidly just now and are flooded with clean water. everyone carries an axe, as if constantly warring with the forest. my long-continued fever ill disposes me to enjoy the beautiful landscape. we are evidently on the ridge, but people have not a clear conception of where the rivers run. _ th march, ._--a party of young men came out of the village near which we had encamped to force us to pay something for not going into their village. "the son of a great chief ought to be acknowledged," &c. they had their bows and arrows with them, and all ready for action. i told them we had remained near them because they said we could not reach kasonso that day. their headman had given us nothing. after talking a while, and threatening to do a deal to-morrow, they left, and through an almighty providence nothing was attempted. we moved on n.w. in forest, with long green tree-covered slopes on our right, and came to a village of kasonso in a very lovely valley. great green valleys were now scooped out, and many, as the kakanza, run into the lovu. _ th march, ._--the same features of country prevailed, indeed it was impossible to count the streams flowing n.w. we found kasonso situated at the confluence of two streams; he shook hands a long while, and seems a frank sort of man. a shower of rain set the driver ants on the move, and about two hours after we had turned in we were overwhelmed by them. they are called kalandu or nkalanda. to describe this attack is utterly impossible. i wakened covered with them: my hair was full of them. one by one they cut into the flesh, and the more they are disturbed, the more vicious are their bites; they become quite insolent. i went outside the hut, but there they swarmed everywhere; they covered the legs, biting furiously; it is only when they are tired that they leave off. one good trait of the balungu up here is, they retire when they see food brought to anyone, neither babisa nor makoa had this sense of delicacy: the babemba are equally polite. we have descended considerably into the broad valley of the lake, and it feels warmer than on the heights. cloth here is more valuable, inasmuch as bark-cloth is scarce. the skins of goats and wild animals are used, and the kilt is very diminutive among the women. _ nd march, ._--cross loéla, thirty feet wide and one deep, and meet with tsetse fly, though we have seen none since we left chitapangwa's. kasonso gave us a grand reception, and we saw men present from tanganyika; i saw cassava here, but not in plenty. _ th march, ._--set-in rain and chuma fell ill. there are cotton bushes of very large size here of the south american kind. after sleeping in various villages and crossing numerous streams, we came to mombo's village, near the ridge overlooking the lake. _ st march, and st april, ._--i was too ill to march through. i offered to go on the st, but kasonso's son, who was with us, objected. we went up a low ridge of hills at its lowest part, and soon after passing the summit the blue water loomed through the trees. i was detained, but soon heard the boys firing their muskets on reaching the edge of the ridge, which allowed of an undisturbed view. this is the south-eastern end of liemba, or, as it is sometimes called, tanganyika.[ ] we had to descend at least feet before we got to the level of the lake. it seems about eighteen or twenty miles broad, and we could see about thirty miles up to the north. four considerable rivers flow into the space before us. the nearly perpendicular ridge of about feet extends with breaks all around, and there, embosomed in tree-covered rocks, reposes the lake peacefully in the huge cup-shaped cavity. i never saw anything so still and peaceful as it lies all the morning. about noon a gentle breeze springs up, and causes the waves to assume a bluish tinge. several rocky islands rise in the eastern end, which are inhabited by fishermen, who capture abundance of fine large fish, of which they enumerate about twenty-four species. in the north it seems to narrow into a gateway, but the people are miserably deficient in geographical knowledge, and can tell us nothing about it. they suspect us, and we cannot get information, or indeed much of anything else. i feel deeply thankful at having got so far. i am excessively weak--cannot walk without tottering, and have constant singing in the head, but the highest will lead me further. lat. of the spot we touched at first, nd april, . lat. ° ' " s., long. ° '; but i only worked out (and my head is out of order) one set of observations. height above level of the sea over feet, by boiling-point thermometers and barometer. the people won't let me sound the lake. after being a fortnight at this lake it still appears one of surpassing loveliness. its peacefulness is remarkable, though at times it is said to be lashed up by storms. it lies in a deep basin whose sides are nearly perpendicular, but covered well with trees; the rocks which appear are bright red argillaceous schist; the trees at present all green: down some of these rocks come beautiful cascades, and buffaloes, elephants, and antelopes wander and graze on the more level spots, while lions roar by night. the level place below is not two miles from the perpendicular. the village (pambété), at which we first touched the lake, is surrounded by palm-oil trees--not the stunted ones of lake nyassa, but the real west coast palm-oil tree,[ ] requiring two men to carry a bunch of the ripe fruit. in the morning and evening huge crocodiles may be observed quietly making their way to their feeding grounds; hippopotami snort by night and at early morning. after i had been a few days here i had a fit of insensibility, which shows the power of fever without medicine. i found myself floundering outside my hut and unable to get in; i tried to lift myself from my back by laying hold of two posts at the entrance, but when i got nearly upright i let them go, and fell back heavily on my head on a box. the boys had seen the wretched state i was in, and hung a blanket at the entrance of the hut, that no stranger might see my helplessness; some hours elapsed before i could recognize where i was. as for these balungu, as they are called, they have a fear of us, they do not understand our objects, and they keep aloof. they promise everything and do nothing; but for my excessive weakness we should go on, but we wait for a recovery of strength. as people they are greatly reduced in numbers by the mazitu, who carried off very large numbers of the women, boys, girls, and children. they train or like to see the young men arrayed as mazitu, but it would be more profitable if they kept them to agriculture. they are all excessively polite. the clapping of hands on meeting is something excessive, and then the string of salutations that accompany it would please the most fastidious frenchman. it implies real politeness, for in marching with them they always remove branches out of the path, and indicate stones or stumps in it carefully to a stranger, yet we cannot prevail on them to lend carriers to examine the lake or to sell goats, of which, however, they have very few, and all on one island. the lake discharges its water north-westward or rather nor-north-westwards. we observe weeds going in that direction, and as the lonzua, the kowé, the kapata, the luazé, the kalambwé, flow into it near the east end, and the lovu or lofubu, or lofu, from the south-west near the end it must find an exit for so much water. all these rivers rise in or near the mambwé country, in lat. ° s., where, too, the chambezé rises. liemba is said to remain of about the same size as we go north-west, but this we shall see for ourselves. elephants come all about us. one was breaking trees close by. i fired into his ear without effect: i am too weak to hold the gun steadily. _ th april, ._--we begin our return march from liemba. slept at a village on the lake, and went on next day to pambété, where we first touched it. i notice that here the people pound tobacco-leaves in a mortar after they have undergone partial fermentation by lying in the sun, then they put the mass in the sun to dry for use. the reason why no palm-oil trees grow further east than pambété is said to be the stony soil there, and this seems a valid one, for it loves rich loamy meadows. _ st may, ._--we intended to go north-west to see whether this lake narrows or not, for all assert that it maintains its breadth such as we see it beyond pemba as far as they know it; but when about to start the headman and his wife came and protested so solemnly that by going n.w. we should walk into the hands of a party of mazitu there, that we deferred our departure. it was not with a full persuasion of the truth of the statement that i consented, but we afterwards saw good evidence that it was true, and that we were saved from being plundered. these marauders have changed their tactics, for they demand so many people, and so many cloths, and then leave. they made it known that their next scene of mulcting would be mombo's village, and there they took twelve people--four slaves, and many cloths, then went south to the hills they inhabit. a strict watch was kept on their movements by our headman and his men. they trust to fleeing into a thicket on the west of the village should the mazitu come. i have been informed on good authority that kasonso was on his way to us when news arrived that his young son had died. he had sent on beer and provisions for us, but the mazitu intervening they were consumed. the mazitu having left we departed and slept half-way up the ridge. i had another fit of insensibility last night: the muscles of the back lose all power,[ ] and there is constant singing in the ears, and inability to do the simplest sum. cross the aeezé (which makes the waterfall) fifteen yards wide and knee deep. the streams like this are almost innumerable. mombo's village. it is distressingly difficult to elicit accurate information about the lake and rivers, because the people do not think accurately. mombo declared that two arabs came when we were below, and inquired for us, but he denied our presence, thinking thereby to save us trouble and harm. the cotton cultivated is of the pernambuco species, and the bushes are seven or eight feet high. much cloth was made in these parts before the mazitu raids began, it was striped black and white, and many shawls are seen in the country yet. it is curious that this species of cotton should be found only in the middle of this country. in going westwards on the upland the country is level and covered with scraggy forest as usual, long lines of low hills or rather ridges of denudation run. n. and s. on our east. this is called moami country, full of elephants, but few are killed. they do much damage, eating the sorghum in the gardens unmolested. _ th may, ._--a short march to-day brought us to a village on the same moami, and to avoid a sunday in the forest we remained. the elephants had come into the village and gone all about it, and to prevent their opening the corn safes the people had bedaubed them with elephant's droppings. when a cow would not give milk, save to its calf, a like device was used at kolobeng; the cow's droppings were smeared on the teats, and the calf was too much disgusted to suck: the cow then ran till she was distressed by the milk fever and was willing to be relieved by the herdsman. _ th and th may, ._--news that the arabs had been fighting with nsama came, but this made us rather anxious to get northward along liemba, and we made for mokambola's village near the edge of the precipice which overhangs the lake. many shuaré raphia palms grow in the river which flows past it. as we began our descent we saw the lofu coming from the west and entering liemba. a projection of liemba comes to meet it, and then it is said to go away to the north or north-west as far as my informants knew. some pointed due north, others north-west, so probably its true course amounts to n.n.w. we came to a village about ' w. of the confluence, whose headman was affable and generous. the village has a meadow some four miles wide on the land side, in which buffaloes disport themselves, but they are very wild, and hide in the gigantic grasses. sorghum, ground-nuts, and voandzeia grow luxuriantly. the lofu is a quarter of a mile wide, but higher up three hundred yards. the valley was always clouded over at night so i could not get an observation except early in the morning when the cold had dissipated the clouds. we remained here because two were lame, and all tired by the descent of upwards of feet, and the headman sent for fish for us. he dissuaded us strongly from attempting to go down the liemba, as the son of nsania (kapoma) was killing all who came that way in revenge for what the arabs had done to his father's people, and he might take us for arabs. a suaheli arab came in the evening and partly confirmed the statements of the headman of karambo; i resolved therefore to go back to chitimba's in the south, where the chief portion of the arabs are assembled, and hear from them more certainly. the last we heard of liemba was that at a great way north-west, it is dammed up by rocks, and where it surmounts these there is a great waterfall. it does not, it is said, diminish in size so far, but by bearings protracted it is two miles wide. _ th may, ._--return to mokambola's village, and leave for chitimba's. baraka stopped behind at the village, and james ran away to him, leaving his bundle, containing three chronometers, in the path: i sent back for them, and james came up in the evening; he had no complaint, and no excuse to make. the two think it will be easy to return to their own country by begging, though they could not point it out to me when we were much nearer to where it is supposed to be. _ th may, ._--where we were brought to a standstill was miserably cold ( °), so we had prayers and went on s. and s.w. to the village of chisáka. _ th may, ._--chitimba's village was near in the same direction; here we found a large party of arabs, mostly black suahelis. they occupied an important portion of the stockaded village, and when i came in, politely showed me to a shed where they are in the habit of meeting. after explaining whence i had come, i showed them the sultan's letter. harnees presented a goat, two fowls, and a quantity of flour. it was difficult to get to the bottom of the nsama affair, but according to their version that chief sent an invitation to them, and when they arrived called for his people, who came in crowds--as he said to view the strangers. i suspect that the arabs became afraid of the crowds and began to fire; several were killed on both sides, and nsama fled, leaving his visitors in possession of the stockaded village and all it contained. others say that there was a dispute about an elephant, and that nsama's people were the aggressors. at any rate it is now all confusion; those who remain at nsama's village help themselves to food in the surrounding villages and burn them, while chitimba has sent for the party who are quartered here to come to him. an hour or two after we arrived a body of men came from kasonso, with the intention of proceeding into the country of nsama, and if possible catching nsama, "he having broken public law by attacking people who brought merchandise into the country." this new expedition makes the arabs resolve to go and do what they can to injure their enemy. it will just be a plundering foray--each catching what he can, whether animal or human, and retiring when it is no longer safe to plunder! this throws the barrier of a broad country between me and lake "moero" in the west, but i trust in providence a way will be opened. i think now of going southwards and then westwards, thus making a long détour round the disturbed district. the name of the principal arab is hamees wodim tagh, the other is syde bin alie bin mansure: they are connected with one of the most influential native mercantile houses in zanzibar. hamees has been particularly kind to me in presenting food, beads, cloth, and getting information. thami bin snaelim is the arab to whom my goods are directed at ujiji. _ th may, ._--at chitimba's we are waiting to see what events turn up to throw light on our western route. some of the arabs and kasonso's men went off to-day: they will bring information perhaps as to nsama's haunts, and then we shall move south and thence west. wrote to sir thomas maclear, giving the position of liemba and to dr. seward, in case other letters miscarry. the hot season is beginning now. this corresponds to july further south. three goats were killed by a leopard close to the village in open day. _ th may, ._--information came that nsama begged pardon of the. arabs, and would pay all that they had lost. he did not know of his people stealing from them: we shall hear in a day or two whether the matter is to be patched up or not. while some believe his statements, others say, "nsama's words of peace are simply to gain time to make another stockade:" in the mean time kasonso's people will ravage all his country on this eastern side. hamees is very anxious that i should remain a few days longer, till kasonso's son, kampamba, comes with _certain_ information, and then he will see to our passing safely to chiwéré's village from kasonso's. all have confidence in this last-named chief as an upright man. _ st june, ._--another party of marauders went off this morning to plunder nsama's country to the west of the confluence of the lofu as a punishment for a breach of public law. the men employed are not very willing to go, but when they taste the pleasure of plunder they will relish it more! the watershed begins to have a northern slope about moamba's, lat. ° ' s., but the streams are very tortuous, and the people have very confused ideas as to where they run. the lokhopa, for instance, was asserted by all the men at moamba's to flow into lokholu, and then into a river going to liemba, but a young wife of moamba, who seemed very intelligent, maintained that lokhopa and lokholu went to the chambezé; i therefore put it down thus. the streams which feed the chambezé and the liemba overlap each other, and it would require a more extensive survey than i can give to disentangle them. north of moamba, on the merengé, the slope begins to liemba. the lofu rises in chibué's country, and with its tributaries we have long ridges of denudation, each some or feet high, and covered with green trees. the valleys of denudation enclosed by these hill ranges guide the streams towards liemba or the four rivers which flow into it. the country gradually becomes lower, warmer, and tsetse and mosquitoes appear; so at last we come to the remarkable cup-shaped cavity in which liemba reposes. several streams fall down the nearly perpendicular cliffs, and form beautiful cascades. the lines of denudation are continued, one range rising behind another as far as the eye can reach to the north and east of liemba, and probably the slope continues away down to tanganyika. the watershed extends westwards to beyond casembe, and the luapula, or chambezé, rises in the same parallels of latitude as does the lofu and the lonzna. the arabs inform me that between this and the sea, about miles distant, lies the country of the wasango--called: usango--a fair people, like portuguese, and very friendly to strangers. the wasango possess plenty of cattle: their chief is called meréré.[ ] they count this twenty-five days, while the distance thence to the sea at bagamoio is one month and twenty-five days--say miles. uchéré is very far off northwards, but a man told me that he went to a salt-manufactory in that direction in eight days from kasonso's. meréré goes frequently on marauding expeditions for cattle, and is instigated thereto by his mother. what we understand by primeval forest is but seldom seen in the interior here, though the country cannot be described otherwise than as generally covered with interminable forests. insects kill or dwarf some trees, and men maim others for the sake of the bark-cloth; elephants break down a great number, and it is only here and there that gigantic specimens are seen: they may be expected in shut-in valleys among mountains, but on the whole the trees are scraggy, and the varieties not great. the different sorts of birds which sing among the branches seem to me to exceed those of the zambesi region, but i do not shoot them: the number of new notes i hear astonishes me. the country in which we now are is called by the arabs and natives ulungu, that farther north-west is named marunga. hamees is on friendly terms with the mazitu (watuta) in the east, who do not plunder. the chief sent a man to kasonso lately, and he having received a present went away highly pleased. hamees is certainly very anxious to secure my safety. some men came from the n.e. to inquire about the disturbance here and they recommend that i should go with them, and then up the east side of the lake to ujiji; but that would ruin my plan of discovering moero and afterwards following the watershed, so as to be certain that this is either the watershed of the congo or kile. he was not well pleased when i preferred to go south and then westwards, as it looks like rejecting his counsel; but he said if i waited till his people came, then we should be able to speak with more certainty. on inquiring if any large mountains exist in this country, i was told that moufipa, or fipa, opposite the lower end of the lake, is largest--one can see tanganyika from it. it probably gives rise to the nkalambwé river and the luazé. there is nothing interesting in a heathen town. all are busy in preparing food or clothing, mats or baskets, whilst the women are cleaning or grinding their corn, which involves much hard labour. they first dry this in the sun, then put it into a mortar, and afterwards with a flat basket clean off the husks and the dust, and grind it between two stones, the next thing is to bring wood and water to cook it. the chief here was aroused the other day, and threatened to burn his own house and all his property because the people stole from it, but he did not proceed so far: it was probably a way of letting the arab dependants know that he was aroused. some of the people who went to fight attacked a large village, and killed several men; but in shooting in a bushy place they killed one of their own party and wounded another. on inquiring of an arab who had sailed on tanganyika which way the water flowed, he replied to the south! the wagtails build in the thatch of the huts; they are busy, and men and other animals are active in the same way. i am rather perplexed how to proceed. some arabs seem determined to go westwards as soon as they can make it up with nsama, whilst others distrust him. one man will send his people to pick up what ivory they can, but he himself will retire to the usango country. nsama is expected to-day or to-morrow. it would be such a saving of time and fatigue for us to go due west rather than south, and then west, but i feel great hesitation as to setting out on the circuitous route. several arabs came from the liemba side yesterday; one had sailed on tanganyika, and described the winds there as very baffling, but no one of them has a clear idea of the lake. they described the lower part as a "sea," and thought it different from tanganyika. close observation of the natives of ulungu makes me believe them to be extremely polite. the mode of salutation among relatives is to place the hands round each other's chests kneeling, they then clap their hands close to the ground. some more abject individuals kiss the soil before a chief; the generality kneel only, with the fore-arms close to the ground, and the head bowed down to them, saying, "o ajadla chiusa, mari a bwino." the usanga say, "ajé senga." the clapping of hands to superiors, and even equals, is in some villages a perpetually recurring sound. aged persons are usually saluted: how this extreme deference to each other could have arisen, i cannot conceive; it does not seem to be fear of each other that elicits it. even the chiefs inspire no fear, and those cruel old platitudes about governing savages by fear seem unknown, yet governed they certainly are, and upon the whole very well. the people were not very willing to go to punish nsama's breach of public law, yet, on the decision of the chiefs, they went, and came back, one with a wooden stool, another with a mat, a third with a calabash of ground-nuts or some dried meat, a hoe, or a bow--poor, poor pay for a fortnight's hard work hunting fugitives and burning villages. _ th june, ._--news came to-day that an arab party in the south-west, in lunda, lost about forty people by the small-pox ("ndué"), and that the people there, having heard of the disturbance with nsama, fled from the arabs, and would sell neither ivory nor food: this looks like another obstacle to our progress thither. _ th- th june, ._--hamees went to meet the party from the south-west, probably to avoid bringing the small-pox here. they remain at about two hours' distance. hamees reports that though the strangers had lost a great many people by small-pox, they had brought good news of certain arabs still further west: one, seide ben umale, or salem, lived at a village near casembe, ten days distant, and another, juma merikano, or katata katanga, at another village further north, and seide ben habib was at phueto, which is nearer tanganyika. this party comprises the whole force of hamees, and he now declares that he will go to nsama and make the matter up, as he thinks that he is afraid to come here, and so he will make the first approach to friendship. on pondering over the whole subject, i see that, tiresome as it is to wait, it is better to do so than go south and then west, for if i should go i shall miss seeing moero, which is said to be three days from nsama's present abode. his people go there for salt, and i could not come to it from the south without being known to them, and perhaps considered to be an arab. hamees remarked that it was the arab way first to smooth the path before entering upon it; sending men and presents first, thereby ascertaining the disposition of the inhabitants. he advises patience, and is in hopes of making a peace with nsama. that his hopes are not unreasonable, he mentioned that when the disturbance began, nsama sent men with two tusks to the village whence he had just been expelled, offering thereby to make the matter up, but the arabs, suspecting treachery, fired upon the carriers and killed them, then ten goats and one tusk were sent with the same object, and met with a repulse; hamees thinks that had he been there himself the whole matter would have been settled amicably. all complain of cold here. the situation is elevated, and we are behind a clump of trees on the rivulet chiloa, which keeps the sun off us in the mornings. this cold induces the people to make big fires in their huts, and frequently their dwellings are burned. minimum temperature is as low as °; sometimes °. _ th june, ._--the arabs are all busy reading their koran, or kurán, and in praying for direction; to-morrow they will call a meeting to deliberate as to what steps they will take in the nsama affair. hamees, it seems, is highly thought of by that chief, who says, "let him come, and all will be right." hamees proposes to go with but a few people. these zanzibar men are very different from the slavers of the waiyau country. _ th june, ._--the people, though called, did not assemble, but they will come to-morrow. young wagtails nearly full-fledged took wing, leaving one in the nest; from not being molested by the people they took no precautions, and ran out of the nest on the approach of the old ones, making a loud chirping. the old ones tried to induce the last one to come out too, by flying to the nest, and then making a sally forth, turning round immediately to see if he followed: he took a few days longer. it was decided at the meeting that hamees, with a few people only, should go to nsama on the first day after the appearance of the new moon (they are very particular on this point); the present month having been an unhappy one they will try the next. _ th june, ._--a wedding took place among the arabs to-day. about a hundred blank cartridges were fired off, and a procession of males, dressed in their best, marched through the village. they sang with all their might, though with but little music in the strain. women sprinkled grain on their heads as wishes for plenty.[ ] nsama is said to be waiting for the arabs in his new stockade. it is impossible to ascertain exactly who is to blame in this matter, for i hear one side only; but the fact of the chiefs in this part of the country turning out so readily to punish his breach of public law, and no remonstrance coming from him, makes me suspect that nsama is the guilty party. if he had been innocent he certainly would have sent to ask the bulungu, or bäulungu, why they had attacked his people without cause. [here is an entry concerning the tribe living far to the east.] the wasongo seem much like zulus; they go naked, and have prodigious numbers of cattle, which occupy the same huts with their owners. oxen two shukahs each; plenty of milk. meréré is very liberal with his cattle, and gives every one an ox: there is no rice, but maize and maëre. hamees left the people to cultivate rice. meréré had plenty of ivory when the arabs came first, but now has none. _ st july, ._--new moon to-day. they are very particular as to the time of offering up prayers, and in making charms. one to-night was at p.m. exactly. a number of cabalistic figures were drawn by halfani, and it is believed that by these nsama's whereabouts may be ascertained; they are probably remains of the secret arts which prevailed among arabs before mahomet appeared. these suaheli arabs appear to have come down the coast before that prophet was born. _ rd july, ._--kasonso's people are expected. all the captives that were taken are to be returned, and a quantity of cloth given to nsama in addition: so far all seems right. the new moon will appear to-night. the arabs count from one appearance to the next, not, as we do, from its conjunction with the sun to the next. _ th july, ._--katawanya came from near liemba to join the peacemakers. he and his party arrived at liemba after we did; he sent his people all round to seek ivory; they don't care for anything but ivory, and cannot understand why i don't do the same. _ th july, ._--an earthquake happened at . p.m., accompanied with a hollow rumbling sound; it made me feel as if afloat, but it lasted only a few seconds. the boys came running to ask me what it was. nowhere could it be safer; the huts will not fall, and there are no high rocks near. barometer . . temperature ° '. heavy cumuli hanging about; no rain afterwards. _ th july, ._--hamees started this morning with about followers dressed in all their finery, and he declares that his sole object is peace. kasonso, mombo, chitimba send their people, and go themselves to lend all their influence in favour of peace. syde stops here. before starting syde put some incense on hot coals, and all the leaders of the party joined in a short prayer; they seem earnest and sincere in their incantations, according to their knowledge and belief. i wished to go too, but hamees objected, as not being quite sure whether nsama would be friendly, and he would not like anything to befall me when with him. _ th july, ._--kasonso found an excuse for not going himself. two men, arabs it was said, came to chibué's and were there killed, and kasonso must go to see about it. the people who go carry food with them, evidently not intending to live by plunder this time. while the peacemakers are gone i am employing time in reading smith's 'bible dictionary,' and calculating different positions which have stood over in travelling. i don't succeed well in the bäulungu dialect. the owners of huts lent to strangers have a great deal of toil in consequence; they have to clean them after the visitors have withdrawn; then, in addition to this, to clean themselves, all soiled by the dust left by the lodgers; their bodies and clothes have to be cleansed afterwards--they add food too in all cases of acquaintanceship, and then we have to remember the labour of preparing that food. my remaining here enables me to observe that both men and women are in almost constant employment. the men are making mats, or weaving, or spinning; no one could witness their assiduity in their little affairs and conclude that they were a lazy people. the only idle time i observe here is in the mornings about seven o'clock, when all come and sit to catch the first rays of the sun as he comes over our clump of trees, but even that time is often taken as an opportunity for stringing beads. i hear that some of nsama's people crossed the lovu at karambo to plunder, in retaliation for what they have suffered, and the people there were afraid to fish, lest they should be caught by them at a distance from their stockades. the bäulungu men are in general tall and well formed, they use bows over six feet in length, and but little bent. the facial angle is as good in most cases as in europeans, and they have certainly as little of the "lark-heel" as whites. one or two of the under front teeth are generally knocked out in women, and also in men. _ th july, ._--syde added to his other presents some more beads: all have been very kind, which i attribute in a great measure to seyed majid's letter. hamees crossed the lovu to-day at a fordable spot. the people on the other side refused to go with a message to nsama, so hamees had to go and compel them by destroying their stockade. a second village acted in the same way, though told that it was only peace that was sought of nsama: this stockade suffered the same fate, and then the people went to nsama, and he showed no reluctance to have intercourse. he gave abundance of food, pombe, and bananas; the country being extremely fertile. nsama also came and ratified the peace by drinking blood with several of the underlings of hamees. he is said to be an enormously bloated old man, who cannot move unless carried, and women are constantly in attendance pouring pombe into him. he gave hamees ten tusks, and promised him twenty more, and also to endeavour to make his people return what goods they plundered from the arabs, and he is to send his people over here to call us after the new moon appears. it is tiresome beyond measure to wait so long, but i hope to see moero for this exercise of patience, and i could not have visited it had hamees not succeeded in making peace. _ th july, ._--a lion roared very angrily at the village last night, he was probably following the buffaloes that sometimes come here to drink at night: they are all very shy, and so is all the game, from fear of arrows. a curious disease has attacked my left eyelid and surrounding parts: a slight degree of itchiness is followed by great swelling of the part. it must be a sort of lichen; exposure to the sun seems to cure it, and this leads me to take long walks therein. this is about ° ' e. long.; lat. ° ' " s. _ th july, ._--a fire broke out at a.m., and there being no wind the straw roofs were cleared off in front of it on our side of the village. the granaries were easily unroofed, as the roof is not attached to the walls, and the arabs tried to clear a space on their side, but were unable, and then moved all their ivory and goods outside the stockade; their side of the village was all consumed, and three goats perished in the flames. chitimba has left us from a fear of his life, he says; it is probable that he means this flight to be used as an excuse to nsama after we are gone. "and i, too, was obliged to flee from my village to save my life! what could i do?" this is to be his argument, i suspect. a good many slaves came from the two villages that were destroyed: on inquiry i was told that these would be returned when nsama gave the ivory promised. when nsama was told that an englishman wished to go past him to moero, he replied, "bring him, and i shall send men to take him thither." hamees is building a "tembé," or house, with a flat roof, and walls plastered over with mud, to keep his ivory from fire while he is absent. we expect that nsama will send for us a few days after the nd august, when the new moon appears; if they do not come soon hamees will send men to nsama without waiting for his messengers. _ th july, ._--prayers, with the litany.[ ] slavery is a great evil wherever i have seen it. a poor old woman and child are among the captives, the boy about three years old seems a mother's pet. his feet are sore from walking in the sun. he was offered for two fathoms, and his mother for one fathom; he understood it all, and cried bitterly, clinging to his mother. she had, of course, no power to help him; they were separated at karungu afterwards. [the above is an episode of every-day occurrence in the wake of the slave-dealer. "two fathoms," mentioned as the price of the boy's life--the more valuable of the two, means four yards of unbleached calico, which is a universal article of barter throughout the greater part of africa: the mother was bought for two yards. the reader must not think that there are no lower prices; in the famines which succeed the slave-dealer's raids, boys and girls are at times to be purchased by the dealer for a few handfuls of maize.] _ th july, ._--went / hours west to village of ponda, where a head arab, called by the natives tipo tipo, lives; his name is hamid bin mahamed bin juma borajib. he presented a goat, a piece of white calico, and four big bunches of beads, also a bag of holcus sorghum, and apologised because it was so little. he had lost much by nsama; and received two arrow wounds there; they had only twenty guns at the time, but some were in the stockade, and though the people of nsama were very numerous they beat them off, and they fled carrying the bloated carcase of nsama with them. some reported that boxes were found in the village, which belonged to parties who had perished before, but syde assured me that this was a mistake. moero is three days distant, and as nsama's people go thither to collect salt on its banks, it would have been impossible for me to visit it from the south without being seen, and probably suffering loss. the people seem to have no family names. a man takes the name of his mother, or should his father die he may assume that. marriage is forbidden to the first, second, and third degrees: they call first and second cousins brothers and sisters. a woman, after cupping her child's temples for sore eyes, threw the blood over the roof of her hut as a charm. [in the above process a goat's horn is used with a small hole in the pointed end. the base is applied to the part from which the blood is to be withdrawn, and the operator, with a small piece of chewed india-rubber in his mouth, exhausts the air, and at the proper moment plasters the small hole up with his tongue. when the cupping-horn is removed, some cuts are made with a small knife, and it is again applied. as a rough appliance, it is a very good one, and in great repute everywhere.] footnotes: [ ] it subsequently proved to be the southern extremity of this great lake. [ ] elais, sp.(?). [ ] this is a common symptom--men will suddenly lose all power in the lower extremities, and remain helpless where they fall.--ed. [ ] the men heard in that he had been killed. [ ] this comes near to the custom of throwing rice after the bride and bridegroom in england.--ed. [ ] in his journal the doctor writes "s," and occasionally "service," whenever a sunday entry occurs. we may add that at all times during his travels the services of the church of england were resorted to by him.--ed. chapter ix. peace negotiations with nsama. geographical gleanings. curious spider. reach the river lofu. arrives at nsama's. hamees marries the daughter of nsama. flight of the bride. conflagration in arab quarters. anxious to visit lake moero. arab burial. serious illness. continues journey. slave-traders on the march. reaches moero. description of the lake. information concerning the chambezé and luapula. hears of lake bemba. visits spot of dr. lacerda's death. casembe apprised of livingstone's approach. meets mohamad bogharib. lakelet mofwé. arrives at casembe's town. _ st august, ._--hamees sends off men to trade at chiweré's. _zikwé_ is the name for locust here. nsigé or zigé and pansi the suaheli names. a perforated stone had been placed on one of the poles which form the gateway into this stockade, it is oblong, seven or eight inches long by four broad, and bevelled off on one side and the diameter of the hole in the middle is about an inch and a half: it shows evidence of the boring process in rings. it is of hard porphyry and of a pinkish hue, and resembles somewhat a weight for a digging stick i saw in in the hands of a bushwoman: i saw one at a gateway near kasonso's. the people know nothing of its use except as a charm to keep away evil from the village. _ nd august, ._--chronometer a. stopped to-day without any apparent cause except the earthquake. it is probably malaria which causes that constant singing in the ears ever since my illness at lake liemba. _ rd august, ._--we expect a message from nsama every day, the new moon having appeared on the first of this month, and he was to send after its appearance. _ th august, ._--men came yesterday with the message that hamees must wait a little longer, as nsama had not yet got all the ivory and the goods which were stolen: they remained over yesterday. the headman, katala, says that lunda is eight days from nsama or moero, and in going we cross a large river called movue, which flows into luapula; another river called mokobwa comes from the south-east into moero. itawa is the name of nsama's country and people. a day distant from nsama's place there is a hot fountain called "paka pezhia," and around it the earth shakes at times: it is possible that the earthquake we felt here may be connected with this same centre of motion. _ th august, ._--the weather is becoming milder. an increase of cold was caused by the wind coming from the south. we have good accounts of the wasongo from all the arabs, their houses built for cattle are flat-roofed and enormously large; one, they say, is a quarter of a mile long. meréré the chief has his dwelling-house within it: milk, butter, cheese, are in enormous quantities; the tribe, too, is very large. i fear that they may be spoiled by the arab underlings. _ th august, ._--some of my people went down to karambo and were detained by the chief, who said "i won't let you english go away and leave me in trouble with these arabs." a slave had been given in charge to a man here and escaped, the arabs hereupon went to karambo and demanded payment from the chief there; he offered clothing, but they refused it, and would have a man; he then offered a man, but this man having two children they demanded all three. they bully as much as they please by their fire-arms. after being spoken to by my people the arabs came away. the chief begged that i would come and visit him once more, for only one day, but it is impossible, for we expect to move directly. i sent the information to hamees, who replied that they had got a clue to the man who was wiling away their slaves from them. my people saw others of the low squad which always accompanies the better-informed arabs bullying the people of another village, and taking fowls and food without payment. slavery makes a bad neighbourhood! hamees is on friendly terms with a tribe of mazitu who say that they have given up killing people. they lifted a great many cattle, but have very few now; some of them came with him to show the way to kasonso's. slaves are sold here in the same open way that the business is carried on in zanzibar slave-market. a man goes about calling out the price he wants for the slave, who walks behind him; if a woman, she is taken into a hut to be examined in a state of nudity. some of the arabs believe that meteoric stones are thrown at satan for his wickedness. they believe that cannon were taken up kilimanjaro by the first arabs who came into the country, and there they lie. they deny that van der decken did more than go round a portion of the base of the mountain; he could not get on the mass of the mountain: all his donkeys and some of his men died by the cold. hamees seems to be cooley's great geographical oracle! the information one can cull from the arabs respecting the country on the north-west is very indefinite. they magnify the difficulties in the way by tales of the cannibal tribes, where anyone dying is bought and no one ever buried, but this does not agree with the fact, which also is asserted, that the cannibals have plenty of sheep and goats. the rua is about ten days west of tanganyika, and five days beyond it a lake or river ten miles broad is reached; it is said to be called logarawá. all the water flows northwards, but no reliance can be placed on the statements. kiombo is said to be chief of rua country. another man asserts that tanganyika flows northwards and forms a large water beyond uganda, but no dependence can be placed on the statements of these half arabs; they pay no attention to anything but ivory and food. _ th august, ._--nsama requested the arabs to give back his son who was captured; some difficulty was made about this by his captor, but hamees succeeded in getting him and about nine others, and they are sent off to-day. we wait only for the people, who are scattered about the country. hamees presented cakes, flour, a fowl and leg of goat, with a piece of eland meat: this animal goes by the same name here as at kolobeng--"pofu."[ ] a fig-tree here has large knobs on the bark, like some species of acacia; and another looks like the malolo of the zambesi magnified. a yellow wood gives an odour like incense when burned. a large spider makes a nest inside the huts. it consists of a piece of pure white paper, an inch and a half broad, stuck flat on the wall; under this some forty or fifty eggs are placed, and then a quarter of an inch of thinner paper is put round it, apparently to fasten the first firmly. when making the paper the spider moves itself over the surface in wavy lines; she then sits on it with her eight legs spread over all for three weeks continuously, catching and eating any insects, as cockroaches, that come near her nest. after three weeks she leaves it to hunt for food, but always returns at night: the natives do not molest it. a small ant masters the common fly by seizing a wing or leg, and holding on till the fly is tired out; at first the fly can move about on the wing without inconvenience, but it is at last obliged to succumb to an enemy very much smaller than itself. a species of touraco, new to me, has a broad yellow mask on the upper part of the bill and forehead; the topknot is purple, the wings the same as in other species, but the red is roseate. the yellow of the mask plates is conspicuous at a distance. a large callosity forms on the shoulders of the regular unyamwesi porters, from the heavy weights laid on them. i have noticed them an inch and a half thick along the top of the shoulders. an old man was pointed out to me who had once carried five frasilahs (= lbs.) of ivory from his own country to the coast. _ th august, ._--we marched to-day from chitimba's village after three months and ten days' delay. on reaching ponda, - / hours distant, we found tipo tipo, or hamidi bin mohamad, gone on, and so we followed him. passed a fine stream flowing s.w. to the lofu. tipo tipo gave me a fine fat goat. _ st august, ._--pass along a fine undulating district, with much country covered with forest, but many open glades, and fine large trees along the water-courses. we were on the northern slope of the watershed, and could see far. crossed two fine rivulets. the oozes still full and flowing. _ st september, ._--we had to march in the afternoon on account of a dry patch existing in the direct way. we slept without water, though by diverging a few miles to the north we should have crossed many streams, but this is the best path for the whole year. baraka went back to tipo tipo's village, thus putting his intention of begging among the arab slaves into operation. he has only one complaint, and that is dislike to work. he tried perseveringly to get others to run away with him; lost the medicine-box, six table-cloths, and all our tools by giving his load off to a country lad while he went to collect mushrooms: he will probably return to zanzibar, and be a slave to the arab slaves after being a perpetual nuisance to us for upwards of a year. _ nd september, ._--when we reached the ford of the lofu, we found that we were at least a thousand feet below chitimba's. the last six hours of our march were without water, but when near to chungu's village at the ford we came to fine flowing rivulets, some ten feet or so broad. here we could see westwards and northwards the long lines of hills of denudation in nsama's country, which till lately was densely peopled. nsama is of the babemba family. kasonso, chitimba, kiwé, urongwé, are equals and of one family, urungai. chungu is a pleasant person, and liberal according to his means. large game is very abundant through all this country. the lofu at the ford was feet, the water flowing briskly over hardened sandstone flag, and from thigh to waist deep; elsewhere it is a little narrower, but not passable except by canoes. _ th and th september, ._--went seven hours west of the lofu to a village called hara, one of those burned by hamees because the people would not take a peaceful message to nsama. this country is called itawa, and hara is one of the districts. we waited at hara to see if nsama wished us any nearer to himself. he is very much afraid of the arabs, and well he may be, for he was until lately supposed to be invincible. he fell before twenty muskets, and this has caused a panic throughout the country. the land is full of food, though the people have nearly all fled. the ground-nuts are growing again for want of reapers; and people living at free-quarters make no impression on the food. _ th september, ._--went three hours west of hara, and came to nsama's new stockade, built close by the old one burned by tipo tipo, as hamidi bin mohamed was named by nsama.[ ] i sent a message to nsama, and received an invitation to come and visit him, but bring no guns. a large crowd of his people went with us, and before we came to the inner stockade they felt my clothes to see that no fire-arms were concealed about my person. when we reached nsama, we found a very old man, with a good head and face and a large abdomen, showing that he was addicted to pombe: his people have to carry him. i gave him a cloth, and asked for guides to moero, which he readily granted, and asked leave to feel my clothes and hair. i advised him to try and live at peace, but his people were all so much beyond the control of himself and headmen, that at last, after scolding them, he told me that he would send for me by night, and then we could converse, but this seems to have gone out of his head. he sent me a goat, flour, and pombe, and next day we returned to hara. nsama's people have generally small, well-chiseled features, and many are really handsome, and have nothing of the west coast negro about them, but they file their teeth to sharp points, and greatly disfigure their mouths. the only difference between them and europeans is the colour. many of the men have very finely-formed heads, and so have the women; and the fashion of wearing the hair sets off their foreheads to advantage. the forehead is shaved off to the crown, the space narrowing as it goes up; then the back hair, is arranged into knobs of about ten rows. _ th september, ._--some people of ujiji have come to nsama's to buy ivory with beads, but, finding that the arabs have forestalled them in the market, they intend to return in their dhow, or rather canoe, which is manned by about fifty hands. my goods are reported safe, and the meat of the buffaloes which died in the way is there, and sun-dried. i sent a box, containing papers, books, and some clothes, to ujiji. _ th september, ._--i remained at hara, for i was ill, and hamees had no confidence in nsama, because he promised his daughter to wife by way of cementing the peace, but had not given her. nsama also told hamees to stay at hara, and he would send him ivory for sale, but none came, nor do people come here to sell provisions, as they do elsewhere; so hamees will return to chitimba's, to guard his people and property there, and send on syde hamidi and his servants to lopéré, kabuiré, and moero, to buy ivory. he advised me to go with them, as he has no confidence in nsama; and hamidi thought that this was the plan to be preferred: it would be slower, as they would purchase ivory on the road, but safer to pass his country altogether than trust myself in his power. the entire population of the country has received a shock from the conquest of nsama, and their views of the comparative values of bows and arrows and guns have undergone a great change. nsama was the napoleon of these countries; no one could stand before him, hence the defeat of the invincible nsama has caused a great panic. the arabs say that they lost about fifty men in all: nsama must have lost at least an equal number. the people seem intelligent, and will no doubt act on the experience so dearly bought. in the midst of the doubts of hamees a daughter of nsama came this afternoon to be a wife and cementer of the peace! she came riding "pickaback" on a man's shoulders; a nice, modest, good-looking young woman, her hair rubbed all over with _nkola_, a red pigment, made from the camwood, and much used as an ornament. she was accompanied by about a dozen young and old female attendants, each carrying a small basket with some provisions, as cassava, ground-nuts, &c. the arabs were all dressed in their finery, and the slaves, in fantastic dresses, flourished swords, fired guns, and yelled. when she was brought to hamees' hut she descended, and with her maids went into the hut. she and her attendants had all small, neat features. i had been sitting with hamees, and now rose up and went away; as i passed him, he spoke thus to himself: "hamees wadim tagh! see to what you have brought yourself!!" _ th september, ._--a guide had come from nsama to take us to the countries beyond his territory. hamees set off this morning with his new wife to his father-in-law, but was soon met by two messengers, who said that he was not to come yet. we now sent for all the people who were out to go west or north-west without reference to nsama. _ th- th september, ._--hamidi went to nsama to try and get guides, but he would not let him come into his stockade unless he came up to it without either gun or sword. hamidi would not go in on these conditions, but nsama promised guides, and they came after a visit by hamees to nsama, which he paid without telling any of us: he is evidently ashamed of his father-in-law. those arabs who despair of ivory invest their remaining beads and cloth in slaves. _ th september, ._--i had resolved to go to nsama's, and thence to moero to-day, but hamees sent to say that men had come, and we were all to go with them on the nd. nsama was so vacillating that i had no doubt but this was best. hamees' wife, seeing the preparations that were made for starting, thought that her father was to be attacked, so she, her attendants, and the guides decamped by night. hamees went again to nsama and got other guides to enable us to go off at once. _ nd september, ._--we went north for a couple of hours, then descended into the same valley as that in which i found nsama. this valley is on the slope of the watershed, and lies east and west: a ridge of dark-red sandstone, covered with trees, forms its side on the south. other ridges like this make the slope have the form of a stair with huge steps: the descent is gradually lost as we insensibly climb up the next ridge. the first plain between the steps is at times swampy, and the paths are covered with the impressions of human feet, which, being hardened by the sun, make walking on their uneven surface very difficult. mosquitoes again; we had lost them during our long stay on the higher lands behind us. _ rd september, ._--a fire had broken out the night after we left hara, and the wind being strong, it got the upper hand, and swept away at once the whole of the temporary village of dry straw huts: hamees lost all his beads, guns, powder, and cloth, except one bale. the news came this morning, and prayers were at once offered for him with incense; some goods will also be sent, as a little incense was. the prayer-book was held in the smoke of the incense while the responses were made. these arabs seem to be very religious in their way: the prayers were chiefly to harasji, some relative of mohamad. _ th september, ._--roused at a.m. to be told that the next stage had no water, and we should be oppressed with the midday heat if we went now. we were to go at p.m. hamidi's wife being ill yesterday put a stop to our march on that afternoon. after the first hour we descended from the ridge to which we had ascended, we had then a wall of tree-covered rocks on our left of more than a thousand feet in altitude; after flanking it for a while we went up, and then along it northwards till it vanished in forest. slept without a fresh supply of water. _ th september, ._--off at . a.m., through the same well-grown forest we have passed and came to a village stockade, where the gates were shut, and the men all outside, in fear of the arabs; we then descended from the ridge on which it stood, about a thousand feet, into an immense plain, with a large river in the distance, some ten miles off. _ th september, ._--two and a half hours brought us to the large river we saw yesterday; it is more than a mile wide and full of papyrus and other aquatic plants and very difficult to ford, as the papyrus roots are hard to the bare feet, and we often plunged into holes up to the waist. a loose mass floated in the middle of our path; one could sometimes get on along this while it bent and heaved under the weight, but through it he would plunge and find great difficulty to get out: the water under this was very cold from evaporation; it took an hour and a half to cross it. it is called chiséra, and winds away to the west to fall into the kalongosi and moero. many animals, as elephants, tahetsis, zebras, and buffaloes, graze on the long sloping banks of about a quarter of a mile down, while the ranges of hills we crossed as mere ridges now appear behind us in the south. _ th september, ._--the people are numerous and friendly. one elephant was killed, and we remained to take the ivory from the dead beast; buffaloes and zebras were also killed. it was so cloudy that no observations could be taken to determine our position, but chiséra rises in lopéré. further west it is free of papyrus, and canoes are required to cross it. _ th september, ._--two hours north brought us to the kamosenga, a river eight yards wide, of clear water which ran strongly among aquatic plants. hippopotami, buffalo, and zebra abound. this goes into the chiséra eastwards; country flat and covered with dense tangled bush. cassias and another tree of the pea family are now in flower, and perfume the air. other two hours took us round a large bend of this river. _ th september, ._.--we crossed the kamosenga or another, and reach karungu's. the kamosenga divides lopéré from itawa, the latter being nsama's country; lopéré is north-west of it. _ st october, ._--karungu was very much afraid of us; he kept every one out of his stockade at first, but during the time the arabs sent forward to try and conciliate other chiefs he gradually became more friendly. he had little ivory to sell, and of those who had, mtété or mtéma seemed inclined to treat the messengers roughly. men were also sent to nsama asking him to try and induce mtéma and chikongo to be friendly and sell ivory and provisions, but he replied that these chiefs were not men under him, and if they thought themselves strong enough to contend against guns he had nothing to say to them. other chiefs threatened to run away as soon as they saw the arabs approaching. these were assured that we meant to pass through the country alone, and if they gave us guides to show us how, we should avoid the villages altogether, and proceed to the countries where ivory was to be bought; however, the panic was too great, no one would agree to our overtures, and at last when we did proceed a chief on the river choma fulfilled his threat and left us three empty villages. there were no people to sell though the granaries were crammed, and it was impossible to prevent the slaves from stealing. _ rd- th october, ._--when chikongo heard tipo tipo's message about buying ivory he said, "and when did tipo tipo place ivory in my country that he comes seeking it?" yet he sent a tusk and said "that is all i have, and he is not to come here." their hostile actions are caused principally by fear. "if nsama could not stand before the malongwana or traders, how can we face them?" i wished to go on to moero, but all declare that our ten guns would put all the villages to flight: they are terror-struck. first rains of this season on the th. _ th october, ._--i had a long conversation with syde, who thinks that the sun rises and sets because the koran says so, and he sees it. he asserts that jesus foretold the coming of mohamad; and that it was not jesus who suffered on the cross but a substitute, it being unlikely that a true prophet would be put to death so ignominiously. he does not understand how we can be glad that our saviour died for our sins. _ th october, ._--an elephant killed by tipo tipo's men. it is always clouded over, and often not a breath of air stirring. _ th october, ._--a great many of the women of this district and of lopéré have the swelled thyroid gland called _goitre_ or derbyshire neck; men, too, appeared with it, and they in addition have hydrocele of large size. an arab who had been long ill at chitimba's died yesterday, and was buried in the evening. no women were allowed to come near. a long silent prayer was uttered over the corpse when it was laid beside the grave, and then a cloth was held over as men in it deposited the remains beneath sticks placed slanting on the side of the bottom of the grave; this keeps the earth from coming directly into contact with the body. a feast was made by the friends of the departed, and portions sent to all who had attended the funeral: i got a good share. _ th october, ._--the last we hear of nsama is that he will not interfere with chikongo. two wives beat drums and he dances to them; he is evidently in his dotage. we hear of many arabs to the west of us. _ th october, ._--very ill; i am always so when i have no work--sore bones--much headache; then lost power over the muscles of the back, as at liemba; no appetite and much thirst. the fever uninfluenced by medicine. _ st october, ._--syde sent his men to build a new hut in a better situation. i hope it may be a healthful one for me. _ nd october, ._--the final message from chikongo was a discouraging one--no ivory. the arabs, however, go west with me as far as chisawé's, who, being accustomed to arabs from tanganyika, will give me men to take me on to moero: the arabs will then return, and we shall move on. _ rd october, ._--tipo tipo gave karungu some cloth, and this chief is "looking for something" to give him in return; this detains us one day more. when a slave wishes to change his master he goes to one whom he likes better and breaks a spear or a bow in his presence--the transference is irrevocable. this curious custom prevails on the zambesi, and also among the wanyamwesi; if the old master wishes to recover his slave the new one may refuse to part with him except when he gets his full price: a case of this kind happened here yesterday. _ th october, ._--authority was found in the koran for staying one day more here. this was very trying; but the fact was our guide from hara hither had enticed a young slave girl to run away, and he had given her in charge to one of his countrymen, who turned round and tried to secure her for himself, and gave information about the other enticing her away. nothing can be more tedious than the arab way of travelling. _ th october, ._--we went s.w. for five hours through an undulating, well-wooded, well-peopled country, and quantities of large game. several trees give out when burned very fine scents; others do it when cut. euphorbia is abundant. we slept by a torrent which had been filled with muddy water by late rains. it thunders every afternoon, and rains somewhere as regularly as it thunders, but these are but partial rains; they do not cool the earth; nor fill the cracks made in the dry season. _ th october, ._--off early in a fine drizzling rain, which continued for two hours, and came on to a plain about three miles broad, full of large game. these plains are swamps at times, and they are flanked by ridges of denudation some or feet above them, and covered with trees. the ridges are generally hardened sandstone, marked with madrepores, and masses of brown haematite. it is very hot, and we become very tired. there is no system in the arab marches. the first day was five hours, this - / hours; had it been reversed--short marches during the first days and longer afterwards--the muscles would have become inured to the exertion. a long line of heights on our south points to the valley of nsama. _ th october, ._--five hours brought us to the choma river and the villages of chifupa, but, as already mentioned, the chief and people had fled, and no persuasion could prevail on them to come and sell us food. we showed a few who ventured to come among us what we were willing to give for flour, but they said, "yes, we will call the women and they will sell." none came. rested all day on the banks of the choma, which is a muddy stream coming from the north and going to the south-west to join the chiséra. it has worn itself a deep bed in the mud of its banks, and is twenty yards wide and in some spots waist deep, at other parts it is unfordable, it contains plenty of fish, and hippopotami and crocodiles abound. i bought a few ground-nuts at an exorbitant price, the men evidently not seeing that it would have been better to part with more at a lower price than run off and leave all to be eaten by the slaves. _ th october, ._--two ugly images were found in huts built for them: they represent in a poor way the people of the country, and are used in rain-making and curing the sick ceremonies; this is the nearest approach to idol worship i have seen in the country.[ ] _ st october, ._--we marched over a long line of hills on our west, and in five and a half hours came to some villages where the people sold us food willingly, and behaved altogether in a friendly way. we were met by a herd of buffaloes, but syde seized my gun from the boy who carried it, and when the animals came close past me i was powerless, and not at all pleased with the want of good sense shown by my usually polite arab friend. _note_.--the choma is said by mohamad bin saleh to go into tanganyika (??). it goes to kalongosi. _ st november, ._--we came along between ranges of hills considerably higher than those we have passed in itawa or nsama's country, and thickly covered with trees, some in full foliage, and some putting forth fresh red leaves; the hills are about or feet above the valleys. this is not a district of running rills: we crossed three sluggish streamlets knee deep. buffaloes are very numerous. the ratel covers the buffalo droppings with earth in order to secure the scavenger beetles which bury themselves therein, thus he prevents them from rolling a portion away as usual. we built our sheds on a hillside. our course was west and - / hours. _ nd november, ._--still in the same direction, and in an open valley remarkable for the numbers of a small euphorbia, which we smashed at every step. crossed a small but strong rivulet, the lipandé, going south-west to moero, then, an hour afterwards, crossed it again, now twenty yards wide and knee deep. after descending from the tree-covered hill which divides lipandé from luao, we crossed the latter to sleep on its western bank. the hills are granite now, and a range on our left, from to feet high, goes on all the way to moero. these valleys along which we travel are beautiful. green is the prevailing colour; but the clumps of trees assume a great variety of forms, and often remind one of english park scenery. the long line of slaves and carriers, brought up by their arab employers, adds life to the scene, they are in three bodies, and number in all. each party has a guide with a flag, and when that is planted all that company stops till it is lifted, and a drum is beaten, and a kudu's horn sounded. one party is headed by about a dozen leaders, dressed with fantastic head-gear of feathers and beads, red cloth on the bodies, and skins cut into strips and twisted: they take their places in line, the drum beats, the horn sounds harshly, and all fall in. these sounds seem to awaken a sort of _esprit de corps_ in those who have once been slaves. my attendants now jumped up, and would scarcely allow me time to dress when they heard the-sounds of their childhood, and all day they were among the foremost. one said to me "that his feet were rotten with marching," and this though told that they were not called on to race along like slaves. the africans cannot stand sneers. when any mishap occurs in the march (as when a branch tilts a load off a man's shoulder) all who see it set up a yell of derision; if anything is accidentally spilled, or if one is tired and sits down, the same yell greets him, and all are excited thereby to exert themselves. they hasten on with their loads, and hurry with the sheds they build, the masters only bringing up the rear, and helping anyone who may be sick. the distances travelled were quite as much as the masters or we could bear. had frequent halts been made--as, for instance, a half or a quarter of an hour at the end of every hour or two--but little distress would have been felt; but five hours at a stretch is more than men can bear in a hot climate. the female slaves held on bravely; nearly all carried loads on their heads, the head, or lady of the party, who is also the wife of the arab, was the only exception. she had a fine white shawl, with ornaments of gold and silver on her head. these ladies had a jaunty walk, and never gave in on the longest march; many pounds' weight of fine copper leglets above the ankles seemed only to help the sway of their walk: as soon as they arrive at the sleeping-place they begin to cook, and in this art they show a good deal of expertness, making savoury dishes for their masters out of wild fruits and other not very likely materials. _ rd november, ._--the ranges of hills retire as we advance; the soil is very rich. at two villages the people did not want us, so we went on and encamped near a third, kabwakwa, where a son of mohamad bin saleh, with a number of wanyamwesi, lives. the chief of this part is muabo, but we did not see him: the people brought plenty of food for us to buy. the youth's father is at casembe's. the country-people were very much given to falsehood--every place inquired for was near--ivory abundant--provisions of all sorts cheap and plenty. our headmen trusted to these statements of this young man rather, and he led them to desist going further. rua country was a month distant, he said, and but little ivory there. it is but three days off. (we saw it after three days.) "no ivory at casembe's or here in buiré, or kabuiré." he was right as to casembe. letters, however, came from hamees, with news of a depressing nature. chitimba is dead, and so is mambwé. chitimba's people are fighting for the chieftainship: great hunger prevails there now, the arabs having bought up all the food. moriri, a chief dispossessed of his country by nsama, wished hamees to restore his possessions, but hamees said that he had made peace, and would not interfere. this unfavourable news from a part where the chief results of their trading were deposited, made syde and tipo tipo decide to remain in buiré only ten or twenty days, send out people to buy what ivory they could find, and then, retire. as syde and tipo tipo were sending men to casembe for ivory, i resolved to go thither first, instead of shaping my course for ujiji. very many cases of goitre in men and women here: i see no reason for it. this is only feet above the sea. _ th november, ._--start for moero, convoyed by all the arabs for some distance: they have been extremely kind. we draw near to the mountain-range on our left, called kakoma, and sleep at one of kaputa's villages, our course now being nearly south. _ th november, ._--villages are very thickly studded over the valley formed by kakoma range, and another at a greater distance on our right; or yards is a common distance between these villages, which, like those in londa, or lunda, are all shaded with trees of a species of _ficus indica_. one belongs to puta, and this puta, the paramount chief, sent to say that if we slept there, and gave him a cloth, he would send men to conduct us next day, and ferry us across: i was willing to remain, but his people would not lend a hut, so we came on to the lake, and no ferry. probably he thought that we were going across the lualaba into rua. lake moero seems of goodly size, and is flanked by ranges of mountains on the east and west. its banks are of coarse sand, and slope gradually down to the water: outside these banks stands a thick belt of tropical vegetation, in which fishermen build their huts. the country called rua lies on the west, and is seen as a lofty range of dark mountains: another range of less height, but more broken, stands along the eastern shore, and in it lies the path to casembe. we slept in a fisherman's hut on the north shore. they brought a large fish, called "mondé," for sale; it has a slimy skin, and no scales, a large head, with tentaculae like the siluridie, and large eyes: the great gums in its mouth have a brush-like surface, like a whale's in miniature: it is said to eat small fish. a bony spine rises on its back (i suppose for defence), which is - / inches long, and as thick as a quill. they are very retentive of life. the northern shore has a fine sweep like an unbent bow, and round the western end flows the water that makes the river lualaba, which, before it enters moero, is the luapula, and that again (if the most intelligent reports speak true) is the chambezé before it enters lake bemba, or bangweolo. we came along the north shore till we reached the eastern flanking range, then ascended and turned south, the people very suspicious, shutting their gates as we drew near. we were alone, and only nine persons in all, but they must have had reason for fear. one headman refused us admission, then sent after us, saying that the man who had refused admission was not the chief: he had come from a distance, and had just arrived. it being better to appear friendly than otherwise, we went back, and were well entertained. provisions were given when we went away. flies abound, and are very troublesome; they seem to be attracted by the great numbers of fish caught. the people here are babemba, but beyond the river kalongosi they are all balunda. a trade in salt is carried on from different salt springs and salt mud to lunda and elsewhere. we meet parties of salt-traders daily, and they return our salutations very cordially, rubbing earth on the arms. we find our path lies between two ranges of mountains, one flanking the eastern shore, the other about three miles more inland, and parallel to it: these are covered thickly with trees, and are of loosely-coherent granite: many villages are in the space enclosed by these ranges, but all insecure. _ th november, ._.--we came to the kalongosi, or, as the arabs and portuguese pronounce it, karungwesi, about yards wide, and flowing fast over stones. it is deep enough, even now when the rainy season is not commenced, to requite canoes. it is said to rise in kumbi, or afar, a country to the south-east of our ford. fish in great numbers are caught when ascending to spawn: they are secured by weirs, nets, hooks. large strong baskets are placed in the rapids, and filled with stones, when the water rises these baskets are standing-places for the fishermen to angle or throw their nets. having crossed the kalongosi we were now in lunda, or londa. _ th november, ._--we saw that the kalongosi went north till it met a large meadow on the shores of moero, and, turning westwards, it entered there. the fishermen gave us the names of species of fish in the lake; they said that they never cease ascending the kalongosi, though at times they are more abundant than at others: they are as follows. mondé; mota; lasa; kasibé; molobé; lopembé; motoya; chipansa; mpifu; manda; mpala; moombo; mfeu; mendé; seusé; kadia nkololo; etiaka; nkomo; lifisha; sambamkaka; ntondo; sampa; bongwé; mabanga; kisé; kuanya; nkosu; palé; mosungu; litembwa; mecheberé; koninchia; sipa; lomembé; molenga; mirongé; nfindo; pende. _ th november, ._--being doubtful as to whether we were in the right path, i sent to a village to inquire. the headman, evidently one of a former casembe school, came to us full of wrath. "what right had we to come that way, seeing the usual path was to our left?" he mouthed some sentences in the pompous lunda style, but would not show us the path; so we left him, and after going through a forest of large trees, - / hours south, took advantage of some huts on the kifurwa river, built by bark-cloth cutters. _ th november, ._--heavy rains, but we went on, and found a village, kifurwa, surrounded by cassava fields, and next day crossed the muatozé, yards wide, and running strongly towards moero, knee deep. the river kabukwa, seven yards wide, and also knee deep, going to swell the muatozé. we now crossed a brook, chirongo, one yard wide and one deep; but our march was all through well-grown forest, chiefly gum-copal trees and bark-cloth trees. the gum-copal oozes out in abundance after or during the rains, from holes a quarter of an inch in diameter, made by an insect: it falls, and in time sinks into the soil, a supply for future generations. the small well-rounded features of the people of nsama's country are common here, as we observe in the salt-traders and villages; indeed, this is the home of the negro, and the features such as we see in pictures of ancient egyptians, as first pointed out by mr. winwood reade. we sleep by the river mandapala, yards wide, and knee deep. _ th november, ._--we rest by the kabusi, a sluggish narrow rivulet. it runs into the chungu, a quarter of a mile off. the chungu is broad, but choked with trees and aquatic plants: sapotas, eschinomenas, papyrus, &c. the free stream is yards wide, and waist deep. we had to wade about yards, thigh and waist deep, to get to the free stream. on this, the chungu, dr. lacerda died; it is joined by the mandapala, and flows a united stream into moero. the statements of the people are confused, but the following is what i have gleaned from many. there were some ujiji people with the casembe of the time. the portuguese and ujijians began to fight, but casembe said to them and the portuguese, "you are all my guests, why should you fight and kill each other?" he then gave lacerda ten slaves, and men to live with him and work at building huts, bringing firewood, water, &c. he made similar presents to the ujijians, which quieted them. lacerda was but ten days at chungu when he died. the place of his death was about ° ', and not ° ' as in mr. arrowsmith's map. the feud arose from one of lacerda's people killing an ujijian at the water: this would certainly be a barrier to their movements. palm-oil trees are common west of the chungu, but none appeared east of it. the oil is eaten by the people, and is very nice and sweet. this is remarkable, as the altitude above the sea is feet. allah is a very common exclamation among all the people west of nsama. by advice of a guide whom we picked up at kifurwa, we sent four fathoms of calico to apprise casembe of our coming: the arabs usually send ten fathoms; in our case it was a very superfluous notice, for casembe is said to have been telegraphed to by runners at every stage of our progress after crossing the kalongosi. we remain by the chungu till casembe sends one of his counsellors to guide us to his town. it has been so perpetually clouded over that we have been unable to make out our progress, and the dense forest prevented us seeing moero as we wished: rain and thunder perpetually, though the rain seldom fell where we were. i saw pure white-headed swallows _(psalidoprocne albiceps)_ skimming the surface of the chungu as we crossed it. the soil is very rich. casembe's ground-nuts are the largest i have seen, and so is the cassava. i got over a pint of palm oil for a cubit of calico. a fine young man, whose father had been the casembe before this one, came to see us; he is in the background now, otherwise he would have conducted us to the village: a son or heir does not succeed to the chieftainship here. _ st november, ._--the river lundé was five miles from chungu. it is six yards wide where we crossed it, but larger further down; springs were oozing out of its bed: we then entered on a broad plain, covered with bush, the trees being all cleared off in building a village. when one casembe dies, the man who succeeds him invariably removes and builds his pembwé, or court, at another place: when dr. lacerda died, the casembe moved to near the north end of the mofwé. there have been seven casembes in all. the word means a _general_. the plain extending from the lundé to the town of casembe is level, and studded pretty thickly with red anthills, from to feet high. casembe has made a broad path from his town to the lundé, about a mile-and-a-half long, and as broad as a carriage-path. the chief's residence is enclosed in a wall of reeds, or feet high, and yards square, the gateway is ornamented with about sixty human skulls; a shed stands in the middle of the road before we come to the gate, with a cannon dressed in gaudy cloths. a number of noisy fellows stopped our party, and demanded tribute for the cannon; i burst through them, and the rest followed without giving anything: they were afraid of the english. the town is on the east bank of the lakelet mofwé, and one mile from its northern end. mohamad bin saleh now met us, his men firing guns of welcome; he conducted us to his shed of reception, and then gave us a hut till we could build one of our own. mohamad is a fine portly black arab, with a pleasant smile, and pure white beard, and has been more than ten years in these parts, and lived with four casembes: he has considerable influence here, and also on tanganyika. an arab trader, mohamad bogharib, who arrived seven days before us with an immense number of slaves, presented a meal of vermicelli, oil, and honey, also cassava meal cooked, so as to resemble a sweet meat (i had not tasted honey or sugar since we left lake nyassa, in september ): they had coffee too. neither goats, sheep, nor cattle thrive here, so the people are confined to fowls and fish. cassava is very extensively cultivated, indeed, so generally is this plant grown, that it is impossible to know which is town and which is country: every hut has a plantation around it, in which is grown cassava, holcus sorghum, maize, beans, nuts. mohamad gives the same account of the river luapula and lake bemba that jumbé did, but he adds, that the chambezé, where we crossed it, _is_ the luapula before it enters bemba or bangweolo: on coming out of that lake it turns round and comes away to the north, as luapula, and, without touching the mofwé, goes into moero; then, emerging thence at the north-west end it becomes lualaba, goes into rua, forms a lake there, and afterwards goes into another lake beyond tanganyika. the lakelet mofwé fills during the rains and spreads westward, much beyond its banks. elephants wandering in its mud flats when covered are annually killed in numbers: if it were connected with the lake moero the flood would run off. many of casembe's people appear with the ears cropped and hands lopped off: the present chief has been often guilty of this barbarity. one man has just come to us without ears or hands: he tries to excite our pity making a chirruping noise, by striking his cheeks with the stumps of his hands. a dwarf also, one zofu, with backbone broken, comes about us: he talks with an air of authority, and is present at all public occurrences: the people seem to bear with him. he is a stranger from a tribe in the north, and works in his garden very briskly: his height is feet inches. footnotes: [ ] chéfu amongst the manganja. any animal possessing strength, has the terminal "fu" or "vu;" thus njobvu, an elephant; m'vu, the hippopotamus.--ed. [ ] the natives are quick to detect a peculiarity in a man, and give him a name accordingly: the conquerors of a country try to forestall them by selecting one for themselves. susi states that when tipo tipo stood over the spoil taken from nsama, he gathered it closer together and said, "now i am tipo tipo," that is, "the gatherer together of wealth." kumba kumba, of whom we shall hear much, took his name from the number of captives he gathered in his train under similar circumstances; it might be translated, "the collector of people."--ed. [ ] it is on the west coast alone that idols are really worshipped in africa.--ed. chapter x. grand reception of the traveller. casenibe and his wife. long stay in the town. goes to explore moero. despatch to lord clarendon, with notes on recent travels. illness at the end of . further exploration of lake moero. flooded plains. the river luao. visits kabwawata. joy of arabs at mohamad bin saleh's freedom. again ill with fever. stories of underground dwellings. _ th november, ._--we were called to be presented to casembe in a grand reception. the present casembe has a heavy uninteresting countenance, without beard or whiskers, and somewhat of the chinese type, and his eyes have an outward squint. he smiled but once during the day, and that was pleasant enough, though the cropped ears and lopped hands, with human skulls at the gate, made me indisposed to look on anything with favour. his principal wife came with her attendants, after he had departed, to look at the englishman (moenge-résé). she was a fine, tall, good-featured lady, with two spears in her hand; the principal men who had come around made way for her, and called on me to salute: i did so; but she, being forty yards off, i involuntarily beckoned her to come nearer: this upset the gravity of all her attendants; all burst into a laugh, and ran off. casembe's smile was elicited by the dwarf making some uncouth antics before him. his executioner also came forward to look: he had a broad lunda sword on his arm, and a curious scizzor-like instrument at his neck for cropping ears. on saying to him that his was nasty work, he smiled, and so did many who were not sure of their ears a moment: many men of respectability show that at some former time they have been thus punished. casembe sent us another large basket of fire-dried fish in addition to that sent us at chungu, two baskets of flour, one of dried cassava, and a pot of pombe or beer. mohamad, who was accustomed to much more liberal casembes, thinks this one very stingy, having neither generosity nor good sense; but as we cannot consume all he gives, we do not complain. _ th november, ._--casembe's chief wife passes frequently to her plantation, carried by six, or more commonly by twelve men in a sort of palanquin: she has european features, but light-brown complexion. a number of men run before her, brandishing swords and battle-axes, and one beats a hollow instrument, giving warning to passengers to clear the way: she has two enormous pipes ready filled for smoking. she is very attentive to her agriculture; cassava is the chief product; sweet potatoes, maize, sorghum, pennisetum, millet, ground-nuts, cotton. the people seem more savage than any i have yet seen: they strike each other barbarously from mere wantonness, but they are civil enough to me. mohamad bin saleh proposes to go to ujiji next month. he waited when he heard of our coming, in order that we might go together: he has a very low opinion of the present chief. the area which has served for building the chief town at different times is about ten miles in diameter. mofwé is a shallow piece of water about two miles broad, four or less long, full of sedgy islands, the abodes of waterfowl, but some are solid enough to be cultivated. the bottom is mud, though sandy at the east shore: it has no communication with the luapula. _( th november, ._) the lundé, chungu, and mandapala are said to join and flow into moero. fish are in great abundance (perch). on the west side there is a grove of palm-oil palms, and beyond west rises a long range of mountains of the rua country or miles off. _ st december, ._--an old man named pérémbé is the owner of the land on which casembe has built. they always keep up the traditional ownership. munongo is a brother of pérémbé, and he owns the country east of the kalongosi: if any one wished to cultivate land he would apply to these aboriginal chiefs for it. i asked a man from casembe to guide me to south end of moero, but he advised me not to go as it was so marshy. the lundé forms a marsh on one side, and the luapula lets water percolate through sand and mud, and so does the robukwé, which makes the path often knee deep. he said he would send men to conduct me to moero, a little further down, and added that we had got very little to eat from him, and he wanted to give more. moero's south end is about ° ' s. old pérémbé is a sensible man: mohamad thinks him years old. he is always on the side of liberality and fairness; he says that the first casembe was attracted to mofwé by the abundance of fish in it. he has the idea of all men being derived from a single pair. _ th december, ._--it is very cloudy here; no observations can be made, as it clouds over every afternoon and night. _( th and th december, ._) cleared off last night, but intermittent fever prevented my going out. _ th december, ._--set-in rains. a number of fine young girls who live in casembe's compound came and shook hands in their way, which is to cross the right over to your left, and clasp them; then give a few claps with both hands, and repeat the crossed clasp: they want to tell their children that they have seen me. _ th december, ._--to-day i announced to casembe our intention of going away. two traders got the same return present from him that i did, namely, one goat and some fish, meal and cassava. i am always ill when not working; i spend my time writing letters, to be ready when we come to ujiji. _( th december, ._) we have been here a month, and i cannot get more than two lunars: i got altitudes of the meridian of stars north and south soon after we came, but not lunars. casembe sent a big basket of fire-dried fish, two pots of beer, and a basket of cassava, and says we may go when we choose. _ th december, ._--on going to say good-bye to casembe, he tried to be gracious, said that we had eaten but little of his food; yet he allowed us to go. he sent for a man to escort us; and on the _ nd december, ._ we went to lundé river, crossed it, and went on to sleep at the chungu, close by the place where casembe's court stood when dr. lacerda came, for the town was moved further west as soon as the doctor died. there are many palm-oil palms about, but no tradition exists of their introduction. _ rd december, ._--we crossed the chungu. rain from above, and cold and wet to the waist below, as i do not lift my shirt, because the white skin makes all stare. i saw black monkeys at this spot. the chungu is joined by the kaleusi and the mandapala before it enters moero. casembe said that the lundé ran into mofwé; others denied this, and said that it formed a marsh with numbers of pools in long grass; but it may ooze into mofwé thus. casembe sent three men to guide me to moero. _ th december, ._--drizzly rain, and we are in a miserable spot by the kabusi, in a bed of brakens four feet high. the guides won't stir in this weather. i gave beads to buy what could be got for christmas. _ th december, ._--drizzly showers every now and then; soil, black mud. about ten men came as guides and as a convoy of honour to mohamad. _ th december, ._--in two hours we crossed mandapala, now waist deep. this part was well stocked with people five years ago, but casembe's severity in cropping ears and other mutilations, selling the children for slight offences, &c., made them all flee to neighbouring tribes; and now, if he sent all over the country, he could not collect a thousand men. [livingstone refers (on the th dec.) to some writings he was engaged upon, and we find one of them here in his journal which takes the form of a despatch to lord clarendon, with a note attached to the effect that it was not copied or sent, as he had no paper for the purpose. it affords an epitomised description of his late travels, and the stay at casembe, and is inserted here in the place of many notes written daily, but which only repeat the same events and observations in a less readable form. it is especially valuable at this stage of his journal, because it treats on the whole geography of the district between lakes nyassa and moero, with a broad handling which is impossible in the mere jottings of a diary.] town of casembe, _ th december, ._. lat. ° ' " south; long. ° east. the right honourable the earl of clarendon. my lord,--the first opportunity i had of sending a letter to the coast occurred in february last, when i was at a village called molemba (lat. ° ' s.; long. ° ' e.), in the country named lobemba. lobisa, lobemba, ulungu and itawa-lunda are the names by which the districts of an elevated region between the parallels ° and ° south, and meridians °- ° long. east, are known. the altitude of this upland is from to feet above the level of the sea. it is generally covered with forest, well watered by numerous rivulets, and comparatively cold. the soil is very rich, and yields abundantly wherever cultivated. this is the watershed between the loangwa, a tributary of the zambesi, and several rivers which flow towards the north. of the latter, the most remarkable is the chambezé, for it assists in the formation of three lakes, and changes its name three times in the five or six hundred miles of its course. on leaving lobemba we entered ulungu, and, as we proceeded northwards, perceived by the barometers and the courses of numerous rivulets, that a decided slope lay in that direction. a friendly old ulungu chief, named kasonso, on hearing that i wished to visit lake liemba, which lies in his country, gave his son with a large escort to guide me thither; and on the nd april last we reached the brim of the deep cup-like cavity in which the lake reposes. the descent is feet, and still the surface of the water is upwards of feet above the level of the sea. the sides of the hollow are very steep, and sometimes the rocks run the whole feet sheer down to the water. nowhere is there three miles of level land from the foot of the cliffs to the shore, but top, sides, and bottom are covered with well-grown wood and grass, except where the bare rocks protrude. the scenery is extremely beautiful. the "aeasy," a stream of yards broad and thigh deep, came down alongside our precipitous path, and formed cascades by leaping feet at a time. these, with the bright red of the clay schists among the greenwood-trees, made the dullest of my attendants pause and remark with wonder. antelopes, buffaloes, and elephants abound on the steep slopes; and hippopotami, crocodiles, and fish swarm in the water. gnus are here unknown, and these animals may live to old age if not beguiled into pitfalls. the elephants sometimes eat the crops of the natives, and flap their big ears just outside the village stockades. one got out of our way on to a comparatively level spot, and then stood and roared at us. elsewhere they make clear off at sight of man. the first village we came to on the banks of the lake had a grove of palm-oil and other trees around it. this palm tree was not the dwarf species seen on lake nyassa. a cluster of the fruit passed the door of my hut which required two men to carry it. the fruit seemed quite as large as those on the west coast. most of the natives live on two islands, where they cultivate the soil, rear goats, and catch fish. the lake is not large, from to miles broad, and from to long. it is the receptacle of four considerable streams, and sends out an arm two miles broad to the n.n.w., it is said to tanganyika, and it may be a branch of that lake. one of the streams, the lonzua, drives a smooth body of water into the lake fifty yards broad and ten fathoms deep, bearing on its surface duckweed and grassy islands. i could see the mouths of other streams, but got near enough to measure the lofu only; and at a ford fifty miles from the confluence it was yards wide and waist deep in the dry season. we remained six weeks on the shores of the lake, trying to pick up some flesh and strength. a party of arabs came into ulungu after us in search of ivory, and hearing that an englishman had preceded them, naturally inquired where i was. but our friends, the bäulungu, suspecting that mischief was meant, stoutly denied that they had ever seen anything of the sort; and then became very urgent that i should go on to one of the inhabited islands for safety. i regret that i suspected them of intending to make me a prisoner there, which they could easily have done by removing the canoes; but when the villagers who deceived the arabs told me afterwards with an air of triumph how nicely they had managed, i saw that they had only been anxious for my safety. on three occasions the same friendly disposition was shown; and when we went round the west side of the lake in order to examine the arm or branch above referred to, the headman at the confluence of the lofu protested so strongly against my going--the arabs had been fighting, and i might be mistaken for an arab, and killed--that i felt half-inclined to believe him. two arab slaves entered the village the same afternoon in search of ivory, and confirmed all he had said. we now altered our course, intending to go south about the district disturbed by the arabs. when we had gone miles we heard that the head-quarters of the arabs were miles further. they had found ivory very cheap, and pushed on to the west, till attacked by a chief named, nsama, whom they beat in his own stockade. they were now at a loss which way to turn. on reaching chitimba's village (lat. ° ' " s.; long. ° ' e.), i found them about in all; and, on presenting a letter i had from the sultan of zanzibar, was immediately supplied with provisions, beads, and cloth. they approved of my plan of passing to the south of nsama's country, but advised waiting till the effects of punishment, which the bäulungu had resolved to inflict on nsama for breach of public law, were known. it had always been understood that whoever brought goods into the country was to be protected; and two hours after my arrival at chitimba's, the son of kasonso, our guide, marched in with his contingent. it was anticipated that nsama might flee; if to the north, he would leave me a free passage through his country; if to the south, i might be saved from walking into his hands. but it turned out that nsama was anxious for peace. he had sent two men with elephants' tusks to begin a negotiation; but treachery was suspected, and they were shot down. another effort was made with ten goats, and repulsed. this was much to the regret of the head arabs. it was fortunate for me that the arab goods were not all sold, for lake moero lay in nsama's country, and without peace no ivory could be bought, nor could i reach the lake. the peace-making between the people and arabs was, however, a tedious process, occupying three and a half months--drinking each other's blood. this, as i saw it west of this in , is not more horrible than the thirtieth dilution of deadly night-shade or strychnine is in homoeopathy. i thought that had i been an arab i could easily swallow that, but not the next means of cementing the peace--marrying a black wife. nsama's daughter was the bride, and she turned out very pretty. she came riding pickaback on a man's shoulders: this is the most dignified conveyance that chiefs and their families can command. she had ten maids with her, each carrying a basket of provisions, and all having the same beautiful features as herself. she was taken by the principal arab, but soon showed that she preferred her father to her husband, for seeing preparations made to send off to purchase ivory, she suspected that her father was to be attacked, and made her escape. i then, visited nsama, and, as he objected to many people coming near him, took only three of my eight attendants. his people were very much afraid of fire-arms, and felt all my clothing to see if i had any concealed on my person. nsama is an old man, with head and face like those sculptured on the assyrian monuments. he has been a great conqueror in his time, and with bows and arrows was invincible. he is said to have destroyed many native traders from tanganyika, but twenty arab guns made him flee from his own stockade, and caused a great sensation in the country. he was much taken with my hair and woollen clothing; but his people, heedless of his scolding, so pressed upon us that we could not converse, and, after promising to send for me to talk during the night, our interview ended. he promised guides to moero, and sent us more provisions than we could carry; but showed so much distrust, that after all we went without his assistance. nsama's people are particularly handsome. many of the men have as beautiful heads as one could find in an assembly of europeans. all have very fine forms, with small hands and feet. none of the west-coast ugliness, from which most of our ideas of the negroes are derived, is here to be seen. no prognathous jaws nor lark-heels offended the sight. my observations deepened the impression first obtained from the remarks of winwood reade, that the typical negro is seen in the ancient egyptian, and not in the ungainly forms; which grow up in the unhealthy swamps of the west coast. indeed it is probable that this upland forest region is the true home of the negro. the women excited the admiration of the arabs. they have fine, small, well-formed features: their great defect is one of fashion, which does not extend to the next tribe; they file their teeth to points, the hussies, and that makes their smile like that of the crocodile. nsama's country is called itawa, and his principal town is in lat. ° ' s., and long. ° ' e. from the large population he had under him, itawa is in many parts well cleared of trees for cultivation, and it is lower than ulungu, being generally about feet above the sea. long lines of tree-covered hills raised some or feet above these valleys of denudation, prevent the scenery from being monotonous. large game is abundant. elephants, buffaloes, and zebras grazed in large numbers on the long sloping, banks of a river called chiséra, a mile and a half broad. in going north we crossed this river, or rather marsh, which is full of papyrus plants and reeds. our ford was an elephant's path; and the roots of the papyrus, though a carpet to these animals, were sharp and sore to feet usually protected by shoes, and often made us shrink and flounder into holes chest deep. the chiséra forms a larger marsh west of this, and it gives off its water to the kalongosi, a feeder of lake moero. the arabs sent out men in all directions to purchase ivory; but their victory over nsama had created a panic among the tribes which no verbal assurances could allay. if nsama had been routed by twenty arab guns no one could stand before them but casembe; and casembe had issued strict orders to his people not to allow the arabs who fought nsama to enter his country. they did not attempt to force their way, but after sending friendly messages and presents to different chiefs, when these were not cordially received, turned off in some other direction, and at last, despairing of more ivory, turned homewards. from first to last they were extremely kind to me, and showed all due respect to the sultan's letter. i am glad that i was witness to their mode of trading in ivory and slaves. it formed a complete contrast to the atrocious dealings of the kilwa traders, who are supposed to be, but are not, the subjects of the same sultan. if one wished to depict the slave-trade in its most attractive, or rather least objectionable, form, he would accompany these gentlemen subjects of the sultan of zanzibar. if he would describe the land traffic in its most disgusting phases he would follow the kilwa traders along the road to nyassa, or the portuguese half-castes from tette to the river shiré. keeping to the north of nsama altogether, and moving westwards, our small party reached the north end of moero on the th november last. there the lake is a goodly piece of water twelve or more miles broad, and flanked on the east and west by ranges of lofty tree-covered mountains. the range on the west is the highest, and is part of the country called rua-moero; it gives off a river at its north-west end called lualaba, and receives the river kalongosi (pronounced by the arabs karungwesi) on the east near its middle, and the rivers luapula and rovukwé at its southern extremity. the point of most interest in lake moero is that it forms one of a chain of lakes, connected by a river some miles in length. first of all the chambezé rises in the country of mambwé, n.e. of molemba. it then flows south-west and west till it reaches lat. ° s., and long. ° e., where it forms lake bemba or bangweolo, emerging thence it assumes the new name luapula, and comes down here to fall into moero. on going out of this lake it is known by the name lualaba, as it flows n.w. in rua to form another lake with many islands called urengé or ulengé. beyond this, information is not positive as to whether it enters tanganyika or another lake beyond that. when i crossed the chambezé, the similarity of names led me to imagine that this was a branch of the zambesi. the natives said, "no. this goes south-west, and forms a very large water there." but i had become prepossessed with the idea that lake liemba was that bemba of which i had heard in , and we had been so starved in the south that i gladly set my face north. the river-like prolongation of liemba might go to moero, and where i could not follow the arm of liemba. then i worked my way to this lake. since coming to casembe's the testimony of natives and arabs has been so united and consistent, that i am but ten days from lake bemba, or bangweolo, that i cannot doubt its accuracy. i am so tired of exploration without a word from home or anywhere else for two years, that i must go to ujiji on tanganyika for letters before doing anything else. the banks and country adjacent to lake bangweolo are reported to be now very muddy and very unhealthy. i have no medicine. the inhabitants suffer greatly from swelled thyroid gland or derbyshire neck and elephantiasis, and this is the rainy season and very unsafe for me. when at the lower end of moero we were so near casembe that it was thought well to ascertain the length of the lake, and see casembe too. we came up between the double range that flanks the east of the lake; but mountains and plains are so covered with well-grown forest that we could seldom see it. we reached casembe's town on the th november. it stands near the north end of the lakelet mofwé; this is from one to three miles broad, and some six or seven long: it is full of sedgy islands, and abounds in fish. the country is quite level, but fifteen or twenty miles west of mofwé we see a long range of the mountains of rua. between this range and mofwé the luapula flows past into moero, the lake called moero okata = the great moero, being about fifty miles long. the town of casembe covers a mile square of cassava plantations, the huts being dotted over that space. some have square enclosures of reeds, but no attempt has been made at arrangement: it might be called a rural village rather than a town. no estimate could be formed by counting the huts, they were so irregularly planted, and hidden by cassava; but my impression from other collections of huts was that the population was under a thousand souls. the court or compound of casembe--some would call it a palace--is a square enclosure of yards by yards. it is surrounded by a hedge of high reeds. inside, where casembe honoured me with a grand reception, stands a gigantic hut for casembe, and a score of small huts for domestics. the queen's hut stands behind that of the chief, with a number of small huts also. most of the enclosed space is covered with a plantation of cassava, _curcus purgaris_, and cotton. casembe sat before his hut on a equate seat placed on lion and leopard skins. he was clothed in a coarse blue and white manchester print edged with red baize, and arranged in large folds so as to look like a crinoline put on wrong side foremost. his arms, legs and head were covered with sleeves, leggings and cap made of various coloured beads in neat patterns: a crown of yellow feathers surmounted his cap. each of his headmen came forward, shaded by a huge, ill-made umbrella, and followed by his dependants, made obeisance to casembe, and sat down on his right and left: various bands of musicians did the same. when called upon i rose and bowed, and an old counsellor, with his ears cropped, gave the chief as full an account as he had been able to gather during our stay of the english in general, and my antecedents in particular. my having passed through lunda to the west of casembe, and visited chiefs of whom he scarcely knew anything, excited most attention. he then assured me that i was welcome to his country, to go where i liked, and do what i chose. we then went (two boys carrying his train behind him) to an inner apartment, where the articles of my present were exhibited in detail. he had examined them privately before, and we knew that he was satisfied. they consisted of eight yards of orange-coloured serge, a large striped tablecloth; another large cloth made at manchester in imitation of west coast native manufacture, which never fails to excite the admiration of arabs and natives, and a large richly gilded comb for the back hair, such as ladies wore fifty years ago: this was given to me by a friend at liverpool, and as casembe and nsama's people cultivate the hair into large knobs behind, i was sure that this article would tickle the fancy. casembe expressed himself pleased, and again bade me welcome. i had another interview, and tried to dissuade him from selling his people as slaves. he listened awhile, then broke off into a tirade on the greatness of his country, his power and dominion, which mohamad bin saleh, who has been here for ten years, turned into ridicule, and made the audience laugh by telling how other lunda chiefs had given me oxen and sheep, while casembe had only a poor little goat and some fish to bestow. he insisted also that there were but two sovereigns in the world, the sultan of zanzibar and victoria. when we went on a third occasion to bid casembe farewell, he was much less distant, and gave me the impression that i could soon become friends with him; but he has an ungainly look, and an outward squint in each eye. a number of human skulls adorned the entrance to his courtyard; and great numbers of his principal men having their ears cropped, and some with their hands lopped off, showed his barbarous way of making his ministers attentive and honest. i could not avoid indulging a prejudice against him. the portuguese visited casembe long ago; but as each new casembe builds a new town, it is not easy to fix on the exact spot to which strangers came. the last seven casembes have had their towns within seven miles of the present one. dr. lacerda, governor of tette, on the zambesi, was the only visitor of scientific attainments, and he died at the rivulet called chungu, three or four miles from this. the spot is called nshinda, or inchinda, which the portuguese wrote lucenda or ucenda. the latitude given is nearly fifty miles wrong, but the natives say that he lived only ten days after his arrival, and if, as is probable, his mind was clouded with fever when he last observed, those who have experienced what that is will readily excuse any mistake he may have made. his object was to accomplish a much-desired project of the portuguese to have an overland communication between their eastern and western possessions. this was never made by any of the portuguese nation; but two black traders succeeded partially with a part of the distance, crossing once from cassangé, in angola, to tette on the zambesi, and returning with a letter from the governor of mosambique. it is remarkable that this journey, which was less by a thousand miles than from sea to sea and back again, should have for ever quenched all white portuguese aspirations for an overland route. the different casembes visited by the portuguese seem to have varied much in character and otherwise. pereira, the first visitor, said (i quote from memory) that casembe had , trained soldiers, watered his streets daily, and sacrificed twenty human victims every day. i could hear nothing of human sacrifices now, and it is questionable if the present casembe could bring a thousand stragglers into the field. when he usurped power five years ago, his country was densely peopled; but he was so severe in his punishments--cropping the ears, lopping off the hands, and other mutilations, selling the children for very slight offences, that his subjects gradually dispersed themselves in the neighbouring countries beyond his power. this is the common mode by which tyranny is cured in parts like these, where fugitives are never returned. the present casembe is very poor. when he had people who killed elephants he was too stingy to share the profits of the sale of the ivory with his subordinates. the elephant hunters have either left him or neglect hunting, so he has now no tusks to sell to the arab traders who come from tanganyika. major monteiro, the third portuguese who visited casembe, appears to have been badly treated by this man's predecessor, and no other of his nation has ventured so far since. they do not lose much by remaining away, for a little ivory and slaves are all that casembe ever can have to sell. about a month to the west of this the people of katanga smelt copper-ore (malachite) into large bars shaped like the capital letter i. they may be met with of from lbs. to lbs., weight all over the country, and the inhabitants draw the copper into wire for armlets and leglets. gold is also found at katanga, and specimens were lately sent to the sultan of zanzibar. as we come down from the watershed towards tanganyika we enter an area of the earth's surface still disturbed by internal igneous action. a hot fountain in the country of nsama is often used to boil cassava and maize. earthquakes are by no means rare. we experienced the shock of one while at chitimba's village, and they extend as far as casembe's. i felt as if afloat, and as huts would not fall there was no sense of danger; some of them that happened at night set the fowls a cackling. the most remarkable effect of this one was that it changed the rates of the chronometers; no rain fell after it. no one had access to the chronometers but myself, and, as i never heard of this effect before, i may mention that one which lost with great regularity . sec. daily, lost sec.; another; whose rate since leaving the coast was sec., lost sec.; and a third, which gained sec. daily, stopped altogether. some of nsama's people ascribed the earthquakes to the hot fountain, because it showed unusual commotion on these occasions; another hot fountain exists near tanganyika than nsama's, and we passed one on the shores of moero. we could not understand why the natives called moero much larger than tanganyika till we saw both. the greater lake lies in a comparatively narrow trough, with highland on each side, which is always visible; but when we look at moero, to the south of the mountains of rua on the west, we have nothing but an apparently boundless sea horizon. the luapula and rovukwé form a marsh at the southern extremity, and casembe dissuaded me from entering it, but sent a man to guide me to different points of moero further down. from the heights at which the southern portions were seen, it must be from forty to sixty miles broad. from the south end of the mountains of rua ( ° ' south lat.) it is thirty-three miles broad. no native ever attempts to cross it even there. its fisheries are of great value to the inhabitants, and the produce is carried to great distances. among the vegetable products of this region, that which interested me most was a sort of potato. it does not belong to the solanaceous, but to the papilionaceous or pea family, and its flowers have a delightful fragrance. it is easily propagated by small cuttings of the root or stalk. the tuber is oblong, like our kidney potato, and when boiled tastes exactly like our common potato. when unripe it has a slight degree of bitterness, and it is believed to be wholesome; a piece of the root eaten raw is a good remedy in nausea. it is met with on the uplands alone, and seems incapable of bearing much heat, though i kept some of the roots without earth in a box, which was carried in the sun almost daily for six months, without destroying their vegetative power. it is remarkable that in all the central regions of africa visited, the cotton is that known as the pernambuco variety. it has a long strong staple, seeds clustered together, and adherent to each other. the bushes eight or ten feet high have woody stems, and the people make strong striped black and white shawls of the cotton. it was pleasant to meet the palm-oil palm (_elais guineaensis_) at casembe's, which is over feet above the level of the sea. the oil is sold cheap, but no tradition exists of its introduction into the country. i send no sketch of the country, because i have not yet passed over a sufficient surface to give a connected view of the whole watershed of this region, and i regret that i cannot recommend any of the published maps i have seen as giving even a tolerable idea of the country. one bold constructor of maps has tacked on miles to the north-west end of lake nyassa, a feat which no traveller has ever ventured to imitate. another has placed a river in the same quarter running or feet up hill, and named it the "new zambesi," because i suppose the old zambesi runs down hill. i have walked over both these mental abortions, and did not know that i was walking on water till i saw them in the maps. [the despatch breaks off at this point. the year concludes with health impaired. as time goes on we shall see how ominous the conviction was which made him dread the swamps of bangweolo.] _ - st december, ._--we came on to the rivulet chirongo, and then to the kabukwa, where i was taken ill. heavy rains kept the convoy back. i have had nothing but coarsely-ground sorghum meal for some time back, and am weak; i used to be the first in the line of march, and am now the last; mohamad presented a meal of finely-ground porridge and a fowl, and i immediately felt the difference, though i was not grumbling at my coarse dishes. it is well that i did not go to bangweolo lake, for it is now very unhealthy to the natives, and i fear that without medicine continual wettings by fording rivulets might have knocked me up altogether. as i have mentioned, the people suffer greatly from swelled thyroid gland or derbyshire neck and elephantiasis scroti. _ st january, ._--almighty father, forgive the sins of the past year for thy son's sake. help me to be more profitable during this year. if i am to die this year prepare me for it. * * * * * i bought five hoes at two or three yards of calico each: they are - / inches by - / inches; many are made in casembe's country, and this is the last place we can find them: when we come into buiré we can purchase a good goat for one; one of my goats died and the other dried up. i long for others, for milk is the most strengthening food i can get. my guide to moero came to-day, and i visited the lake several times, so as to get a good idea of its size. the first fifteen miles in the north are from twelve or more to thirty-three miles broad. the great mass of the rua mountains confines it. thus in a clear day a lower range is seen continued from the high point of the first mass away to the west south-west, this ends, and sea horizon is alone visible away to the south and west; from the height we viewed it at, the width must be over forty, perhaps sixty miles. a large island, called kirwa,[ ] is situated between the mandapala and kabukwa rivers, but nearest to the other shore. the natives never attempt to cross any part of the lake south of this kirwa. land could not be seen with a good glass on the clearest day we had. i can understand why the natives pronounced moero to be larger than tanganyika: in the last named they see the land always on both sides; it is like a vast trough flanked with highlands, but at moero nothing but sea horizon can be seen when one looks south-west of the rua mountains. at the kalongosi meadow one of mohamad's men shot a buffalo, and he gave me a leg of the good beefy flesh. our course was slow, caused partly by rains, and partly by waiting for the convoy. the people at kalongosi were afraid to ferry us or any of his people in the convoy out of casembe's country; but at last we gave a good fee, and their scruples yielded: they were influenced also by seeing other villagers ready to undertake the job; the latter nearly fought over us on seeing that their neighbours got all the fare. we then came along the lake, and close to its shores. the moisture caused a profusion of gingers, ferns, and tropical forest: buffaloes, zebras and elephants are numerous, and the villagers at chukosi's, where we slept, warned us against lions and leopards. _ th january, ._--sunday at karembwé's village. the mountains east of him are called makunga. we went yesterday to the shore, and by protraction rua point was distant thirty-three miles. karembwé sent for us, to have an audience; he is a large man with a gruff voice, but liked by his people and by strangers. i gave him a cloth, and he gave me a goat. the enthusiasm with which i held on to visit moero had communicated itself to tipo tipo and syde bin alle, for they followed me up to this place to see the lake, and remained five days while we were at casembe's. other arabs, or rather suahelis, must have seen it, but never mentioned it as anything worth looking at; and it was only when all hope of ivory was gone that these two headmen found time to come. there is a large population here. _ th january, ._--heavy rains. karembé mentioned a natural curiosity as likely to interest me: a little rivulet, chipamba, goes some distance underground, but is uninteresting. next day we crossed the vuna, a strong torrent, which, has a hot fountain close by the ford, in which maize and cassava may be boiled. a large one in nsama's country is used in the same way, maize and cassava being tied to a string and thrown in to be cooked: some natives believe that earthquakes are connected with its violent ebullitions. we crossed the katétté, another strong torrent, before reaching the north end of moero, where we slept in some travellers' huts. leaving the lake, and going north, we soon got on to a plain flooded by the luao. we had to wade through very adhesive black mud, generally ankle deep, and having many holes in it much deeper: we had four hours of this, and then came to the ford of the luao itself. we waded up a branch of it waist deep for at least a quarter of a mile, then crossed a narrow part by means of a rude bridge of branches and trees, of about forty yards width. the luao, in spreading over the plains, confers benefits on the inhabitants, though i could not help concluding it imparts disease too, for the black mud in places smells horribly. great numbers of siluridae, chiefly _clarias capensis_, often three feet in length, spread over the flooded portions of the country, eating the young of other fishes, and insects, lizards, and worms, killed by the waters. the people make weirs for them, and as the waters retire kill large numbers, which they use as a relish to their farinaceous food. _ th january, ._--after sleeping near the luao we went on towards the village, in which mohamad's son lives. it is on the kakoma eiver, and is called kabwabwata, the village of mubao. in many of the villages the people shut their stockades as soon as we appear, and stand bows and arrows in hand till we have passed: the reason seems to be that the slaves when out of sight of their masters carry things with a high hand, demanding food and other things as if they had power and authority. one slave stole two tobacco pipes yesterday in passing through a village; the villagers complained to me when i came up, and i waited till mohamad came and told him; we then went forward, the men keeping close to me till we got the slave and the pipes. they stole cassava as we went along, but this could scarcely be prevented. they laid hold of a plant an inch-and-a-half thick, and tore it out of the soft soil with its five or six roots as large as our largest carrots, stowed the roots away in their loads, and went on eating them; but the stalk thrown among those still growing shows the theft. the raw roots are agreeable and nutritious. no great harm is done by this, for the gardens are so large, but it inspires distrust in the inhabitants, and makes it dangerous for arabs to travel not fully manned and armed. on reaching the village kabwabwata a great demonstration was made by mohamad's arab dependants and wanyamwesi: the women had their faces all smeared with pipeclay, and lullilooed with all their might. when we came among the huts, they cast handfuls of soil on their heads, while the men fired off their guns as fast as they could load them. those connected with mohamad ran and kissed his hands, and fired, till the sound of shouting, lullilooing, clapping of hands, and shooting was deafening: mohamad was quite overcome by this demonstration, and it was long before he could still them. on the way to this village from the south we observed an extensive breadth of land, under ground-nuts which are made into oil: a large jar of this is sold for a hoe. the ground-nuts were now in flower, and green maize ready to be eaten. people all busy planting, transplanting, or weeding; they plant cassava on mounds prepared for it, on which they have sown beans, sorghum, maize, pumpkins: these ripen, and leave the cassava a free soil. the sorghum or dura is sown thickly, and when about a foot high--if the owner has been able to prepare the soil elsewhere--it is transplanted, a portion of the leaves being cut off to prevent too great evaporation and the death of the plant. _ th january, ._--the wanyamwesi and people of garaganza say that we have thirteen days' march from this to the tanganyika lake. it is often muddy, and many rivulets are to be crossed. mohamad is naturally anxious to stay a little while with his son, for it is a wet season, and the mud is disagreeable to travel over: it is said to be worse near ujiji: he cooks small delicacies for me with the little he has, and tries to make me comfortable. vinegar is made from bananas, and oil from ground-nuts. i am anxious to be off, but chiefly to get news. i find that many unyamwesi people are waiting here, on account of the great quantity of rainwater in front: it would be difficult, they say, to get canoes on tanganyika, as the waves are now large. _ th january, ._--two of mohamad bogharib's people came from casembe's to trade here, and a body of syde bin habib's people also from garaganza, near kazé, they report the flooded lands on this side of lake tanganyika as waist and chest deep. bin habib, being at katanga, will not stir till the rains are over, and i fear we are storm-stayed till then too. the feeders of the marungu are not fordable just now, and no canoes are to be had. _ th and th january, ._--i am ill with fever, as i always am when stationary. _ th january, ._--better, and thankful to him of the greatest name. we must remain; it is a dry spot, and favourable for ground-nuts. _hooping-cough_ here. _ th january, ._--the earth cooled by the rain last night sets all to transplanting dura or sorghum; they cut the leaves till only about eighteen inches of them are left, but it grows all the better for the change of place. mohamad believes that tanganyika flows through rusizi to lohindé. (chuambo.) seyd seyd is said to have been the first arab sultan who traded, and seyed majid follows the example of his father, and has many arab traders in his employment. he lately sent eight buffaloes to mtéza, king of uganda, son of sunna, by way of increasing his trade, but if is not likely that he will give up the lucrative trade in ivory and slaves. susi bought a hoe with a little gunpowder, then a cylinder of dura, three feet long by two feet in diameter, for the hoe: it is at least one hundredweight. stone underground houses are reported in rua, but whether natural or artificial mohamad could not say. if a present is made to the rua chiefs they never obstruct passengers. chikosi, at whose village we passed a night, near kalongosi, and chiputa are both dead. the mofwé fills during the greater rains, and spreads over a large district; elephants then wander in its marshes, and are killed easily by people in canoes: this happens every year, and mohamad bogharib waits now for this ivory. _ th to st february, ._--on inquiring of men who lave seen the underground houses in rua, i find that they are very extensive, ranging along mountain sides for twenty miles, and in one part a rivulet flows inside. in some cases the doorways are level with the country adjacent: in others, ladders are used to climb up to them; inside they are said to be very large, and not the work of men, but of god. the people have plenty of fowls, and they too obtain shelter in these troglodyte habitations. _ rd february, ._--i was visited by an important chief called chapé, who said that he wanted to make friends with the english. he, chisapi, sama, muabo, karembwé, are of one tribe or family, the oanza: he did not beg anything, and promised to send me a goat. footnotes: [ ] kirwa and its various corruptions, such as shirwa, chirua, and kiroa, perpetually recur in africa, and would almost seem to stand for "the island."--ed. chapter xi. riot in the camp. mohamad's account of his long imprisonment. superstitions about children's teeth. concerning dreams. news of lake chowambé. life of the arab slavers. the katanga gold supply. muabo. ascent of the rua mountains. syde bin habib. birthday th march, . hostility of mpwéto. contemplates visiting lake bemba. nile sources. men desert. the shores of moero. visits fungafunga. beturn to casembe's. obstructiveness of "cropped-ears." accounts of pereira and dr. lacerda. major monteiro. the line of casembe's. casembe explains the connection of the lakes and the luapula. queen moäri. arab sacrifice. kapika gets rid of his wife. _ th february, ._--some slaves who came with mohamad bogharib's agent, abused my men this morning, as bringing unclean meat into the village to sell, though it had been killed by a man of the wanyamwesi. they called out, "kaffir, kaffir!" and susi, roused by this, launched forth with a stick; the others joined in the row, and the offenders were beat off, but they went and collected all their number and renewed the assault. one threw a heavy block of wood and struck simon on the head, making him quite insensible and convulsed for some time. he has three wounds on the head, which may prove serious. this is the first outburst of mohamadan bigotry we have met, and by those who know so little of the creed that it is questionable if one of them can repeat the formula: "la illaha illa lahu mohamad rasulela salla lahu, a leihi oa salama." simon recovered, but gallahs are in general not strong. _ th february, ._--mohamad called on me this morning to apologise for the outrage of yesterday, but no one was to blame except the slaves, and i wanted no punishment inflicted if they were cautioned for the future. it seems, plain that if they do not wish to buy the unclean meat they can let it alone,--no harm is done. the wanyamwesi kill for all, and some mohamadans say that they won't eat of it, but their wives and people do eat it privately. i asked mohamad to-day if it were true that he was a prisoner at casembe's. he replied, "quite so." some garaganza people, now at katanga, fought with casembe, and mohamad was suspected of being connected with them. casembe attacked his people, and during the turmoil a hundred frasilahs of copper were stolen from him, and many of his people killed. casembe kept him a prisoner till sixty of his people were either killed or died, among these mohamad's eldest son: he was thus reduced to poverty. he gave something to casembe to allow him to depart, and i suspect that my sultan's letter had considerable influence in inducing casembe to accede to his request, for he repeated again and again in my hearing that he must pay respect to my letter, and see me safe at least as far as ujiji. mohamad says that he will not return to casembe again, but will begin to trade with some other chief: it is rather hard for a man at his age to begin _de novo_. he is respected among the arabs, who pronounce him to be a good man. he says that he has been twenty-two years in africa, and never saw an outburst like that of yesterday among the wanyamwesi: it is, however, common for the people at ujiji to drink palm toddy, and then have a general row in the bazaar, but no bad feeling exists next day. if a child cuts the upper front teeth before the lower, it is killed, as unlucky: this is a widely-spread superstition. when i was amongst the makololo in one of sekelétu's wives would not allow her servant's child to be killed for this, but few would have the courage to act in opposition to public feeling as she did. in casembe's country if a child is seen to turn from one side to the other in sleep it is killed. they say of any child who has what they consider these defects "he is an arab child," because the arabs have none of this class of superstitions, and should any arab be near they give the child to him: it would bring ill-luck, misfortunes, "milando," or guilt, to the family. these superstitions may account for the readiness with which one tribe parted with their children to speke's followers. mohamad says that these children must have been taken in war, as none sell their own offspring. if casembe dreams of any man twice or three times he puts the man to death, as one who is practising secret arts against his life: if any one is pounding or cooking food for him he must preserve the strictest silence; these and other things show extreme superstition and degradation. during, his enforced detention mohamad's friends advised him to leave casembe by force, offering to aid him with their men, but he always refused. his father was the first to open this country to trade with the arabs, and all his expenses while so doing were borne by himself; but mohamad seems to be a man of peace, and unwilling to break the appearance of friendship with the chiefs. he thinks that this casembe poisoned his predecessor: he certainly killed his wife's mother, a queen, that she might be no obstacle to him in securing her daughter. we are waiting in company with a number of wanyamwesi for the cessation of the rains, which have flooded the country between this and tanganyika. if there were much slope this water would flow off: this makes me suspect that tanganyika is not so low as speke's measurement. the arabs are positive that water flows from that lake to the victoria nyanza, and assert that dagara, the father of rumanyika, was anxious to send canoes from his place to ujiji, or, as some say, to dig a canal to ujiji. the wanyamwesi here support themselves by shooting buffaloes, at a place two days distant, and selling the meat for grain and cassava: no sooner is it known that an animal is killed, than the village women crowd in here, carrying their produce to exchange it for meat, which they prefer to beads or anything else. their farinaceous food creates a great craving for flesh: were my shoes not done i would go in for buffaloes too. a man from the upper part of tanganyika gives the same account of the river from rusisi that burton and speke received when they went to its mouth. he says that the water of the lake goes up some distance, but is met by rusisi water, and driven back thereby. the lake water, he adds, finds an exit northwards and eastwards by several small rivers which would admit small canoes only. they pour into lake chowambé--probably that discovered by mr. baker. this chowambé is in hundi, the country of cannibals, but the most enlightened informants leave the impression on the mind of groping in the dark: it may be all different when we come to see it. the fruit of the palm, which yields palm-oil, is first of all boiled, then pounded in a mortar, then put into hot or boiling water, and the oil skimmed off. the palm-oil is said to be very abundant at ujiji, as much as gallons being often brought into the bazaar for sale in one morning; the people buy it eagerly for cooking purposes. mohamad says that the island of pemba, near zanzibar, contains many of these palms, but the people are ignorant of the mode of separating the oil from the nut: they call the palm nkoma at casembe's, and chikichi at zanzibar.[ ] no better authority for what has been done or left undone by mohamadans in this country can be found than mohamad bin saleh, for he is very intelligent, and takes an interest in all that happens, and his father was equally interested in this country's affairs. he declares that no attempt was ever made by mohamadans to proselytize the africans: they teach their own children to read the koran, but them only; it is never translated, and to servants who go to the mosque it is all dumb show. some servants imbibe mohamadan bigotry about eating, but they offer no prayers. circumcision, to make _halel_, or fit to slaughter the animals for their master, is the utmost advance any have made. as the arabs in east africa never feel themselves called on to propagate the doctrines of islam, among the heathen africans, the statement of captain burton that they would make better missionaries to the africans than christians, because they would not insist on the abandonment of polygamy, possesses the same force as if he had said mohamadans would catch more birds than christians, because they would put salt on their tails. the indispensable requisite or qualification for any kind of missionary is that he have some wish to proselytize: this the arabs do not possess in the slightest degree. as they never translate the koran, they neglect the best means of influencing the africans, who invariably wish to understand what they are about. when we were teaching adults the alphabet, they felt it a hard task. "give me medicine, i shall drink it to make me understand it," was their earnest entreaty. when they have advanced so far as to form clear conceptions of old testament and gospel histories, they tell them to their neighbours; and, on visiting distant tribes, feel proud to show how much they know: in this way the knowledge of christianity becomes widely diffused. those whose hatred to its self-denying doctrines has become developed by knowledge, propagate slanders; but still they speak of christianity, and awaken attention. the plan, therefore, of the christian missionary in imparting knowledge is immeasurably superior to that of the moslem in dealing with dumb show. i have, however, been astonished to see that none of the africans imitate the arab prayers: considering their great reverence of the deity, it is a wonder that they do not learn to address prayers to him except on very extraordinary occasions. my remarks referring to the education by mohamadans do not refer to the suahelis, for they teach their children to read, and even send them to school. they are the descendants of arab and african women and inhabit the coast line. although they read, they understand very little arabic beyond the few words which have been incorporated into suaheli. the establishment of moslem missions among the heathen is utterly unknown, and this is remarkable, because the wanyamwesi, for instance, are very friendly with the arabs--are great traders, too, like them, and are constantly employed as porters and native traders, being considered very trustworthy. they even acknowledge seyed majid's authority. the arabs speak of all the africans as _"gumu_" that is hard or callous to the mohamadan religion. some believe that kilimanjaro mountain has mummies, as in egypt, and that moses visited it of old. mungo park mentions that he found the africans in the far interior of the west in possession of the stories of joseph and his brethren, and others. they probably got them from the koran, as verbally explained by some liberal mullah, and showed how naturally they spread any new ideas they obtained: they were astonished to find that park knew the stories. the people at katanga are afraid to dig for the gold in their country because they believe that it has been hidden where it is by "ngolu," who is the owner of it. the arabs translate ngolu by satan: it means mézimo, or departed spirits, too. the people are all oppressed by their superstitions; the fear of death is remarkably strong. the wagtails are never molested, because, if they were killed, death would visit the village; this too is the case with the small whydah birds, the fear of death in the minds of the people saves them from molestation. but why should we be so prone to criticise? a remnant of our own superstitions is seen in the prejudice against sitting down thirteen to dinner, spilling the salt, and not throwing a little of it over the left shoulder. ferdinand i., the king of naples, in passing through the streets, perpetually put one hand into his pockets to cross the thumb over the finger in order to avert the influence of the evil eye! on the th, muabo, the great chief of these parts, came to call on mohamad: several men got up and made some antics before him, then knelt down and did obeisance, then muabo himself jumped about a little, and all applauded. he is a good-natured-looking man, fond of a joke, and always ready with a good-humoured smile: he was praised very highly, mpwéto was nothing to muabo mokolu, the great muabo; and he returned the praise by lauding tipo tipo and mpamari, mohamad's native name, which means, "give me wealth, or goods." mohamad made a few of the ungainly antics like the natives, and all were highly pleased, and went off rejoicing. some arabs believe that a serpent on one of the islands in the nyanza lake has the power of speaking, and is the same that beguiled eve. it is a crime at ujiji to kill a serpent, even though it enters a house and kills a kid! the native name, for the people of ujiji is wayeiyé, the very same as the people on the zouga, near lake ngami. they are probably an offshoot from ujiji.[ ] there are underground stone houses in kabiuré, in the range called kakoma, which is near to our place of detention. _ th march, ._--the roots of the nyumbo or noombo open in four or five months from the time of planting, those planted by me on the th february have now stalks fifteen inches long. the root is reported to be a very wholesome food, never disagreeing with the stomach; and the raw root is an excellent remedy in obstinate vomiting and nausea; four or five tubers are often given by one root, in marungu they attain a size of six inches in length by two in diameter. _ th march, ._--we started for mpwéto's village, which is situated on the lualaba, and in our course crossed the lokinda, which had a hundred yards of flood water on each side of it. the river itself is forty yards wide, with a rude bridge over it, as it flows fast away into moero. next day we ascended the rua mountains, and reached the village of mpwéto, situated in a valley between two ridges, about one mile from the right bank of the lualaba, where it comes through the mountains. it then flows about two miles along the base of a mountain lying east and west before it begins to make northing: its course is reported to be very winding, this seems additional evidence that tanganyika is not in a depression of only feet above the sea, otherwise the water of lualaba would flow faster and make a straighter channel. it is said to flow into the lufira, and that into tanganyika. _ th march, ._--on reaching mpwéto's yesterday we were taken up to the house of syde bin habib, which is built on a ridge overhanging the chiefs village, a square building of wattle and plaster, and a mud roof to prevent it being fired by an enemy. it is a very pretty spot among the mountains. sariama is bin habib's agent, and he gave us a basket of flour and leg of kid. i sent a message to mpwéto, which he politely answered by saying that he had no food ready in his village, but if we waited two days he would have some prepared, and would then see us. he knew what we should give him, and he need not tell us i met a man from seskéké, left sick at kirwa by bin habib and now with him here. a very beautiful young woman came to look at us, perfect in every way, and nearly naked, but unconscious of indecency; a very venus in black. the light-grey, red-tailed parrot seen on the west coast is common in rua, and tamed by the natives.[ ] _ th march, ._[ ]--(grant, lord, grace to love thee more and serve thee better.) the favourite son of mpwéto called on us; his father is said to do nothing without consulting him; but he did not seem to be endowed with much wisdom. _ th and st march, ._--our interview was put off; and then a sight of the cloth we were to give was required. i sent a good large cloth, and explained that we were nearly out of goods now, having been travelling two years, and were going to ujiji to get more. mpwéto had prepared a quantity of pombe, a basket of meal, and a goat; and when he looked at them and the cloth, he seemed to feel that it would be a poor bargain, so he sent to say that we had gone to casembe and given him many cloths, and then to muabo, and if i did not give another cloth he would not see me. "he had never slept with only one cloth." "i had put medicine on this one to kill him, and must go away." it seems he was offended because we went to his great rival, muabo, before visiting him. he would not see syde bin habib for eight days; and during that time was using charms to try if it would be safe to see him at all: on the ninth day he peeped past a door for some time to see if bin habib were a proper person, and then came out: he is always very suspicious. at last he sent an order to us to go away, and if we did not move, he would come with all his people and drive us off. sariamo said if he were not afraid for syde bin habib's goods, he would make a stand against mpwéto; but i had no wish to stay or to quarrel with a worthless chief, and resolved to go next day. (_ th march._) he abused a native trader with his tongue for coming to trade, and sent him away too. we slept again at our half-way village, kapemba, just as a party of salt-traders from rua came into it: they were tall, well-made men, and rather dark. _ th march, ._--reached kabwabwata at noon, and were welcomed by mohamad and all the people. his son, sheikh but, accompanied us; but mohamad told us previously that it was likely mpwéto would refuse to see us. the water is reported to be so deep in front that it is impossible to go north: the wanyamwesi, who are detained here as well as we, say it is often more than a man's depth, and there are no canoes. they would not stop here if a passage home could be made. i am thinking of going to lake bemba, because at least two months must be passed here still before a passage can be made; but my goods are getting done, and i cannot give presents to the chiefs on our way. this lake has a sandy, not muddy bottom, as we were at first informed, and there are four islands in it, one, the bangweolo, is very large, and many people live on it; they have goats and sheep in abundance: the owners of canoes demand three hoes for the hire of one capable of carrying eight or ten persons; beyond this island it is sea horizon only. the tsébula and nzoé antelopes abound. the people desire salt and not beads for sale. _ nd april, ._--if i am not deceived by the information i have received from various reliable sources, the springs of the nile rise between ° and ° south latitude, or at least or miles south of the south end of speke's lake, which he considered to be the sources of the nile. tanganyika is declared to send its water through north into lake chowambé or baker's lake; if this does not prove false, then tanganyika is an expansion of the nile, and so is lake chowambé; the two lakes being connected by the river loanda. unfortunately the people on the east side of the loanda are constantly at war with the people on the west of it, or those of rusisi. the arabs have been talking of opening up a path through to chowambé, where much ivory is reported; i hope that the most high may give me a way there. _ th april, ._--i had a long oration from mohamad yesterday against going off for bemba to-morrow. his great argument is the extortionate way of casembe, who would demand cloth, and say that in pretending to go to ujiji i had told him lies: he adds to this argument that this is the last month of the rains; the masika has begun, and our way north will soon be open. the fact of the matter is that mohamad, by not telling me of the superabundance of water in the country of the marungu, which occurs every year, caused me to lose five months. he knew that we should be detained here, but he was so eager to get out of his state of durance with casembe that he hastened my departure by asserting that we should be at ujiji in one month. i regret this deception, but it is not to be wondered at, and in a mohamadan and in a christian too it is thought clever. were my goods not nearly done i would go, and risk the displeasure of casembe for the chance of discovering the lake bemba. i thought once of buying from mohamad bogharib, but am afraid that his stock may be getting low too: i fear that i must give up this lake for the present. _ th april, ._--i think of starting to-morrow for bangweolo, even if casembe refuses a passage beyond him: we shall be better there than we are here, for everything at kabwabwata is scarce and dear. there we can get a fowl for one string of beads, here it costs six: there fish may be bought, here none. three of casembe's principal men are here, kakwata, charley, and kapitenga; they are anxious to go home, and would be a gain to me, but mohamad detains them, and when i ask his reason he says "muabo refuses," but they point to mohamad's house and say, "it is he who refuses." [a very serious desertion took place at this time amongst dr. livingstone's followers. not to judge them too harshly they had become to a great extent demoralised by camp life with mohamad and his horde of slaves and slavers. the arab tried all he could to dissuade the traveller from proceeding south instead of homewards through ujiji, and the men seem to have found their own breaking-point where this disappointment occurred.] _ th april, ._--on preparing to start this morning my people refused to go: the fact is, they are all tired, and mohamad's opposition encourages them. mohamad, who was evidently eager to make capital out of their refusal, asked me to remain over to-day, and then demanded what i was going to do with those who had absconded. i said, "nothing: if a magistrate were on the spot, i would give them over to him." "oh," said he, "i am magistrate, shall i apprehend them?" to this i assented. he repeated this question till it was tiresome: i saw his reason long afterwards, when he asserted that i "came to him and asked him to bind them, but he had refused:" he wanted to appear to the people as much better than i am. _ th april, ._--i start off with five attendants, leaving most of the luggage with mohamad, and reach the luao to spend the night. headman ndowa. _ th april, ._--amoda ran away early this morning. "wishes to stop with his brothers." they think that, by refusing to go to bemba, they will force me to remain with them, and then go to ujiji: one of them has infused the idea into their minds that i will not pay them, and exclaims "look at the sepoys!"--not knowing that they are paid by the indian government; and as for the johanna men, they were prepaid _ l. s._ in cash, besides clothing. i sent amoda's bundle back to mohamad: my messenger got to kabwabwata before amoda did, and he presented himself to my arab friend, who, of course, scolded him: he replied that he was tired of carrying, and no other fault had he; i may add that i found out that amoda wished to come south to me with one of mohamad bogharib's men, but "mpamari" told him not to return. now that i was fairly started, i told my messenger to say to mohamad that i would on no account go to ujiji, till i had done all in my power to reach the lake i sought: i would even prefer waiting at luao or moero, till people came to me from ujiji to supplant the runaways. i did not blame them very severely in my own mind for absconding: they were tired of tramping, and so verily am i, but mohamad, in encouraging them to escape to him, and talking with a double tongue, cannot be exonerated from blame. little else can be expected from him, he has lived some thirty-five years in the country, twenty-five being at casembe's, and there he had often to live by his wits. consciousness of my own defects makes me lenient. _ th april, ._--ndowa gives mita or mpamañkanana as the names of the excavations in muabo's hills, he says that they are sufficient to conceal all the people of this district in case of war: i conjecture that this implies room for ten thousand people: provisions are stored in them, and a perennial rivulet runs along a whole street of them. on one occasion, when the main entrance was besieged by an enemy, someone who knew all the intricacies of the excavations led a party out by a secret passage, and they, coming over the invaders, drove them off with heavy loss. their formation is universally ascribed to the deity. this may mean that the present inhabitants have succeeded the original burrowing race, which dug out many caves adjacent to mount hor--the _jebel nébi harin_, mount of the prophet aaron, of the arabs--and many others; and even the bushman caves, a thousand miles south of this region. a very minute, sharp-biting mosquito is found here: the women try to drive them out of their huts by whisking bundles of green leaves all round the walls before turning into them. _ th august, ._--crossed the luao by a bridge, thirty yards long, and more than half a mile of flood on each side; passed many villages, standing on little heights, which overlook plains filled with water. some three miles of grassy plains abreast of moero were the deepest parts, except the banks of luao. we had four hours of wading, the bottom being generally black tenacious mud. ruts had been formed in the paths by the feet of passengers: these were filled with soft mud, and, as they could not be seen, the foot was often placed on the edge, and when the weight came on it, down it slumped into the mud, half-way up the calves; it was difficult to draw it out, and very fatiguing. to avoid these ruts we encroached on the grass at the sides of the paths, but often stepping on the unseen edge of a rut, we floundered in with both feet to keep the balance, and this was usually followed by a rush of bubbles to the surface, which, bursting, discharged foul air of frightful faecal odour. in parts, the black mud and foul water were cold, in others hot, according as circulation went on or not. when we came near moero, the water became half-chest and whole-chest deep; all perishable articles had to be put on the head. we found a party of fishermen on the sands, and i got a hut, a bath in the clear but tepid waters, and a delicious change of dress. water of lake, ° at p.m. _ th april, ._--we marched along the north end of moero, which has a south-east direction. the soft yielding sand which is flanked by a broad belt of tangled tropical vegetation and trees, added to the fatigues of yesterday, so finding a deserted fisherman's village near the eastern hills, we gladly made it our quarters for sunday ( th). i made no mark, but the lake is at least twenty feet higher now than it was on our first visits, and there are banks showing higher rises even than this. large fish-baskets made of split reeds are used in trios for catching small fish; one man at each basket drives fish ashore. _ th april, ._--went on to katétté river, and then to a strong torrent; slept at a village on the north bank of the river vuna, where, near the hills, is a hot fountain, sometimes used to cook cassava and maize. _ st april, ._--crossed the vuna and went on to kalembwé's village, meeting the chief at the gate, who guided us to a hut, and manifested great curiosity to see all our things; he asked if we could not stop next day and drink beer, which would then be ready. leopards abound here. the lake now seems broader than ever. i could not conceive that a hole in the cartilage of the nose could be turned to any account except to hold an ornament, though that is usually only a bit of grass, but a man sewing the feathers on his arrows used his nose-hole for holding a needle! in coming on to kangalola we found the country swimming: i got separated from the company, though i saw them disappear in the long grass not a hundred yards off and shouted, but the splashing of their feet prevented any one hearing. i could not find a path going south, so i took one to the east to a village; the grass was so long and tangled, i could scarcely get along, at last i engaged a man to show me the main path south, and he took me to a neat village of a woman--nyinakasangaand would go no further, "mother kasanga," as the name means, had been very handsome, and had a beautiful daughter, probably another edition of herself, she advised my waiting in the deep shade of the ficus indica, in which her houses were placed. i fired a gun, and when my attendants came gave her a string of beads, which made her express distress at my "leaving without drinking anything of hers." people have abandoned several villages on account of the abundance of ferocious wild beasts. _ rd april, ._--through very thick tangled nyassi grass to chikosi's burned village; nsama had killed him. we spent the night in a garden hut, which the fire of the village had spared. turnips were growing in the ruins. the nyassi, or long coarse grass, hangs over the paths, and in pushing it aside the sharp seeds penetrate the clothes and are very annoying. the grass itself rubs on the face and eyes disagreeably: when it is burned off and greensward covers the soil it is much more pleasant walking. th _april, ._--we leave chikosi's ruins and make for the ford of the kalungosi. marigolds are in full bloom all over the forest, and so are foxgloves. the river is here fully yards broad with yards of flood on its western bank; so deep we had to remain in the canoes till within yards of the higher ground. the people here chew the pith of the papyrus, which is three inches in diameter and as white as snow: it has very little sweetness or anything else in it. the headman of the village to which we went was out cutting wood for a garden, and his wife refused us a hut, but when kansabala came in the evening he scolded his own spouse roundly and all the wives of the village, and then pressed me to come indoors, but i was well enough in my mosquito curtain without, and declined: i was free from insects and vermin, and few huts are so. _ th april, ._--off early west, and then on to an elevated forest land, in which our course was s.s.w. to the great bend of the rivulet kifurwa, which enters moero near to the mouth of the kalungosi. _ th april, ._--here we spent sunday in our former woodcutters' huts. yesterday we were met by a party of the same occupation, laden with bark-cloth, which they had just been stripping off the trees. their leader would not come along the path because i was sitting near it: i invited him to do so, but it would have been disrespectful to let his shadow fall on any part of my person, so he went a little out of the way: this politeness is common. _ th april, ._--but a short march to fungafunga's village: we could have gone on to the muatizé, but no village exists there, and here we could buy food. fungafunga's wife gave a handsome supper to the stranger: on afterwards acknowledging it to her husband he said, "that is your village; always go that way and eat my provisions." he is a monyamwezi trading in the country for copper, hoes, and slaves. parrots are here in numbers stealing holcus sorghum in spite of the shouts of the women. we cross muatizé by a bridge of one large tree, getting a good view of moero from a hill near kabukwa, and sleep at chirongo river. _ th april, ._--at the mandapala river. some men here from the chungu, one of whom claimed to be a relative of casembe, made a great outcry against our coming a second time to casembe without waiting at the kalungosi for permission. one of them, with his ears cropped short off, asked me when i was departing north if i should come again. i replied, "yes, i think i shall." they excited themselves by calling over the same thing again and again. "the english come the second time!" "the second time--the second time--the country spoiled! why not wait at the kalungosi? let him return thither." "come from mpamari too, and from the bagaraganza or banyamwezi!!" "the second time--the second time!" then all the adjacent villagers were called in to settle this serious affair. i look up to that higher power to influence their minds as he has often done before. i persuaded them to refer the matter to casembe himself by sending a man with one of mine up to the town. they would not consent to go on to the chungu, as the old cropped-eared man would have been obliged to come back the distance again, he having been on the way to the kalungosi as a sentinel of the ford. casembe is reasonable and fair, but his people are neither, and will do anything to mulct either strangers or their own countrymen. _ th april, ._--the cold of winter has begun, and dew is deposited in great quantities, but all the streams are very high in flood, though the rains have ceased here some time. _ st may, ._--at the mandapala river. i sent a request to mohamad bogharib to intercede with casembe for me for a man to show the way to chikumbi, who is near to bangweolo. i fear that i have become mixed up in the lunda mind with mpamari (mohamad bin saleh), from having gone off with him and returning ere we reached ujiji, whither ostensibly we were bound. i may be suspected of being in his confidence, and of forwarding his plans by coming back. a deaf and dumb man appears among the people here, making signs exactly as i have seen such do in england, and occasionally emitting a low unmodulated guttural drawl like them. _ rd may, ._--abraham, my messenger, came back, while we were at afternoon prayers, with good news for us, but what made cropped-ears quite chopfallen was that casembe was quite gracious! he did not wish me to go away, and now i am welcome back; and as soon as we hear of peace at chikumbi's we shall have a man to conduct us thither. the mazitu were reported to have made an inroad into chikumbi's country; and it was said that chief had fled, and casembe had sent messengers to hear the truth. thanks to the most high for his kindness and influence. _ th may, ._--we leave the mandapala. cropped-ears, whose name i never heard, collapsed at once on hearing the message of casembe: before that i never heard such a babbler, to every one passing, man or woman, he repeated the same insinuations about the english, and "mpamari," and the banyamwezi,--conspiracy--guilt--return a second time,--till, like a meddling lawyer, he thought that he had really got an important case in hand! the river chungu we found to be from fifteen to eighteen yards broad and breast deep, with at least one hundred yards of flood, before we reached the main stream, the mandapala. the chungu and the lundi join in the country called kimbafuma, about twelve miles from our crossing-place of mandapala, and about west of it. the lundi was now breast deep too, and twelve yards broad. on reaching casembe's, on the mofwé, we found mohamad bogharib digging and fencing up a well to prevent his slaves being taken away by the crocodiles, as three had been eaten already. a dog bit the leg of one of my goats so badly that i was obliged to kill it: they are nasty curs here, without courage, and yet they sometimes bite people badly. i met some old friends, and mohamad bogharib cooked a supper, and from this time forward never omitted sharing his victuals with me. _ th may, ._--manoel caetano pereira visited casembe in , or seventy-two years ago: his native name was moendo-mondo, or the world's leg--"world-wide traveller!" he came to mandapala, for there the casembe of the time resided, and he had a priest or "kasisé" with him, and many people with guns. pérémbé, the oldest man now in lunda, had children even then: if pérémbé were thirty years of age at that period he would now be years old, and he seems quite that, for when dr. lacerda came he had forty children. he says that pereira fired off all his guns on his arrival, and casembe asking him what he meant by that, he replied, "these guns ask for slaves and ivory," both of which were liberally given. i could not induce pérémbé to tell anything of times previous to his own. moendo-mondo, the world's leg (pereira), told dr. lacerda that the natives called him "the terror!"--a bit of vanity, for they have no such word or abstract term in their language. when major monteiro was here the town of casembe was on the same spot as now, but the mosumba, or enclosure of the chief, was about yards s.e. of the present one. monteiro went nowhere and did nothing, but some of his attendants went over to the luapula, some six miles distant. he complains in his book of having been robbed by the casembe of the time. on asking the present occupant of the office why monteiro's goods were taken from him, he replied, that he was then living at another village and did not know of the affair. mohamad bin saleh was present, and he says that monteiro's statement is false: no goods were forced from him; but it was a year of scarcity, and monteiro had to spend his goods in buying food instead of slaves and ivory, and made up the tale of casembe plundering him to appease his creditors. a number of men were sent with monteiro as an honorary escort. kapika, an old man now living, was the chief or one of the chiefs of this party, and he says that he went to tette, senna, and quillimane with monteiro: this honorary escort seems confirmatory of mohamad's explanation, for had casembe robbed the major none would have been granted or received. it is warmer here than we found it in the way; clouds cover the sky and prevent radiation. the sorghum is now in full ear. people make very neat mats of the leaves of the shuaré palm. i got lunars this time. _ th may, ._--eight or ten men went past us this morning, sent by the chief to catch people whom he intends to send to his paramount chief, matiamvo, as a tribute of slaves. pérémbé gives the following list of the casembes:-- i. kanyimbe, came from lunda, attracted by the fish of mofwé and moero, and conquered pérémbé's forefather, katéré, who planted the first palm-oil palms here from seeds got in lunda. it is probable that the intercourse then set afoot led to kanyimbé's coming and conquest. ii. kinyanta. iii. nguanda milonda. iv. kanyembo. v. lekwisa. vi. kirÉka. vii. kapumba. viii. kinyanta. ix. lekwisa, still alive, but a fugitive at nsama's. x. muonga, the present ruler, who drove lékwisa away. the portuguese came to kiréka, who is said to have been very liberal with presents of ivory, slaves, and cattle. the present man has good sense, and is very fair in his judgments, but stingy towards his own people as well as strangers: nevertheless i have had good reason to be satisfied with his conduct to me. maiyé, not in the list, and , , , are the children of kiréka. muonga is said by the others to be a slave "born out of the house," that is, his mother was not of the royal line; she is an ugly old woman, and greedy. i got rid of her begging by giving her the beads she sought, and requesting her to cook some food for me; she begged no more, afraid that i would press my claim for provisions! _ th may, ._--i sent to casembe for a guide to luapula, he replied that he had not seen me nor given me any food; i must come to-morrow: but next day he was occupied in killing a man for witchcraft and could not receive us, but said that he would on the th. he sent fish (perch) from mofwé, and a large basket of dried cassava. i have taken lunars several times, measuring both sides of the moon about times, but a silly map-maker may alter the whole for the most idiotic of reasons. _ th may, ._--mohamad bogharib has been here some seven months, and bought three tusks only; the hunting, by casembe's people, of elephants in the mofwé has been unsuccessful. we did not get an audience from casembe; the fault lay with kapika--monteiro's escort--being afraid to annoy casembe by putting him in mind of it, but on the th casembe sent for me, and told me that as the people had all fled from chikumbi's, he would therefore send guides to take us to kabaia, where there was still a population; he wished me to wait a few days till he had looked out good men as guides, and ground some flour for us to use in the journey. he understood that i wished to go to bangweolo; and it was all right to do what my own chief had sent me for, and then come back to him. it was only water--the same as luapula, mofwé, and moero; nothing to be seen. his people must not molest me again, but let me go where i liked. this made me thank him who has the hearts of all in his hand. casembe also admitted that he had injured "mpamari," but he would send him some slaves and ivory in reparation: he is better than his people, who are excessively litigious, and fond of milandos or causes--suits. he asked if i had not the leopard's skin he gave me to sit on, as it was bad to sit on the ground; i told him it had so many holes in it people laughed at it and made me ashamed, but he did not take the hint to give me another. he always talks good sense when he has not swilled beer or pombe: all the arabs are loud in his praises, but they have a bad opinion of the queen moäri or ngombé or kifuta. the garaganza people at katanga killed a near relative of casembe and herself, and when the event happened, fungafunga, one of the garaganza or banyamwezi being near the spot, fled and came to the mofwé: he continued his flight as soon as it was dark without saying anything to anyone, until he got north to kabiuré. the queen and casembe suspected mpamari of complicity with the banyamwezi, and believed that fungafunga had communicated the news to him before fleeing further. a tumult was made; mpamari's eldest son was killed; and he was plundered of all his copper, ivory, and slaves: the queen loudly demanded his execution, but casembe restrained his people as well as he was able and it is for this injury that he now professes to be sorry. the queen only acted according to the principles of her people. "mpamari killed my son, kill his son--himself." it is difficult to get at the truth, for mohamad or mpamari never tells the whole truth. he went to fight nsama with muonga, and was wounded in the foot and routed, and is now glad to get out of lunda back to ujiji. _( th may.)_ complete twenty sets of lunars. _ th may, ._--mohamad bogharib told casembe that he could buy nothing, and therefore was going away, casembe replied that he had no ivory and he might go: this was sensible; he sent far and near to find some, but failed, and now confesses a truth which most chiefs hide from unwillingness to appear poor before foreigners. _ th and th may, ._--it is hot here though winter; but cold by night. casembe has sent for fish for us. news came that one of syde bin habib's men had come to chikumbi on his way to zanzibar. _ th may, ._--a thunder-shower from the east laid the dust and cooled the ground: the last shower of this season, as a similar slight shower was the finish up of the last on the th of may. _( st may._) this cannot be called a rainy month: april is the last month of the wet season, and november the first. _ nd may, ._--casembe is so slow with his fish, meal, and guides, and his people so afraid to hurry him, that i think of going off as soon as mohamad bogharib moves; he is going to chikumbi's to buy copper, and thence he will proceed to uvira to exchange that for ivory; but this is at present kept as a secret from his slaves. the way seems thus to be opening for me to go to the large lake west of uvira. i told casembe that we were going; he said to me that if in coming back i had found no travelling party, i must not risk going by nsama's road with so few people, but must go to his brother moenempanda, and he would send men to guide me to him, and thence he would send me safely by his path along lake moero: this was all very good. _ rd may, ._--the arabs made a sort of sacrifice of a goat which was cooked all at once; they sent a good dish of it to me. they read the koran very industriously, and prayed for success or luck in leaving, and seem sincerely religious, according to the light that is in them. the use of incense and sacrifices brings back the old jewish times to mind. a number of people went off to the kanengwa, a rivulet an hour south of this, to build huts; there they are to take leave of casembe, for the main body goes off to-morrow, after we have seen the new moon. they are very particular in selecting lucky days, and anything unpleasant that may have happened in one month is supposed to be avoided by choosing a different day for beginning an enterprise in the next. mohamad left uvira on the third day of a new moon, and several fires happened in his camp; he now considers a third day inauspicious. casembe's dura or sorghum is ripe to-day: he has eaten mapemba or dura, and all may thereafter do the same: this is just about the time when it ripens and is reaped at kolobeng, thus the difference in the seasons is not great. _ th may, ._--detained four days yet. casembe's chief men refuse to escort mohamad bogharib; they know him to be in debt, and fear that he may be angry, but no dunning was intended. casembe was making every effort to get ivory to liquidate it, and at last got a couple of tusks, which he joyfully gave to mohamad: he has risen much in the estimation of us all. _ th may, ._--casembe's people killed five buffaloes by chasing them into the mud and water of mofwé, so he is seeing to the division of the meat, and will take leave to-morrow. _ th may, ._--we went to casembe; he was as gracious as usual. a case of crim. con. was brought forward against an arab's slave, and an attempt was made to arrange the matter privately by offering three cloths, beads, and another slave, but the complainant refused everything. casembe dismissed the case by saying to the complainant, "you send your women to entrap the strangers in order to get a fine, but you will get nothing:" this was highly applauded by the arabs, and the owner of the slave heaped dust on his head, as many had done before for favours received. casembe, still anxious to get ivory for mohamad, proposed another delay of four days to send for it; but all are tired, and it is evident that it is not want of will that prevents ivory being produced. his men returned without any, and he frankly confessed inability: he is evidently very poor. _ th may, ._--we went to the kanengwa rivulet at the south end of mofwé, which forms a little lagoon there fifty yards broad and thigh deep; but this is not the important feeder of the lagoon, which is from two to three miles broad, and nearly four long: that has many large flat sedgy islands in it, and its water is supplied by the mbérézé from south-east. _ st may, ._--old kapika sold his young and good-looking wife for unfaithfulness, as he alleged. the sight of a lady in the chain-gang shocked the ladies of lunda, who ran to her, and having ascertained from her own mouth what was sufficiently apparent, that she was a slave now, clapped their hands on their mouths in the way that they express wonder, surprise, and horror: the hand is placed so that the fingers are on one cheek and the thumb on the other. the case of the chieftainess excited great sympathy among the people; some brought her food, kapika's daughters brought her pombe and bananas; one man offered to redeem her with two, another with three slaves, but casembe, who is very strict in punishing infidelity, said, "no, though ten slaves be offered she must go." he is probably afraid of his own beautiful queen should the law be relaxed. old kapika came and said to her, "you refused me, and i now refuse you." a young wife of old pérémbé was also sold as a punishment, but redeemed. there is a very large proportion of very old and very tall men in this district. the slave-trader is a means of punishing the wives which these old fogies ought never to have had. casembe sent me about a hundredweight of the small fish nsipo, which seems to be the whitebait of our country; it is a little bitter when cooked alone, but with ground-nuts is a tolerable relish: we can buy flour with these at chikumbi's. footnotes: [ ] chikichi nuts have been an article of trade and export for some time from zanzibar. the oil-palm grows wild in pemba. [ ] a chief named moené ungu, who admires the arabs, sent his children to zanzibar to be instructed to read and write. [ ] this bird is often brought to zanzibar by the ivory caravans. [ ] the doctor's birthday. chapter xii. prepares to examine lake bemba. starts from casembe's th june, . dead leopard. moenampanda's reception. the river luongo. weird death-song of slaves. the forest grave. lake bembo changed to lake bangweolo. chikumbi's. the imbozhwa people. kombokombo's stockade. mazitu difficulties. discovers lake bangweolo on th july, . the lake chief mapuni. description of the lake. prepares to navigate it. embarks for lifungé island. immense size of lake. reaches mpabala island. strange dream. fears of canoe men. return to shore. march back. sends letters. meets banyamweze. reviews recent explorations at length. disturbed state of country. _ st june, ._--mohamad proposes to go to katanga to buy copper, and invites me to go too. i wish to see the lufra kiver, but i must see bemba or bangweolo. grant guidance from above! _ nd june, ._--in passing a field of cassava i picked the pods of a plant called malumbi, which climbs up the cassava bushes; at the root it has a number of tubers with eyes, exactly like the potato. one plant had sixteen of these tubers, each about inches long and - / inch in diameter: another tuber was inches long and in diameter, it would be difficult for anyone to distinguish them from english potatoes. when boiled they are a little waxy, and, compared with our potato, hard. there are colours inside, the outer part reddish, the inner whiter. at first none of the party knew them, but afterwards they were recognised as cultivated at zanzibar by the name "men," and very good when mashed with fish: if in zanzibar, they are probably known in other tropical islands, _ th june, ._--from what i see of slaving, even in its best phases, i would not be a slave-dealer for the world. _ th june, ._--the queen moäri passed us this morning, going to build a hut at her plantation; she has a pleasant european countenance, clean light-brown skin, and a merry laugh, and would be admired anywhere. i stood among the cassava to see her pass; she twirled her umbrella as she came near, borne by twelve men, and seemed to take up the laugh which made her and her maids bolt at my reception, showing that she laughs not with her mouth only, but with her eyes and cheeks: she said, "yambo" (how are you)? to which i replied, "tambo sana" (very well). one of her attendants said, "give her something of what you have at hand, or in the pockets." i said, "i have nothing here," and asked her if she would come back near my hut. she replied that she would, and i duly sent for two strings of red beads, which i presented. being lower than she, i could see that she had a hole through the cartilage, near the point of her slightly aquiline nose; and a space was filed between the two front teeth, so as to leave a triangular hole. [illustration: filed teeth of queen moäri.] after delay had grown vexatious, we march three hours on the th, and reach the katofia river, covered with aquatic trees and running into the mbérézé: five yards wide and knee deep. _ th june, ._--detained again, for business is not finished with the people of casembe. the people cannot esteem the slave-trader, who is used as a means of punishing those who have family differences, as those of a wife with her husband, or a servant with his master. the slaves are said to be generally criminals, and are sold in revenge or as punishment. kapika's wife had an ornament of the end of a shell called the cone; it was borrowed and she came away with it in her hair: the owner, without making any effort to recover it, seized one of kapika's daughters as a pledge that kapika would exert himself to get it back! [at last the tedious delay came to an end and we must now follow the doctor on his way south to discover lake bemba.] _ th june, ._--crossed the mbérézé, ten yards broad and thigh deep, ascending a range of low hills of hardened sandstone, covered, as the country generally is, with forest. our course s.e. and s.s.e. then descended into a densely-wooded valley, having a rivulet four yards wide and knee deep. buffaloes and elephants very numerous. _ th june, ._--we crossed the mbérézé again twice; then a very deep narrow rivulet, and stopped at another in a mass of trees, where we spend the night, and killing an ox remained next day to eat it. when at kanengwa a small party of men came past, shouting as if they had done something of importance: on going to them, i found that two of them carried a lion slung to a pole. it was a small maneless variety, called "the lion of _nyassi_," or long grass. it had killed a man and they killed it. they had its mouth carefully strapped, and the paws tied across its chest, and were taking it to casembe. _nyassi_ means long grass, such as towers overhead, and is as thick in the stalk as a goose-quill; and is erroneously applied to nyassa. other lions--thambwé, karamo, simba, are said to stand feet high, and some higher: this seemed about feet high, but it was too dark to measure it. _ th june, ._--the arabs distinguish the suaheli, or arabs of mixed african blood, by the absence of beard and whiskers: these are usually small and stunted in the suaheli. birds, as the drongo shrike, and a bird very like the grey linnet, with a thick reddish bill, assemble in very large flocks now that it is winter, and continue thus till november, or period of the rains. a very minute bee goes into the common small holes in wormeaten wood to make a comb and lay its eggs, with a supply of honey. there are seven or eight honey-bees of small size in this country. a sphex may be seen to make holes in the ground, placing stupified insects in them with her eggs; another species watches when she goes off to get more insects, and every now and then goes in too to lay her eggs, i suppose without any labour: there does not appear to be any enmity between them. we remained a day to buy food for the party, and eat our ox. _ th june, ._--march over well-wooded highlands with dolomite rocks cropping out and trees all covered with lichens, the watershed then changed to the south. _ th june, ._--yery cold in mornings now ( °). found moenempanda, casembe's brother, on the luluputa, a stream twenty yards wide and flowing west. the moenempanda visited by the portuguese was grandfather to this one, and not at the same spot; it is useless to put down the names of chiefs as indicating geographical positions, for the name is often continued, but at a spot far distant from the dwelling of the original possessor. a slave tried to break out of his slave-stick, and actually broke half an inch of tough iron with his fingers; the end stuck in the wood, or he would have freed himself. the chief gave me a public reception, which was like that of casembe, but better managed. he is young, and very handsome but for a defect in his eyes, which makes him keep them half shut or squinting. he walked off in the jaunty way all chiefs do in this country, to show the weight of rings and beads on the legs, and many imitate this walk who have none, exactly as our fathers imitated the big cravat of george iv., who thereby hid defects in his neck: thousands carried their cravats over the chin who had no defects to hide. moenempanda carried his back stiffly, and no wonder, he had about ten yards of a train carried behind it. about people were present. they kept rank, but not step; were well armed; marimbas and square drums formed the bands, and one musician added his voice: "i have been to syde" (the sultan); "i have been to meereput" (king of portugal); "i have been to the sea." at a private reception, where he was divested of his train, and had only one umbrella instead of three, i gave him a cloth. the arabs thought highly of him; but his graciousness had been expended on them in getting into debt; he now showed no inclination to get out of it, but offered about a twentieth part of the value of the goods in liquidation. he sent me two pots of beer, which i care not to drink except when very thirsty on a march, and promised a man to guide me to chikumbi, and then refused. casembe rose in the esteem of all as moenempanda sank, and his people were made to understand how shabbily he had behaved. the lulaputa is said to flow into the luéna, and that into the luongo: there must be two luénas. _ nd june, ._--march across a grassy plain southerly to the luongo, a deep river embowered in a dense forest of trees, all covered with lichens--some flat, others long and thready, like old men's beards, and waving in the wind, just as they do on the mangrove-swamp trees on the coast. the luongo here is fifty yards broad and three fathoms deep; near its junction with the luapula it is yards; it rises here to eight fathoms' depth. a bridge of forty yards led us over to an island, and a branch of the river was ten yards beyond: the bridge had been broken, some thought on purpose, but it was soon mended with trees eighteen to twenty yards long. we went a little way beyond, and then halted for a day at a rivulet flowing into the luongo, yards off. _ rd june, ._--we waited for copper here, which was at first refused as payment of debt. i saw now that the luongo had steep clay banks fifteen feet down, and many meadows, which must be swimming during the rains. the luéna is said to rise east of this. [in a private letter livingstone shows that he had seldom been more affected by the sufferings of slaves than at this time, and it would perhaps be difficult to imagine any scene more calculated to excite misery and distress of mind. the following incident deals with the firm belief in a future state, which enters so largely into the minds of all africans, and which for very lack of guidance assumes all the distorted growths of superstition. he must be of a thankless spirit who does not long to substitute the great vision of future peace afforded by christianity, in lieu of the ghastly satisfaction which cheered these men, when he sees by the light of this story the capacity that exists for realising a life beyond the grave.] _ th june, ._--six men slaves were singing as if they did not feel the weight and degradation of the slave-sticks. i asked the cause of their mirth, and was told that they rejoiced at the idea "of coming back after death and haunting and killing those who had sold them." some of the words i had to inquire about; for instance, the meaning of the words "to haunt and kill by spirit power;" then it was, "oh, you sent me off to manga (sea-coast), but the yoke is off when i die, and back i shall come to haunt and to kill you." then all joined in the chorus, which was the name of each vendor. it told not of fun, but of the bitterness and tears of such as were oppressed, and on the side of the oppressors there was a power: there be higher than they! pérémbé was one of the culprits thus menaced. the slave-owner asked kapika's wife if she would return to kill kapika. the others answered to the names of the different men with laughter. her heart was evidently sore: for a lady to come so low down is to her grievous. she has lost her jaunty air, and is, with her head shaved, ugly; but she never forgets to address her captors with dignity, and they seem to fear her. _ th june, ._--we went over flat forest with patches of brown haematite cropping out; this is the usual iron ore, but i saw in a village pieces of specular iron-ore which had been brought for smelting. the luongo flowed away somewhat to our right or west, and the villagers had selected their site where only well-water could be found: we went ten minutes towards the luongo and got abundance. [illustration: a forest grave.] the gardens had high hedges round to keep off wild beasts. we came to a grave in the forest; it was a little rounded mound as if the occupant sat in it in the usual native way: it was strewed over with flour, and a number of the large blue beads put on it: a little path showed that it had visitors. this is the sort of grave i should prefer: to lie in the still, still forest, and no hand ever disturb my bones. the graves at home always seemed to me to be miserable, especially those in the cold damp clay, and without elbow room; but i have nothing to do but wait till he who is over all decides where i have to lay me down and die. poor mary lies on shupanga brae, "and beeks fornent the sun."[ ] came to the chando river, which is the boundary between casembe and chikumbi; but casembe is over all. _ th june, ._--we crossed a flooded marsh with the water very cold, and then the chando itself twelve feet broad and knee deep, then on to another strong brook nsénga. _ th june, ._--after service we went on up hills to a stockade of banyamwezi, on the kalomina river, and here we built our sheds; the spot is called kizinga, and is on the top of a sandstone range covered as usual with forest. the banyamwezi beat off the mazitu with their guns, while all the country people fled. the banyamwezi are decidedly uglier than the balonda and baitawa: they eat no fish, though they come from the east side of tanganyika, where fish are abundant and cheap; but though uglier, they have more of the sense of honour with traders than the aborigines. _ th june, ._--observed the "smokes" to-day, the first of the season:[ ] they obscured the whole country. _ st july, ._--i went over to chikumbi, the paramount chief of this district, and gave him a cloth, begging a man to guide me to bangweolo. he said that i was welcome to his country; all were so: i had better wait two days till he had selected a _good_ man as a guide, and he would send some food for me to eat in the journey--he would not say ten days, but only two, and his man would take me to the smaller part of the lake, and leave others to forward me to the greater or bangweolo. the smaller part is named bemba, but that name is confusing, because bemba is the name of the country in which a portion of the lake lies. when asking for lake bemba, kasongo's son said to me, "bemba is not a lake, but a country:" it is therefore better to use the name bangweolo, which is applied to the great mass of the water, though i fear that our english folks will bogle at it, or call it bungyhollow! some arabs say bambeolo as easier of pronunciation, but bangweolo is the correct word. chikumbi's stockade is - / hour s.e. of our camp at kizinga. _ nd july, ._--writing to the consul at zanzibar to send supplies of cloth to ujiji-- pieces, kiniki; merikano inches broad, or samsam. fine red beads--talaka, frasilas. i ask for soap, coffee, sugar, candles, sardines, french preserved meats, a cheese in tin, nautical almanac for and , shoes (two or four pairs), ruled paper, pencils, sealing-wax, ink, powder, flannel-serge, frasila beads, of talaka; added f. pale red, w. white. _ rd july, ._--the summary of the sources which i have resolved to report as flowing into the central line of drainage formed by the chambezé, luapula, and lualaba are thirteen in all, and each is larger than the isis at oxford, or avon at hamilton. five flow into the eastern line of drainage going through tanganyika, and five more into the western line of drainage or lufira, twenty-three or more in all. the lualaba and the lufira unite in the lake of the chief kinkonza. _ th july, ._--i borrowed some paper from mohamad bogharib to write home by some arabs going to the coast. i will announce my discovery to lord clarendon; but i reserve the parts of the lualaba and tanganyika for future confirmation. i have no doubts on the subject, for i receive the reports of natives of intelligence at first hand, and they have no motive for deceiving me. the best maps are formed from the same sort of reports at third or fourth hand. cold n.e. winds prevail at present. _ th july, ._--divided our salt that each may buy provisions for himself: it is here of more value than beads. chikumbi sent fine flour, a load for two stout men carried in a large basket slung to a pole, and a fine fat sheep, carried too because it was too fat to walk the distance from his stockade. _ th, th, and th july, ._--after delaying several days to send our guide, chikumbi said that he feared the country people would say that the ingleza brought the mazitu to them, and so blame will be given to him. i set this down as "words of pombe," beery babble; but after returning from bangweolo, i saw that he must have been preparing to attack a stockade of banyamwezi in our path, and had he given us a guide, that man would have been in danger in coming back: he therefore preferred the safety of his man to keeping his promise to me. i got a banyamwezi guide, and left on the _ th july, _, going over gently rising sandstone hills, covered with forest and seeing many deserted villages, the effects of the mazitu foray: we saw also the mazitu sleeping-places and paths. they neglect the common paths of the country as going from one village to another, and take straight courses in the direction they wish to go, treading down the grass so as to make a well-marked route, the banyamwezi expelled them, cutting off so many of them with their guns and arrows that the marauders retired. the effect of this success on the minds of the imboshwa, or imbozhwas, as chikumbi's people are called, was not gratitude, but envy at the new power sprung up among them of those who came originally as traders in copper. kombokombo's stockade, the village to which we went this day, was the first object of assault, and when we returned, he told us that chikumbi had assaulted him on three sides, but was repulsed. the banyamwezi were, moreover, much too sharp as traders for the imboshwa, cheating them unmercifully, and lying like greeks. kombokombo's stockade was on the chibérasé river, which flows briskly, eight yards broad and deep, through a mile of sponge. we came in the midst of a general jollification, and were most bountifully supplied with pombe and food. the banyamwezi acknowledge allegiance to the sultan of zanzibar, and all connected with him are respected. kombokombo pressed food and drink on me, and when i told him that i had nothing to return for it, he said that he expected nothing: he was a child of the sultan, and ought to furnish all i needed. _ th july, ._--on leaving the chibérasé we passed up over a long line of hills with many villages and gardens, but mostly deserted during the mazitu raid. the people fled into the forests on the hills, and were an easy prey to the marauders, who seem to have been unmerciful. when we descended into the valley beyond we came to a strong stockade, which had successfully resisted the onset of the mazitu; we then entered on flat forest, with here and there sponges containing plenty of water; plains succeeded the hills, and continued all the way to bangweolo. we made a fence in the forest; and next day _( th july)_ reached the rofuba, yards broad and - / feet deep, full of aquatic plants, and flowing south-west into the luongo: it had about a mile and a half of sponge on each side of it. we encamped a little south of the river. _ th july, ._--on resting at a deserted spot, the men of a village in the vicinity came to us excited and apparently drunk, and began to work themselves up still more by running about, poising their spears at us, taking aim with their bows and arrows, and making as if about to strike with their axes: they thought that we were marauders, and some plants of ground-nuts strewn about gave colour to the idea. there is usually one good soul in such rabbles. in this case a man came to me, and, addressing his fellows, said, "this is only your pombe. white man, do not stand among them, but go away," and then he placed himself between me and a portion of the assailants, about thirty of whom were making their warlike antics. while walking quietly away with my good friend they ran in front and behind bushes and trees, took aim with bow and arrow, but none shot: the younger men ran away with our three goats. when we had gone a quarter of a mile my friend told me to wait and he would bring the goats, which he did: i could not feel the inebriates to be enemies; but in that state they are the worst one can encounter, for they have no fear as they have when sober. one snatched away a fowl from our guide, that too was restored by our friend. i did not load my gun; for any accidental discharge would have inflamed them to rashness. we got away without shedding blood, and were thankful. the mazitu raid has produced lawlessness in the country: every one was taken as an enemy. _ th july, ._--we remained a day at the stockade of moiéggéa. a banyamwezi or garaganza man is settled here in kabaia's district, and on the strong rivulet called mato. we felt secure only among the strangers, and they were friendly with us. _ th july, ._--at the village on the south bank of the mpanda we were taken by the headman as mazitu. he was evidently intoxicated, and began to shut his gates with frantic gesticulations. i offered to go away; but others of his people, equally intoxicated, insisted on my remaining. i sat down a little, but seeing that the chief was still alarmed, i said to his people, "the chief objects and i can't stay:" they saw the reasonableness of this, but i could not get my cowardly attendants to come on, though one said to me, "come, i shall show you the way: we must speak nice to them." this the wise boys think the perfection of virtue, speaking nice means adopting a childish treble tone of voice and words exactly similar to those of the little scotch girl who, passing through a meadow, was approached by a cow, probably from curiosity. to appease this enemy, she said, "oh, coo, coo, if you no hurt me, i no hurt you." i told them to come on and leave them quietly, but they remained babbling with them. the guide said that there was no water in front: this i have been told too often ever to believe, so i went on through the forest, and in an hour and a half came to a sponge where, being joined by my attendants, we passed the night. _ th july, ._--crossing this sponge, and passing through flat forest, we came to another named méshwé, when there, as a contrast, the young men volunteered to carry me across; but i had got off my shoes, and was in the water, and they came along with me, showing the shallower parts. we finished the day's march by crossing the molongosi spongy ooze, with paces of deep water, flowing n.e. the water in these oozes or sponges felt very cold, though only ° in the mornings, and ° at midday. the molongosi people invited us into the village; but the forest, unless when infested with leopards and lions, is always preferable, for one is free from vermin, and free from curiosity gazers, who in the village think they have a right to stare, but in the forest feel that they are not on an equality with strangers. [it was on the th of july, , we see that dr. livingstone discovered one of the largest of the central african lakes. it is extraordinary to notice the total absence of all pride and enthusiasm, as--almost parenthetically--he records the fact.] _ th and th july, ._--reached the chief village of mapuni, near the north bank of bangweolo. on the th i walked a little way out and saw the shores of the lake for the first time, thankful that i had come safely hither. i told the chief that my goods were all expended, and gave him a fathom of calico as all i could spare: i told him that as soon as i had seen and measured the lake i would return north; he replied, that seeing our goods were done he could say nothing, he would give me guides, and what else he should do was known to himself. he gave a public reception at once. i asked if he had ever seen anyone like me, and he said, "never." a babisa traveller asked me why i had come so far; i said i wished to make the country and people better known to the rest of the world, that we were all children of one father, and i was anxious that we should know each other better, and that friendly visits should be made in safety. i told him what the queen had done to encourage the growth of cotton on the zambezi, and how we had been thwarted by slave-traders and their abettors: they were pleased with this. when asked i showed them my note-book, watch, compass, burning-glass, and was loudly drummed home. i showed them the bible, and told them a little of its contents. i shall require a few days more at bangweolo than i at first intended. the moon being in its last stage of waning i cannot observe till it is of some size. _ th july, ._--went down to masantu's village, which is on the shore of the lake, and by a spring called chipoka, which comes out of a mass of disintegrated granite. it is seldom that we see a spring welling out beneath a rock: they are covered by oozing sponges, if indeed they exist. here we had as a spectator a man walking on stilts tied to his ankles and knees. there are a great many babisa among the people. the women have their hair ornamented with strings of cowries, and well oiled with the oil and fat from the seeds of the mosikisi trees. i sent the chief a fathom of calico, and got an audience at once. masantu is an oldish man; had never prayed to the great father of all, though he said the footsteps of "mungu," or mulungu, could be seen on a part of lifungé island: a large footstep may also be seen on the rock at the chambezé, about fifteen inches long. he informed us that the lake is much the largest at the part called bangweolo. the country around the lake is all flat, and very much denuded of trees, except the motsikiri or mosikisi, which has fine dark, dense foliage, and is spared for its shade and the fatty oil yielded by its seeds: we saw the people boiling large pots full of the dark brown fat, which they use to lubricate their hair. the islands, four in number, are all flat, but well peopled. the men have many canoes, and are all expert fishermen; they are called mboghwa, but are marked on the forehead and chin as babisa, and file the teeth to points. they have many children, as fishermen usually have. _ st july, ._--canoe-men are usually extortionate, because one cannot do without them. mapuni claims authority over them, and sent to demand another fathom that he may give orders to them to go with us: i gave a hoe and a string of beads instead, but he insisted on the cloth, and kept the hoe too, as i could not afford the time to haggle. chipoka spring water at a.m. ° } lake water at same time ° } air °. chipoka spring at p.m. ° ' } lake water at same time ° } air ° '; wet bulb °. no hot fountains or earthquakes are known in this region. the bottom of the lake consists of fine white sand, and a broad belt of strong rushes, say yards wide, shows shallow water. in the afternoons quite a crowd of canoes anchor at its outer edge to angle; the hooks are like ours, but without barbs. the fish are perch chiefly, but others similar to those that appear in the other lakes are found, and two which attain the large size of feet by - / in. thickness: one is called sampa. _ nd july, ._--a very high wind came with the new moon, and prevented our going, and also the fishermen from following their calling. mapuni thought that we meant to make, an escape from him to the babisa on the south, because we were taking our goats, i therefore left them and two attendants at masantu's village to assure him. _ rd july, ._--wind still too strong to go. took lunars. _ th july, ._--wind still strong. _ th july, ._--strong s.e. wind still blowing, but having paid the canoe-men amply for four days with beads, and given masantu a hoe and beads too, we embarked at . a.m. in a fine canoe, feet long, feet deep, and feet broad. the waves were high, but the canoe was very dry and five stout men propelled her quickly towards an opening in lifungé island, on our s.e. here we stopped to wood, and i went away to look at the island, which had the marks of hippopotami and a species of jackal on it: it had hard wiry grass, some flowers, and a species of gapparidaceous tree. the trees showed well the direction of the prevailing wind to be south-east, for the branches on that side were stunted or killed, while those on the north-west ran out straight, and made the trees appear, as sailors say, lopsided: the trunks too were bent that way. the canoe-men now said that they would start, then that they would sleep here, because we could not reach the island mpabala before dark, and would not get a hut. i said that it would be sleeping out of doors only in either case, so they went. we could see the island called kisi on our east, apparently a double island, about miles off, and the tops of the trees barely visible on mpabala on our south-east. it was all sea horizon on our south and north, between lifungé and mpabala, and between lifungé and kisi. we could not go to kisi, because, as the canoe-men told us, they had stolen their canoe thence. though we decided to go, we remained awhile to let the sea go down. a hammerhead's nest on one of the trees was fully four feet high. coarse rushes show the shoals near the islands. only one shell was seen on the shores. the canoe ships much less water in this surf than our boat did in that of nyassa. the water is of a deep sea-green colour, probably from the reflection of the fine white sand of the bottom; we saw no part having the deep dark blue of nyassa, and conjecture that the depth is not great; but i had to leave our line when amoda absconded. on kisi we observed a dark square mass, which at first i took to be a low hill: it turned out to be a mass of trees (probably the place of sepulture, for the graveyards are always untouched), and shows what a dense forest this land would become were it not for the influence of men. we reached mpabala after dark. it was bitterly cold, from the amount of moisture in the air. i asked a man who came to see what the arrival was, for a hut; he said, "do strangers require huts, or ask for them at night?" he then led us to the public place of meeting, called nsaka, which is a large shed, with planks around and open spaces between, instead of walls; here we cooked a little porridge, and ate it, then i lay down on one side, with the canoe-men and my attendants at the fire in the middle, and was soon asleep, and dreamed that i had apartments in mivart's hotel. this made me feel much amused next day, for i never dream unless i am ill, or going to be ill; and of all places in the world, i never thought of mivart's hotel in my waking moments; a freak of the fancy surely, for i was not at all discontented with my fare, or apartment, i was only afraid of getting a stock of vermin from my associates. _ th july, ._--i have to stand the stare of a crowd of people at every new place for hours: all usually talk as quickly as their glib tongues can; these certainly do not belong to the tribes who are supposed to eke out their language by signs! a few indulge their curiosity in sight-seeing, but go on steadily weaving nets, or by beating bark-cloth, or in spinning cotton, others smoke their big tobacco pipes, or nurse a baby, or enjoy the heat of the bright morning sun. i walked across the north end of the island, and found it to be about one mile broad, i also took bearings of chirubi island from the eastern point of mpabala, and found from the south-east point of chirubi that there are ° of sea horizon from it to the point of departure of the luapula. chirubi is the largest of the islands, and contains a large population, possessing many sheep and goats. at the highest part of mpabala we could see the tops of the trees on kasango, a small uninhabited islet, about thirty miles distant: the tops of the trees were evidently lifted up by the mirage, for near the shore and at other parts they were invisible, even with a good glass. this uninhabited islet would have been our second stage had we been allowed to cross the lake, as it is of the people themselves; it is as far beyond it to the mainland, called manda, as from masantu's to mpabala. _ th july, ._--took lunars and stars for latitude. the canoe-men now got into a flurry, because they were told here that the kisi men had got an inkling that their canoe was here, and were coming to take it; they said to me that they would come back for me, but i could not trust thieves to be so honest. i thought of seizing their paddles, and appealing to the headmen of the island; but aware from past experience how easy it is for acknowledged thieves like them to get up a tale to secure the cheap sympathy of the soft-headed, or tender-hearted, i resolved to bear with meekness, though groaning inwardly, the loss of two of the four days for which i had paid them. i had only my coverlet to hire another canoe, and it was now very cold; the few beads left would all be required to buy food in the way back, i might have got food by shooting buffaloes, but that on foot and through grass, with stalks as thick as a goose quill, is dreadfully hard work; i had thus to return to masantu's, and trust to the distances as deduced from the time taken by the natives in their canoes for the size of the lake. we had come to mpabala at the rate of six knots an hour, and returned in the same time with six stout paddlers. the latitude was ' in a south-east course, which may give ' as the actual distance. to the sleeping-place, the islet kasango, there was at least ' more, and from thence to the mainland "manda," other '. this + + = ' as the breadth from masantu village, looking south-east. it lies in ° ' s. if we add on the half distance to this we have ° ' as the latitude of manda. the mainland to the south of mpabala is called kabendé. the land's end running south of masantu's village is the entrance to the luapula: the clearest eye cannot see across it there. i saw clouds as if of grass burning, but they were probably "kungu," an edible insect, whose masses have exactly the same appearance as they float above and on the water. from the time the canoes take to go to kabendé i believe the southern shore to be a little into ° of south latitude: the length, as inferred from canoes taking ten days to go from mpabala to the chambezé, i take to be miles, probably more. no one gave a shorter time than that. the luapula is an arm of the lake for some twenty miles, and beyond that is never narrower than from to yards, generally much broader, and may be compared with the thames at london bridge: i think that i am considerably within the mark in setting down bangweolo as miles long by broad. when told that it contained four large islands, i imagined that these would considerably diminish the watery acreage of the whole, as is said to be the case with five islands in ukerewé; but even the largest island, chirubi, does not in the least dwarf the enormous mass of the water of bangweolo. a range of mountains, named lokinga, extends from the south-east to the south-west: some small burns come down from them, but no river; this range joins the koné, or mokoné range, west of katanga, from which on one side rises the lufira, and on the other the liambai, or zambesi. the river of manda, called matanga, is only a departing and re-entering branch of the lake, also the luma and loéla rivers--some thirty yards broad--have each to be examined as springs on the south of the lake. _july th, ._--not a single case of derbyshire neck, or of elephantiasis, was observed anywhere near the lake, consequently the report we had of its extreme unhealthiness was erroneous: no muddy banks did we see, but in the way to it we had to cross so many sponges, or oozes, that the word _matopé_, mud, was quite applicable; and i suspect, if we had come earlier, that we should have experienced great difficulty in getting to the lake at all. _ th july, ._--we commenced our march back, being eager to get to chikumbi's in case mohamad should go thence to katanga. we touched at mapuni's, and then went on to the molongosi. clouds now began to cover the sky to the mpanda, which has fifteen yards of flood, though the stream itself is only five yards wide, then on to the mato and moiéggé's stockade, where we heard of chikumbi's attack on kombokombo's. moiéggé had taken the hint, and was finishing a second line of defence around his village: we reached him on the st august, , and stopped for sunday the nd: on the rd back to the rofubu, where i was fortunate enough to hire a canoe to take me over. in examining a tsetse fly very carefully i see that it has a receptacle at the root of the piercer, which is of a black or dark-red colour; and when it is squeezed, a clear fluid is pressed out at its point: the other two parts of the proboscis are its shield, and have no bulb at the base. the bulb was pronounced at the royal society to be only muscle, but it is curious that muscle should be furnished where none is needed, and withheld in the movable parts of the shield where it is decidedly needed. _ th august, ._--reach kombokombo, who is very liberal, and pressed us to stay a day with him as well as with others; we complied, and found that mohamad had gone nowhere. _ th august, ._--we found a party starting from kizinga for the coast, having our letters with them; it will take five months to reach the sea. the disturbed state of the country prevented parties of traders proceeding in various directions, and one that set off on the same day with us was obliged to return. mohamad has resolved to go to manyuema as soon as parties of his men now out return: this is all in my favour; it is in the way i want to go to see the lualaba and lufira to chowambé. the way seems opening out before me, and i am thankful. i resolved to go north by way of casembe, and guides were ready to start, so was i; but rumours of war where we were going induced me to halt to find out the truth: the guides (banyamwezi) were going to divine, by means of a cock, to see if it would be lucky to go with me at present. the rumours of danger became so circumstantial that our fence was needed: a well was dug inside, and the banyamwezi were employed to smelt copper as for the market of manyuema, and balls for war. syde bin omar soon came over the luapula from iramba, and the state of confusion induced the traders to agree to unite their forces and make a safe retreat out of the country. they objected very strongly to my going away down the right bank of the luapula with my small party, though it was in sight, so i resolved to remain till all went. _ th august, ._--the banyamwezi use a hammer shaped like a cone, without a handle. they have both kinds of bellows, one of goatskin the other of wood, with a skin over the mouth of a drum, and a handle tied to the middle of it; with these they smelt pieces of the large bars of copper into a pot, filled nearly full of wood ashes. the fire is surrounded by masses of anthills, and in these there are hollows made to receive the melted metal: the metal is poured while the pot is held with the hands, protected by wet rags. _ th august, ._--bin omar, a suaheli, came from muaboso on chambezé in six days, crossing in that space twenty-two burns or oozes, from knee to waist deep. very high and cold winds prevail at present. it was proposed to punish chikumbi when syde bin omar came, as he is in debt and refuses payment; but i go off to casembe. i learn that there is another hot fountain in the baloba country, called fungwé; this, with kapira and vana, makes three hot fountains in this region. some people were killed in my path to casembe, so this was an additional argument against my going that way. some banyamwezi report a tribe--the bonyolo--that extract the upper front teeth, like batoka; they are near loanda, and lake chipokola is there, probably the same as kinkonza. feeling my way. all the trees are now pushing out fresh young leaves of different colours: winds s.e. clouds of upper stratum n.w. _ th august, ._--kaskas began to-day hot and sultry. this will continue till rains fall. rumours of wars perpetual and near; and one circumstantial account of an attack made by the bausé. that again contradicted. _( st august, .)_ rain began here this evening, quite remarkable and exceptional, as it precedes the rains generally off the watershed by two months at least: it was a thunder shower, and it and another on the evening of the second were quite partial. * * * * * [as we shall see, he takes advantage of his late experience to work out an elaborate treatise on the climate of this region, which is exceedingly important, bearing, as it does, upon the question of the periodical floods on the rivers which drain the enormous cistern-lakes of central africa.] * * * * * the notion of a rainy zone, in which the clouds deposit their treasures in perpetual showers, has received no confirmation from my observations. in - , the rainfall was inches. in - , it amounted to inches: this is nearly the same as falls in the same latitudes on the west coast. in both years the rains ceased entirely in may, and with the exception of two partial thunder showers on the middle of the watershed, no rain fell till the middle and end of october, and then, even in november, it was partial, and limited to small patches of country; but scarcely a day passed between october and may without a good deal of thunder. when the thunder began to roll or rumble, that was taken by the natives as an indication of the near cessation of the rains. the middle of the watershed is the most humid part: one sees the great humidity of its climate at once in the trees, old and young, being thickly covered with lichens; some flat, on the trunks and branches; others long and thready, like the beards of old men waving in the wind. large orchids on the trees in company with the profusion of lichens are seen nowhere else, except in the mangrove swamps of the sea-coast. i cannot account for the great humidity of the watershed as compared with the rest of the country, but by the prevailing winds and the rains being from the south-east, and thus from the indian ocean: with this wind generally on the surface one can observe an upper strong wind from the north-west, that is, from the low humid west coast and atlantic ocean. the double strata of winds can easily be observed when there are two sheets of clouds, or when burning grass over scores of square miles sends up smoke sufficiently high to be caught by the upper or north-west wind. these winds probably meet during the heavy rains: now in august they overlap each other. the probability arises from all continued rains within the tropics coming in the opposite direction from the prevailing wind of the year. partial rains are usually from the south-east. the direction of the prevailing wind of this region is well marked on the islands in lake bangweolo: the trunks are bent away from the south-east, and the branches on that side are stunted or killed; while those on the north-west run out straight and make the trees appear lopsided. the same bend away from the south-east is seen on all exposed situations, as in the trees covering the brow of a hill. at kizinga, which is higher than the lake, the trees are covered with lichens, chiefly on the south-east sides, and on the upper surfaces of branches, running away horizontally to or from the north-west. plants and trees, which elsewhere in africa grow only on the banks of streams and other damp localities, are seen flourishing all over the country: the very rocks are covered with lichens, and their crevices with ferns. but that which demonstrates the humidity of the climate most strikingly is the number of earthen sponges or oozes met with. in going to bangweolo from kizinga, i crossed twenty-nine of these reservoirs in thirty miles of latitude, on a south-east course: this may give about one sponge for every two miles. the word "bog" conveys much of the idea of these earthen sponges; but it is inseparably connected in our minds with peat, and these contain not a particle of peat, they consist of black porous earth, covered with a hard wiry grass, and a few other damp-loving plants. in many places the sponges hold large quantities of the oxide of iron, from the big patches of brown haematite that crop out everywhere, and streams of this oxide, as thick as treacle, are seen moving slowly along in the sponge-like small red glaciers. when one treads on the black earth of the sponge, though little or no water appears on the surface, it is frequently squirted up the limbs, and gives the idea of a sponge. in the paths that cross them, the earth readily becomes soft mud, but sinks rapidly to the bottom again, as if of great specific gravity: the water in them is always circulating and oozing. the places where the sponges are met with are slightly depressed valleys without trees or bushes, in a forest country where the grass being only a foot or fifteen inches high, and thickly planted, often looks like a beautiful glade in a gentleman's park in england. they are from a quarter of a mile to a mile broad, and from two to ten or more miles long. the water of the heavy rains soaks into the level forest lands: one never sees runnels leading it off, unless occasionally a footpath is turned to that use. the water, descending about eight feet, comes to a stratum of yellow sand, beneath which there is another stratum of fine white sand, which at its bottom cakes, so as to hold the water from sinking further. it is exactly the same as we found in the kalahari desert, in digging sucking places for water for our oxen. the water, both here and there, is guided by the fine sand stratum into the nearest valley, and here it oozes forth on all sides through the thick mantle of black porous earth, which forms the sponge. there, in the desert, it appears to damp the surface sands in certain valleys, and the bushmen, by a peculiar process, suck out a supply. when we had dug down to the caked sand there years ago, the people begged us not to dig further, as the water would all run away; and we desisted, because we saw that the fluid poured in from the fine sand all round the well, but none came from the bottom or cake. two stupid englishmen afterwards broke through the cake in spite of the entreaties of the natives, and the well and the whole valley dried up hopelessly. here the water, oozing forth from the surface of the sponge mantle, collects in the centre of the slightly depressed valley which it occupies, and near the head of the depression forms a sluggish stream; but further down, as it meets with more slope, it works out for itself a deeper channel, with perpendicular banks, with, say, a hundred or more yards of sponge on each side, constantly oozing forth fresh supplies to augment its size. when it reaches rocky ground it is a perennial burn, with many aquatic plants growing in its bottom. one peculiarity would strike anyone: the water never becomes discoloured or muddy. i have seen only one stream muddied in flood, the choma, flowing through an alluvial plain in lopéré. another peculiarity is very remarkable; it is, that after the rains have entirely ceased, these burns have their largest flow, and cause inundations. it looks as if towards the end of the rainy season the sponges were lifted up by the water off their beds, and the pores and holes, being enlarged, are all employed to give off fluid. the waters of inundation run away. when the sponges are lifted up by superabundance of water, all the pores therein are opened: as the earthen mantle subsides again, the pores act like natural valves, and are partially closed, and by the weight of earth above them, the water is thus prevented from running away altogether; time also being required to wet all the sand through which the rains soak, the great supply may only find its way to the sponge a month or so after the great rains have fallen. i travelled in lunda, when the sponges were all supersaturated. the grassy sward was so lifted up that it was separated into patches or tufts, and if the foot missed the row of tufts of this wiry grass which formed the native path, down one plumped up to the thigh in slush. at that time we could cross the sponge only by the native paths, and the central burn only where they had placed bridges: elsewhere they were impassable, as they poured off the waters of inundation: our oxen were generally bogged--all four legs went down up to the body at once. when they saw the clear sandy bottom of the central burn they readily went in, but usually plunged right over head, leaving their tail up in the air to show the nervous shock they had sustained. these sponges are a serious matter in travelling. i crossed the twenty-nine already mentioned at the end of the fourth month of the dry season, and the central burns seemed then to have suffered no diminution: they were then from calf to waist deep, and required from fifteen to forty minutes in crossing; they had many deep holes in the paths, and when one plumps therein every muscle in the frame receives a painful jerk. when past the stream, and apparently on partially dry ground, one may jog in a foot or more, and receive a squirt of black mud up the thighs: it is only when you reach the trees and are off the sour land that you feel secure from mud and leeches. as one has to strip the lower part of the person in order to ford them, i found that often four were as many as we could cross in a day. looking up these sponges a bird's-eye view would closely resemble the lichen-like vegetation of frost on window panes; or that vegetation in canada-balsam which mad philosophical instrument makers _will_ put between the lenses of the object-glasses of our telescopes. the flat, or nearly flat, tops of the subtending and transverse ridges of this central country give rise to a great many: i crossed twenty-nine, a few of the feeders of bangweolo, in thirty miles of latitude in one direction. burns are literally innumerable: rising on the ridges, or as i formerly termed them mounds, they are undoubtedly the primary or ultimate sources of the zambezi, congo, and nile: by their union are formed streams of from thirty to eighty or yards broad, and always deep enough to require either canoes or bridges. these i propose to call the secondary sources, and as in the case of the nile they are drawn off by three lines of drainage, they become the head waters (the _caput_ nili) of the river of egypt. thanks to that all-embracing providence, which has watched over and enabled me to discover what i have done. there is still much to do, and if health and protection be granted i shall make a complete thing of it. [then he adds in a note a little further on:--] but few of the sponges on the watershed ever dry; elsewhere many do; the cracks in their surface are from to inches deep, with lips from to inches apart. crabs and other animals in clearing out their runs reveal what i verified by actually digging wells at kizinga and in kabuiré, and also observed in the ditches feet deep dug by the natives round many of their stockades, that the sponge rests on a stratum of fine white washed sand. these cracks afford a good idea of the effect of the rains: the partial thunder-showers of october, november, december, and even january, produce no effect on them; it is only when the sun begins to return from his greatest southern declination that the cracks close their large lips. the whole sponge is borne up, and covers an enormous mass of water, oozing forth in march and april forming the inundations. these floods in the congo, zambesi, and nile require different times to reach the sea. the bulk of the zambesi is further augmented by the greater rains finding many pools in the beds of its feeders filled in february, as soon as the sun comes north. _mem._--in apparent contradiction of the foregoing, so far as touches the sources of the zambesi, syde bin habib informed me a few days ago that he visited the sources of the liambai and of the lufira. each comes out of a fountain; the lufira one is called changozi, and is small, and in a wood of large trees s.w. of katanga; the fountain of the liambai is so large that one cannot call to a person on the other side, and he appears also very small there--the two fountains are just five hours distant from each other. he is well acquainted with the liambai (leeambye), where i first met him. lunga, another river, comes out of nearly the same spot which goes into the leuñge, kafué (?). lufira is less than kalongosi up there; that is less than or yards, and it has deep waterfalls in it. the koné range comes down north, nearly to mpméto's. mkana is the chief of the stone houses in the baloba, and he may be reached by three days of hard travelling from mpwéto's; lufira is then one long day west. as muabo refuses to show me his "mita," "miengelo," or "mpamankanana" as they are called, i must try and get to those of the baloba of mkana. senegal swallows pair in the beginning of december. _note_.--inundation. the inundation i have explained in the note on the climate as owing to the sponges being supersaturated in the greater rains, when the sun returns from his greatest southern declination, the pores are then all enlarged, and the water of inundation flows in great volume even after the rains have entirely ceased. something has probably to be learned from the rainfall at or beyond the equator, as the sun pursues his way north beyond my beat, but the process i have named accounts undoubtedly for the inundations of the congo and zambesi. the most acute of the ancients ascribed the inundation with strabo to summer rains in the south; others to snows melting on the mountains of the moon; others to the northern wind--the etesian breezes blowing directly against the mouth of the river and its current: others, with less reason, ascribed the inundation to its having its source in the ocean: herodotus and pliny to evaporation following the course of the sun. _ st september, ._--two men come from casembe--i am reported killed. the miningo-tree distils water, which falls in large drops. the luapula seen when the smoke clears off. fifty of syde bin omar's people died of small-pox in usafa. _mem._ vaccine virus. we leave on the th, east bank of moisi river, and cross the luongo on the th, the lofubu on the st october, and the kalongosi on the th. [dr. livingstone seems to have been unable to find opportunity to make daily entries at this period. all was turmoil and panic, and his life appears to have been in imminent danger. briefly we see that on his way back from the lake he found that his arab associates of the last few months had taken up casembe's cause against the devastating hordes of mazitu, who had swept down on these parts, and had repulsed them. but now a fresh complication arose! casembe and chikumbi became alarmed lest the arabs, feeling their own power, should turn upon them and possess the whole country, so they joined forces and stormed kombokombo, one of the leading arabs, and with what success we shall see. it is a fair specimen of the unaccountable complications which dog the steps of the traveller, where war is afoot, and render life a misery. he writes as follows on the th october:--] i was detained in the imbozhwa country much longer than i relished. the inroad of the mazitu, of which casembe had just heard when we reached the mofwé, was the first cause of delay: he had at once sent off men to verify the report, and requested me to remain till his messengers should return. this foray produced a state of lawlessness in the country, which was the main reason of our further detention. the imbozhwa fled before the marauders, and the banyamwezi or garaganza, who had come in numbers to trade in copper, took on themselves the duty of expelling the invaders, and this, by means of their muskets, they did effectually, then, building stockades they excited the jealousy of the imbozhwa lords of the soil who, instead of feeling grateful, hated the new power thus sprung up among them! they had suffered severely from the sharp dealing of the strangers already, and chikumbi made a determined assault on the stockade of kombokombo in vain. confusion prevailed all over the country. some banyamwezi assumed the offensive against the baüsi, who resemble the imbozhwa, but are further south, and captured and sold some prisoners: it was in this state of things that, as already mentioned, i was surrounded by a party of furious imbozhwa. a crowd stood within fifteen or twenty yards with spears poised and arrows set in the bowstrings, and some took aim at me: they took us for plunderers, and some plants of ground-nuts thrown about gave colour to their idea. one good soul helped us away--a blessing be on him and his. another chief man took us for mazitu! in this state of confusion cazembe heard that my party had been cut off: he called in moenempanda and took the field in person, in order to punish the banyamwezi, against whom he has an old grudge for killing a near relative of his family, selling baüsi, and setting themselves up as a power in his country. the two arab traders now in the country felt that they must unite their forces, and thereby effect a safe retreat. chikumbi had kept twenty-eight tusks for syde bin omar safely; but the coming of casembe might have put it out of his power to deliver up his trust in safety, for an army here is often quite lawless: each man takes to himself what he can. when united we marched from kizinga on rd september together, built fences every night to protect ourselves and about banyamwezi, who took the opportunity to get safely away. kombokombo came away from his stockade, and also part of the way, but cut away by night across country to join the parties of his countrymen who still love to trade in katanga copper. we were not molested, but came nearly north to the kalongosi. syde parted from us, and went away east to mozamba, and thence to the coast. footnotes: [ ] the allusion is to mrs. livingstone's grave. [ ] at one season the long grass which covers the face of the country catches fire. for some three months the air is consequently filled with smoke.--ed. chapter xiii. cataracts of the kalongosi. passage of the river disputed. leeches and method of detaching them. syde bin habib's slaves escape. enormous collection of tusks. iii. theory of the nile sources. tribute to miss tinné. notes on climate. separation of lake nyassa from the nile system. observations on victoria nyanza. slaves dying. repentant deserters. mohamad bogharib. enraged imbozhwa. an attack. narrow escape. renewed attack. a parley. help arrives. bin juma. march from the imbozhwa country. slaves escape. burial of syde bin habib's brother. singular custom. an elephant killed. native game-laws. rumour of baker's expedition. christmas dinners. _ th october, ._--from kizinga north the country is all covered with forest, and thrown up into ridges of hardened sandstone, capped occasionally with fine-grained clay schist. trees often appear of large size and of a species closely resembling the gum-copal tree; on the heights masukos and rhododendrons are found, and when exposed they are bent away from the south-east. animals, as buffaloes and elephants, are plentiful, but wild. rivulets numerous, and running now as briskly as brooks do after much rain in england. all on the south-western side of kalongosi are subjects of casembe, that is balunda, or imbozhwa. it was gratifying to see the banyamwezi carrying their sick in cots slung between two men: in the course of time they tired of this, and one man, who was carried several days, remained with chuma. we crossed the luongo far above where we first became acquainted with it, and near its source in urungu or usungu hills, then the lobubu, a goodly stream thirty yards broad and rapid with fine falls above our ford, which goes into kalongosi. _ th october, ._--cross the papusi, and a mile beyond the luéna of forty yards and knee deep; here we were met by about of kabanda's men, as if they were come to dispute our passage at the ford: i went over; all were civil; but had we shown any weakness they would no doubt have taken advantage of it. _ th october, ._--we came to the kalongosi, flowing over five cataracts made by five islets in a place called kabwérumé. near the mebamba a goodly rivulet joins it. _ th october, ._--we came to the kalongosi at the ford named mosolo: by pacing i found it to be yards broad, and thigh deep at the end of the dry season, it ran so strongly that it was with difficulty i could keep my feet. here at least of nsama's people stood on the opposite shore to know what we wanted. two fathoms of calico were sent over, and then i and thirty guns went over to protect the people in the ford: as we approached they retired. i went to them, and told them that i had been to nsama's, and he gave me a goat and food, and we were good friends: some had seen me there, and they now crowded to look till the arabs thought it unsafe for me to be among them: if i had come with bared skin they would have fled. all became friendly: an elephant was killed, and we remained two days buying food. we passed down between the ranges of hills on the east of moero, the path we followed when we first visited casembe. _ th and st october, ._--from the luao i went over to the chief village of muabo, and begged him to show me the excavations in his country: he declined, by saying that i came from a crowd of people, and must go to kabwabwata, and wait awhile there, meanwhile he would think what he should do, whether to refuse or invite me to come. he evidently does not wish me to see his strongholds. all his people could go into them, though over ten thousand: they are all abundantly supplied with water, and they form the storehouses for grain. _ nd october, ._--we came to kabwabwata, and i hope i may find a way to other underground houses. it is probable that they are not the workmanship of the ancestors of the present occupants, for they ascribe their formation invariably to the deity, mulungu or réza: if their forefathers had made them, some tradition would have existed of them. _ rd october, ._--syde bin habib came over from mpwéto's; he reports lualaba and lufira flowing into the lake of kinkonza. lungabalé is paramount chief of rua. mparahala horns measured three feet long and three inches in diameter at the base: this is the yellow kualata of makololo, bastard gemsbuck of the dutch. _ th, th, and th october, ._--salem bin habib was killed by the people in rua: he had put up a tent and they attacked it in the night, and stabbed him through it. syde bin habib waged a war of vengeance all through rua after this for the murder of his brother: sef's raid may have led the people to the murder. _ th october, ._--in coming north in september and october, the last months of the dry season, i crossed many burns flowing quite in the manner of our brooks at home, after a great deal of rain; here, however, the water was clear, and the banks not abraded in the least. some rivulets had a tinge of white in them, as if of felspar in disintegrating granite; some nearly stagnant burns had as if milk and water in them, and some red oxide of iron. where leeches occur they need no coaxing to bite, but fly at the white skin like furies, and refuse to let go: with the fingers benumbed, though the water is only °, one may twist them round the finger and tug, but they slip through. i saw the natives detaching them with a smart slap of the palm, and found it quite effectual. swifts, senegal swallows, and common dark-bellied swallows appeared at kizinga in the beginning of october: other birds, as drongo shrikes, a bird with a reddish bill, but otherwise like a grey linnet, keep in flocks yet. _( th december.)_ they pair now. the kite came sooner than the swallows; i saw the first at bangweolo on the th july, . _ st november, ._--at kabwabwata; we are waiting till syde comes up that we may help him. he has an enormous number of tusks and bars of copper, sufficient it seems for all his people to take forward, going and returning three times over. he has large canoes on the lake, and will help us in return. _ nd november, ._--news came yesterday from mpwéto's that twenty-one slaves had run away from syde bin habib at one time: they were rua people, and out of the chains, as they were considered safe when fairly over the lualaba, but they showed their love of liberty on the first opportunity. mpwéto is suspected to have harboured them, or helped them over the river; this will probably lead to syde attacking him, as he has done to so many chiefs in rua. in this case mpwéto will have no sympathy; he is so wanting in the spirit of friendliness to others. _ rd november, ._--sent off men to hasten syde onwards. we start in two or three days. the oldest map known to be in existence is the map of the ethiopian goldmines, dating from the time of sethos i., the father of rameses ii., long enough before the time of the bronze tablet of aristagoras, on which was inscribed the circuit of the whole earth, and all the sea and all rivers. (tylor, p. , quoted from birch's _archaeologia_, vol. xxxiv. p. .) sesostris was the first to distribute his maps. _ th november, ._--syde bin habib is said to have amassed frasilahs of ivory = lbs., and frasilahs of copper = , lbs. with one hundred carriers he requires to make four relays, or otherwise make the journey four times over at every stage. twenty-one of his slaves ran away in one night, and only four were caught again: they were not all bought, nor was the copper and ivory come at by fair means; the murder of his brother was a good excuse for plunder, murder, and capture. mpwéto is suspected of harbouring them as living on the banks of the lualaba, for they could not get over without assistance from his canoes and people. mpwéto said, "remove from me, and we shall see if they come this way." they are not willing to deliver fugitives up. syde sen£ for elmas, the only thing of the mullam or clerical order here, probably to ask if the koran authorizes him to attack mpwéto. mullam will reply, "yes, certainly. if mpwéto won't restore your slaves, take what you can by force." syde's bloodshed is now pretty large, and he is becoming afraid for his own life; if he ceases not, he will himself be caught some day. ill of fever two days. better and thankful. [whilst waiting to start for ujiji, livingstone was intently occupied on the great problem of the nile and the important part he had taken so recently in solving it: he writes at this date as follows:--] the discovery of the sources of the nile is somewhat akin in importance to the discovery of the north-west passage, which called forth, though in a minor degree, the energy, the perseverance, and the pluck of englishmen, and anything that does that is beneficial to the nation and to its posterity. the discovery of the sources of the nile possesses, moreover, an element of interest which the north-west passage never had. the great men of antiquity have recorded their ardent desires to know the fountains of what homer called "_egypt's heaven-descended spring._" sesostris, the first who in camp with his army made and distributed maps, not to egyptians only, but to the scythians, naturally wished to know the springs, says eustathius, of the river on whose banks he flourished. alexander the great, who founded a celebrated city at this river's-mouth, looked up the stream with the same desire, and so did the caesars. the great julius caesar is made by lucan to say that he would give up the civil war if he might but see the fountains of this far-famed river. nero caesar sent two centurions to examine the "_caput nili_." they reported that they saw the river rushing with great force from two rocks, and beyond that it was lost in immense marshes. this was probably "native information," concerning the cataracts of the nile and a long space above them, which had already been enlarged by others into two hills with sharp conical tops called crophi and mophi--midway between which lay the fountains of the nile--fountains which it was impossible to fathom, and which gave forth half their water to ethiopia in the south, and the other half to egypt in the north: that which these men failed to find, and that which many great minds in ancient times longed to know, has in this late age been brought to light by the patient toil and laborious perseverance of englishmen.[ ] in laying a contribution to this discovery at the feet of his countrymen, the writer desires to give all the honour to his predecessors which they deserve. the work of speke and grant is deserving of the highest commendation, inasmuch as they opened up an immense tract of previously unexplored country, in the firm belief they were bringing to light the head of the nile. no one can appreciate the difficulties of their feat unless he has gone into new country. in association with captain burton, speke came much nearer to the "coy fountains," than at the victoria nyanza, but they all turned their backs on them. mr. baker showed courage and perseverance worthy of an englishman in following out the hints given by speke and grant. but none rises higher in my estimation than the dutch lady miss tinné, who, after the severest domestic afflictions, nobly persevered in the teeth of every difficulty, and only turned away from the object of her expedition, after being assured by speke and grant that they had already discovered in victoria nyanza the sources she sought. had they not given their own mistaken views, the wise foresight by which she provided a steamer, would inevitably have led her to pull up, and by canoes to reach lake bangweolo's sources full five hundred miles south of the most southerly part of victoria nyanza. she evidently possesses some of the indomitable pluck of van tromp, whose tomb every englishman who goes to holland must see.[ ] her doctor was made a baron--were she not a dutch lady already we think she ought to be made a duchess. by way of contrast with what, if i live through it, i shall have to give, i may note some of the most prominent ideas entertained of this world-renowned river. ptolemy, a geographer who lived in the second century, and was not a king of egypt, with the most ancient maps made the nile rise from the "montes lunae," between ten and twelve south lat., by six several streams which flowed north into two lakes, situated east and west of each other. these streams flowed about west of his river rhapta, or raptus, which is probably our rovuma or louma. this was very near the truth, but the mountains of the moon cannot be identified with the lokinga, or mountains of bisa, from which many of the springs do actually arise. unless, indeed, we are nearer to the great alterations in climate which have taken place, as we are supposed to be nearer the epoch of the mammoth, aurochs, and others. snow never lay in these latitudes, on altitudes of feet above the sea. some of the ancients supposed the river to have its source in the ocean. this was like the answer we received long ago from the natives on the liambai or upper zambesi when inquiring for its source. "it rises in leoatlé, the white man's sea, or métséhula." the second name means the "_grazing water_," from the idea of the tides coming in to graze; as to the freshness of the liambai waters, they could offer no explanation. some again thought that the nile rose in western africa, and after flowing eastwards across the continent, turned northwards to egypt; others still thought that it rose in india! and others again, from vague reports collected from their slaves, made it and several other rivers rise but of a great inland sea. _achélunda_ was said to be the name of this lake, and in the language of angola, it meant the "sea." it means only "_of_" or "_belonging to lunda_," a country. it might have been a sea that was spoken of on a whole, or anything. "_nyassi, or the sea_," was another name and another blunder. "nyassi" means long grass, and nothing else. nyanza contracted into nyassa, means lake, marsh, any piece of water, or even the dry bed of a lake. the _n_ and _y_ are joined in the mouth, and never pronounced separately. the "naianza"!--it would be nearer the mark to say the nancy! of all theoretical discoverers, the man who ran in miles of lake and placed them on a height of some feet at the north-west end of lake nyassa, deserves the highest place. dr. beke, in his guess, came nearer the sources than most others, but after all he pointed out where they would not be found. old nile played the theorists a pretty prank by having his springs miles south of them all! i call mine a contribution, because it is just a hundred years ( ) since bruce, a greater traveller than any of us, visited abyssinia, and having discovered the sources of the blue nile, he thought that he had then solved the ancient problem. am i to be cut out by some one discovering southern fountains of the river of egypt, of which i have now no conception? david livingstone. [the tiresome procrastination of mohamad and his horde was not altogether an unmixed evil. with so many new discoveries in hand livingstone had an opportunity for working out several problems, and instituting comparisons between the phenomena of inner africa and the well-marked changes which go on in other parts of the world. we find him at this time summing them up as follows:--] the subject of change of climate from alteration of level has not received the investigation it deserves. mr. darwin saw reason to believe that very great alterations of altitude, and of course of climate, had taken place in south america and the islands of the pacific; the level of a country above the sea i believe he thought to be as variable as the winds. a very great alteration of altitude has also taken place in africa; this is apparent on the sea-coast of angola, and all through the centre of the country, where large rivers which once flowed southwards and westwards are no longer able to run in these directions: the general desiccation of the country, as seen in the beds of large rivers and of enormous lakes, tells the same tale. portions of the east coast have sunk, others have risen, even in the historic period. the upper or northern end of the red sea has risen, so that the place of the passage of the children of israel is now between forty and fifty miles from suez, the modern head of the gulf. this upheaval, and not the sand from the desert, caused the disuse of the ancient canal across the isthmus: it took place since the mohamadan conquest of egypt. the women of the jewish captivities were carried past the end of the red sea and along the mediterranean in ox-waggons, where such cattle would now all perish for want of water and pasture; in fact, the route to assyria would have proved more fatal to captives then than the middle passage has been to africans since. it may be true that, _as the desert is now_, it could not have been traversed by the multitude under moses--the german strictures put forth by dr. colenso, under the plea of the progress of science, assume that no alteration has taken place in either desert or climate--but a scientific examination of the subject would have ascertained what the country was then when it afforded pasture to "flocks and herds, and even very much cattle." we know that eziongeber was, with its docks, on the seashore, with water in abundance for the ship-carpenters: it is now far from the head of the elaic gulf in a parched desert. aden, when visited by the portuguese balthazar less than years ago, was a perfect garden; but it is now a vast conglomeration of black volcanic rocks, with so little vegetation, that, on seeing flocks of goats driven out, i thought of the irish cabman at an ascent slamming the door of his cab and whispering to his fare, "whish, it's to desave the baste: he thinks that you are out walking." gigantic tanks in great numbers and the ruins of aqueducts appear as relics of the past, where no rain now falls for three or more years at a time. they have all dried up by a change of climate, possibly similar and cotemporaneous with that which has dried up the dead sea. the journey of ezra was undertaken after a fast at the river ahava. with nearly , people he had only about beasts of burden. he was ashamed to ask a band of soldiers and horsemen for protection in the way. it took about four months to reach jerusalem; this would give five and a half or six miles a day, as the crow flies, which is equal to twelve or fifteen miles of surface travelled over; this bespeaks a country capable of yielding both provisions and water, such as cannot now be found. ezra would not have been ashamed to ask for camels to carry provisions and water had the country been as dry as it is now. the prophets, in telling all the woes and miseries of the captivities, never allude to suffering or perishing by thirst in the way, or being left to rot in the route as african slaves are now in a well-watered country. had the route to assyria been then as it is now, they could scarcely have avoided referring to the thirst of the way; but everything else is mentioned except that. respecting this system of lakes in the centre of africa, it will possibly occur to some that lake nyassa may give a portion of its water off from its northern end to the nile, but this would imply a lake giving off a river at both ends; the country, too, on the north-north-west and north-east rises to from to feet above the sea, and there is not the smallest indication that nyassa and tanganyika were ever connected. lake liemba is the most southerly part of tanganyika; its latitude is ° ' south; the most northerly point of lake nyassa is probably ° '- ° ' = ° '. longitude of liemba ° '- ° ' = ° ' = ' of longitude. of latitude ' + ' = ', two-thirds of which is about ', the distance between two lakes; and no evidence of fissure, rent, or channel now appears on the highland between. again, liemba is feet above the sea. the altitude of nyassa is /x feet. tanganyika would thus go to nyassa--down the shiré into the zambesi and the sea, if a passage existed even below ground. the large lake, said to exist to the north-west of tanganyika might, however, send a branch to the nile; but the land rises up into a high ridge east of this lake. it is somewhat remarkable that the impression which intelligent suaheli, who have gone into karagwé, have received is, that the kitangulé flows from tanganyika into lake ukerewé. one of syde bin omar's people put it to me very forcibly the other day by saying, "kitangulé is an arm of tanganyika!" he had not followed it out; but that dagara, the father of rumanyika, should have in his lifetime seriously proposed to deepen the upper part of it, so as to allow canoes to pass from his place to ujiji, is very strong evidence of the river being large on the tanganyika side. we know it to be of good size, and requiring canoes on the ukerewé side. burton came to the very silly conclusion that when a native said a river ran one way, he meant that it flowed in the opposite direction. ujiji, in rumanyika's time, was the only mart for merchandise in the country. garaganza or galaganza has most trade and influence now. (_ th sept., ._) okara is the name by which victoria nyanza is known on the eastern side, and an arm of it, called kavirondo, is about forty miles broad. lake baringo is a distinct body of water, some fifty miles broad, and giving off a river called ngardabash, which flows eastwards into the somauli country. lake naibash is more to the east than kavirondo, and about fifty miles broad too: it gives off the river kidété, which is supposed to flow into lufu. it is south-east of kavirondo; and kilimanjaro can be seen from its shores; in the south-east okara, naibash and baringo seem to have been run by speke into one lake. okara, in the south, is full of large islands, and has but little water between them; that little is encumbered with aquatic vegetation called "tikatika," on which, as in lakelet gumadona, a man can walk. waterlilies and duckweed are not the chief part of this floating mass. in the north okara is large. burukineggé land is the boundary between the people of kavirondo and the gallahs with camels and horses. _ th november, ._--copied several notes written at kizinga and elsewhere, and at kabwabwata resume journal. some slight showers have cooled the air a little: this is the hottest time of the year. _ th november, ._--a heavier shower this morning will have more of the same effect. _ th november, ._--muabo visited this village, but refuses to show his underground houses. _ th november, ._--i was on the point of starting without mohamad bogharib, but he begged me not to go till he had settled some weighty matter about a wife he is to get at ujiji from mpamari; we must have the new moon, which will appear in three days, for lucky starting, and will leave syde bin habib at chisabi's. meanwhile two women slaves ran away, and syde has got only five back of his twenty-one fugitives. mullam was mild with his decisions, and returned here; he informed me that many of syde's slaves, about forty, fled. of those who cannot escape many die, evidently broken-hearted; they are captives, and not, as slaves often are, criminals sold for their guilt, hence the great mortality caused by being taken to the sea to be, as they believe, fatted and eaten. poor things! heaven help them! ujiji is the pronunciation of the banyamwezi; and they call the people wayeiyé, exactly as the same people styled themselves on the river zougha, near ngami. [it will be remembered that several of his men refused to go to lake bangweolo with him: they seem now to have thought better of it, and on his return are anxious to come back to their old master who, for his part, is evidently willing to overlook a good deal.] i have taken all the runaways back again; after trying the independent life they will behave better. much of their ill conduct may be ascribed to seeing that after the flight of the johanna men i was entirely dependent on them: more enlightened people often take advantage of men in similar circumstances; though i have seen pure africans come out generously to aid one abandoned to their care. i have faults myself. _ th november, ._--the arabs have some tradition of the emir musa coming as far south as the jagga country. some say he lived n.e. of sunna, now mtéza; but it is so mixed up with fable and tales of the genii (mageni), that it cannot refer to the great moses, concerning whose residence at meröe and marriage of the king of ethiopia's daughter there is also some vague tradition further north: the only thing of interest to me is the city of meröe, which is lost, and may, if built by ancient egyptians, still be found. the africans all beckon with the hand, to call a person, in a different way from what europeans do. the hand is held, as surgeons say, _prone_, or palm down, while we beckon with the hand held _supine_, or palm up: it is quite natural in them, for the idea in their mind is to lay the hand on the person and draw him towards them. if the person wished for is near, say forty yards off, the beckoner puts out his right hand on a level with his breast, and makes the motion of catching the other by shutting the fingers and drawing him to himself: if the person is further off, this motion is exaggerated by lifting up the right hand as high as he can; he brings it down with a sweep towards the ground, the hand being still held prone as before. in nodding assent they differ from us by lifting up the chin instead of bringing it down as we do. this lifting up the chin looks natural after a short usage therewith, and is perhaps purely conventional, not natural, as the other seems to be. _ th november, ._--i am tired out by waiting after finishing the journal, and will go off to-morrow north. simon killed a zebra after i had taken the above resolution, and this supply of meat makes delay bearable, for besides flesh, of which i had none, we can buy all kinds of grain and pulse for the next few days. the women of the adjacent villages crowd into this as soon as they hear of an animal killed, and sell all the produce of their plantations for meat. _ th november, ._--it is said that on the road to the great salt lake in america the bones and skulls of animals lie scattered everywhere, yet travellers are often put to great straits for fuel: this, if true, is remarkable among a people so apt in turning everything to account as the americans. when we first steamed up the river shiré our fuel ran out in the elephant marsh, where no trees exist, and none could be reached without passing through many miles on either side of impassable swamp, covered with reeds, and intersected everywhere with deep branches of the river. coming to a spot where an elephant had been slaughtered, i at once took the bones on board, and these, with the bones of a second elephant, enabled us to steam briskly up to where wood abounded. the scythians, according to herodotus, used the bones[ ] of the animal sacrificed to boil the flesh, the guachos of south america do the same when they have no fuel: the ox thus boils himself. _ th november, ._--a pretty little woman ran away from her husband, and came to "mpamari." her husband brought three hoes, a checked cloth, and two strings of large neck beads to redeem her; but this old fellow wants her for himself, and by native law he can keep her as his slave-wife. slave-owners make a bad neighbourhood, for the slaves, are always running away and the headmen are expected to restore the fugitives for a bit of cloth. an old woman of mpmari fled three times; she was caught yesterday, and tied to a post for the young slaves to plague her. her daughter burst into an agony of tears on seeing them tying her mother, and mpamari ordered her to be tied to the mother's back for crying; i interceded for her, and she was let go. he said, "you don't care, though sayed majid loses his money." i replied, "let the old woman go, she will be off again to-morrow." but they cannot bear to let a slave have freedom. i don't understand what effect his long prayers and prostrations towards the "kibla" have on his own mind, they cannot affect the minds of his slaves favourably, nor do they mine, though i am as charitable as most people. _ th november, ._--i prepared to start to-day, but mohamad bogharib has been very kind, and indeed cooked meals for me from my arrival at casembe's, th may last, till we came here, nd october; the food was coarse enough, but still it was food; and i did not like to refuse his genuine hospitality. he now begged of me not to go for three days, and then he would come along with me! mpamari also entreated. i would not have minded him, but they have influence with the canoe-men on tanganyika, and it is well not to get a bad name if possible. _ th november, ._--mohamad bogharib purposed to attack two villages near to this, from an idea that the people there concealed his runaway slaves; by remaining i think that i have put a stop to this, as he did not like to pillage while i was in company: mpamari also turned round towards peace, though he called all the riff-raff to muster, and caracoled among them like an old broken-winded horse. one man became so excited with yelling, that the others had to disarm him, and he then fell down as if in a fit; water poured on his head brought him to calmness. we go on the nd. _ nd november, ._--this evening the imbozhwa, or babemba, came at dusk, and killed a wanyamwezi woman on one side of the village, and a woman and child on the other side of it. i took this to be the result of the warlike demonstration mentioned above; but one of mohamad bogharib's people, named bin juma, had gone to a village on the north of this and seized two women and two girls, in lieu of four slaves who had run away. the headman, resenting this, shot an arrow into one of bin junta's party, and bin juma shot a woman with his gun. this, it turned out, had roused the whole country, and next morning we were assailed by a crowd of imbozhwa on three sides: we had no stockade, but the men built one as fast as the enemy allowed, cutting down trees and carrying them to the line of defence, while others kept the assailants at bay with their guns. had it not been for the crowd of banyamwezi which we have, who shot vigorously with their arrows, and occasionally chased the imbozhwa, we should have been routed. i did not go near the fighting, but remained in my house to defend my luggage if necessary. the women went up and down the village with sieves, as if winnowing, and singing songs, and lullilooing, to encourage their husbands and friends who were fighting, each had a branch of the ficus indica in her hand, which she waved, i suppose as a charm. about ten of the imbozhwa are said to have been killed, but dead and wounded were at once carried off by their countrymen. they continued the assault from early dawn till p.m., and showed great bravery, but they wounded only two with their arrows. their care to secure the wounded was admirable: two or three at once seized the fallen man, and ran off with him, though pursued by a great crowd of banyamwezi with spears, and fired at by the suaheli--victoria-cross fellows truly many of them were! those who had a bunch of animals' tails, with medicine, tied to their waists, came sidling and ambling up to near the unfinished stockade, and shot their arrows high up into the air, to fall among the wanyamwezi, then picked up any arrows on the field, ran back, and returned again. they thought that by the ambling gait they avoided the balls, and when these whistled past them they put down their heads, as if to allow them to pass over; they had never encountered guns before. we did not then know it, but muabo, phuta, ngurué, sandaruko, and chapi, were the assailants, for we found it out by the losses each of these five chiefs sustained. it was quite evident to me that the suaheli arabs were quite taken aback by the attitude of the natives; they expected them to flee as soon as they heard a gun fired in anger, but instead of this we were very nearly being cut off, and should have been but for our banyamwezi allies. it is fortunate that the attacking party had no success in trying to get mpwéto and karembwé to join them against us, or it would have been more serious still. _ th november, ._--the imbozhwa, or babemba rather, came early this morning, and called on mohamad to come out of his stockade if he were a man who could fight, but the fence is now finished, and no one seems willing to obey the taunting call: i have nothing to do with it, but feel thankful that i was detained, and did not, with my few attendants, fall into the hands of the justly infuriated babemba. they kept up the attack to-day, and some went out to them, fighting till noon: when a man was killed and not carried off, the wanyamwezi brought his head and put it on a pole on the stockade--six heads were thus placed. a fine young man was caught and brought in by the wanyamwezi, one stabbed him behind, another cut his forehead with an axe, i called in vain to them not to kill him. as a last appeal, he said to the crowd that surrounded him, "don't kill me, and i shall take you to where the women are." "you lie," said his enemies; "you intend to take us where we may be shot by your friends;" and they killed him. it was horrible: i protested loudly against any repetition of this wickedness, and the more sensible agreed that prisoners ought not to be killed, but the banyamwezi are incensed against the babemba because of the women killed on the nd. _ th november, ._--the babemba kept off on the third day, and the arabs are thinking it will be a good thing if we get out of the country unscathed. men were sent off on the night of the rd to syde bin habib for powder and help. mohamad bogharib is now unwilling to take the onus of the war: he blames mpamari, and mpamari blames him; i told mohamad that the war was undoubtedly his work, inasmuch as bin juma is his man, and he approved of his seizing the women. he does not like this, but it is true; he would not have entered a village of casembe or moamba or chikumbi as he did chapi's man's village: the people here are simply men of more metal than he imagined, and his folly in beginning a war in which, if possible, his slaves will slip through his hands is apparent to all, even to himself. syde sent four barrels of gunpowder and ten men, who arrived during last night. _ th november, ._--two of muabo's men came over to bring on a parley; one told us that he had been on the south side of the village before, and heard one man say to another "mo pigé" (shoot him). mpamari gave them a long oration in exculpation, but it was only the same everlasting, story of fugitive slaves. the slave-traders cannot prevent them from escaping, and impudently think that the country people ought to catch them, and thus be their humble servants, and also the persecutors of their own countrymen! if they cannot keep them, why buy them--why put their money into a bag with holes? it is exactly what took place in america--slave-owners are bad neighbours everywhere. canada was threatened, england browbeaten, and the northerners all but kicked on the same score, and all as if property in slaves had privileges which no other goods have. to hear the arabs say of the slaves after they are fled, "oh, they are bad, bad, very bad!" (and they entreated me too to free them from the yoke), is, as the young ladies say, "too absurd." the chiefs also who do not apprehend fugitives, they too are "bad." i proposed to mohamad bogharib to send back the women seized by bin juma, to show the babemba that he disapproved of the act and was willing to make peace, but this was too humiliating; i added that their price as slaves was four barrels of gunpowder or dollars, while slaves lawfully bought would have cost him only eight or ten yards of calico each. at the conclusion of mpamari's speech the four barrels of gunpowder were exhibited, and so was the koran, to impress them (muabo's people) with an idea of their great power. _ th and th november, ._--it is proposed to go and force our way if we can to the north, but all feel that that would be a fine opportunity for the slaves to escape, and they would not be loth to embrace it; this makes it a serious matter, and the koran is consulted at hours which are auspicious. _ th november, ._--messengers sent to muabo to ask a path, or in plain words protection from him; mpamari protests his innocence of the whole affair. _ st december, ._--muabo's people over again; would fain send them to make peace with chapi! _ nd december, ._--the detention is excessively vexatious to me. muabo sent three slaves as offers of peace--a fine self-imposed, but he is on our south side, and we wish to go north. _ rd december, ._--a party went to-day to clear the way to the north, but were warmly received by babemba with arrows; they came back with one woman captured, and they say that they killed one man: one of themselves is wounded, and many others in danger: others who went east were shot at, and wounded too. _ th december, ._--a party went east, and were fain to flee from the babemba, the same thing occurred on our west, and to-day _( th)_ all were called to strengthen the stockade for fear that the enemy may enter uninvited. the slaves would certainly flee, and small blame to them though they did. mpamari proposed to go off north by night, but his people objected, as even a child crying would arouse the babemba, and reveal the flight, so finally he sent off to ask syde what he ought to do, whether to retire by day or by night; probably entreating syde to come and protect him. a sort of idol is found in every village in this part, it is of wood, and represents the features, markings and fashion of the hair of the inhabitants: some have little huts built for them--others are in common houses. the babemba call them _nkisi_ ("sancan" of the arabs): the people of rua name one _kalubi_; the plural, _tulubi_; and they present pombe, flour, bhang, tobacco, and light a fire for them to smoke by. they represent the departed father or mother, and it is supposed that they are pleased with the offerings made to their representatives, but all deny that they pray to them. casembe has very many of these nkisi; one with long hair, and named _motombo_, is carried in front when he takes the field; names of dead chiefs are sometimes given to them. i have not met with anyone intelligent enough to explain if prayers are ever made to anyone; the arabs who know their language, say they have no prayers, and think that at death there is an end of the whole man, but other things lead me to believe this is erroneous. slaves laugh at their countrymen, in imitation of their masters, and will not reveal their real thoughts: one said that they believed in two superior beings--réza above, who kills people, and réza below, who carries them away after death. _ th december, ._--ten of syde bin habib's people came over, bringing a letter, the contents of which neither mpamari nor mohamad cares to reveal. some think, with great probability, that he asks, "why did you begin a war if you wanted to leave so soon? did you not know that the country people would take advantage of your march, encumbered as you will be by women and slaves?" mohamad bogharib called me to ask what advice i could give him, as all his own advice, and devices too, had been lost or were useless, and he did not know what to do. the banyamwezi threatened to go off by night and leave him, as they are incensed against the babemba, and offended because the arabs do not aid them in wreaking their vengeance upon them. i took care not to give any advice, but said, if i had been or was in his place, i would have sent or would send back bin juma's captives, to show that i disapproved of his act--the first in the war--and was willing to make peace with chapi. he said that he did not know that bin juma would capture these people; that bin juma had met some natives with fish, and took ten by force, that the natives, in revenge, caught three banyamwezi slaves, and bin juma then gave one slave to them as a fine, but mohamad did not know of this affair either. i am of opinion, however, that he was fully aware of both matters, and mpamari's caracoling showed that he knew it all, though now he denies it. bin juma is a long, thin, lanky suaheli, six feet two high, with a hooked nose and large lips: i told mohamad that if he were to go with us to manyuema, the whole party would be cut off. he came here, bought a slave-boy, and allowed him to escape; then browbeat chapi's man about him (and he says, three others); and caught ten in lieu of him, of which mohamad restored six: this was the origin of the war. now that we are in the middle of it, i must do as mohamad does in going off either by day or by night. it is unreasonable to ask my advice now, but it is felt that they have very unjustifiably placed me in a false position, and they fear that syed majid will impute blame to them, meanwhile syde bin habib sent a private message to me to come with his men to him, and leave this party. i perceive that the plan now is to try and clear our way of chapi, and then march, but i am so thoroughly disgusted with this slave-war, that i think of running the risk of attack by the country people, and go off to-morrow without mohamad bogharib, though i like him much more than i do mpamari or syde bin habib. it is too glaring hypocrisy to go to the koran for guidance while the stolen women, girls, and fish, are in bin juma's hands. _ th and th december, ._--i had to wait for the banyamwezi preparing food: mohamad has no authority over them, or indeed over anyone else. two babemba men came in and said that they had given up fighting, and begged for their wives, who had been captured by syde's people on their way here: this reasonable request was refused at first, but better counsels prevailed, and they were willing to give something to appease the anger of the enemy, and sent back six captives, two of whom were the wives prayed for. [at last he makes a start on the th of december with the arabs, who are bound eastwards for ujiji. it is a motley group, composed of mohamad and his friends, a gang of unyamwezi hangers-on, and strings of wretched slaves yoked together in their heavy slave-sticks. some carry ivory, others copper, or food for the march, whilst hope and fear, misery and villainy, may be read off on the various faces that pass in line out of this country, like a serpent dragging its accursed folds away from the victim it has paralysed with its fangs.] * * * * * _ th december, ._--we marched four hours unmolested by the natives, built a fence, and next day crossed the lokinda river and its feeder the mookosi; here the people belonged to chisabi, who had not joined the other babemba. we go between two ranges of tree-covered mountains, which are continuations of those on each side of moero. _ th december, ._--the tiresome tale of slaves running away was repeated again last night by two of mpamari's making off, though in the yoke, and they had been with him from boyhood. not one good-looking slave-woman is now left of mohamad bogharib's fresh slaves; all the pretty ones obtain favour by their address, beg to be unyoked, and then escape. four hours brought us to many villages of chisabi and the camp of syde bin habib in the middle of a set-in rain, which marred the demonstration at meeting with his relative mpamari; but the women braved it through, wet to the skin, and danced and lullilooed with "draigled" petticoats with a zeal worthy of a better cause, as the "penny-a-liners" say. it is the custom for the trader who receives visitors to slaughter goats, and feed all his guests for at least two days, nor was syde wanting in this hospitality, though the set-in rain continuing, we did not enjoy it as in fine weather. _ th december, ._--cotton-grass and brackens all over the country show the great humidity of marungu. rain daily; but this is not the great rain which falls when the sun comes back south over our heads. _ th december, ._--march two hours only to the range of tamba. a pretty little light-grey owl, called "nkwékwé," was killed by a native as food; a black ring round its face and its black ears gave it all the appearance of a cat, whose habits it follows. _ th to th december, ._--a brother of syde bin habib died last night: i had made up my mind to leave the whole party, but syde said that chisabi was not to be trusted, and the death of his brother having happened, it would not be respectful to leave him to bury his dead alone. six of his slaves fled during the night--one, the keeper of the others. a mobemba man, who had been to the coast twice with him, is said to have wished a woman who was in the chain, so he loosed five out, and took her off; the others made clear heels of it, and now that the grass is long and green, no one can trace their course. syde told me that the slaves would not have detained him, but his brother's death did. we buried the youth, who has been ill three months. mpamari descended into the grave with four others; a broad cloth was held over them horizontally, and a little fluctuation made, as if to fan those who were depositing the body in the side excavation made at the bottom: when they had finished they pulled in earth, and all shoved it towards them till the grave was level. mullam then came and poured a little water into and over the grave, mumbled a few prayers, at which mpamari said aloud to me, "mullam does not let his voice be heard;" and mullam smiled to me, as if to say, "loud enough for all i shall get:" during the ceremony the women were all wailing loudly. we went to the usual sitting-place, and shook hands with syde, as if receiving him back again into the company of the living. syde told me previously to this event that he had fought the people who killed his elder brother salem bin habib, and would continue to fight them till all their country was spoiled and a desolation: there is no forgiveness with moslems for bloodshed. he killed many, and took many slaves, ivory, and copper: his tusks number over , many of large size. _ th and th december, ._--to chisabi's village stockade, on the left bank of the lofunso, which flows in a marshy valley three miles broad. eight of mohamad bogharib's slaves fled by night, one with his gun and wife; a, large party went in search, but saw nothing of them. to-day an elephant was killed, and they sent for the meat, but chisabi ordered the men to let his meat alone: experience at kabwabwata said, "take the gentle course," so two fathoms of calico and two hoes were sent to propitiate the chief; chisabi then demanded half the meat and one tusk: the meat was given, but the tusk was mildly refused: he is but a youth, and this is only the act of his counsellors. it was replied that casembe, chikumbi, nsama, meréré, made no demand at all: his counsellors have probably heard of the portuguese self-imposed law, and wish to introduce it here, but both tusks were secured. _ nd december, ._--we crossed the lofunso river, wading three branches, the first of forty-seven yards, then the river itself, fifty yards, and neck deep to men and women of ordinary size. two were swept away and drowned; other two were rescued by men leaping in and saving them, one of whom was my man susi. a crocodile bit one person badly, but was struck, and driven off. two slaves escaped by night; a woman loosed her husband's yoke from the tree, and got clear off. _ th december, ._--five sick people detain us to-day; some cannot walk from feebleness and purging brought on by sleeping on the damp ground without clothes. syde bin habib reports a peculiar breed of goats in rua, remarkably short in the legs, so much so, that they cannot travel far; they give much milk, and become very fat, but the meat is indifferent. gold is found at katanga in the pool of a waterfall only: it probably comes from the rocks above this. his account of the lofu, or, as he says, west lualaba, is identical with that of his cousin, syde bin omar; it flows north, but west of lufira, into the lake of kinkonza, so named after the chief. the east lualaba becomes very large, often as much as six or eight miles broad, with many inhabited islands, the people of which, being safe from invasion, are consequently rapacious and dishonest, and their chiefs, moengé and nyamakunda, are equally lawless. a hunter, belonging to syde, named kabwebwa, gave much information gleaned during his hunting trips; for instance, the lufira has nine feeders of large size; and one, the lekulwé, has also nine feeders; another, the kisungu, is covered with, "tikatika," by which the people cross it, though it bends under their weight; he also ascribes the origin of the lufira and the lualaba west, or lofu, with the liambai to one large earthen mound, which he calls "segulo," or an anthill! _ th december, , christmas day._--we can buy nothing except the very coarsest food--not a goat or fowl--while syde, having plenty of copper, can get all the luxuries. we marched past mount katanga, leaving it on our left, to the river kapéta, and slaughtered a favourite kid to make a christmas dinner. a trading-party came up from ujiji; they said that we were ten camps from tanganyika. they gave an erroneous report that a steamer with a boat in tow was on lake chowambé--an english one, too, with plenty of cloth and beads on board. a letter had come from abdullah bin salem, moslem missionary at mtésa's, to ujiji three months ago with this news. _ th december, ._--we marched up an ascent - / hours, and got on to the top of one of the mountain ridges, which generally run n. and s. three hours along this level top brought us to the kibawé river, a roaring rivulet beside villages. there were no people on the height over which we came, though the country is very fine--green and gay with varying shades of that colour. we passed through patches of brackens five feet high and gingers in flower, and were in a damp cloud all day. now and then a drizzle falls in these parts, but it keeps all damp only, and does not show in the rain-gauge. neither sun nor stars appear. _ th and th december, ._--remain on sunday, then march and cross five rivulets about four yards wide and knee deep, going to the lofunso. the grass now begins to cover and hide the paths; its growth is very rapid: blobs of water lie on the leaves all day, and keep the feet constantly wet by falling as we pass. _ th december, ._--we kept well on the ridge between two ranges of hills; then went down, and found a partially-burned native stockade, and lodged in it; the fires of the ujiji party had set the huts on fire after the party left. we are in the itandé district at the nswiba river. _ th december, ._--we now went due east, and made a good deal of easting too from mount katanga on the lofunso, and crossed the river lokivwa, twelve yards wide, and very deep, with villages all about. we ascended much as we went east. very high mountains appeared on the n.w. the woods dark gieen, with large patches of a paler hue. _ st december, ._--we reached the lofuko yesterday in a pelting rain; not knowing that the camp with huts was near, i stopped and put on a bernouse, got wet, and had no dry clothes. remain to-day to buy food. clouds cover all the sky from n.w. the river, thirty yards wide, goes to tanganyika east of this. scenery very lovely. footnotes: [ ] in linant reached ° ' n. on the white nile. in the second egyptian, under d'arnauld and sabatier, explored the river to ° ' n., and jomard published his work on limmoo and the river habaiah. dr. beke and mr. d'abbadie contributed their share to making the nile better known. brun rollet established a trading station in at belema on the nile at ° n. lat. [ ] miss tinné succumbed to the dangers of african travelling before livingstone penned these just words of appreciation. [ ] ezek. xxiv. . end of vol. i. none how i found livingstone travels, adventures and discoveries in central africa including four months residence with dr. livingstone by sir henry m. stanley, g.c.b. abridged chapter i.-- introductory. my instructions to find and relieve livingstone. on the sixteenth day of october, in the year of our lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, i was in madrid, fresh from the carnage at valencia. at a.m. jacopo, at no.-- calle de la cruz, handed me a telegram: it read, "come to paris on important business." the telegram was from mr. james gordon bennett, jun., the young manager of the 'new york herald.' down came my pictures from the walls of my apartments on the second floor; into my trunks went my books and souvenirs, my clothes were hastily collected, some half washed, some from the clothes-line half dry, and after a couple of hours of hasty hard work my portmanteaus were strapped up and labelled "paris." at p.m. i was on my way, and being obliged to stop at bayonne a few hours, did not arrive at paris until the following night. i went straight to the 'grand hotel,' and knocked at the door of mr. bennett's room. "come in," i heard a voice say. entering, i found mr. bennett in bed. "who are you?" he asked. "my name is stanley," i answered. "ah, yes! sit down; i have important business on hand for you." after throwing over his shoulders his robe-de-chambre mr. bennett asked, "where do you think livingstone is?" "i really do not know, sir." "do you think he is alive?" "he may be, and he may not be," i answered. "well, i think he is alive, and that he can be found, and i am going to send you to find him." "what!" said i, "do you really think i can find dr livingstone? do you mean me to go to central africa?" "yes; i mean that you shall go, and find him wherever you may hear that he is, and to get what news you can of him, and perhaps"--delivering himself thoughtfully and deliberately--"the old man may be in want:--take enough with you to help him should he require it. of course you will act according to your own plans, and do what you think best--but find livingstone!" said i, wondering at the cool order of sending one to central africa to search for a man whom i, in common with almost all other men, believed to be dead, "have you considered seriously the great expense you are likely, to incur on account of this little journey?" "what will it cost?" he asked abruptly. "burton and speke's journey to central africa cost between £ , and £ , , and i fear it cannot be done under £ , ." "well, i will tell you what you will do. draw a thousand pounds now; and when you have gone through that, draw another thousand, and when that is spent, draw another thousand, and when you have finished that, draw another thousand, and so on; but, find livingstone." surprised but not confused at the order--for i knew that mr. bennett when once he had made up his mind was not easily drawn aside from his purpose--i yet thought, seeing it was such a gigantic scheme, that he had not quite considered in his own mind the pros and cons of the case; i said, "i have heard that should your father die you would sell the 'herald' and retire from business." "whoever told you that is wrong, for there is not, money enough in new york city to buy the 'new york herald.' my father has made it a great paper, but i mean to make it greater. i mean that it shall be a newspaper in the true sense of the word. i mean that it shall publish whatever news will be interesting to the world at no matter what cost." "after that," said i, "i have nothing more to say. do you mean me to go straight on to africa to search for dr. livingstone?" "no! i wish you to go to the inauguration of the suez canal first, and then proceed up the nile. i hear baker is about starting for upper egypt. find out what you can about his expedition, and as you go up describe as well as possible whatever is interesting for tourists; and then write up a guide--a practical one--for lower egypt; tell us about whatever is worth seeing and how to see it. "then you might as well go to jerusalem; i hear captain warren is making some interesting discoveries there. then visit constantinople, and find out about that trouble between the khedive and the sultan. "then--let me see--you might as well visit the crimea and those old battle-grounds, then go across the caucasus to the caspian sea; i hear there is a russian expedition bound for khiva. from thence you may get through persia to india; you could write an interesting letter from persepolis. "bagdad will be close on your way to india; suppose you go there, and write up something about the euphrates valley railway. then, when you have come to india, you can go after livingstone. probably you will hear by that time that livingstone is on his way to zanzibar; but if not, go into the interior and find him. if alive, get what news of his discoveries you can; and if you find he is dead, bring all possible proofs of his being dead. that is all. good-night, and god be with you." "good-night, sir," i said, "what it is in the power of human nature to do i will do; and on such an errand as i go upon, god will be with me." i lodged with young edward king, who is making such a name in new england. he was just the man who would have delighted to tell the journal he was engaged upon what young mr. bennett was doing, and what errand i was bound upon. i should have liked to exchange opinions with him upon the probable results of my journey, but i dared not do so. though oppressed with the great task before me, i had to appear as if only going to be present at the suez canal. young king followed me to the express train bound for marseilles, and at the station we parted: he to go and read the newspapers at bowles' reading-room--i to central africa and--who knows? there is no need to recapitulate what i did before going to central africa. i went up the nile and saw mr. higginbotham, chief engineer in baker's expedition, at philae, and was the means of preventing a duel between him and a mad young frenchman, who wanted to fight mr. higginbotham with pistols, because that gentleman resented the idea of being taken for an egyptian, through wearing a fez cap. i had a talk with capt. warren at jerusalem, and descended one of the pits with a sergeant of engineers to see the marks of the tyrian workmen on the foundation-stones of the temple of solomon. i visited the mosques of stamboul with the minister resident of the united states, and the american consul-general. i travelled over the crimean battle-grounds with kinglake's glorious books for reference in my hand. i dined with the widow of general liprandi at odessa. i saw the arabian traveller palgrave at trebizond, and baron nicolay, the civil governor of the caucasus, at tiflis. i lived with the russian ambassador while at teheran, and wherever i went through persia i received the most hospitable welcome from the gentlemen of the indo-european telegraph company; and following the examples of many illustrious men, i wrote my name upon one of the persepolitan monuments. in the month of august, , i arrived in india. on the th of october i sailed on the barque 'polly' from bombay to mauritius. as the 'polly' was a slow sailer, the passage lasted thirty-seven days. on board this barque was a william lawrence farquhar--hailing from leith, scotland--in the capacity of first-mate. he was an excellent navigator, and thinking he might be useful to me, i employed him; his pay to begin from the date we should leave zanzibar for bagamoyo. as there was no opportunity of getting, to zanzibar direct, i took ship to seychelles. three or four days after arriving at mahe, one of the seychelles group, i was fortunate enough to get a passage for myself, william lawrence farquhar, and an arab boy from jerusalem, who was to act as interpreter--on board an american whaling vessel, bound for zanzibar; at which port we arrived on the th of january, . i have skimmed over my travels thus far, because these do not concern the reader. they led over many lands, but this book is only a narrative of my search after livingstone, the great african traveller. it is an icarian flight of journalism, i confess; some even have called it quixotic; but this is a word i can now refute, as will be seen before the reader arrives at the "finis." i have used the word "soldiers" in this book. the armed escort a traveller engages to accompany him into east africa is composed of free black men, natives of zanzibar, or freed slaves from the interior, who call themselves "askari," an indian name which, translated, means "soldiers." they are armed and equipped like soldiers, though they engage themselves also as servants; but it would be more pretentious in me to call them servants, than to use the word "soldiers;" and as i have been more in the habit of calling them soldiers than "my watuma"--servants--this habit has proved too much to be overcome. i have therefore allowed the word "soldiers" to appear, accompanied, however, with this apology. but it must be remembered that i am writing a narrative of my own adventures and travels, and that until i meet livingstone, i presume the greatest interest is attached to myself, my marches, my troubles, my thoughts, and my impressions. yet though i may sometimes write, "my expedition," or "my caravan," it by no means follows that i arrogate to myself this right. for it must be distinctly understood that it is the "'new york herald' expedition," and that i am only charged with its command by mr. james gordon bennett, the proprietor of the 'new york herald,' as a salaried employ of that gentleman. one thing more; i have adopted the narrative form of relating the story of the search, on account of the greater interest it appears to possess over the diary form, and i think that in this manner i avoid the great fault of repetition for which some travellers have been severely criticised. chapter ii. -- zanzibar. on the morning of the th january, , we were sailing through the channel that separates the fruitful island of zanzibar from africa. the high lands of the continent loomed like a lengthening shadow in the grey of dawn. the island lay on our left, distant but a mile, coming out of its shroud of foggy folds bit by bit as the day advanced, until it finally rose clearly into view, as fair in appearance as the fairest of the gems of creation. it appeared low, but not flat; there were gentle elevations cropping hither and yon above the languid but graceful tops of the cocoa-trees that lined the margin of the island, and there were depressions visible at agreeable intervals, to indicate where a cool gloom might be found by those who sought relief from a hot sun. with the exception of the thin line of sand, over which the sap-green water rolled itself with a constant murmur and moan, the island seemed buried under one deep stratum of verdure. the noble bosom of the strait bore several dhows speeding in and out of the bay of zanzibar with bellying sails. towards the south, above the sea line of the horizon, there appeared the naked masts of several large ships, and to the east of these a dense mass of white, flat-topped houses. this was zanzibar, the capital of the island;--which soon resolved itself into a pretty large and compact city, with all the characteristics of arab architecture. above some of the largest houses lining the bay front of the city streamed the blood-red banner of the sultan, seyd burghash, and the flags of the american, english, north german confederation, and french consulates. in the harbor were thirteen large ships, four zanzibar men-of-war, one english man-of-war--the 'nymphe,' two american, one french, one portuguese, two english, and two german merchantmen, besides numerous dhows hailing from johanna and mayotte of the comoro islands, dhows from muscat and cutch--traders between india, the persian gulf, and zanzibar. it was with the spirit of true hospitality and courtesy that capt. francis r. webb, united states consul, (formerly of the united states navy), received me. had this gentleman not rendered me such needful service, i must have condescended to take board and lodging at a house known as "charley's," called after the proprietor, a frenchman, who has won considerable local notoriety for harboring penniless itinerants, and manifesting a kindly spirit always, though hidden under such a rugged front; or i should have been obliged to pitch my double-clothed american drill tent on the sandbeach of this tropical island, which was by no means a desirable thing. but capt. webb's opportune proposal to make his commodious and comfortable house my own; to enjoy myself, with the request that i would call for whatever i might require, obviated all unpleasant alternatives. one day's life at zanzibar made me thoroughly conscious of my ignorance respecting african people and things in general. i imagined i had read burton and speke through, fairly well, and that consequently i had penetrated the meaning, the full importance and grandeur, of the work i was about to be engaged upon. but my estimates, for instance, based upon book information, were simply ridiculous, fanciful images of african attractions were soon dissipated, anticipated pleasures vanished, and all crude ideas began to resolve themselves into shape. i strolled through the city. my general impressions are of crooked, narrow lanes, white-washed houses, mortar-plastered streets, in the clean quarter;--of seeing alcoves on each side, with deep recesses, with a fore-ground of red-turbaned banyans, and a back-ground of flimsy cottons, prints, calicoes, domestics and what not; or of floors crowded with ivory tusks; or of dark corners with a pile of unginned and loose cotton; or of stores of crockery, nails, cheap brummagem ware, tools, &c., in what i call the banyan quarter;--of streets smelling very strong--in fact, exceedingly, malodorous, with steaming yellow and black bodies, and woolly heads, sitting at the doors of miserable huts, chatting, laughing, bargaining, scolding, with a compound smell of hides, tar, filth, and vegetable refuse, in the negro quarter;--of streets lined with tall, solid-looking houses, flat roofed, of great carved doors with large brass knockers, with baabs sitting cross-legged watching the dark entrance to their masters' houses; of a shallow sea-inlet, with some dhows, canoes, boats, an odd steam-tub or two, leaning over on their sides in a sea of mud which the tide has just left behind it; of a place called "m'nazi-moya," "one cocoa-tree," whither europeans wend on evenings with most languid steps, to inhale the sweet air that glides over the sea, while the day is dying and the red sun is sinking westward; of a few graves of dead sailors, who paid the forfeit of their lives upon arrival in this land; of a tall house wherein lives dr. tozer, "missionary bishop of central africa," and his school of little africans; and of many other things, which got together into such a tangle, that i had to go to sleep, lest i should never be able to separate the moving images, the arab from the african; the african from the banyan; the banyan from the hindi; the hindi from the european, &c. zanzibar is the bagdad, the ispahan, the stamboul, if you like, of east africa. it is the great mart which invites the ivory traders from the african interior. to this market come the gum-copal, the hides, the orchilla weed, the timber, and the black slaves from africa. bagdad had great silk bazaars, zanzibar has her ivory bazaars; bagdad once traded in jewels, zanzibar trades in gum-copal; stamboul imported circassian and georgian slaves; zanzibar imports black beauties from uhiyow, ugindo, ugogo, unyamwezi and galla. the same mode of commerce obtains here as in all mohammedan countries--nay, the mode was in vogue long before moses was born. the arab never changes. he brought the custom of his forefathers with him when he came to live on this island. he is as much of an arab here as at muscat or bagdad; wherever he goes to live he carries with him his harem, his religion, his long robe, his shirt, his slippers, and his dagger. if he penetrates africa, not all the ridicule of the negroes can make him change his modes of life. yet the land has not become oriental; the arab has not been able to change the atmosphere. the land is semi-african in aspect; the city is but semi-arabian. to a new-comer into africa, the muscat arabs of zanzibar are studies. there is a certain empressement about them which we must admire. they are mostly all travellers. there are but few of them who have not been in many dangerous positions, as they penetrated central africa in search of the precious ivory; and their various experiences have given their features a certain unmistakable air of-self-reliance, or of self-sufficiency; there is a calm, resolute, defiant, independent air about them, which wins unconsciously one's respect. the stories that some of these men could tell, i have often thought, would fill many a book of thrilling adventures. for the half-castes i have great contempt. they are neither black nor white, neither good nor bad, neither to be admired nor hated. they are all things, at all times; they are always fawning on the great arabs, and always cruel to those unfortunates brought under their yoke. if i saw a miserable, half-starved negro, i was always sure to be told he belonged to a half-caste. cringing and hypocritical, cowardly and debased, treacherous and mean, i have always found him. he seems to be for ever ready to fall down and worship a rich arab, but is relentless to a poor black slave. when he swears most, you may be sure he lies most, and yet this is the breed which is multiplied most at zanzibar. the banyan is a born trader, the beau-ideal of a sharp money-making man. money flows to his pockets as naturally as water down a steep. no pang of conscience will prevent him from cheating his fellow man. he excels a jew, and his only rival in a market is a parsee; an arab is a babe to him. it is worth money to see him labor with all his energy, soul and body, to get advantage by the smallest fraction of a coin over a native. possibly the native has a tusk, and it may weigh a couple of frasilahs, but, though the scales indicate the weight, and the native declares solemnly that it must be more than two frasilahs, yet our banyan will asseverate and vow that the native knows nothing whatever about it, and that the scales are wrong; he musters up courage to lift it--it is a mere song, not much more than a frasilah. "come," he will say, "close, man, take the money and go thy way. art thou mad?" if the native hesitates, he will scream in a fury; he pushes him about, spurns the ivory with contemptuous indifference,--never was such ado about nothing; but though he tells the astounded native to be up and going, he never intends the ivory shall leave his shop. the banyans exercise, of all other classes, most influence on the trade of central africa. with the exception of a very few rich arabs, almost all other traders are subject to the pains and penalties which usury imposes. a trader desirous to make a journey into the interior, whether for slaves or ivory, gum-copal, or orchilla weed, proposes to a banyan to advance him $ , , at , , or per cent. interest. the banyan is safe enough not to lose, whether the speculation the trader is engaged upon pays or not. an experienced trader seldom loses, or if he has been unfortunate, through no deed of his own, he does not lose credit; with the help of the banyan, he is easily set on his feet again. we will suppose, for the sake of illustrating how trade with the interior is managed, that the arab conveys by his caravan $ , 's worth of goods into the interior. at unyanyembe the goods are worth $ , ; at ujiji, they are worth $ , : they have trebled in price. five doti, or $ . , will purchase a slave in the markets of ujiji that will fetch in zanzibar $ . ordinary menslaves may be purchased for $ which would sell for $ on the coast. we will say he purchases slaves to the full extent of his means--after deducting $ , expenses of carriage to ujiji and back--viz. $ , , the slaves-- in number, at $ - per head--would realize $ , at zanzibar! again, let us illustrate trade in ivory. a merchant takes $ , to ujiji, and after deducting $ , for expenses to ujiji, and back to zanzibar, has still remaining $ , in cloth and beads, with which he purchases ivory. at ujiji ivory is bought at $ the frasilah, or lbs., by which he is enabled with $ , to collect frasilahs, which, if good ivory, is worth about $ per frasilah at zanzibar. the merchant thus finds that he has realized $ , net profit! arab traders have often done better than this, but they almost always have come back with an enormous margin of profit. the next people to the banyans in power in zanzibar are the mohammedan hindis. really it has been a debateable subject in my mind whether the hindis are not as wickedly determined to cheat in trade as the banyans. but, if i have conceded the palm to the latter, it has been done very reluctantly. this tribe of indians can produce scores of unconscionable rascals where they can show but one honest merchant. one of the honestest among men, white or black, red or yellow, is a mohammedan hindi called tarya topan. among the europeans at zanzibar, he has become a proverb for honesty, and strict business integrity. he is enormously wealthy, owns several ships and dhows, and is a prominent man in the councils of seyd burghash. tarya has many children, two or three of whom are grown-up sons, whom he has reared up even as he is himself. but tarya is but a representative of an exceedingly small minority. the arabs, the banyans, and the mohammedan hindis, represent the higher and the middle classes. these classes own the estates, the ships, and the trade. to these classes bow the half-caste and the negro. the next most important people who go to make up the mixed population of this island are the negroes. they consist of the aborigines, wasawahili, somalis, comorines, wanyamwezi, and a host of tribal representatives of inner africa. to a white stranger about penetrating africa, it is a most interesting walk through the negro quarters of the wanyamwezi and the wasawahili. for here he begins to learn the necessity of admitting that negroes are men, like himself, though of a different colour; that they have passions and prejudices, likes and dislikes, sympathies and antipathies, tastes and feelings, in common with all human nature. the sooner he perceives this fact, and adapts himself accordingly, the easier will be his journey among the several races of the interior. the more plastic his nature, the more prosperous will be his travels. though i had lived some time among the negroes of our southern states, my education was northern, and i had met in the united states black men whom i was proud to call friends. i was thus prepared to admit any black man, possessing the attributes of true manhood or any good qualities, to my friendship, even to a brotherhood with myself; and to respect him for such, as much as if he were of my own colour and race. neither his colour, nor any peculiarities of physiognomy should debar him with me from any rights he could fairly claim as a man. "have these men--these black savages from pagan africa," i asked myself, "the qualities which make man loveable among his fellows? can these men--these barbarians--appreciate kindness or feel resentment like myself?" was my mental question as i travelled through their quarters and observed their actions. need i say, that i was much comforted in observing that they were as ready to be influenced by passions, by loves and hates, as i was myself; that the keenest observation failed to detect any great difference between their nature and my own? the negroes of the island probably number two-thirds of the entire population. they compose the working-class, whether enslaved or free. those enslaved perform the work required on the plantations, the estates, and gardens of the landed proprietors, or perform the work of carriers, whether in the country or in the city. outside the city they may be seen carrying huge loads on their heads, as happy as possible, not because they are kindly treated or that their work is light, but because it is their nature to be gay and light-hearted, because they, have conceived neither joys nor hopes which may not be gratified at will, nor cherished any ambition beyond their reach, and therefore have not been baffled in their hopes nor known disappointment. within the city, negro carriers may be heard at all hours, in couples, engaged in the transportation of clove-bags, boxes of merchandise, &c., from store to "godown" and from "go-down" to the beach, singing a kind of monotone chant for the encouragement of each other, and for the guiding of their pace as they shuffle through the streets with bare feet. you may recognise these men readily, before long, as old acquaintances, by the consistency with which they sing the tunes they have adopted. several times during a day have i heard the same couple pass beneath the windows of the consulate, delivering themselves of the same invariable tune and words. some might possibly deem the songs foolish and silly, but they had a certain attraction for me, and i considered that they were as useful as anything else for the purposes they were intended. the town of zanzibar, situate on the south-western shore of the island, contains a population of nearly one hundred thousand inhabitants; that of the island altogether i would estimate at not more than two hundred thousand inhabitants, including all races. the greatest number of foreign vessels trading with this port are american, principally from new york and salem. after the american come the german, then come the french and english. they arrive loaded with american sheeting, brandy, gunpowder, muskets, beads, english cottons, brass-wire, china-ware, and other notions, and depart with ivory, gum-copal, cloves, hides, cowries, sesamum, pepper, and cocoa-nut oil. the value of the exports from this port is estimated at $ , , , and the imports from all countries at $ , , . the europeans and americans residing in the town of zanzibar are either government officials, independent merchants, or agents for a few great mercantile houses in europe and america. the climate of zanzibar is not the most agreeable in the world. i have heard americans and europeans condemn it most heartily. i have also seen nearly one-half of the white colony laid up in one day from sickness. a noxious malaria is exhaled from the shallow inlet of malagash, and the undrained filth, the garbage, offal, dead mollusks, dead pariah dogs, dead cats, all species of carrion, remains of men and beasts unburied, assist to make zanzibar a most unhealthy city; and considering that it it ought to be most healthy, nature having pointed out to man the means, and having assisted him so far, it is most wonderful that the ruling prince does not obey the dictates of reason. the bay of zanzibar is in the form of a crescent, and on the south-western horn of it is built the city. on the east zanzibar is bounded almost entirely by the malagash lagoon, an inlet of the sea. it penetrates to at least two hundred and fifty yards of the sea behind or south of shangani point. were these two hundred and fifty yards cut through by a ten foot ditch, and the inlet deepened slightly, zanzibar would become an island of itself, and what wonders would it not effect as to health and salubrity! i have never heard this suggestion made, but it struck me that the foreign consuls resident at zanzibar might suggest this work to the sultan, and so get the credit of having made it as healthy a place to live in as any near the equator. but apropos of this, i remember what capt. webb, the american consul, told me on my first arrival, when i expressed to him my wonder at the apathy and inertness of men born with the indomitable energy which characterises europeans and americans, of men imbued with the progressive and stirring instincts of the white people, who yet allow themselves to dwindle into pallid phantoms of their kind, into hypochondriacal invalids, into hopeless believers in the deadliness of the climate, with hardly a trace of that daring and invincible spirit which rules the world. "oh," said capt. webb, "it is all very well for you to talk about energy and all that kind of thing, but i assure you that a residence of four or five years on this island, among such people as are here, would make you feel that it was a hopeless task to resist the influence of the example by which the most energetic spirits are subdued, and to which they must submit in time, sooner or later. we were all terribly energetic when we first came here, and struggled bravely to make things go on as we were accustomed to have them at home, but we have found that we were knocking our heads against granite walls to no purpose whatever. these fellows--the arabs, the banyans, and the hindis--you can't make them go faster by ever so much scolding and praying, and in a very short time you see the folly of fighting against the unconquerable. be patient, and don't fret, that is my advice, or you won't live long here." there were three or four intensely busy men, though, at zanzibar, who were out at all hours of the day. i know one, an american; i fancy i hear the quick pit-pat of his feet on the pavement beneath the consulate, his cheery voice ringing the salutation, "yambo!" to every one he met; and he had lived at zanzibar twelve years. i know another, one of the sturdiest of scotchmen, a most pleasant-mannered and unaffected man, sincere in whatever he did or said, who has lived at zanzibar several years, subject to the infructuosities of the business he has been engaged in, as well as to the calor and ennui of the climate, who yet presents as formidable a front as ever to the apathetic native of zanzibar. no man can charge capt. h. c. fraser, formerly of the indian navy, with being apathetic. i might with ease give evidence of the industry of others, but they are all my friends, and they are all good. the american, english, german, and french residents have ever treated me with a courtesy and kindness i am not disposed to forget. taken as a body, it would be hard to find a more generous or hospitable colony of white men in any part of the world. chapter iii. -- organization of the expedition. i was totally ignorant of the interior, and it was difficult at first to know, what i needed, in order to take an expedition into central africa. time was precious, also, and much of it could not be devoted to inquiry and investigation. in a case like this, it would have been a godsend, i thought, had either of the three gentlemen, captains burton, speke, or grant, given some information on these points; had they devoted a chapter upon, "how to get ready an expedition for central africa." the purpose of this chapter, then, is to relate how i set about it, that other travellers coming after me may have the benefit of my experience. these are some of the questions i asked myself, as i tossed on my bed at night:-- "how much money is required?" "how many pagazis, or carriers? "how many soldiers?" "how much cloth?" "how many beads?" "how much wire?" "what kinds of cloth are required for the different tribes?" ever so many questions to myself brought me no clearer the exact point i wished to arrive at. i scribbled over scores of sheets of paper, made estimates, drew out lists of material, calculated the cost of keeping one hundred men for one year, at so many yards of different kinds of cloth, etc. i studied burton, speke, and grant in vain. a good deal of geographical, ethnological, and other information appertaining to the study of inner africa was obtainable, but information respecting the organization of an expedition requisite before proceeding to africa, was not in any book. the europeans at zanzibar knew as little as possible about this particular point. there was not one white man at zanzibar who could tell how many dotis a day a force of one hundred men required to buy food for one day on the road. neither, indeed, was it their business to know. but what should i do at all, at all? this was a grand question. i decided it were best to hunt up an arab merchant who had been engaged in the ivory trade, or who was fresh from the interior. sheikh hashid was a man of note and of wealth in zanzibar. he had himself despatched several caravans into the interior, and was necessarily acquainted with several prominent traders who came to his house to gossip about their adventures and gains. he was also the proprietor of the large house capt. webb occupied; besides, he lived across the narrow street which separated his house from the consulate. of all men sheikh hashid was the man to be consulted, and he was accordingly invited to visit me at the consulate. from the grey-bearded and venerable-looking sheikh, i elicited more information about african currency, the mode of procedure, the quantity and quality of stuffs i required, than i had obtained from three months' study of books upon central africa; and from other arab merchants to whom the ancient sheikh introduced me, i received most valuable suggestions and hints, which enabled me at last to organize an expedition. the reader must bear in mind that a traveller requires only that which is sufficient for travel and exploration that a superfluity of goods or means will prove as fatal to him as poverty of supplies. it is on this question of quality and quantity that the traveller has first to exercise his judgment and discretion. my informants gave me to understand that for one hundred men, doti, or yards of cloth per diem, would suffice for food. the proper course to pursue, i found, was to purchase , doti of american sheeting, , doti of kaniki, and doti of the coloured cloths, such as barsati, a great favourite in unyamwezi; sohari, taken in ugogo; ismahili, taujiri, joho, shash, rehani, jamdani or kunguru-cutch, blue and pink. these were deemed amply sufficient for the subsistence of one hundred men for twelve months. two years at this rate would require , doti = , yards of american sheeting; , doti = , yards of kaniki; , doti = , yards of mixed coloured cloths. this was definite and valuable information to me, and excepting the lack of some suggestions as to the quality of the sheeting, kaniki, and coloured cloths, i had obtained all i desired upon this point. second in importance to the amount of cloth required was the quantity and quality of the beads necessary. beads, i was told, took the place of cloth currency among some tribes of the interior. one tribe preferred white to black beads, brown to yellow, red to green, green to white, and so on. thus, in unyamwezi, red (sami-sami) beads would readily be taken, where all other kinds would be refused; black (bubu) beads, though currency in ugogo, were positively worthless with all other tribes; the egg (sungomazzi) beads, though valuable in ujiji and uguhha, would be refused in all other countries; the white (merikani) beads though good in ufipa, and some parts of usagara and ugogo, would certainly be despised in useguhha and ukonongo. such being the case, i was obliged to study closely, and calculate the probable stay of an expedition in the several countries, so as to be sure to provide a sufficiency of each kind, and guard against any great overplus. burton and speke, for instance, were obliged to throw away as worthless several hundred fundo of beads. for example, supposing the several nations of europe had each its own currency, without the means of exchange, and supposing a man was about to travel through europe on foot, before starting he would be apt to calculate how many days it would take him to travel through france; how many through prussia, austria, and russia, then to reckon the expense he would be likely to incur per day. if the expense be set down at a napoleon per day, and his journey through france would occupy thirty days, the sum required forgoing and returning might be properly set down at sixty napoleons, in which case, napoleons not being current money in prussia, austria, or russia, it would be utterly useless for him to burden himself with the weight of a couple of thousand napoleons in gold. my anxiety on this point was most excruciating. over and over i studied the hard names and measures, conned again and again the polysyllables; hoping to be able to arrive some time at an intelligible definition of the terms. i revolved in my mind the words mukunguru, ghulabio, sungomazzi, kadunduguru, mutunda, samisami, bubu, merikani, hafde, lunghio-rega, and lakhio, until i was fairly beside myself. finally, however, i came to the conclusion that if i reckoned my requirements at fifty khete, or five fundo per day, for two years, and if i purchased only eleven varieties, i might consider myself safe enough. the purchase was accordingly made, and twenty-two sacks of the best species were packed and brought to capt. webb's house, ready for transportation to bagamoyo. after the beads came the wire question. i discovered, after considerable trouble, that nos. and --almost of the thickness of telegraph wire--were considered the best numbers for trading purposes. while beads stand for copper coins in africa, cloth measures for silver; wire is reckoned as gold in the countries beyond the tan-ga-ni-ka.* ten frasilah, or lbs., of brass-wire, my arab adviser thought, would be ample. * it will be seen that i differ from capt. burton in the spelling of this word, as i deem the letter "y" superfluous. having purchased the cloth, the beads, and the wire, it was with no little pride that i surveyed the comely bales and packages lying piled up, row above row, in capt. webb's capacious store-room. yet my work was not ended, it was but beginning; there were provisions, cooking-utensils, boats, rope, twine, tents, donkeys, saddles, bagging, canvas, tar, needles, tools, ammunition, guns, equipments, hatchets, medicines, bedding, presents for chiefs--in short, a thousand things not yet purchased. the ordeal of chaffering and haggling with steel-hearted banyans, hindis, arabs, and half-castes was most trying. for instance, i purchased twenty-two donkeys at zanzibar. $ and $ were asked, which i had to reduce to $ or $ by an infinite amount of argument worthy, i think, of a nobler cause. as was my experience with the ass-dealers so was it with the petty merchants; even a paper of pins was not purchased without a five per cent. reduction from the price demanded, involving, of course, a loss of much time and patience. after collecting the donkeys, i discovered there were no pack-saddles to be obtained in zanzibar. donkeys without pack-saddles were of no use whatever. i invented a saddle to be manufactured by myself and my white man farquhar, wholly from canvas, rope, and cotton. three or four frasilahs of cotton, and ten bolts of canvas were required for the saddles. a specimen saddle was made by myself in order to test its efficiency. a donkey was taken and saddled, and a load of lbs. was fastened to it, and though the animal--a wild creature of unyamwezi--struggled and reared frantic ally, not a particle gave way. after this experiment, farquhar was set to work to manufacture twenty-one more after the same pattern. woollen pads were also purchased to protect the animals from being galled. it ought to be mentioned here, perhaps, that the idea of such a saddle as i manufactured, was first derived from the otago saddle, in use among the transport-trains of the english army in abyssinia. a man named john william shaw--a native of london, england, lately third-mate of the american ship 'nevada'--applied to me for work. though his discharge from the 'nevada' was rather suspicious, yet he possessed all the requirements of such a man as i needed, and was an experienced hand with the palm and needle, could cut canvas to fit anything, was a pretty good navigator, ready and willing, so far as his professions went.. i saw no reason to refuse his services, and he was accordingly engaged at $ per annum, to rank second to william l. farquhar. farquhar was a capital navigator and excellent mathematician; was strong, energetic, and clever. the next thing i was engaged upon was to enlist, arm, and equip, a faithful escort of twenty men for the road. johari, the chief dragoman of the american consulate, informed me that he knew where certain of speke's "faithfuls" were yet to be found. the idea had struck me before, that if i could obtain the services of a few men acquainted with the ways of white men, and who could induce other good men to join the expedition i was organizing, i might consider myself fortunate. more especially had i thought of seedy mbarak mombay, commonly called "bombay," who though his head was "woodeny," and his hands "clumsy," was considered to be the "faithfulest" of the "faithfuls." with the aid of the dragoman johari, i secured in a few hours the services of uledi (capt. grant's former valet), ulimengo, baruti, ambari, mabruki (muinyi mabruki--bull-headed mabruki, capt. burton's former unhappy valet)--five of speke's "faithfuls." when i asked them if they were willing to join another white man's expedition to ujiji, they replied very readily that they were willing to join any brother of "speke's." dr. john kirk, her majesty's consul at zanzibar, who was present, told them that though i was no brother of "speke's," i spoke his language. this distinction mattered little to them: and i heard them, with great delight, declare their readiness to go anywhere with me, or do anything i wished. mombay, as they called him, or bombay, as we know him, had gone to pemba, an island lying north of zanzibar. uledi was sure mombay would jump with joy at the prospect of another expedition. johari was therefore commissioned to write to him at pemba, to inform him of the good fortune in store for him. on the fourth morning after the letter had been despatched, the famous bombay made his appearance, followed in decent order and due rank by the "faithfuls" of "speke." i looked in vain for the "woodeny head" and "alligator teeth" with which his former master had endowed him. i saw a slender short man of fifty or thereabouts, with a grizzled head, an uncommonly high, narrow forehead, with a very large mouth, showing teeth very irregular, and wide apart. an ugly rent in the upper front row of bombay's teeth was made with the clenched fist of capt. speke in uganda when his master's patience was worn out, and prompt punishment became necessary. that capt. speke had spoiled him with kindness was evident, from the fact that bombay had the audacity to stand up for a boxing-match with him. but these things i only found out, when, months afterwards, i was called upon to administer punishment to him myself. but, at his first appearance, i was favourably impressed with bombay, though his face was rugged, his mouth large, his eyes small, and his nose flat. "salaam aliekum," were the words he greeted me with. "aliekum salaam," i replied, with all the gravity i could muster. i then informed him i required him as captain of my soldiers to ujiji. his reply was that he was ready to do whatever i told him, go wherever i liked in short, be a pattern to servants, and a model to soldiers. he hoped i would give him a uniform, and a good gun, both of which were promised. upon inquiring for the rest of the "faithfuls" who accompanied speke into egypt, i was told that at zanzibar there were but six. ferrajji, maktub, sadik, sunguru, manyu, matajari, mkata, and almas, were dead; uledi and mtamani were in unyanyembe; hassan had gone to kilwa, and ferahan was supposed to be in ujiji. out of the six "faithfuls," each of whom still retained his medal for assisting in the "discovery of the sources of the nile," one, poor mabruki, had met with a sad misfortune, which i feared would incapacitate him from active usefulness. mabruki the "bull-headed," owned a shamba (or a house with a garden attached to it), of which he was very proud. close to him lived a neighbour in similar circumstances, who was a soldier of seyd majid, with whom mabruki, who was of a quarrelsome disposition, had a feud, which culminated in the soldier inducing two or three of his comrades to assist him in punishing the malevolent mabruki, and this was done in a manner that only the heart of an african could conceive. they tied the unfortunate fellow by his wrists to a branch of a tree, and after indulging their brutal appetite for revenge in torturing him, left him to hang in that position for two days. at the expiration of the second day, he was accidentally discovered in a most pitiable condition. his hands had swollen to an immense size, and the veins of one hand having been ruptured, he had lost its use. it is needless to say that, when the affair came to seyd majid's ears, the miscreants were severely punished. dr. kirk, who attended the poor fellow, succeeded in restoring one hand to something of a resemblance of its former shape, but the other hand is sadly marred, and its former usefulness gone for ever. however, i engaged mabruki, despite his deformed hands, his ugliness and vanity, because he was one of speke's "faithfuls." for if he but wagged his tongue in my service, kept his eyes open, and opened his mouth at the proper time, i assured myself i could make him useful. bombay, my captain of escort, succeeded in getting eighteen more free men to volunteer as "askari" (soldiers), men whom he knew would not desert, and for whom he declared himself responsible. they were an exceedingly fine-looking body of men, far more intelligent in appearance than i could ever have believed african barbarians could be. they hailed principally from uhiyow, others from unyamwezi, some came from useguhha and ugindo. their wages were set down at $ each man per annum, or $ each per month. each soldier was provided with a flintlock musket, powder horn, bullet-pouch, knife, and hatchet, besides enough powder and ball for rounds. bombay, in consideration of his rank, and previous faithful services to burton, speke and grant, was engaged at $ a year, half that sum in advance, a good muzzle-loading rifle, besides, a pistol, knife, and hatchet were given to him, while the other five "faithfuls," ambari, mabruki, ulimengo, baruti, and uledi, were engaged at $ a year, with proper equipments as soldiers. having studied fairly well all the east african travellers' books regarding eastern and central africa, my mind had conceived the difficulties which would present themselves during the prosecution of my search after dr. livingstone. to obviate all of these, as well as human wit could suggest, was my constant thought and aim. "shall i permit myself, while looking from ujiji over the waters of the tanganika lake to the other side, to be balked on the threshold of success by the insolence of a king kannena or the caprice of a hamed bin sulayyam?" was a question i asked myself. to guard against such a contingency i determined to carry my own boats. "then," i thought, "if i hear of livingstone being on the tanganika, i can launch my boat and proceed after him." i procured one large boat, capable of carrying twenty persons, with stores and goods sufficient for a cruise, from the american consul, for the sum of $ , and a smaller one from another american gentleman for $ . the latter would hold comfortably six men, with suitable stores. i did not intend to carry the boats whole or bodily, but to strip them of their boards, and carry the timbers and thwarts only. as a substitute for the boards, i proposed to cover each boat with a double canvas skin well tarred. the work of stripping them and taking them to pieces fell to me. this little job occupied me five days. i also packed them up, for the pagazis. each load was carefully weighed, and none exceeded lbs. in weight. john shaw excelled himself in the workmanship displayed on the canvas boats; when finished, they fitted their frames admirably. the canvas--six bolts of english hemp, no. --was procured from ludha damji, who furnished it from the sultan's storeroom. an insuperable obstacle to rapid transit in africa is the want of carriers, and as speed was the main object of the expedition under my command, my duty was to lessen this difficulty as much as possible. my carriers could only be engaged after arriving at bagamoyo, on the mainland. i had over twenty good donkeys ready, and i thought a cart adapted for the footpaths of africa might prove an advantage. accordingly i had a cart constructed, eighteen inches wide and five feet long, supplied with two fore-wheels of a light american wagon, more for the purpose of conveying the narrow ammunition-boxes. i estimated that if a donkey could carry to unyanyembe a load of four frasilahs, or lbs., he ought to be able to draw eight frasilahs on such a cart, which would be equal to the carrying capacity of four stout pagazis or carriers. events will prove, how my theories were borne out by practice. when my purchases were completed, and i beheld them piled up, tier after tier, row upon row, here a mass of cooking-utensils, there bundles of rope, tents, saddles, a pile of portmanteaus and boxes, containing every imaginable thing, i confess i was rather abashed at my own temerity. here were at least six tons of material! "how will it ever be possible," i thought, "to move all this inert mass across the wilderness stretching between the sea, and the great lakes of africa? bah, cast all doubts away, man, and have at them! 'sufficient for the day is the evil thereof,' without borrowing from the morrow." the traveller must needs make his way into the african interior after a fashion very different from that to which he has been accustomed in other countries. he requires to take with him just what a ship must have when about to sail on a long voyage. he must have his slop chest, his little store of canned dainties, and his medicines, besides which, he must have enough guns, powder, and ball to be able to make a series of good fights if necessary. he must have men to convey these miscellaneous articles; and as a man's maximum load does not exceed lbs., to convey , lbs. requires nearly men. europe and the orient, even arabia and turkestan, have royal ways of travelling compared to africa. specie is received in all those countries, by which a traveller may carry his means about with him on his own person. eastern and central africa, however, demand a necklace, instead of a cent; two yards of american sheeting, instead of half a dollar, or a florin, and a kitindi of thick brass-wire, in place of a gold piece. the african traveller can hire neither wagons nor camels, neither horses nor mules, to proceed with him into the interior. his means of conveyance are limited to black and naked men, who demand at least $ a head for every lbs. weight carried only as far as unyanyembe. one thing amongst others my predecessors omitted to inform men bound for africa, which is of importance, and that is, that no traveller should ever think of coming to zanzibar with his money in any other shape than gold coin. letters of credit, circular notes, and such civilized things i have found to be a century ahead of zanzibar people. twenty and twenty-five cents deducted out of every dollar i drew on paper is one of the unpleasant, if not unpleasantest things i have committed to lasting memory. for zanzibar is a spot far removed from all avenues of european commerce, and coin is at a high premium. a man may talk and entreat, but though he may have drafts, cheques, circular notes, letters of credit, a carte blanche to get what he wants, out of every dollar must, be deducted twenty, twenty-five and thirty cents, so i was told, and so was my experience. what a pity there is no branch-bank here! i had intended to have gone into africa incognito. but the fact that a white man, even an american, was about to enter africa was soon known all over zanzibar. this fact was repeated a thousand times in the streets, proclaimed in all shop alcoves, and at the custom-house. the native bazaar laid hold of it, and agitated it day and night until my departure. the foreigners, including the europeans, wished to know the pros and cons of my coming in and going out. my answer to all questions, pertinent and impertinent, was, i am going to africa. though my card bore the words ________________________________________ | | | henry m. stanley. | | | | | | new york herald. | |________________________________________| very few, i believe, ever coupled the words 'new york herald' with a search after "doctor livingstone." it was not my fault, was it? ah, me! what hard work it is to start an expedition alone! what with hurrying through the baking heat of the fierce relentless sun from shop to shop, strengthening myself with far-reaching and enduring patience far the haggling contest with the livid-faced hindi, summoning courage and wit to brow-beat the villainous goanese, and match the foxy banyan, talking volumes throughout the day, correcting estimates, making up accounts, superintending the delivery of purchased articles, measuring and weighing them, to see that everything was of full measure and weight, overseeing the white men farquhar and shaw, who were busy on donkey saddles, sails, tents, and boats for the expedition, i felt, when the day was over, as though limbs and brain well deserved their rest. such labours were mine unremittingly for a month. having bartered drafts on mr. james gordon bennett to the amount of several thousand dollars for cloth, beads, wire, donkeys, and a thousand necessaries, having advanced pay to the white men, and black escort of the expedition, having fretted capt. webb and his family more than enough with the din of preparation, and filled his house with my goods, there was nothing further to do but to leave my formal adieus with the europeans, and thank the sultan and those gentlemen who had assisted me, before embarking for bagamoyo. the day before my departure from zanzibar the american consul, having just habited himself in his black coat, and taking with him an extra black hat, in order to be in state apparel, proceeded with me to the sultan's palace. the prince had been generous to me; he had presented me with an arab horse, had furnished me with letters of introduction to his agents, his chief men, and representatives in the interior, and in many other ways had shown himself well disposed towards me. the palace is a large, roomy, lofty, square house close to the fort, built of coral, and plastered thickly with lime mortar. in appearance it is half arabic and half italian. the shutters are venetian blinds painted a vivid green, and presenting a striking contrast to the whitewashed walls. before the great, lofty, wide door were ranged in two crescents several baluch and persian mercenaries, armed with curved swords and targes of rhinoceros hide. their dress consisted of a muddy-white cotton shirt, reaching to the ancles, girdled with a leather belt thickly studded with silver bosses. as we came in sight a signal was passed to some person inside the entrance. when within twenty yards of the door, the sultan, who was standing waiting, came down the steps, and, passing through the ranks, advanced toward us, with his right hand stretched out, and a genial smile of welcome on his face. on our side we raised our hats, and shook hands with him, after which, doing according as he bade us, we passed forward, and arrived on the highest step near the entrance door. he pointed forward; we bowed and arrived at the foot of an unpainted and narrow staircase to turn once more to the sultan. the consul, i perceived, was ascending sideways, a mode of progression which i saw was intended for a compromise with decency and dignity. at the top of the stairs we waited, with our faces towards the up-coming prince. again we were waved magnanimously forward, for before us was the reception-hall and throne-room. i noticed, as i marched forward to the furthest end, that the room was high, and painted in the arabic style, that the carpet was thick and of persian fabric, that the furniture consisted of a dozen gilt chairs and a chandelier, we were seated; ludha damji, the banyan collector of customs, a venerable-looking old man, with a shrewd intelligent face, sat on the right of the sultan; next to him was the great mohammedan merchant tarya topan who had come to be present at the interview, not only because he was one of the councillors of his highness, but because he also took a lively interest in this american expedition. opposite to ludha sat capt. webb, and next to him i was seated, opposite tarya topan. the sultan sat in a gilt chair between the americans and the councillors. johari the dragoman stood humbly before the sultan, expectant and ready to interpret what we had to communicate to the prince. the sultan, so far as dress goes, might be taken for a mingrelian gentleman, excepting, indeed, for the turban, whose ample folds in alternate colours of red, yellow, brown, and white, encircled his head. his long robe was of dark cloth, cinctured round the waist with his rich sword-belt, from which was suspended a gold-hilted scimitar, encased in a scabbard also enriched with gold: his legs and feet were bare, and had a ponderous look about them, since he suffered from that strange curse of zanzibar--elephantiasis. his feet were slipped into a pair of watta (arabic for slippers), with thick soles and a strong leathern band over the instep. his light complexion and his correct features, which are intelligent and regular, bespeak the arab patrician. they indicate, however, nothing except his high descent and blood; no traits of character are visible unless there is just a trace of amiability, and perfect contentment with himself and all around. such is prince, or seyd burghash, sultan of zanzibar and pemba, and the east coast of africa, from somali land to the mozambique, as he appeared to me. coffee was served in cups supported by golden finjans, also some cocoa-nut milk, and rich sweet sherbet. the conversation began with the question addressed to the consul. "are you well?" consul.--"yes, thank you. how is his highness?" highness.--"quite well!" highness to me.--"are you well?" answer.--"quite well, thanks!" the consul now introduces business; and questions about my travels follow from his highness-- "how do you like persia?" "have you seen kerbela, bagdad, masr, stamboul?" "have the turks many soldiers?" "how many has persia?" "is persia fertile?" "how do you like zanzibar?" having answered each question to his highness' satisfaction, he handed me letters of introduction to his officers at bagamoyo and kaole, and a general introductory letter to all arab merchants whom i might meet on the road, and concluded his remarks to me, with the expressed hope, that on whatever mission i was bound, i should be perfectly successful. we bowed ourselves out of his presence in much the same manner that we had bowed ourselves in, he accompanying us to the great entrance door. mr. goodhue of salem, an american merchant long resident in zanzibar, presented me, as i gave him my adieu, with a blooded bay horse, imported from the cape of good hope, and worth, at least at zanzibar, $ . feb. .--by the th of february, twenty-eight days from the date of my arrival at zanzibar, the organization and equipment of the "'new york herald' expedition" was complete; tents and saddles had been manufactured, boats and sails were ready. the donkeys brayed, and the horses neighed impatiently for the road. etiquette demanded that i should once more present my card to the european and american consuls at zanzibar, and the word "farewell" was said to everybody. on the fifth day, four dhows were anchored before the american consulate. into one were lifted the two horses, into two others the donkeys, into the fourth, the largest, the black escort, and bulky moneys of the expedition. a little before noon we set sail. the american flag, a present to the expedition by that kind-hearted lady, mrs. webb, was raised to the mast-head; the consul, his lady, and exuberant little children, mary and charley, were on the housetop waving the starry banner, hats, and handkerchiefs, a token of farewell to me and mine. happy people, and good! may their course and ours be prosperous, and may god's blessing rest on us all! chapter iv. -- life at bagamoyo. the isle of zanzibar with its groves of cocoa-nut, mango, clove, and cinnamon, and its sentinel islets of chumbi and french, with its whitewashed city and jack-fruit odor, with its harbor and ships that tread the deep, faded slowly from view, and looking westward, the african continent rose, a similar bank of green verdure to that which had just receded till it was a mere sinuous line above the horizon, looming in a northerly direction to the sublimity of a mountain chain. the distance across from zanzibar to bagamoyo may be about twenty-five miles, yet it took the dull and lazy dhows ten hours before they dropped anchor on the top of the coral reef plainly visible a few feet below the surface of the water, within a hundred yards of the beach. the newly-enlisted soldiers, fond of noise and excitement, discharged repeated salvos by way of a salute to the mixed crowd of arabs, banyans, and wasawahili, who stood on the beach to receive the musungu (white man), which they did with a general stare and a chorus of "yambo, bana?" (how are you, master?) in our own land the meeting with a large crowd is rather a tedious operation, as our independent citizens insist on an interlacing of fingers, and a vigorous shaking thereof before their pride is satisfied, and the peaceful manifestation endorsed; but on this beach, well lined with spectators, a response of "yambo, bana!" sufficed, except with one who of all there was acknowledged the greatest, and who, claiming, like all great men, individual attention, came forward to exchange another "yambo!" on his own behalf, and to shake hands. this personage with a long trailing turban, was jemadar esau, commander of the zanzibar force of soldiers, police, or baluch gendarmes stationed at bagamoyo. he had accompanied speke and grant a good distance into the interior, and they had rewarded him liberally. he took upon himself the responsibility of assisting in the debarkation of the expedition, and unworthy as was his appearance, disgraceful as he was in his filth, i here commend him for his influence over the rabble to all future east african travellers. foremost among those who welcomed us was a father of the society of st.-esprit, who with other jesuits, under father superior horner, have established a missionary post of considerable influence and merit at bagamoyo. we were invited to partake of the hospitality of the mission, to take our meals there, and, should we desire it, to pitch our camp on their grounds. but however strong the geniality of the welcome and sincere the heartiness of the invitation, i am one of those who prefer independence to dependence if it is possible. besides, my sense of the obligation between host and guest had just had a fine edge put upon it by the delicate forbearance of my kind host at zanzibar, who had betrayed no sign of impatience at the trouble i was only too conscious of having caused him. i therefore informed the hospitable padre, that only for one night could i suffer myself to be enticed from my camp. i selected a house near the western outskirts of the town, where there is a large open square through which the road from unyanyembe enters. had i been at bagamoyo a month, i could not have bettered my location. my tents were pitched fronting the tembe (house) i had chosen, enclosing a small square, where business could be transacted, bales looked over, examined, and marked, free from the intrusion of curious sightseers. after driving the twenty-seven animals of the expedition into the enclosure in the rear of the house, storing the bales of goods, and placing a cordon of soldiers round, i proceeded to the jesuit mission, to a late dinner, being tired and ravenous, leaving the newly-formed camp in charge of the white men and capt. bombay. the mission is distant from the town a good half mile, to the north of it; it is quite a village of itself, numbering some fifteen or sixteen houses. there are more than ten padres engaged in the establishment, and as many sisters, and all find plenty of occupation in educing from native crania the fire of intelligence. truth compels me to state that they are very successful, having over two hundred pupils, boys and girls, in the mission, and, from the oldest to the youngest, they show the impress of the useful education they have received. the dinner furnished to the padres and their guest consisted of as many plats as a first-class hotel in paris usually supplies, and cooked with nearly as much skill, though the surroundings were by no means equal. i feel assured also that the padres, besides being tasteful in their potages and entrees, do not stultify their ideas for lack of that element which horace, hafiz, and byron have praised so much. the champagne--think of champagne cliquot in east africa!--lafitte, la rose, burgundy, and bordeaux were of first-rate quality, and the meek and lowly eyes of the fathers were not a little brightened under the vinous influence. ah! those fathers understand life, and appreciate its duration. their festive board drives the african jungle fever from their doors, while it soothes the gloom and isolation which strike one with awe, as one emerges from the lighted room and plunges into the depths of the darkness of an african night, enlivened only by the wearying monotone of the frogs and crickets, and the distant ululation of the hyena. it requires somewhat above human effort, unaided by the ruby liquid that cheers, to be always suave and polite amid the dismalities of native life in africa. after the evening meal, which replenished my failing strength, and for which i felt the intensest gratitude, the most advanced of the pupils came forward, to the number of twenty, with brass instruments, thus forming a full band of music. it rather astonished me to hear instrumental sounds issue forth in harmony from such woolly-headed youngsters; to hear well-known french music at this isolated port, to hear negro boys, that a few months ago knew nothing beyond the traditions of their ignorant mothers, stand forth and chant parisian songs about french valor and glory, with all the sangfroid of gamins from the purlieus of saint-antoine. i had a most refreshing night's rest, and at dawn i sought out my camp, with a will to enjoy the new life now commencing. on counting the animals, two donkeys were missing; and on taking notes of my african moneys, one coil of no. wire was not to be found. everybody had evidently fallen on the ground to sleep, oblivious of the fact that on the coast there are many dishonest prowlers at night. soldiers were despatched to search through the town and neighbourhood, and jemadar esau was apprised of our loss, and stimulated to discover the animals by the promise of a reward. before night one of the missing donkeys was found outside the town nibbling at manioc-leaves, but the other animal and the coil of wire were never found. among my visitors this first day at bagamoyo was ali bin salim, a brother of the famous sayd bin salim, formerly ras kafilah to burton and speke, and subsequently to speke and grant. his salaams were very profuse, and moreover, his brother was to be my agent in unyamwezi, so that i did not hesitate to accept his offer of assistance. but, alas, for my white face and too trustful nature! this ali bin salim turned out to be a snake in the grass, a very sore thorn in my side. i was invited to his comfortable house to partake of coffee. i went there: the coffee was good though sugarless, his promises were many, but they proved valueless. said he to me, "i am your friend; i wish to serve you., what can i do for you?" replied i, "i am obliged to you, i need a good friend who, knowing the language and customs of the wanyamwezi, can procure me the pagazis i need and send me off quickly. your brother is acquainted with the wasungu (white men), and knows that what they promise they make good. get me a hundred and forty pagazis and i will pay you your price." with unctuous courtesy, the reptile i was now warmly nourishing; said, "i do not want anything from you, my friend, for such a slight service, rest content and quiet; you shall not stop here fifteen days. to-morrow morning i will come and overhaul your bales to see what is needed." i bade him good morning, elated with the happy thought that i was soon to tread the unyanyembe road. the reader must be made acquainted with two good and sufficient reasons why i was to devote all my energy to lead the expedition as quickly as possible from bagamoyo. first, i wished to reach ujiji before the news reached livingstone that i was in search of him, for my impression of him was that he was a man who would try to put as much distance as possible between us, rather than make an effort to shorten it, and i should have my long journey for nothing. second, the masika, or rainy season, would soon be on me, which, if it caught me at bagamoyo, would prevent my departure until it was over, which meant a delay of forty days, and exaggerated as the rains were by all men with whom i came in contact, it rained every day for forty days without intermission. this i knew was a thing to dread; for i had my memory stored with all kinds of rainy unpleasantnesses. for instance, there was the rain of virginia and its concomitant horrors--wetness, mildew, agues, rheumatics, and such like; then there were the english rains, a miserable drizzle causing the blue devils; then the rainy season of abyssinia with the flood-gates of the firmament opened, and an universal down-pour of rain, enough to submerge half a continent in a few hours; lastly, there was the pelting monsoon of india, a steady shut-in-house kind of rain. to which of these rains should i compare this dreadful masika of east africa? did not burton write much about black mud in uzaramo? well, a country whose surface soil is called black mud in fine weather, what can it be called when forty days' rain beat on it, and feet of pagazis and donkeys make paste of it? these were natural reflections, induced by the circumstances of the hour, and i found myself much exercised in mind in consequence. ali bin salim, true to his promise, visited my camp on the morrow, with a very important air, and after looking at the pile of cloth bales, informed me that i must have them covered with mat-bags. he said he would send a man to have them measured, but he enjoined me not to make any bargain for the bags, as he would make it all right. while awaiting with commendable patience the pagazis promised by ali bin salim we were all employed upon everything that thought could suggest needful for crossing the sickly maritime region, so that we might make the transit before the terrible fever could unnerve us, and make us joyless. a short experience at bagamoya showed us what we lacked, what was superfluous, and what was necessary. we were visited one night by a squall, accompanied by furious rain. i had $ , worth of pagazi cloth in my tent. in the morning i looked and lo! the drilling had let in rain like a sieve, and every yard of cloth was wet. it occupied two days afterwards to dry the cloths, and fold them again. the drill-tent was condemned, and a no. hemp-canvas tent at onto prepared. after which i felt convinced that my cloth bales, and one year's ammunition, were safe, and that i could defy the masika. in the hurry of departure from zanzibar, and in my ignorance of how bales should be made, i had submitted to the better judgment and ripe experience of one jetta, a commission merchant, to prepare my bales for carriage. jetta did not weigh the bales as he made them up, but piled the merikani, kaniki, barsati, jamdani, joho, ismahili, in alternate layers, and roped the same into bales. one or two pagazis came to my camp and began to chaffer; they wished to see the bales first, before they would make a final bargain. they tried to raise them up--ugh! ugh! it was of no use, and withdrew. a fine salter's spring balance was hung up, and a bale suspended to the hook; the finger indicated lbs. or frasilah, which was just lbs. or one frasilah overweight. upon putting all the bales to this test, i perceived that jetta's guess-work, with all his experience, had caused considerable trouble to me. the soldiers were set to work to reopen and repack, which latter task is performed in the following manner:--we cut a doti, or four yards of merikani, ordinarily sold at zanzibar for $ . the piece of thirty yards, and spread out. we take a piece or bolt of good merikani, and instead of the double fold given it by the nashua and salem mills, we fold it into three parts, by which the folds have a breadth of a foot; this piece forms the first layer, and will weigh nine pounds; the second layer consists of six pieces of kaniki, a blue stuff similar to the blouse stuff of france, and the blue jeans of america, though much lighter; the third layer is formed of the second piece of merikani, the fourth of six more pieces of kaniki, the fifth of merikani, the sixth of kaniki as before, and the seventh and last of merikani. we have thus four pieces of merikani, which weigh lbs., and pieces of kaniki weighing also lbs., making a total of lbs., or a little more than two frasilahs; the cloth is then folded singly over these layers, each corner tied to another. a bundle of coir-rope is then brought, and two men, provided with a wooden mallet for beating and pressing the bale, proceed to tie it up with as much nicety as sailors serve down rigging. when complete, a bale is a solid mass three feet and a half long, a foot deep, and a foot wide. of these bales i had to convey eighty-two to unyanyembe, forty of which consisted solely of the merikani and kaniki. the other forty-two contained the merikani and coloured cloths, which latter were to serve as honga or tribute cloths, and to engage another set of pagazis from unyanyembe to ujiji, and from ujiji to the regions beyond. the fifteenth day asked of me by ali bin salim for the procuring of the pagazis passed by, and there was not the ghost of a pagazi in my camp. i sent mabruki the bullheaded to ali bin salim, to convey my salaams and express a hope that he had kept his word. in half an hour's time mabruki returned with the reply of the arab, that in a few days he would be able to collect them all; but, added mabruki, slyly, "bana, i don't believe him. he said aloud to himself, in my hearing, 'why should i get the musungu pagazis? seyd burghash did not send a letter to me, but to the jemadar. why should i trouble myself about him? let seyd burghash write me a letter to that purpose, and i will procure them within two days."' to my mind this was a time for action: ali bin salim should see that it was ill trifling with a white man in earnest to start. i rode down to his house to ask him what he meant. his reply was, mabruki had told a lie as black as his face. he had never said anything approaching to such a thing. he was willing to become my slave--to become a pagazi himself. but here i stopped the voluble ali, and informed him that i could not think of employing him in the capacity of a pagazi, neither could i find it in my heart to trouble seyd burghash to write a direct letter to him, or to require of a man who had deceived me once, as ali bin salim had, any service of any nature whatsoever. it would be better, therefore, if ali bin salim would stay away from my camp, and not enter it either in person or by proxy. i had lost fifteen days, for jemadar sadur, at kaole, had never stirred from his fortified house in that village in my service, save to pay a visit, after the receipt of the sultan's letter. naranji, custom-house agent at kaoie, solely under the thumb of the great ludha damji, had not responded to ludha's worded request that he would procure pagazis, except with winks, nods, and promises, and it is but just stated how i fared at the hands of ali bin salim. in this extremity i remembered the promise made to me by the great merchant of zanzibar--tarya topan--a mohammedan hindi--that he would furnish me with a letter to a young man named soor hadji palloo, who was said to be the best man in bagamoyo to procure a supply of pagazis. i despatched my arab interpreter by a dhow to zanzibar, with a very earnest request to capt. webb that he would procure from tarya topan the introductory letter so long delayed. it was the last card in my hand. on the third day the arab returned, bringing with him not only the letter to soor hadji palloo, but an abundance of good things from the ever-hospitable house of mr. webb. in a very short time after the receipt of his letter, the eminent young man soor hadji palloo came to visit me, and informed me he had been requested by tarya topan to hire for me one hundred and forty pagazis to unyanyembe in the shortest time possible. this he said would be very expensive, for there were scores of arabs and wasawabili merchants on the look out for every caravan that came in from the interior, and they paid doti, or yards of cloth, to each pagazi. not willing or able to pay more, many of these merchants had been waiting as long as six months before they could get their quota. "if you," continued he, "desire to depart quickly, you must pay from to doti, and i can send you off before one month is ended." in reply, i said, "here are my cloths for pagazis to the amount of $ , , or , doti, sufficient to give one hundred and forty men doti each. the most i am willing to pay is doti: send one hundred and forty pagazis to unyanyembe with my cloth and wire, and i will make your heart glad with the richest present you have ever received." with a refreshing naivete, the "young man" said he did not want any present, he would get me my quota of pagazis, and then i could tell the "wasungu" what a good "young man" he was, and consequently the benefit he would receive would be an increase of business. he closed his reply with the astounding remark that he had ten pagazis at his house already, and if i would be good enough to have four bales of cloth, two bags of beads, and twenty coils of wire carried to his house, the pagazis could leave bagamoyo the next day, under charge of three soldiers. "for," he remarked, "it is much better and cheaper to send many small caravans than one large one. large caravans invite attack, or are delayed by avaricious chiefs upon the most trivial pretexts, while small ones pass by without notice." the bales and the beads were duly carried to soor hadji palloo's house, and the day passed with me in mentally congratulating myself upon my good fortune, in complimenting the young hindi's talents for business, the greatness and influence of tarya topan, and the goodness of mr. webb in thus hastening my departure from bagamoyo. i mentally vowed a handsome present, and a great puff in my book, to soor hadji palloo, and it was with a glad heart that i prepared these soldiers for their march to unyayembe. the task of preparing the first caravan for the unyanyembe road informed me upon several things that have escaped the notice of my predecessors in east africa, a timely knowledge of which would have been of infinite service to me at zanzibar, in the purchase and selection of sufficient and proper cloth. the setting out of the first caravan enlightened me also on the subject of honga, or tribute. tribute had to be packed by itself, all of choice cloth; for the chiefs, besides being avaricious, are also very fastidious. they will not accept the flimsy cloth of the pagazi, but a royal and exceedingly high-priced dabwani, ismahili, rehani, or a sohari, or dotis of crimson broad cloth. the tribute for the first caravan cost $ . having more than one hundred and forty pagazis to despatch, this tribute money would finally amount to $ in gold, with a minimum of c. on each dollar. ponder on this, o traveller! i lay bare these facts for your special instruction. but before my first caravan was destined to part company with me, soor hadji palloo--worthy young man--and i were to come to a definite understanding about money matters. the morning appointed for departure soor hadji palloo came to my hut and presented his bill, with all the gravity of innocence, for supplying the pagazis with twenty-five doti each as their hire to unyanyembe, begging immediate payment in money. words fail to express the astonishment i naturally felt, that this sharp-looking young man should so soon have forgotten the verbal contract entered into between him and myself the morning previous, which was to the effect that out of the three thousand doti stored in my tent, and bought expressly for pagazi hire, each and every man hired for me as carriers from bagamoyo to unyanyembe, should be paid out of the store there in my tent, when i asked if he remembered the contract, he replied in the affirmative: his reasons for breaking it so soon were, that he wished to sell his cloths, not mine, and for his cloths he should want money, not an exchange. but i gave him to comprehend that as he was procuring pagazis for me, he was to pay my pagazis with my cloths; that all the money i expected to pay him, should be just such a sum i thought adequate for his trouble as my agent, and that only on those terms should he act for me in this or any other matter, and that the "musungu" was not accustomed to eat his words. the preceding paragraph embodies many more words than are contained in it. it embodies a dialogue of an hour, an angry altercation of half-an-hour's duration, a vow taken on the part of soor hadji palloo, that if i did not take his cloths he should not touch my business, many tears, entreaties, woeful penitence, and much else, all of which were responded to with, "do as i want you to do, or do nothing." finally came relief, and a happy ending. soor hadji palloo went away with a bright face, taking with him the three soldiers' posho (food), and honga (tribute) for the caravan. well for me that it ended so, and that subsequent quarrels of a similar nature terminated so peaceably, otherwise i doubt whether my departure from bagamoyo would have happened so early as it did. while i am on this theme, and as it really engrossed every moment of my time at bagamoyo, i may as well be more explicit regarding boor hadji palloo and his connection with my business. boor hadji palloo was a smart young man of business, energetic, quick at mental calculation, and seemed to be born for a successful salesman. his eyes were never idle; they wandered over every part of my person, over the tent, the bed, the guns, the clothes, and having swung clear round, began the silent circle over again. his fingers were never at rest, they had a fidgety, nervous action at their tips, constantly in the act of feeling something; while in the act of talking to me, he would lean over and feel the texture of the cloth of my trousers, my coat, or my shoes or socks: then he would feel his own light jamdani shirt or dabwain loin-cloth, until his eyes casually resting upon a novelty, his body would lean forward, and his arm was stretched out with the willing fingers. his jaws also were in perpetual motion, caused by vile habits he had acquired of chewing betel-nut and lime, and sometimes tobacco and lime. they gave out a sound similar to that of a young shoat, in the act of sucking. he was a pious mohammedan, and observed the external courtesies and ceremonies of the true believers. he would affably greet me, take off his shoes, enter my tent protesting he was not fit to sit in my presence, and after being seated, would begin his ever-crooked errand. of honesty, literal and practical honesty, this youth knew nothing; to the pure truth he was an utter stranger; the falsehoods he had uttered during his short life seemed already to have quenched the bold gaze of innocence from his eyes, to have banished the colour of truthfulness from his features, to have transformed him--yet a stripling of twenty--into a most accomplished rascal, and consummate expert in dishonesty. during the six weeks i encamped at bagamoyo, waiting for my quota of men, this lad of twenty gave me very much trouble. he was found out half a dozen times a day in dishonesty, yet was in no way abashed by it. he would send in his account of the cloths supplied to the pagazis, stating them to be paid to each; on sending a man to inquire i would find the greatest number to have been , and the smallest . soor hadji palloo described the cloths to be of first-class quality, ulyah cloths, worth in the market four times more than the ordinary quality given to the pagazis, yet a personal examination would prove them to be the flimsiest goods sold, such as american sheeting / feet broad, and worth $ . per yards a piece at zanzibar, or the most inferior kaniki, which is generally sold at $ per score. he would personally come to my camp and demand lbs. of sami-sami, merikani, and bubu beads for posho, or caravan rations; an inspection of their store before departure from their first camp from bagamoyo would show a deficiency ranging from to lbs. moreover, he cheated in cash-money, such as demanding $ for crossing the kingani ferry for every ten pagazis, when the fare was $ for the same number; and an unconscionable number of pice (copper coins equal in value to / of a cent) were required for posho. it was every day for four weeks that this system of roguery was carried out. each day conceived a dozen new schemes; every instant of his time he seemed to be devising how to plunder, until i was fairly at my wits' end how to thwart him. exposure before a crowd of his fellows brought no blush of shame to his sallow cheeks; he would listen with a mere shrug of the shoulders and that was all, which i might interpret any way it pleased me. a threat to reduce his present had no effect; a bird in the hand was certainly worth two in the bush for him, so ten dollars' worth of goods stolen and in his actual possession was of more intrinsic value than the promise of $ in a few days, though it was that of a white man. readers will of course ask themselves why i did not, after the first discovery of these shameless proceedings, close my business with him, to which i make reply, that i could not do without him unless his equal were forthcoming, that i never felt so thoroughly dependent on any one man as i did upon him; without his or his duplicate's aid, i must have stayed at bagamoyo at least six months, at the end of which time the expedition would have become valueless, the rumour of it having been blown abroad to the four winds. it was immediate departure that was essential to my success--departure from bagamoyo--after which it might be possible for me to control my own future in a great measure. these troubles were the greatest that i could at this time imagine. i have already stated that i had $ , worth of pagazis' clothes, or , doti, stored in my tent, and above what my bales contained. calculating one hundred and forty pagazis at doti each, i supposed i had enough, yet, though i had been trying to teach the young hindi that the musungu was not a fool, nor blind to his pilfering tricks, though the , doti were all spent; though i had only obtained one hundred and thirty pagazis at doti each, which in the aggregate amounted to , doti: soor hadji palloo's bill was $ , cash extra. his plea was that he had furnished ulyah clothes for muhongo doti, equal in value to of my doti, that the money was spent in ferry pice, in presents to chiefs of caravans of tents, guns, red broad cloth, in presents to people on the mrima (coast) to induce them to hunt up pagazis. upon this exhibition of most ruthless cheating i waxed indignant, and declared to him that if he did not run over his bill and correct it, he should go without a pice. but before the bill could be put into proper shape, my words, threats, and promises falling heedlessly on a stony brain, a man, kanjee by name, from the store of tarya topan, of zanzibar, had to come over, when the bill was finally reduced to $ . without any disrespect to tarya topan, i am unable to decide which is the most accomplished rascal, kanjee, or young soor hadji palloo; in the words of a white man who knows them both, "there is not the splitting of a straw between them." kanjee is deep and sly, soor hadji palloo is bold and incorrigible. but peace be to them both, may their shaven heads never be covered with the troublous crown i wore at bagamoyo! my dear friendly reader, do not think, if i speak out my mind in this or in any other chapter upon matters seemingly trivial and unimportant, that seeming such they should be left unmentioned. every tittle related is a fact, and to knew facts is to receive knowledge. how could i ever recite my experience to you if i did not enter upon these miserable details, which sorely distract the stranger upon his first arrival? had i been a government official, i had but wagged my finger and my quota of pagazis had been furnished me within a week; but as an individual arriving without the graces of official recognition, armed with no government influence, i had to be patient, bide my time, and chew the cud of irritation quietly, but the bread i ate was not all sour, as this was. the white men, farquhar and shaw, were kept steadily at work upon water-proof tents of hemp canvas, for i perceived, by the premonitory showers of rain that marked the approach of the masika that an ordinary tent of light cloth would subject myself to damp and my goods to mildew, and while there was time to rectify all errors that had crept into my plans through ignorance or over haste, i thought it was not wise to permit things to rectify themselves. now that i have returned uninjured in health, though i have suffered the attacks of twenty-three fevers within the short space of thirteen months; i must confess i owe my life, first, to the mercy of god; secondly, to the enthusiasm for my work, which animated me from the beginning to the end; thirdly, to having never ruined my constitution by indulgence in vice and intemperance; fourthly, to the energy of my nature; fifthly, to a native hopefulness which never died; and, sixthly, to having furnished myself with a capacious water and damp proof canvas house. and here, if my experience may be of value, i would suggest that travellers, instead of submitting their better judgment to the caprices of a tent-maker, who will endeavour to pass off a handsomely made fabric of his own, which is unsuited to all climes, to use his own judgment, and get the best and strongest that money will buy. in the end it will prove the cheapest, and perhaps be the means of saving his life. on one point i failed, and lest new and young travellers fall into the same error which marred much of my enjoyment, this paragraph is written. one must be extremely careful in his choice of weapons, whether for sport or defence. a traveller should have at least three different kinds of guns. one should be a fowling-piece, the second should be a double-barrelled rifle, no. or , the third should be a magazine-rifle, for defence. for the fowling-piece i would suggest no. bore, with barrels at least four feet in length. for the rifle for larger game, i would point out, with due deference to old sportsmen, of course, that the best guns for african game are the english lancaster and reilly rifles; and for a fighting weapon, i maintain that the best yet invented is the american winchester repeating rifle, or the "sixteen, shooter" as it is called, supplied with the london eley's ammunition. if i suggest as a fighting weapon the american winchester, i do not mean that the traveller need take it for the purpose of offence, but as the beat means of efficient defence, to save his own life against african banditti, when attacked, a thing likely to happen any time. i met a young man soon after returning from the interior, who declared his conviction that the "express," rifle was the most perfect weapon ever invented to destroy african game. very possibly the young man may be right, and that the "express" rifle is all he declares it to be, but he had never practised with it against african game, and as i had never tried it, i could not combat his assertion: but i could relate my experiences with weapons, having all the penetrating powers of the "express," and could inform him that though the bullets penetrated through the animals, they almost always failed to bring down the game at the first fire. on the other hand, i could inform him, that during the time i travelled with dr. livingstone the doctor lent me his heavy reilly rifle with which i seldom failed to bring an animal or two home to the camp, and that i found the fraser shell answer all purposes for which it was intended. the feats related by capt. speke and sir samuel baker are no longer matter of wonderment to the young sportsman, when he has a lancaster or a reilly in his hand. after very few trials he can imitate them, if not excel their leeds, provided he has a steady hand. and it is to forward this end that this paragraph is written. african game require "bone-crushers;" for any ordinary carbine possesses sufficient penetrative qualities, yet has not he disabling qualities which a gun must possess to be useful in the hands of an african explorer. i had not been long at bagamoyo before i went over to mussoudi's camp, to visit the "livingstone caravan" which the british consul had despatched on the first day of november, , to the relief of livingstone. the number of packages was thirty-five, which required as many men to convey them to unyanyembe. the men chosen to escort this caravan were composed of johannese and wahiyow, seven in number. out of the seven, four were slaves. they lived in clover here--thoughtless of the errand they had been sent upon, and careless of the consequences. what these men were doing at bagamoyo all this time i never could conceive, except indulging their own vicious propensities. it would be nonsense to say there were no pagazis; because i know there were at least fifteen caravans which had started for the interior since the ramadan (december th, ). yet livingstone's caravan had arrived at this little town of bagamoyo november nd, and here it had been lying until the th february, in all, days, for lack of the limited number of thirty-five pagazis, a number that might be procured within two days through consular influence. bagamoyo has a most enjoyable climate. it is far preferable in every sense to that of zanzibar. we were able to sleep in the open air, and rose refreshed and healthy each morning, to enjoy our matutinal bath in the sea; and by the time the sun had risen we were engaged in various preparations for our departure for the interior. our days were enlivened by visits from the arabs who were also bound for unyanyembe; by comical scenes in the camp; sometimes by court-martials held on the refractory; by a boxing-match between farquhar and shaw, necessitating my prudent interference when they waxed too wroth; by a hunting excursion now and then to the kingani plain and river; by social conversation with the old jemadar and his band of baluches, who were never tired of warning me that the masika was at hand, and of advising me that my best course was to hurry on before the season for travelling expired. among the employees with the expedition were two hindi and two goanese. they had conceived the idea that the african interior was an el dorado, the ground of which was strewn over with ivory tusks, and they had clubbed together; while their imaginations were thus heated, to embark in a little enterprise of their own. their names were jako, abdul kader, bunder salaam, and aranselar; jako engaged in my service, as carpenter and general help; abdul kader as a tailor, bunder salaam as cook, and aranselar as chief butler. but aranselar, with an intuitive eye, foresaw that i was likely to prove a vigorous employer, and while there was yet time he devoted most of it to conceive how it were possible to withdraw from the engagement. he received permission upon asking for it to go to zanzibar to visit his friends. two days afterwards i was informed he had blown his right eye out, and received a medical confirmation of the fact, and note of the extent of the injury, from dr. christie, the physician to his highness seyd burghash. his compatriots i imagined were about planning the same thing, but a peremptory command to abstain from such folly, issued after they had received their advance-pay, sufficed to check any sinister designs they may have formed. a groom was caught stealing from the bales, one night, and the chase after him into the country until he vanished out of sight into the jungle, was one of the most agreeable diversions which occurred to wear away the interval employed in preparing for the march. i had now despatched four caravans into the interior, and the fifth, which was to carry the boats and boxes, personal luggage, and a few cloth and bead loads, was ready to be led by myself. the following is the order of departure of the caravans. . feb. .--expedition arrived at bagamoyo. . feb. .--first caravan departs with twenty-four pagazis and three soldiers. . feb. .--second caravan departs with twenty-eight pagazis, two chiefs, and two soldiers. . feb. .--third caravan departs with twenty-two pagazis, ten donkeys, one white man, one cook, and three soldiers. . march. .--fourth caravan departs with fifty-five pagazis, two chiefs, and three soldiers. . march. .--fifth caravan departs with twenty-eight pagazis, twelve soldiers, two white men, one tailor, one cook, one interpreter, one gun-bearer, seventeen asses, two horses, and one dog. total number, inclusive of all souls, comprised in caravans connected with the "new york herald' expedition," . chapter v. -- through ukwere, ukami, and udoe to useguhha. leaving bagamoyo for the interior.--constructing a bridge.-- our first troubles.--shooting hippopotami.--a first view of the game land.--anticipating trouble with the wagogo.--the dreadful poison--flies.--unlucky adventures while hunting.-- the cunning chief of kingaru.--sudden death of my two horses.--a terrible experience.--the city of the "lion lord." on the st of march, exactly seventy-three days after my arrival at zanzibar, the fifth caravan, led by myself, left the town of bagamoyo for our first journey westward, with "forward!" for its mot du guet. as the kirangozi unrolled the american flag, and put himself at the head of the caravan, and the pagazis, animals, soldiers, and idlers were lined for the march, we bade a long farewell to the dolce far niente of civilised life, to the blue ocean, and to its open road to home, to the hundreds of dusky spectators who were there to celebrate our departure with repeated salvoes of musketry. our caravan is composed of twenty-eight pagazis, including the kirangozi, or guide; twelve soldiers under capt. mbarak bombay, in charge of seventeen donkeys and their loads; selim, my interpreter, in charge of the donkey and cart and its load; one cook and sub, who is also to be tailor and ready hand for all, and leads the grey horse; shaw, once mate of a ship, now transformed into rearguard and overseer for the caravan, who is mounted on a good riding-donkey, and wearing a canoe-like tepee and sea-boots; and lastly, on, the splendid bay horse presented to me by mr. goodhue, myself, called bana mkuba, "the big master," by my people--the vanguard, the reporter, the thinker, and leader of the expedition. altogether the expedition numbers on the day of departure three white men, twenty-three soldiers, four supernumeraries, four chiefs, and one hundred and fifty-three pagazis, twenty-seven donkeys, and one cart, conveying cloth, beads, and wire, boat-fixings, tents, cooking utensils and dishes, medicine, powder, small shot, musket-balls, and metallic cartridges; instruments and small necessaries, such as soap, sugar, tea, coffee, liebig's extract of meat, pemmican, candles, &c., which make a total of loads. the weapons of defence which the expedition possesses consist of one double-barrel breech-loading gun, smooth bore; one american winchester rifle, or "sixteen-shooter;" one henry rifle, or "sixteen-shooter;" two starr's breech-loaders, one jocelyn breech-loader, one elephant rifle, carrying balls eight to the pound; two breech-loading revolvers, twenty-four muskets (flint locks), six single-barrelled pistols, one battle-axe, two swords, two daggers (persian kummers, purchased at shiraz by myself), one boar-spear, two american axes lbs. each, twenty-four hatchets, and twenty-four butcher-knives. the expedition has been fitted with care; whatever it needed was not stinted; everything was provided. nothing was done too hurriedly, yet everything was purchased, manufactured, collected, and compounded with the utmost despatch consistent with efficiency and means. should it fail of success in its errand of rapid transit to ujiji and back, it must simply happen from an accident which could not be controlled. so much for the _personnel_ of the expedition and its purpose, until its _point de mire_ be reached. we left bagamoyo the attraction of all the curious, with much eclat, and defiled up a narrow lane shaded almost to twilight by the dense umbrage of two parallel hedges of mimosas. we were all in the highest spirits. the soldiers sang, the kirangozi lifted his voice into a loud bellowing note, and fluttered the american flag, which told all on-lookers, "lo, a musungu's caravan!" and my heart, i thought, palpitated much too quickly for the sober face of a leader. but i could not check it; the enthusiasm of youth still clung to me--despite my travels; my pulses bounded with the full glow of staple health; behind me were the troubles which had harassed me for over two months. with that dishonest son of a hindi, soor hadji palloo, i had said my last word; of the blatant rabble, of arabs, banyans, and baluches i had taken my last look; with the jesuits of the french mission i had exchanged farewells, and before me beamed the sun of promise as he sped towards the occident. loveliness glowed around me. i saw fertile fields, riant vegetation, strange trees--i heard the cry of cricket and pee-wit, and sibilant sound of many insects, all of which seemed to tell me, "at last you are started." what could i do but lift my face toward the pure-glowing sky, and cry, "god be thanked!" the first camp, shamba gonera, we arrived at in hour minutes, equal to / miles. this first, or "little journey," was performed very well, "considering," as the irishman says. the boy selim upset the cart not more than three times. zaidi, the soldier, only once let his donkey, which carried one bag of my clothes and a box of ammunition, lie in a puddle of black water. the clothes have to be re-washed; the ammunition-box, thanks to my provision, was waterproof. kamna perhaps knew the art of donkey-driving, but, overjoyful at the departure, had sung himself into oblivion of the difficulties with which an animal of the pure asinine breed has naturally to contend against, such as not knowing the right road, and inability to resist the temptation of straying into the depths of a manioc field; and the donkey, ignorant of the custom in vogue amongst ass-drivers of flourishing sticks before an animal's nose, and misunderstanding the direction in which he was required to go, ran off at full speed along an opposite road, until his pack got unbalanced, and he was fain to come to the earth. but these incidents were trivial, of no importance, and natural to the first "little journey" in east africa. the soldiers' point of character leaked out just a little. bombay turned out to be honest and trusty, but slightly disposed to be dilatory. uledi did more talking than work; while the runaway ferajji and the useless-handed mabruki burton turned out to be true men and staunch, carrying loads the sight of which would have caused the strong-limbed hamals of stamboul to sigh. the saddles were excellent, surpassing expectation. the strong hemp canvas bore its one hundred and fifty-pounds' burden with the strength of bull hide, and the loading and unloading of miscellaneous baggage was performed with systematic despatch. in brief, there was nothing to regret--the success of the journey proved our departure to be anything but premature. the next three days were employed in putting the finishing touches to our preparations for the long land journey and our precautions against the masika, which was now ominously near, and in settling accounts. shamba gonera means gonera's field. gonera is a wealthy indian widow, well disposed towards the wasungu (whites). she exports much cloth, beads, and wire into the far interior, and imports in return much ivory. her house is after the model of the town houses, with long sloping roof and projecting eaves, affording a cool shade, under which the pagazis love to loiter. on its southern and eastern side stretch the cultivated fields which supply bagamoyo with the staple grain, matama, of east africa; on the left grow indian corn, and muhogo, a yam-like root of whitish colour, called by some manioc; when dry, it is ground and compounded into cakes similar to army slapjacks. on the north, just behind the house, winds a black quagmire, a sinuous hollow, which in its deepest parts always contains water--the muddy home of the brake-and-rush-loving "kiboko" or hippopotamus. its banks, crowded with dwarf fan-palm, tall water-reeds, acacias, and tiger-grass, afford shelter to numerous aquatic birds, pelicans, &c. after following a course north-easterly, it conflows with the kingani, which, at distance of four miles from gonera's country-house; bends eastward into the sea. to the west, after a mile of cultivation, fall and recede in succession the sea-beach of old in lengthy parallel waves, overgrown densely with forest grass and marsh reeds. on the spines of these land-swells flourish ebony, calabash, and mango. "sofari--sofari leo! pakia, pakia!"--"a journey--a journey to day! set out!--set out!" rang the cheery voice of the kirangozi, echoed by that of my servant selim, on the morning of the fourth day, which was fixed for our departure in earnest. as i hurried my men to their work, and lent a hand with energy to drop the tents, i mentally resolved that, if my caravans a should give me clear space, unyanyembe should be our resting-place before three months expired. by a.m. our early breakfast was despatched, and the donkeys and pagazis were defiling from camp gonera. even at this early hour, and in this country place, there was quite a collection of curious natives, to whom we gave the parting "kwaheri" with sincerity. my bay horse was found to be invaluable for the service of a quarter-master of a transport-train; for to such was i compelled to compare myself. i could stay behind until the last donkey had quitted the camp, and, by a few minutes' gallop, i could put myself at the head, leaving shaw to bring up the rear. the road was a mere footpath, and led over a soil which, though sandy, was of surprising fertility, producing grain and vegetables a hundredfold, the sowing and planting of which was done in the most unskilful manner. in their fields, at heedless labor, were men and women in the scantiest costumes, compared to which adam and eve, in their fig-tree apparel, must have been _en grande tenue_. we passed them with serious faces, while they laughed and giggled, and pointed their index fingers at this and that, which to them seemed so strange and bizarre. in about half an hour we had left the tall matama and fields of water-melons, cucumbers, and manioc; and, crossing a reedy slough, were in an open forest of ebony and calabash. in its depths are deer in plentiful numbers, and at night it is visited by the hippopotami of the kingani for the sake of its grass. in another hour we had emerged from the woods, and were looking down upon the broad valley of the kingani, and a scene presented itself so utterly different from what my foolish imagination had drawn, that i felt quite relieved by the pleasing disappointment. here was a valley stretching four miles east and west, and about eight miles north and south, left with the richest soil to its own wild growth of grass--which in civilization would have been a most valuable meadow for the rearing of cattle--invested as it was by dense forests, darkening the horizon at all points of the compass, and folded in by tree-clad ridges. at the sound of our caravan the red antelope bounded away to our right and the left, and frogs hushed their croak. the sun shone hot, and while traversing the valley we experienced a little of its real african fervour. about half way across we came to a sluice of stagnant water which, directly in the road of the caravan, had settled down into an oozy pond. the pagazis crossed a hastily-constructed bridge, thrown up a long time ago by some washensi samaritans. it was an extraordinary affair; rugged tree limbs resting on very unsteady forked piles, and it had evidently tested the patience of many a loaded mnyamwezi, as it did those porters of our caravan. our weaker animals were unloaded, the puddle between bagamoyo and genera having taught us prudence. but this did not occasion much delay; the men worked smartly under shaw's supervision. the turbid kingani, famous for its hippopotami, was reached in a short time, and we began to thread the jungle along its right bank until we were halted point-blank by a narrow sluice having an immeasurable depth of black mud. the difficulty presented by this was very grave, though its breadth was barely eight feet; the donkeys, and least of all the horses, could not be made to traverse two poles like our biped carriers, neither could they be driven into the sluice, where they would quickly founder. the only available way of crossing it in safety was by means of a bridge, to endure in this conservative land for generations as the handiwork of the wasungu. so we set to work, there being no help for it, with american axes--the first of their kind the strokes of which ever rang in this part of the world--to build a bridge. be sure it was made quickly, for where the civilized white is found, a difficulty must vanish. the bridge was composed of six stout trees thrown across, over these were laid crosswise fifteen pack saddles, covered again with a thick layer of grass. all the animals crossed it safely, and then for a third time that morning the process of wading was performed. the kingani flowed northerly here, and our course lay down its right bank. a half mile in that direction through a jungle of giant reeds and extravagant climbers brought us to the ferry, where the animals had to be again unloaded--verily, i wished when i saw its deep muddy waters that i possessed the power of moses with his magic rod, or what would have answered my purpose as well, aladdin's ring, for then i could have found myself and party on the opposite side without further trouble; but not having either of these gifts i issued orders for an immediate crossing, for it was ill wishing sublime things before this most mundane prospect. kingwere, the canoe paddler, espying us from his brake covert, on the opposite side, civilly responded to our halloos, and brought his huge hollowed tree skilfully over the whirling eddies of the river to where we stood waiting for him. while one party loaded the canoe with our goods, others got ready a long rape to fasten around the animals' necks, wherewith to haul them through the river to the other bank. after seeing the work properly commenced, i sat down on a condemned canoe to amuse myself with the hippopotami by peppering their thick skulls with my no. smooth-bore. the winchester rifle (calibre ), a present from the hon. edward joy morris--our minister at constantinople--did no more than slightly tap them, causing about as much injury as a boy's sling; it was perfect in its accuracy of fire, for ten times in succession i struck the tops of their heads between the ears. one old fellow, with the look of a sage, was tapped close to the right ear by one of these bullets. instead of submerging himself as others had done he coolly turned round his head as if to ask, "why this waste of valuable cartridges on us?" the response to the mute inquiry of his sageship was an ounce-and-a-quarter bullet from the smooth-bore, which made him bellow with pain, and in a few moments he rose up again, tumbling in his death agonies. as his groans were so piteous, i refrained from a useless sacrifice of life, and left the amphibious horde in peace. a little knowledge concerning these uncouth inmates of the african waters was gained even during the few minutes we were delayed at the ferry. when undisturbed by foreign sounds, they congregate in shallow water on the sand bars, with the fore half of their bodies exposed to the warm sunshine, and are in appearance, when thus somnolently reposing, very like a herd of enormous swine. when startled by the noise of an intruder, they plunge hastily into the depths, lashing the waters into a yellowish foam, and scatter themselves below the surface, when presently the heads of a few reappear, snorting the water from their nostrils, to take a fresh breath and a cautious scrutiny around them; when thus, we see but their ears, forehead, eyes and nostrils, and as they hastily submerge again it requires a steady wrist and a quick hand to shoot them. i have heard several comparisons made of their appearance while floating in this manner: some arabs told me before i had seen them that they looked like dead trees carried down the river; others, who in some country had seen hogs, thought they resembled them, but to my mind they look more like horses when swimming their curved necks and pointed ears, their wide eyes and expanded nostrils, favor greatly this comparison. at night they seek the shore, and wander several miles over the country, luxuriating among its rank grasses. to within four miles of the town of bagamoyo (the kingani is eight miles distant) their wide tracks are seen. frequently, if not disturbed by the startling human voice, they make a raid on the rich corn-stalks of the native cultivators, and a dozen of them will in a few minutes make a frightful havoc in a large field of this plant. consequently, we were not surprised, while delayed at the ferry, to hear the owners of the corn venting loud halloos, like the rosy-cheeked farmer boys in england when scaring the crows away from the young wheat. the caravan in the meanwhile had crossed safely--bales, baggage, donkeys, and men. i had thought to have camped on the bank, so as to amuse myself with shooting antelope, and also for the sake of procuring their meat, in order to save my goats, of which i had a number constituting my live stock of provisions; but, thanks to the awe and dread which my men entertained of the hippopotami, i was hurried on to the outpost of the baluch garrison at bagamoyo, a small village called kikoka, distant four miles from the river. the western side of the river was a considerable improvement upon the eastern. the plain, slowly heaving upwards, as smoothly as the beach of a watering-place, for the distance of a mile, until it culminated in a gentle and rounded ridge, presented none of those difficulties which troubled us on the other side. there were none of those cataclysms of mire and sloughs of black mud and over-tall grasses, none of that miasmatic jungle with its noxious emissions; it was just such a scene as one may find before an english mansion--a noble expanse of lawn and sward, with boscage sufficient to agreeably diversify it. after traversing the open plain, the road led through a grove of young ebony trees, where guinea-fowls and a hartebeest were seen; it then wound, with all the characteristic eccentric curves of a goat-path, up and down a succession of land-waves crested by the dark green foliage of the mango, and the scantier and lighter-coloured leaves of the enormous calabash. the depressions were filled with jungle of more or less density, while here and there opened glades, shadowed even during noon by thin groves of towering trees. at our approach fled in terror flocks of green pigeons, jays, ibis, turtledoves, golden pheasants, quails and moorhens, with crows and hawks, while now and then a solitary pelican winged its way to the distance. nor was this enlivening prospect without its pairs of antelope, and monkeys which hopped away like australian kangaroos; these latter were of good size, with round bullet heads, white breasts, and long tails tufted at the end. we arrived at kikoka by p.m., having loaded and unloaded our pack animals four times, crossing one deep puddle, a mud sluice, and a river, and performed a journey of eleven miles. the settlement of kikoka is a collection of straw huts; not built after any architectural style, but after a bastard form, invented by indolent settlers from the mrima and zanzibar for the purpose of excluding as much sunshine as possible from the eaves and interior. a sluice and some wells provide them with water, which though sweet is not particularly wholesome or appetizing, owing to the large quantities of decayed matter which is washed into it by the rains, and is then left to corrupt in it. a weak effort has been made to clear the neighbourhood for providing a place for cultivation, but to the dire task of wood-chopping and jungle-clearing the settlers prefer occupying an open glade, which they clear of grass, so as to be able to hoe up two or three inches of soil, into which they cast their seed, confident of return. the next day was a halt at kikoka; the fourth caravan, consisting solely of wanyamwezi, proving a sore obstacle to a rapid advance. maganga, its chief, devised several methods of extorting more cloth and presents from me, he having cost already more than any three chiefs together; but his efforts were of no avail further than obtaining promises of reward if he would hurry on to unyanyembe so that i might find my road clear. on the ( ?)th, the wanyamwezi having started, we broke camp soon after at am. the country was of the same nature as that lying between the kingani and kikokaa park land, attractive and beautiful in every feature. i rode in advance to secure meat should a chance present itself, but not the shadow of vert or venison did i see. ever in our front--westerly--rolled the land-waves, now rising, now subsiding, parallel one with the other, like a ploughed field many times magnified. each ridge had its knot of jungle or its thin combing of heavily foliaged trees, until we arrived close to rosako, our next halting place, when the monotonous wavure of the land underwent a change, breaking into independent hummocks clad with dense jungle. on one of these, veiled by an impenetrable jungle of thorny acacia, rested rosako; girt round by its natural fortification, neighbouring another village to the north of it similarly protected. between them sank a valley extremely fertile and bountiful in its productions, bisected by a small stream, which serves as a drain to the valley or low hills surrounding it. rosako is the frontier village of ukwere, while kikoka is the north-western extremity of uzaramo. we entered this village, and occupied its central portion with our tents and animals. a kitanda, or square light bedstead, without valance, fringe, or any superfluity whatever, but nevertheless quite as comfortable as with them, was brought to my tent for my use by the village chief. the animals were, immediately after being unloaded, driven out to feed, and the soldiers to a man set to work to pile the baggage up, lest the rain, which during the masika season always appears imminent, might cause irreparable damage. among other experiments which i was about to try in africa was that of a good watch-dog on any unmannerly people who would insist upon coming into my tent at untimely hours and endangering valuables. especially did i wish to try the effect of its bark on the mighty wagogo, who, i was told by certain arabs, would lift the door of the tent and enter whether you wished them or not; who would chuckle at the fear they inspired, and say to you, "hi, hi, white man, i never saw the like of you before; are there many more like you? where do you come from?" also would they take hold of your watch and ask you with a cheerful curiosity, "what is this for, white man?" to which you of course would reply that it was to tell you the hour and minute. but the mgogo, proud of his prowess, and more unmannerly than a brute, would answer you with a snort of insult. i thought of a watch-dog, and procured a good one at bombay not only as a faithful companion, but to threaten the heels of just such gentry. but soon after our arrival at rosako it was found that the dog, whose name was "omar," given him from his turkish origin, was missing; he had strayed away from the soldiers during a rain-squall and had got lost. i despatched mabruki burton back to kikoka to search for him. on the following morning, just as we were about to leave rosako, the faithful fellow returned with the lost dog, having found him at kikoka. previous to our departure on the morning after this, maganga, chief of the fourth caravan, brought me the unhappy report that three of his pagazis were sick, and he would like to have some "dowa"--medicine. though not a doctor, or in any way connected with the profession, i had a well-supplied medicine chest--without which no traveller in africa could live--for just such a contingency as was now present. on visiting maganga's sick men, i found one suffering from inflammation of the lungs, another from the mukunguru (african intermittent). they all imagined themselves about to die, and called loudly for "mama!" "mama!" though they were all grown men. it was evident that the fourth caravan could not stir that day, so leaving word with magauga to hurry after me as soon as possible, i issued orders for the march of my own. excepting in the neighbourhood of the villages which we have passed there were no traces of cultivation. the country extending between the several stations is as much a wilderness as the desert of sahara, though it possesses a far more pleasing aspect. indeed, had the first man at the time of the creation gazed at his world and perceived it of the beauty which belongs to this part of africa, he would have had no cause of complaint. in the deep thickets, set like islets amid a sea of grassy verdure, he would have found shelter from the noonday heat, and a safe retirement for himself and spouse during the awesome darkness. in the morning he could have walked forth on the sloping sward, enjoyed its freshness, and performed his ablutions in one of the many small streams flowing at its foot. his garden of fruit-trees is all that is required; the noble forests, deep and cool, are round about him, and in their shade walk as many animals as one can desire. for days and days let a man walk in any direction, north, south, east, and west, and he will behold the same scene. earnestly as i wished to hurry on to unyanyembe, still a heart-felt anxiety about the arrival of my goods carried by the fourth caravan, served as a drag upon me and before my caravan had marched nine miles my anxiety had risen to the highest pitch, and caused me to order a camp there and then. the place selected for it was near a long straggling sluice, having an abundance of water during the rainy season, draining as it does two extensive slopes. no sooner had we pitched our camp, built a boma of thorny acacia, and other tree branches, by stacking them round our camp, and driven our animals to grass; than we were made aware of the formidable number and variety of the insect tribe, which for a time was another source of anxiety, until a diligent examination of the several species dispelled it. as it was a most interesting hunt which i instituted for the several specimens of the insects, i here append the record of it for what it is worth. my object in obtaining these specimens was to determine whether the genus _glossina morsitans_ of the naturalist, or the tsetse (sometimes called setse) of livingstone, vardon, and gumming, said to be deadly to horses, was amongst them. up to this date i had been nearly two months in east africa, and had as yet seen no tsetse; and my horses, instead of becoming emaciated--for such is one of the symptoms of a tsetse bite--had considerably improved in condition. there were three different species of flies which sought shelter in my tent, which, unitedly, kept up a continual chorus of sounds--one performed the basso profondo, another a tenor, and the third a weak contralto. the first emanated from a voracious and fierce fly, an inch long, having a ventral capacity for blood quite astonishing. this larger fly was the one chosen for the first inspection, which was of the intensest. i permitted one to alight on my flannel pyjamas, which i wore while en deshabille in camp. no sooner had he alighted than his posterior was raised, his head lowered, and his weapons, consisting of four hair-like styles, unsheathed from the proboscis-like bag which concealed them, and immediately i felt pain like that caused by a dexterous lancet-cut or the probe of a fine needle. i permitted him to gorge himself, though my patience and naturalistic interest were sorely tried. i saw his abdominal parts distend with the plenitude of the repast until it had swollen to three times its former shrunken girth, when he flew away of his own accord laden with blood. on rolling up my flannel pyjamas to see the fountain whence the fly had drawn the fluid, i discovered it to be a little above the left knee, by a crimson bead resting over the incision. after wiping the blood the wound was similar to that caused by a deep thrust of a fine needle, but all pain had vanished with the departure of the fly. having caught a specimen of this fly, i next proceeded to institute a comparison between it and the tsetse, as described by dr. livingstone on pp. - , 'missionary travels and researches in south africa' (murray's edition of ). the points of disagreement are many, and such as to make it entirely improbable that this fly is the true tsetse, though my men unanimously stated that its bite was fatal to horses as well as to donkeys. a descriptive abstract of the tsetse would read thus: "not much larger than a common house-fly, nearly of the same brown colour as the honey-bee. after-part of the body has yellow bars across it. it has a peculiar buzz, and its bite is death to the horse, ox, and dog. on man the bite has no effect, neither has it on wild animals. when allowed to feed on the hand, it inserts the middle prong of three portions into which the proboscis divides, it then draws the prong out a little way, and it assumes a crimson colour as the mandibles come into brisk operation; a slight itching irritation follows the bite." the fly which i had under inspection is called mabunga by the natives. it is much larger than the common housefly, fully a third larger than the common honey-bee, and its colour more distinctly marked; its head is black, with a greenish gloss to it; the after-part of the body is marked by a white line running lengthwise from its junction with the trunk, and on each side of this white line are two other lines, one of a crimson colour, the other of a light brown. as for its buzz, there is no peculiarity in it, it might be mistaken for that of a honey-bee. when caught it made desperate efforts to get away, but never attempted to bite. this fly, along with a score of others, attacked my grey horse, and bit it so sorely in the legs that they appeared as if bathed in blood. hence, i might have been a little vengeful if, with more than the zeal of an entomologist, i caused it to disclose whatever peculiarities its biting parts possessed. in order to bring this fly as life-like as possible before my readers, i may compare its head to most tiny miniature of an elephant's, because it has a black proboscis and a pair of horny antennae, which in colour and curve resemble tusks. the black proboscis, however, the simply a hollow sheath, which encloses, when not in the act of biting, four reddish and sharp lancets. under the microscope these four lancets differ in thickness, two are very thick, the third is slender, but the fourth, of an opal colour and almost transparent, is exceedingly fine. this last must be the sucker. when the fly is about to wound, the two horny antennae are made to embrace the part, the lancets are unsheathed, and on the instant the incision is performed. this i consider to be the african "horse-fly." the second fly, which sang the tenor notes more nearly resembled in size and description the tsetse. it was exceedingly nimble, and it occupied three soldiers nearly an hour to capture a specimen; and, when it was finally caught, it stung most ravenously the hand, and never ceased its efforts to attack until it was pinned through. it had three or four white marks across the after-part of its body; but the biting parts of this fly consisted of two black antennae and an opal coloured style, which folded away under the neck. when about to bite, this style was shot out straight, and the antennae embraced it closely. after death the fly lost its distinctive white marks. only one of this species did we see at this camp. the third fly, called "chufwa," pitched a weak alto-crescendo note, was a third larger than the house fly, and had long wings. if this insect sang the feeblest note, it certainly did the most work, and inflicted the most injury. horses and donkeys streamed with blood, and reared and kicked through the pain. so determined was it not to be driven before it obtained its fill, that it was easily despatched; but this dreadful enemy to cattle constantly increased in numbers. the three species above named are, according to natives, fatal to cattle; and this may perhaps be the reason why such a vast expanse of first-class pasture is without domestic cattle of any kind, a few goats only being kept by the villagers. this fly i subsequently found to be the "tsetse." on the second morning, instead of proceeding, i deemed it more prudent to await the fourth caravan. burton experimented sufficiently for me on the promised word of the banyans of kaole and zanzibar, and waited eleven months before he received the promised articles. as i did not expect to be much over that time on my errand altogether, it would be ruin, absolute and irremediable, should i be detained at unyanyembe so long a time by my caravan. pending its arrival, i sought the pleasures of the chase. i was but a tyro in hunting, i confess, though i had shot a little on the plains of america and persia; yet i considered myself a fair shot, and on game ground, and within a reasonable proximity to game, i doubted not but i could bring some to camp. after a march of a mile through the tall grass of the open, we gained the glades between the jungles. unsuccessful here, after ever so much prying into fine hiding-places and lurking corners, i struck a trail well traversed by small antelope and hartebeest, which we followed. it led me into a jungle, and down a watercourse bisecting it; but, after following it for an hour, i lost it, and, in endeavouring to retrace it, lost my way. however, my pocket-compass stood me in good stead; and by it i steered for the open plain, in the centre of which stood the camp. but it was terribly hard work--this of plunging through an african jungle, ruinous to clothes, and trying to the cuticle. in order to travel quickly, i had donned a pair of flannel pyjamas, and my feet were encased in canvas shoes. as might be expected, before i had gone a few paces a branch of the acacia horrida--only one of a hundred such annoyances--caught the right leg of my pyjamas at the knee, and ripped it almost clean off; succeeding which a stumpy kolquall caught me by the shoulder, and another rip was the inevitable consequence. a few yards farther on, a prickly aloetic plant disfigured by a wide tear the other leg of my pyjamas, and almost immediately i tripped against a convolvulus strong as ratline, and was made to measure my length on a bed of thorns. it was on all fours, like a hound on a scent, that i was compelled to travel; my solar topee getting the worse for wear every minute; my skin getting more and more wounded; my clothes at each step becoming more and more tattered. besides these discomforts, there was a pungent, acrid plant which, apart from its strong odorous emissions, struck me smartly on the face, leaving a burning effect similar to cayenne; and the atmosphere, pent in by the density of the jungle, was hot and stifling, and the perspiration transuded through every pore, making my flannel tatters feel as if i had been through a shower. when i had finally regained the plain, and could breathe free, i mentally vowed that the penetralia of an african jungle should not be visited by me again, save under most urgent necessity. the second and third day passed without any news of maganga. accordingly, shaw and bombay were sent to hurry him up by all means. on the fourth morning shaw and bombay returned, followed by the procrastinating maganga and his laggard people. questions only elicited an excuse that his men had been too sick, and he had feared to tax their strength before they were quite equal to stand the fatigue. moreover he suggested that as they would be compelled to stay one day more at the camp, i might push on to kingaru and camp there, until his arrival. acting upon which suggestion i broke camp and started for kingaru, distant five miles. on this march the land was more broken, and the caravan first encountered jungle, which gave considerable trouble to our cart. pisolitic limestone cropped out in boulders and sheets, and we began to imagine ourselves approaching healthy highlands, and as if to give confirmation to the thought, to the north and north-west loomed the purple cones of udoe, and topmost of all dilima peak, about , feet in height above the sea level. but soon after sinking into a bowl-like valley, green with tall corn, the road slightly deviated from north-west to west, the country still rolling before us in wavy undulations. in one of the depressions between these lengthy land-swells stood the village of kingaru, with surroundings significant in their aspect of ague and fever. perhaps the clouds surcharged with rain, and the overhanging ridges and their dense forests dulled by the gloom, made the place more than usually disagreeable, but my first impressions of the sodden hollow, pent in by those dull woods, with the deep gully close by containing pools of stagnant water, were by no means agreeable. before we could arrange our camp and set the tents up, down poured the furious harbinger of the masika season in torrents sufficient to damp the ardor and newborn love for east africa i had lately manifested. however, despite rain, we worked on until our camp was finished and the property was safely stored from weather and thieves, and we could regard with resignation the raindrops beating the soil into mud of a very tenacious kind, and forming lakelets and rivers of our camp-ground. towards night, the scene having reached its acme of unpleasantness, the rain ceased, and the natives poured into camp from the villages in the woods with their vendibles. foremost among these, as if in duty bound, came the village sultan--lord, chief, or head--bearing three measures of matama and half a measure of rice, of which he begged, with paternal smiles, my acceptance. but under his smiling mask, bleared eyes, and wrinkled front was visible the soul of trickery, which was of the cunningest kind. responding under the same mask adopted by this knavish elder, i said, "the chief of kingaru has called me a rich sultan. if i am a rich sultan why comes not the chief with a rich present to me, that he might get a rich return?" said he, with another leer of his wrinkled visage, "kingaru is poor, there is no matama in the village." to which i replied that since there was no matama in the village i would pay him half a shukka, or a yard of cloth, which would be exactly equivalent to his present; that if he preferred to call his small basketful a present, i should be content to call my yard of cloth a present. with which logic he was fain to be satisfied. april st.--to-day the expedition suffered a loss in the death of the grey arab horse presented by seyd burghash, sultan of zanzibar. the night previous i had noticed that the horse was suffering. bearing in mind what has been so frequently asserted, namely, that no horses could live in the interior of africa because of the tsetse, i had him opened, and the stomach, which i believed to be diseased, examined. besides much undigested matama and grass there were found twenty-five short, thick, white worms, sticking like leeches into the coating of the stomach, while the intestines were almost alive with the numbers of long white worms. i was satisfied that neither man nor beast could long exist with such a mass of corrupting life within him. in order that the dead carcase might not taint the valley, i had it buried deep in the ground, about a score of yards from the encampment. from such a slight cause ensued a tremendous uproar from kingaru--chief of the village--who, with his brother-chiefs of neighbouring villages, numbering in the aggregate two dozen wattled huts, had taken counsel upon the best means of mulcting the musungu of a full doti or two of merikani, and finally had arrived at the conviction that the act of burying a dead horse in their soil without "by your leave, sir," was a grievous and fineable fault. affecting great indignation at the unpardonable omission, he, kingaru, concluded to send to the musungu four of his young men to say to him that "since you have buried your horse in my ground, it is well; let him remain there; but you must pay me two doti of merikani." for reply the messengers were told to say to the chief that i would prefer talking the matter over with himself face to face, if he would condescend to visit me in my tent once again. as the village was but a stone's throw from our encampment, before many minutes had elapsed the wrinkled elder made his appearance at the door of my tent with about half the village behind him. the following dialogue which took place will serve to illustrate the tempers of the people with whom i was about to have a year's trading intercourse: white man.--"are you the great chief of kingaru?" kingaru.--"huh-uh. yes." w. m.--"the great, great chief?" kingaru.--"huh-uh. yes." w. m.--"how many soldiers have you?" kingaru.--" why?" w. m.--"how many fighting men have you?" kingaru.--"none." w. m.--"oh! i thought you might have a thousand men with you, by your going to fine a strong white man, who has plenty of guns and soldiers, two doti for burying a dead horse." kingaru (rather perplexed).--"no; i have no soldiers. i have only a few young men." w. m.--"why do you come and make trouble, then?" kingaru.--"it was not i; it was my brothers who said to me, 'come here, come here, kingaru, see what the white man has done! has he not taken possession of your soil, in that he has put his horse into your ground without your permission? come, go to him and see by what right.' therefore have i come to ask you, who gave you permission to use my soil for a burying-ground?" w. m. "i want no man's permission to do what is right. my horse died; had i left him to fester and stink in your valley, sickness would visit your village, your water would become unwholesome, and caravans would not stop here for trade; for they would say, 'this is an unlucky spot, let us go away.' but enough said: i understand you to say that you do not want him buried in your ground; the error i have fallen into is easily put right. this minute my soldiers shall dig him out again, and cover up the soil as it was before; and the horse shall be left where he died." (then shouting to bombay.) "ho! bombay, take soldiers with jembes to dig my horse out of the ground, drag him to where he died, and make everything ready for a march to-morrow morning." kingaru, his voice considerably higher, and his head moving to and fro with emotion, cries out, "akuna, akuna, bana!"--"no, no, master! let not the white man get angry. the horse is dead, and now lies buried; let him remain so, since he is already there, and let us be friends again." the sheikh of kingaru being thus brought to his senses, we bid each other the friendly "kwaheri," and i was left alone to ruminate over my loss. barely half an hour had elapsed, it was p.m., the camp was in a semi-doze, when i heard deep groans issuing from one of the animals. upon inquiry as to what animal was suffering, i was surprised to hear that it was my bay horse. with a bull's-eye lantern, i visited him, and perceived that the pain was located in the stomach, but whether it was from some poisonous plant he had eaten while out grazing, or from some equine disease, i did not know. he discharged copious quantities of loose matter, but there was nothing peculiar in its colour. the pain was evidently very great, for his struggles were very violent. i was up all night, hoping that it was but a temporary effect of some strange and noxious plant; but at o'clock the next morning, after a short period of great agony, he also died; exactly fifteen hours after his companion. when the stomach was opened, it was found that death was caused by the internal rupture of a large cancer, which had affected the larger half of the coating of his stomach, and had extended an inch or two up the larynx. the contents of the stomach and intestines were deluged with the yellow viscous efflux from the cancer. i was thus deprived of both my horses, and that within the short space of fifteen hours. with my limited knowledge of veterinary science, however, strengthened by the actual and positive proofs obtained by the dissection of the two stomachs, i can scarcely state that horses can live to reach unyanyembe, or that they can travel with ease through this part of east africa. but should i have occasion at some future day, i should not hesitate to take four horses with me, though i should certainly endeavour to ascertain previous to purchase whether they, were perfectly sound and healthy, and to those travellers who cherish a good horse i would say, "try one," and be not discouraged by my unfortunate experiences. the st, nd, and rd of april passed, and nothing had we heard or seen of the ever-lagging fourth caravan. in the meanwhile the list of casualties was being augmented. besides the loss of this precious time, through the perverseness of the chief of the other caravan, and the loss of my two horses, a pagazi carrying boat-fixtures improved the opportunity, and deserted. selim was struck down with a severe attack of ague and fever, and was soon after followed by the cook, then by the assistant cook and tailor, abdul kader. finally, before the third day was over, bombay had rheumatism, uledi (grant's old valet) had a swollen throat, zaidi had the flux, kingaru had the mukunguru; khamisi, a pagazi, suffered from a weakness of the loins; farjalla had a bilious fever; and before night closed makoviga was very ill. out of a force of twenty-five men one had deserted, and ten were on the sick list, and the presentiment that the ill-looking neighbourhood of kingaru would prove calamitous to me was verified. on the th april maganga and his people appeared, after being heralded by musketry-shots and horn-blowing, the usual signs of an approaching caravan in this land. his sick men were considerably improved, but they required one more day of rest at kingaru. in the afternoon he came to lay siege to my generosity, by giving details of soor hadji palloo's heartless cheats upon him; but i informed him, that since i had left bagamoyo, i could no longer be generous; we were now in a land where cloth was at a high premium; that i had no more cloth than i should need to furnish food for myself and men; that he and his caravan had cost me more money and trouble than any three caravans i had, as indeed was the case. with this counter-statement he was obliged to be content. but i again solved his pecuniary doubts by promising that, if he hurried his caravan on to unyanyembe, he should have no cause of complaint. the th of april saw the fourth caravan vanish for once in our front, with a fair promise that, however fast we should follow, we should not see them the hither side of sinbamwenni. the following morning, in order to rouse my people from the sickened torpitude they had lapsed into, i beat an exhilarating alarum on a tin pan with an iron ladle, intimating that a sofari was about to be undertaken. this had a very good effect, judging from the extraordinary alacrity with which it was responded to. before the sun rose we started. the kingaru villagers were out with the velocity of hawks for any rags or refuse left behind us. the long march to imbiki, fifteen miles, proved that our protracted stay at kingaru had completely demoralized my soldiers and pagazis. only a few of them had strength enough to reach imbiki before night. the others, attending the laden donkeys, put in an appearance next morning, in a lamentable state of mind and body. khamisi--the pagazi with the weak loins--had deserted, taking with him two goats, the property tent, and the whole of uledi's personal wealth, consisting of his visiting dish-dasheh--a long shirt of the arabic pattern, lbs. of beads, and a few fine cloths, which uledi, in a generous fit, had intrusted to him, while he carried the pagazi's load, lbs. of bubu beads. this defalcation was not to be overlooked, nor should khamisi be permitted to return without an effort to apprehend him. accordingly uledi and ferajji were despatched in pursuit while we rested at imbiki, in order to give the dilapidated soldiers and animals time to recruit. on the th we continued our journey, and arrived at msuwa. this march will be remembered by our caravan as the most fatiguing of all, though the distance was but ten miles. it was one continuous jungle, except three interjacent glades of narrow limits, which gave us three breathing pauses in the dire task of jungle travelling. the odour emitted from its fell plants was so rank, so pungently acrid, and the miasma from its decayed vegetation so dense, that i expected every moment to see myself and men drop down in paroxysms of acute fever. happily this evil was not added to that of loading and unloading the frequently falling packs. seven soldiers to attend seventeen laden donkeys were entirely too small a number while passing through a jungle; for while the path is but a foot wide, with a wall of thorny plants and creepers bristling on each side, and projecting branches darting across it, with knots of spikey twigs stiff as spike-nails, ready to catch and hold anything above four feet in height, it is but reasonable to suppose that donkeys standing four feet high, with loads measuring across from bale to bale four feet, would come to grief. this grief was of frequent recurrence here, causing us to pause every few minutes for re-arrangements. so often had this task to be performed, that the men got perfectly discouraged, and had to bespoken to sharply before they set to work. by the time i reached msuwa there was nobody with me and the ten donkeys i drove but mabruk the little, who, though generally stolid, stood to his work like a man. bombay and uledi were far behind, with the most jaded donkeys. shaw was in charge of the cart, and his experiences were most bitter, as he informed me he had expended a whole vocabulary of stormy abuse known to sailors, and a new one which he had invented ex tempore. he did not arrive until two o'clock next morning, and was completely worn out. another halt was fixed at msuwa, that we and our animals might recuperate. the chief of the village, a white man in everything but colour, sent me and mine the fattest broad-tailed sheep of his flock, with five measures of matama grain. the mutton was excellent, unapproachable. for his timely and needful present i gave him two doti, and amused him with an exhibition of the wonderful mechanism of the winchester rifle, and my breechloading revolvers. he and his people were intelligent enough to comprehend the utility of these weapons at an emergency, and illustrated in expressive pantomime the powers they possessed against numbers of people armed only with spears and bows, by extending their arms with an imaginary gun and describing a clear circle. "verily," said they, "the wasungu are far wiser than the washensi. what heads they have! what wonderful things they make! look at their tents, their guns, their time-pieces, their clothes, and that little rolling thing (the cart) which carries more than five men,---que!" on the th, recovered from the excessive strain of the last march, the caravan marched out of msuwa, accompanied by the hospitable villagers as far as their stake defence, receiving their unanimous "kwaheris." outside the village the march promised to be less arduous than between imbiki and msuwa. after crossing a beautiful little plain intersected by a dry gully or mtoni, the route led by a few cultivated fields, where the tillers greeted us with one grand unwinking stare, as if fascinated. soon after we met one of those sights common in part of the world, to wit a chain slave-gang, bound east. the slaves did not appear to be in any way down-hearted on the contrary, they seemed imbued with the philosophic jollity of the jolly servant of martin chuzzlewit. were it not for their chains, it would have been difficult to discover master from slave; the physiognomic traits were alike--the mild benignity with which we were regarded was equally visible on all faces. the chains were ponderous--they might have held elephants captive; but as the slaves carried nothing but themselves, their weight could not have been insupportable. the jungle was scant on this march, and though in some places the packs met with accidents, they were not such as seriously to retard progress. by a.m. we were in camp in the midst of an imposing view of green sward and forest domed by a cloudless sky. we had again pitched our camp in the wilderness, and, as is the custom of caravans, fired two shots to warn any washensi having grain to sell, that we were willing to trade. our next halting-place was kisemo, distant but eleven miles from msuwa, a village situated in a populous district, having in its vicinity no less than five other villages, each fortified by stakes and thorny abattis, with as much fierce independence as if their petty lords were so many percys and douglasses. each topped a ridge, or a low hummock, with an assumption of defiance of the cock-on-its-own-dunghill type. between these humble eminences and low ridges of land wind narrow vales which are favored with the cultivation of matama and indian corn. behind the village flows the ungerengeri river, an impetuous stream during the masika season, capable of overflowing its steep banks, but in the dry season it subsides into its proper status, which is that of a small stream of very clear sweet water. its course from kisemo is south-west, then easterly; it is the main feeder of the kingani river. the belles of kisemo are noted for their vanity in brass wire, which is wound in spiral rings round their wrists and ankles, and the varieties of style which their hispid heads exhibit; while their poor lords, obliged to be contented with dingy torn clouts and split ears, show what wide sway asmodeus holds over this terrestrial sphere--for it must have been an unhappy time when the hard-besieged husbands finally gave way before their spouses. besides these brassy ornaments on their extremities, and the various hair-dressing styles, the women of kisemo frequently wear lengthy necklaces, which run in rivers of colours down their bodies. a more comical picture is seldom presented than that of one of these highly-dressed females engaged in the homely and necessary task of grinding corn for herself and family. the grinding apparatus consists of two portions: one, a thick pole of hard wood about six feet long, answering for a pestle; the other, a capacious wooden mortar, three feet in height. while engaged in setting his tent, shaw was obliged to move a small flat stone, to drive a peg into the ground. the village chief, who saw him do it, rushed up in a breathless fashion, and replaced the stone instantly, then stood on it in an impressive manner, indicative of the great importance attached to that stone and location. bombay, seeing shaw standing in silent wonder at the act, volunteered to ask the chief what was the matter. the sheikh solemnly answered, with a finger pointing downward, "uganga!" whereupon i implored him to let me see what was under the stone. with a graciousness quite affecting he complied. my curiosity was gratified with the sight of a small whittled stick, which pinned fast to the ground an insect, the cause of a miscarriage to a young female of the village. during the afternoon, uledi and ferajji, who had been despatched after the truant khamisi, returned with him and all the missing articles. khamisi, soon after leaving the road and plunging into the jungle, where he was mentally triumphing in his booty, was met by some of the plundering washensi, who are always on the qui vive for stragglers, and unceremoniously taken to their village in the woods, and bound to a tree preparatory, to being killed. khamisi said that he asked them why they tied him up, to which they answered, that they were about to kill him, because he was a mgwana, whom they were accustomed to kill as soon as they were caught. but uledi and ferajji shortly after coming upon the scene, both well armed, put an end to the debates upon khamisi's fate, by claiming him as an absconding pagazi from the musungu's camp, as well as all the articles he possessed at the time of capture. the robbers did not dispute the claim for the pagazi, goats, tent, or any other valuable found with him, but intimated that they deserved a reward for apprehending him. the demand being considered just, a reward to the extent of two doti and a fundo, or ten necklaces of beads, was given. khamisi, for his desertion and attempted robbery, could not be pardoned without first suffering punishment. he had asked at bagamoyo, before enlisting in my service, an advance of $ in money, and had received it, and a load of bubu beads, no heavier than a pagazis load, had been given him to carry; he had, therefore, no excuse for desertion. lest i should overstep prudence, however, in punishing him, i convened a court of eight pagazis and four soldiers to sit in judgment, and asked them to give me their decision as to what should be done. their unanimous verdict was that he was guilty of a crime almost unknown among the wanyamwezi pagazis, and as it was likely to give bad repute to the wanyamwezi carriers, they therefore sentenced him to be flogged with the "great master's" donkey whip, which was accordingly carried out, to poor khamisi's crying sorrow. on the th the caravan reached mussoudi, on the ungerengeri river. happily for our patient donkeys this march was free from all the annoying troubles of the jungle. happily for ourselves also, for we had no more the care of the packs and the anxiety about arriving at camp before night. the packs once put firmly on the backs of our good donkeys, they marched into camp--the road being excellent--without a single displacement or cause for one impatient word, soon after leaving kisemo. a beautiful prospect, glorious in its wild nature, fragrant with its numerous flowers and variety of sweetly-smelling shrubs, among which i recognised the wild sage, the indigo plant, &c., terminated only at the foot of kira peak and sister cones, which mark the boundaries between udoe and ukami, yet distant twenty miles. those distant mountains formed a not unfit background to this magnificent picture of open plain, forest patches, and sloping lawns--there was enough of picturesqueness and sublimity in the blue mountains to render it one complete whole. suppose a byron saw some of these scenes, he would be inclined to poetize in this manner: morn dawns, and with it stern udoe's hills, dark urrugum's rocks, and kira's peak, robed half in mist, bedewed with various rills, arrayed in many a dun and purple streak. when drawing near the valley of ungerengeri, granite knobs and protuberances of dazzling quartz showed their heads above the reddish soil. descending the ridge where these rocks were prominent, we found ourselves in the sable loam deposit of the ungerengeri, and in the midst of teeming fields of sugar-cane and matama, indian corn, muhogo, and gardens of curry, egg, and cucumber plants. on the banks of the ungerengeri flourished the banana, and overtopping it by seventy feet and more, shot up the stately mparamusi, the rival in beauty of the persian chenar and abyssinian plane. its trunk is straight and comely enough for the mainmast of a first, class frigate, while its expanding crown of leafage is distinguished from all others by its density and vivid greenness. there were a score of varieties of the larger kind of trees, whose far-extending branches embraced across the narrow but swift river. the depressions of the valley and the immediate neighbourhood of the river were choked with young forests of tiger-grass and stiff reeds. mussoudi is situated on a higher elevation than the average level of the village, and consequently looks down upon its neighbours, which number a hundred and more. it is the western extremity of ukwere. on the western bank of the ungerengeri the territory of the wakami commences. we had to halt one day at mussoudi because the poverty of the people prevented us from procuring the needful amount of grain. the cause of this scantiness in such a fertile and populous valley was, that the numerous caravans which had preceded us had drawn heavily for their stores for the upmarches. on the th we crossed the ungerengeri, which here flows southerly to the southern extremity of the valley, where it bends easterly as far as kisemo. after crossing the river here, fordable at all times and only twenty yards in breadth, we had another mile of the valley with its excessively moist soil and rank growth of grass. it then ascended into a higher elevation, and led through a forest of mparamusi, tamarind, tamarisk, acacia, and the blooming mimosa. this ascent was continued for two hours, when we stood upon the spine of the largest ridge, where we could obtain free views of the wooded plain below and the distant ridges of kisemo, which we had but lately left. a descent of a few hundred feet terminated in a deep but dry mtoni with a sandy bed, on the other side of which we had to regain the elevation we had lost, and a similar country opened into view until we found a newly-made boma with well-built huts of grass rear a pool of water, which we at once occupied as a halting-place for the night. the cart gave us considerable trouble; not even our strongest donkey, though it carried with ease on its back lbs., could draw the cart with a load of only lbs. weight. early on the morning of the th we broke camp and started for mikeseh. by . a.m. we were ascending the southern face of the kira peak. when we had gained the height of two hundred feet above the level of the surrounding country, we were gratified with a magnificent view of a land whose soil knows no sabbath. after travelling the spine of a ridge abutting against the southern slope of kira we again descended into the little valley of kiwrima, the first settlement we meet in udoe, where there is always an abundant supply of water. two miles west of kiwrima is mikiseh. on the th we reached ulagalla after a few hours' march. ulagalla is the name of a district, or a portion of a district, lying between the mountains of uruguru, which bound it southerly, and the mountains of udoe, lying northerly and parallel with them, and but ten miles apart. the principal part of the basin thus formed is called ulagalla. muhalleh is the next settlement, and here we found ourselves in the territory of the waseguhha. on this march we were hemmed in by mountains--on our left by those of uruguru, on our right by those of udoe and useguhha--a most agreeable and welcome change to us after the long miles of monotonous level we had hitherto seen. when tired of looking into the depths of the forest that still ran on either side of the road, we had but to look up to the mountain's base, to note its strange trees, its plants and vari-coloured flowers, we had but to raise our heads to vary this pleasant occupation by observing the lengthy and sinuous spine of the mountains, and mentally report upon their outline, their spurs, their projections and ravines, their bulging rocks and deep clefts, and, above all, the dark green woods clothing them from summit to base. and when our attention was not required for the mundane task of regarding the donkeys' packs, or the pace of the cautious-stepping pagazis, it was gratifying to watch the vapours play about the mountain summits--to see them fold into fleecy crowns and fantastic clusters, dissolve, gather together into a pall that threatened rain, and sail away again before the brightening sun. at muhalleh was the fourth caravan under maganga with three more sick men, who turned with eager eyes to myself, "the dispenser of medicine," as i approached. salvos of small arms greeted me, and a present of rice and ears of indian corn for roasting were awaiting my acceptance; but, as i told maganga, i would have preferred to hear that his party were eight or ten marches ahead. at this camp, also, we met salim bin rashid, bound eastward, with a huge caravan carrying three hundred ivory tusks. this good arab, besides welcoming the new comer with a present of rice, gave me news of livingstone. he had met the old traveller at ujiji, had lived in the next but to him for two weeks, described him as looking old, with long grey moustaches and beard, just recovered from severe illness, looking very wan; when fully recovered livingstone intended to visit a country called manyema by way of marungu. the valley of the ungerengeri with muhalleh exhibits wonderful fertility. its crops of matama were of the tallest, and its indian corn would rival the best crops ever seen in the arkansas bottoms. the numerous mountain-fed streams rendered the great depth of loam very sloppy, in consequence of which several accidents occurred before we reached the camp, such as wetting cloth, mildewing tea, watering sugar, and rusting tools; but prompt attention to these necessary things saved us from considerable loss. there was a slight difference noticed in the demeanour and bearing of the waseguhha compared with the wadoe, wakami, and wakwere heretofore seen. there was none of that civility we had been until now pleased to note: their express desire to barter was accompanied with insolent hints that we ought to take their produce at their own prices. if we remonstrated they became angry; retorting fiercely, impatient of opposition, they flew into a passion, and were glib in threats. this strange conduct, so opposite to that of the calm and gentle wakwere, may be excellently illustrated by comparing the manner of the hot-headed greek with that of the cool and collected german. necessity compelled us to purchase eatables of them, and, to the credit of the country and its productions, be it said, their honey had the peculiar flavour of that of famed hymettus. following the latitudinal valley of the ungerengeri, within two hours on the following morning we passed close under the wall of the capital of useguhha--simbamwenni. the first view of the walled town at the western foot of the uruguru mountains, with its fine valley abundantly beautiful, watered by two rivers, and several pellucid streams of water distilled by the dew and cloud-enriched heights around, was one that we did not anticipate to meet in eastern africa. in mazanderan, persia, such a scene would have answered our expectations, but here it was totally unexpected. the town may contain a population of , , having about , houses; being so densely crowded, perhaps , would more closely approximate. the houses in the town are eminently african, but of the best type of construction. the fortifications are on an arabic persic model--combining arab neatness with persian plan. through a ride of miles in persia i never met a town outside of the great cities better fortified than simbamwenni. in persia the fortifications were of mud, even those of kasvin, teheran, ispahan, and shiraz; those of simbamwenni are of stone, pierced with two rows of loopholes for musketry. the area of the town is about half a square mile, its plan being quadrangular. well-built towers of stone guard each corner; four gates, one facing each cardinal point, and set half way between the several towers, permit ingress and egress for its inhabitants. the gates are closed with solid square doors made of african teak, and carved with the infinitesimally fine and complicated devices of the arabs, from which i suspect that the doors were made either at zanzibar or on the coast, and conveyed to simbamwenni plank by plank; yet as there is much communication between bagamoyo and simbamwenni, it is just possible that native artisans are the authors of this ornate workmanship, as several doors chiselled and carved in the same manner, though not quite so elaborately, were visible in the largest houses. the palace of the sultan is after the style of those on the coast, with long sloping roof, wide eaves, and veranda in front. the sultana is the eldest daughter of the famous kisabengo, a name infamous throughout the neighbouring countries of udoe, ukami, ukwere, kingaru, ukwenni, and kiranga-wanna, for his kidnapping propensities. kisabengo was another theodore on a small scale. sprung from humble ancestry, he acquired distinction for his personal strength, his powers of harangue, and his amusing and versatile address, by which he gained great ascendency over fugitive slaves, and was chosen a leader among them. fleeing from justice, which awaited him at the hands of the zanzibar sultan, he arrived in ukami, which extended at that time from ukwere to usagara, and here he commenced a career of conquest, the result of which was the cession by the wakami of an immense tract of fertile country, in the valley of the ungerengeri. on its most desirable site, with the river flowing close under the walls, he built his capital, and called it simbamwenni, which means "the lion," or the strongest, city. in old age the successful robber and kidnapper changed his name of kisabengo, which had gained such a notoriety, to simbamwenni, after his town; and when dying, after desiring that his eldest daughter should succeed him, he bestowed the name of the town upon her also, which name of simbamwenni the sultana now retains and is known by. while crossing a rapid stream, which, as i said before flowed close to the walls, the inhabitants of simbamwenni had a fine chance of gratifying their curiosity of seeing the "great musungu," whose several caravans had preceded him, and who unpardonably, because unlicensed, had spread a report of his great wealth and power. i was thus the object of a universal stare. at one time on the banks there were considerably over a thousand natives going through the several tenses and moods of the verb "to stare," or exhibiting every phase of the substantive, viz.--the stare peremptory, insolent, sly, cunning, modest, and casual. the warriors of the sultana, holding in one hand the spear, the bow, and sheaf or musket, embraced with the other their respective friends, like so many models of nisus and euryalus, theseus and pirithous, damon and pythias, or achilles and patroclus, to whom they confidentially related their divers opinions upon my dress and colour. the words "musungu kuba" had as much charm for these people as the music of the pied piper had for the rats of hamelin, since they served to draw from within the walls across their stream so large a portion of the population; and when i continued the journey to the ungerengeri, distant four miles, i feared that the hamelin catastrophe might have to be repeated before i could rid myself of them. but fortunately for my peace of mind, they finally proved vincible under the hot sun, and the distance we had to go to camp. as we were obliged to overhaul the luggage, and repair saddles, as well as to doctor a few of the animals, whose backs had by this time become very sore, i determined to halt here two days. provisions were very plentiful also at simbamwenni, though comparatively dear. on the second day i was, for the first time, made aware that my acclimatization in the ague-breeding swamps of arkansas was powerless against the mukunguru of east africa. the premonitory symptoms of the african type were felt in my system at a.m. first, general lassitude prevailed, with a disposition to drowsiness; secondly, came the spinal ache which, commencing from the loins, ascended the vertebrae, and extended around the ribs, until it reached the shoulders, where it settled into a weary pain; thirdly came a chilliness over the whole body, which was quickly followed by a heavy head, swimming eyes, and throbbing temples, with vague vision, which distorted and transformed all objects of sight. this lasted until p.m., and the mukunguru left me, much prostrated in strength. the remedy, applied for three mornings in succession after the attack, was such as my experience in arkansas had taught me was the most powerful corrective, viz., a quantum of fifteen grains of quinine, taken in three doses of five grains each, every other hour from dawn to meridian--the first dose to be taken immediately after the first effect of the purging medicine taken at bedtime the night previous. i may add that this treatment was perfectly successful in my case, and in all others which occurred in my camp. after the mukunguru had declared itself, there was no fear, with such a treatment of it, of a second attack, until at least some days afterwards. on the third day the camp was visited by the ambassadors of her highness the sultana of simbamwenni, who came as her representatives to receive the tribute which she regards herself as powerful enough to enforce. but they, as well as madame simbamwenni, were informed, that as we knew it was their custom to charge owners of caravans but one tribute, and as they remembered the musungu (farquhar) had paid already, it was not fair that i should have to pay again. the ambassadors replied with a "ngema" (very well), and promised to carry my answer back to their mistress. though it was by no means "very well" in fact, as it will be seen in a subsequent chapter how the female simbamwenni took advantage of an adverse fortune which befell me to pay herself. with this i close the chapter of incidents experienced during our transit across the maritime region. chapter vi. -- to ugogo. a valley of despond, and hot-bed of malaria.--myriads of vermin.--the makata swamp.--a sorrowful experience catching a deserter.--a far-embracing prospect.--illness of william farquhar.-lake ugombo.--a land of promise.--the great kisesa.--the plague of earwigs. the distance from bagamoyo to simbamwenni we found to be miles, and was accomplished in fourteen marches. but these marches, owing to difficulties arising from the masika season, and more especially to the lagging of the fourth caravan under maganga, extended to twenty-nine days, thus rendering our progress very slow indeed--but a little more than four miles a-day. i infer, from what i have seen of the travelling, that had i not been encumbered by the sick wanyamwezi porters, i could have accomplished the distance in sixteen days. for it was not the donkeys that proved recreant to my confidence; they, poor animals, carrying a weight of lbs. each, arrived at simbamwenni in first-rate order; but it was maganga, composed of greed and laziness, and his weakly-bodied tribe, who were ever falling sick. in dry weather the number of marches might have been much reduced. of the half-dozen of arabs or so who preceded this expedition along this route, two accomplished the entire distance in eight days. from the brief descriptions given of the country, as it day by day expanded to our view, enough may be gleaned to give readers a fair idea of it. the elevation of simbamwenni cannot be much over , feet above the level, the rise of the land having been gradual. it being the rainy season, about which so many ominous statements were doled out to us by those ignorant of the character of the country, we naturally saw it under its worst aspect; but, even in this adverse phase of it, with all its depth of black mud, its excessive dew, its dripping and chill grass, its density of rank jungle, and its fevers, i look back upon the scene with pleasure, for the wealth and prosperity it promises to some civilized nation, which in some future time will come and take possession of it. a railroad from bagamoyo to simbamwenni might be constructed with as much ease and rapidity as, and at far less cost than the union pacific railway, whose rapid strides day by day towards completion the world heard of and admired. a residence in this part of africa, after a thorough system of drainage had been carried out, would not be attended with more discomfort than generally follows upon the occupation of new land. the temperature at this season during the day never exceeded degrees fahrenheit. the nights were pleasant--too cold without a pair of blankets for covering; and, as far as simbamwenni, they were without that pest which is so dreadful on the nebraska and kansas prairies, the mosquito. the only annoyances i know of that would tell hard on the settler is the determined ferocity of the mabungu, or horse-fly; the chufwa, &c., already described, which, until the dense forests and jungles were cleared, would be certain to render the keeping of domestic cattle unremunerative. contrary to expectation the expedition was not able to start at the end of two days; the third and the fourth days were passed miserably enough in the desponding valley of ungerengeri. this river, small as it is in the dry seasons, becomes of considerable volume and power during the masika, as we experienced to our sorrow. it serves as a drain to a score of peaks and two long ranges of mountains; winding along their base, it is the recipient of the cascades seen flashing during the few intervals of sunlight, of all the nullahs and ravines which render the lengthy frontage of the mountain slopes so rugged and irregular, until it glides into the valley of simbamwenni a formidable body of water, opposing a serious obstacle to caravans without means to build bridges; added to which was an incessant downfall of rain--such a rain as shuts people in-doors and renders them miserable and unamiable--a real london rain--an eternal drizzle accompanied with mist and fog. when the sun shone it appeared but a pale image of itself, and old pagazis, wise in their traditions as old whaling captains, shook their heads ominously at the dull spectre, and declared it was doubtful if the rain would cease for three weeks yet. the site of the caravan camp on the hither side of the ungerengeri was a hot-bed of malaria, unpleasant to witness--an abomination to memory. the filth of generations of pagazis had gathered innumerable hosts of creeping things. armies of black, white, and red ants infest the stricken soil; centipedes, like worms, of every hue, clamber over shrubs and plants; hanging to the undergrowth are the honey-combed nests of yellow-headed wasps with stings as harmful as scorpions; enormous beetles, as large as full-grown mice, roll dunghills over the ground; of all sorts, shapes, sizes, and hues are the myriad-fold vermin with which the ground teems; in short, the richest entomological collection could not vie in variety and numbers with the species which the four walls of my tent enclosed from morning until night. on the fifth morning, or the rd april, the rain gave us a few hours' respite, during which we managed to wade through the stygian quagmire reeking with noisomeness to the inundated river-bank. the soldiers commenced at a.m. to convey the baggage across from bank to bank over a bridge which was the most rustic of the rustic kind. only an ignorant african would have been satisfied with its small utility as a means to cross a deep and rapid body of water. even for light-footed wanyamwezi pagazis it was anything but comfortable to traverse. only a professional tight-rope performer could have carried a load across with ease. to travel over an african bridge requires, first, a long leap from land to the limb of a tree (which may or may not be covered by water), followed by a long jump ashore. with lbs. weight on his back, the carrier finds it difficult enough. sometimes he is assisted by ropes extemporized from the long convolvuli which hang from almost every tree, but not always, these being deemed superfluities by the washensi. fortunately the baggage was transferred without a single accident, and though the torrent was strong, the donkeys were dragged through the flood by vigorous efforts and much objurgation without a casualty. this performance of crossing the ungerengeri occupied fully five hours, though energy, abuse, and fury enough were expended for an army. reloading and wringing our clothes dry, we set out from the horrible neighbourhood of the river, with its reek and filth, in a northerly direction, following a road which led up to easy and level ground. two obtruding hills were thus avoided on our left, and after passing them we had shut out the view of the hateful valley. i always found myself more comfortable and lighthearted while travelling than when chafing and fretting in camp at delays which no effort could avoid, and consequently i fear that some things, while on a march, may be tinted somewhat stronger than their appearance or merit may properly warrant. but i thought that the view opening before us was much more agreeable than the valley of simbamwenni with all its indescribable fertility. it was a series of glades opening one after another between forest clumps of young trees, hemmed in distantly by isolated peaks and scattered mountains. now and again, as we crested low eminences we caught sight of the blue usagara mountains, bounding the horizon westerly and northerly, and looked down upon a vast expanse of plain which lay between. at the foot of the lengthy slope, well-watered by bubbling springs and mountain rills, we found a comfortable khambi with well-made huts, which the natives call simbo. it lies just two hours or five miles north-west of the ungerengeri crossing. the ground is rocky, composed principally of quartzose detritus swept down by the constant streams. in the neighbourhood of these grow bamboo, the thickest of which was about two and a half inches in diameter; the "myombo," a very shapely tree, with a clean trunk like an ash, the "imbite," with large, fleshy leaves like the "mtamba," sycamore, plum-tree, the "ugaza," ortamarisk, and the "mgungu," a tree containing several wide branches with small leaves clustered together in a clump, and the silk-cotton tree. though there are no villages or settlements in view of simbo khambi, there are several clustered within the mountain folds, inhabited by waseguhha somewhat prone to dishonest acts and murder. the long broad plain visible from the eminences crossed between the ungerengeri and simbo was now before us, and became known to sorrowful memory subsequently, as the makata valley. the initial march was from simbo, its terminus at rehenneko, at the base of the usagara mountains, six marches distant. the valley commences with broad undulations, covered with young forests of bamboo, which grow thickly along the streams, the dwarf fan-palm, the stately palmyra, and the mgungu. these undulations soon become broken by gullies containing water, nourishing dense crops of cane reeds and broad-bladed grass, and, emerging from this district, wide savannah covered with tall grass open into view, with an isolated tree here and there agreeably breaking the monotony of the scene. the makata is a wilderness containing but one village of the waseguhha throughout its broad expanse. venison, consequently, abounds within the forest clumps, and the kudu, hartebeest, antelope, and zebra may be seen at early dawn emerging into the open savannahs to feed. at night, the cyn-hyaena prowls about with its hideous clamour seeking for sleeping prey, man or beast. the slushy mire of the savannahs rendered marching a work of great difficulty; its tenacious hold of the feet told terribly on men and animals. a ten-mile march required ten hours, we were therefore compelled to camp in the middle of this wilderness, and construct a new khambi, a measure which was afterwards adopted by half a dozen caravans. the cart did not arrive until nearly midnight, and with it, besides three or four broken-down pagazis, came bombay with the dolorous tale, that having put his load--consisting of the property tent, one large american axe, his two uniform coats, his shirts, beads and cloth, powder, pistol, and hatchet--on the ground, to go and assist the cart out of a quagmire, he had returned to the place where he had left it and could not find it, that he believed that some thieving washensi, who always lurk in the rear of caravans to pick up stragglers, had decamped with it. which dismal tale told me at black midnight was not received at all graciously, but rather with most wrathful words, all of which the penitent captain received as his proper due. working myself into a fury, i enumerated his sins to him; he had lost a goat at muhalleh, he had permitted khamisi to desert with valuable property at imbiki; he had frequently shown culpable negligence in not looking after the donkeys, permitting them to be tied up at night without seeing that they had water, and in the mornings, when about to march, he preferred to sleep until o'clock, rather than wake up early and saddle the donkeys, that we might start at o'clock; he had shown of late great love for the fire, cowering like a bloodless man before it, torpid and apathetic; he had now lost the property-tent in the middle of the masika season, by which carelessness the cloth bales would rot and become valueless; he had lost the axe which i should want at ujiji to construct my boat; and finally, he had lost a pistol and hatchet, and a flaskful of the best powder. considering all these things, how utterly incompetent he was to be captain, i would degrade him from his office and appoint mabruki burton instead. uledi, also, following the example of bombay, instead of being second captain, should give no orders to any soldiers in future, but should himself obey those given by mabruki--the said mabruki being worth a dozen bombays, and two dozen uledis; and so he was dismissed with orders to return at daylight to find the tent, axe, pistol, powder, and hatchet. the next morning the caravan, thoroughly fatigued with the last day's exertions, was obliged to halt. bombay was despatched after the lost goods; kingaru, mabruki the great, and mabruki the little were despatched to bring back three doti-worth of grain, on which we were to subsist in the wilderness. three days passed away and we were still at camp, awaiting, with what patience we possessed, the return of the soldiers. in the meantime provisions ran very low, no game could be procured, the birds were so wild. two days shooting procured but two potfuls of birds, consisting of grouse, quail, and pigeons. bombay returned unsuccessfully from his search after the missing property, and suffered deep disgrace. on the fourth day i despatched shaw with two more soldiers, to see what had become of kingaru and the two mabrukis. towards night he returned completely prostrated, with a violent attack of the mukunguru, or ague; but bringing the missing soldiers, who were thus left to report for themselves. with most thankful hearts did we quit our camp, where so much anxiety of mind and fretfulness had been suffered, not heeding a furious rain, which, after drenching us all night, might have somewhat damped our ardor for the march under other circumstances. the road for the first mile led over reddish ground, and was drained by gentle slopes falling east and west; but, leaving the cover of the friendly woods, on whose eastern margin we had been delayed so long, we emerged into one of the savannahs, whose soil during the rain is as soft as slush and tenacious as thick mortar, where we were all threatened with the fate of the famous arkansas traveller, who had sunk so low in one of the many quagmires in arkansas county, that nothing but his tall "stove-pipe" hat was left visible. shaw was sick, and the whole duty of driving the foundering caravan devolved upon myself. the wanyamwezi donkeys stuck in the mire as if they were rooted to it. as fast as one was flogged from his stubborn position, prone to the depths fell another, giving me a sisyphean labour, which was maddening trader pelting rain, assisted by such men as bombay and uledi, who could not for a whole skin's sake stomach the storm and mire. two hours of such a task enabled me to drag my caravan over a savannah one mile and a half broad; and barely had i finished congratulating myself over my success before i was halted by a deep ditch, which, filled with rain-water from the inundated savannahs, had become a considerable stream, breast-deep, flowing swiftly into the makata. donkeys had to be unloaded, led through a torrent, and loaded again on the other bank--an operation which consumed a full hour. presently, after straggling through a wood clump, barring our progress was another stream, swollen into a river. the bridge being swept away, we were obliged to swim and float our baggage over, which delayed us two hours more. leaving this second river-bank, we splashed, waded, occasionally half-swimming, and reeled through mire, water-dripping grass and matama stalks, along the left bank of the makata proper, until farther progress was effectually prevented for that day by a deep bend of the river, which we should be obliged to cross the next day. though but six miles were traversed during that miserable day, the march occupied ten hours. half dead with fatigue, i yet could feel thankful that it was not accompanied by fever, which it seemed a miracle to avoid; for if ever a district was cursed with the ague, the makata wilderness ranks foremost of those afflicted. surely the sight of the dripping woods enveloped in opaque mist, of the inundated country with lengthy swathes of tiger-grass laid low by the turbid flood, of mounds of decaying trees and canes, of the swollen river and the weeping sky, was enough to engender the mukunguru! the well-used khambi, and the heaps of filth surrounding it, were enough to create a cholera! the makata, a river whose breadth during the dry season is but forty feet, in the masika season assumes the breadth, depth, and force of an important river. should it happen to be an unusually rainy season, it inundates the great plain which stretches on either side, and converts it into a great lake. it is the main feeder of the wami river, which empties into the sea between the ports of saadani and whinde. about ten miles north-east of the makata crossing, the great makata, the little makata, a nameless creek, and the rudewa river unite; and the river thus formed becomes known as the wami. throughout usagara the wami is known as the mukondokwa. three of these streams take their rise from the crescent-like usagara range, which bounds the makata plain south and south-westerly; while the rudewa rises in the northern horn of the same range. so swift was the flow of the makata, and so much did its unsteady bridge, half buried in the water, imperil the safety of the property, that its transfer from bank to bank occupied fully five hours. no sooner had we landed every article on the other side, undamaged by the water, than the rain poured down in torrents that drenched them all, as if they had been dragged through the river. to proceed through the swamp which an hour's rain had formed was utterly out of the question. we were accordingly compelled to camp in a place where every hour furnished its quota of annoyance. one of the wangwana soldiers engaged at bagamoyo, named kingaru, improved an opportunity to desert with another mgwana's kit. my two detectives, uledi (grant's valet), and sarmean, were immediately despatched in pursuit, both being armed with american breech-loaders. they went about their task with an adroitness and celerity which augured well for their success. in an hour they returned with the runaway, having found him hidden in the house of a mseguhha chief called kigondo, who lived about a mile from the eastern bank of the river, and who had accompanied uledi and sarmean to receive his reward, and render an account of the incident. kigondo said, when he had been seated, "i saw this man carrying a bundle, and running hard, by which i knew that he was deserting you. we (my wife and ) were sitting in our little watch-hut, watching our corn; and, as the road runs close by, this man was obliged to come close to us. we called to him when he was near, saying, 'master, where are you going so fast? are you deserting the musungu, for we know you belong to him, since you bought from us yesterday two doti worth of meat?' 'yes,' said he, 'i am running away; i want to get to simbamwenni. if you will take me there, i will give you a doti.' we said to him then, 'come into our house, and we will talk it over quietly. when he was in our house in an inner room, we locked him up, and went out again to the watch; but leaving word with the women to look out for him. we knew that, if you wanted him, you would send askari (soldiers) after him. we had but lit our pipes when we saw two men armed with short guns, and having no loads, coming along the road, looking now and then on the ground, as if they were looking at footmarks. we knew them to be the men we were expecting; so we hailed them, and said, 'masters, what are ye looking for?' \ they said, 'we are looking for a man who has deserted our master. here are his footsteps. if you have been long in your hut you must have seen him, can you tell us where he is?' we said, 'yes; he is in our house. if you will come with us, we will give him up to you; but your master must give us something for catching him.'" as kigondo had promised to deliver kingaru up, there remained nothing further to do for uledi and sarmean but to take charge of their prisoner, and bring him and his captors to my camp on the western bank of the makata. kingaru received two dozen lashes, and was chained; his captor a doti, besides five khete of red coral beads for his wife. that down-pour of rain which visited us the day we crossed the makata proved the last of the masika season. as the first rainfall which we had experienced occurred on the rd march, and the last on the th april, its duration was thirty-nine days. the seers of bagamoyo had delivered their vaticinations concerning this same masika with solemnity. "for forty days," said they, "rain would fall incessantly;" whereas we had but experienced eighteen days' rain. nevertheless, we were glad that it was over, for we were tired of stopping day after day to dry the bales and grease the tools and ironware, and of seeing all things of cloth and leather rot visibly before our eyes. the st of may found us struggling through the mire and water of the makata with a caravan bodily sick, from the exertion and fatigue of crossing so many rivers and wading through marshes. shaw was still suffering from his first mukunguru; zaidi, a soldier, was critically ill with the small-pox; the kichuma-chuma, "little irons," had hold of bombay across the chest, rendering him the most useless of the unserviceables; mabruk saleem, a youth of lusty frame, following the example of bombay, laid himself down on the marshy ground, professing his total inability to breast the makata swamp; abdul kader, the hindi tailor and adventurer--the weakliest of mortal bodies--was ever ailing for lack of "force," as he expressed it in french, i.e. "strength," ever indisposed to work, shiftless, mock-sick, but ever hungry. "oh! god," was the cry of my tired soul, "were all the men of my expedition like this man i should be compelled to return." solomon was wise perhaps from inspiration, perhaps from observation; i was becoming wise by experience, and i was compelled to observe that when mud and wet sapped the physical energy of the lazily-inclined, a dog-whip became their backs, restoring them to a sound--some-times to an extravagant activity. for thirty miles from our camp was the makata plain an extensive swamp. the water was on an average one foot in depth; in some places we plunged into holes three, four, and even five feet deep. plash, splash, plash, splash, were the only sounds we heard from the commencement of the march until we found the bomas occupying the only dry spots along the line of march. this kind of work continued for two days, until we came in sight of the rudewa river, another powerful stream with banks brimful of rushing rain-water. crossing a branch of the rudewa, and emerging from the dank reedy grass crowding the western bank, the view consisted of an immense sheet of water topped by clumps of grass tufts and foliage of thinly scattered trees, bounded ten or twelve miles off by the eastern front of the usagara mountain range. the acme of discomfort and vexation was realized on the five-mile march from the rudewa branch. as myself and the wangwana appeared with the loaded donkeys, the pagazis were observed huddled on a mound. when asked if the mound was the camp, they replied "no." "why, then, do you stop here?"--"ugh! water plenty!!" one drew a line across his loins to indicate the depth of water before us, another drew a line across his chest, another across his throat another held his hand over his head, by which he meant that we should have to swim. swim five miles through a reedy marsh! it was impossible; it was also impossible that such varied accounts could all be correct. without hesitation, therefore, i ordered the wangwana to proceed with the animals. after three hours of splashing through four feet of water we reached dry land, and had traversed the swamp of makata. but not without the swamp with its horrors having left a durable impression upon our minds; no one was disposed to forget its fatigues, nor the nausea of travel which it almost engendered. subsequently, we had to remember its passage still more vividly, and to regret that we had undertaken the journey during the masika season, when the animals died from this date by twos and threes, almost every day, until but five sickly worn-out beasts remained; when the wangwana, soldiers, and pagazis sickened of diseases innumerable; when i myself was finally compelled to lie a-bed with an attack of acute dysentery which brought me to the verge of the grave. i suffered more, perhaps, than i might have done had i taken the proper medicine, but my over-confidence in that compound, called "collis brown's chlorodyne," delayed the cure which ultimately resulted from a judicious use of dover's powder. in no one single case of diarrhoea or acute dysentery had this "chlorodyne," about which so much has been said, and written, any effect of lessening the attack whatever, though i used three bottles. to the dysentery contracted during, the transit of the makata swamp, only two fell victims, and those were a pagazi and my poor little dog "omar," my companion from india. the only tree of any prominence in the makata valley was the palmyra palm (borassus flabelliformis), and this grew in some places in numbers sufficient to be called a grove; the fruit was not ripe while we passed, otherwise we might have enjoyed it as a novelty. the other vegetation consisted of the several species of thorn bush, and the graceful parachute-topped and ever-green mimosa. the th of may we were ascending a gentle slope towards the important village of rehenneko, the first village near to which we encamped in usagara. it lay at the foot of the mountain, and its plenitude and mountain air promised us comfort and health. it was a square, compact village, surrounded by a thick wall of mud, enclosing cone-topped huts, roofed with bamboo and holcus-stalks; and contained a population of about a thousand souls. it has several wealthy and populous neighbours, whose inhabitants are independent enough in their manner, but not unpleasantly so. the streams are of the purest water, fresh, and pellucid as crystal, bubbling over round pebbles and clean gravel, with a music delightful to hear to the traveller in search of such a sweetly potable element. the bamboo grows to serviceable size in the neighbourhood of rehenneko, strong enough for tent and banghy poles; and in numbers sufficient to supply an army. the mountain slopes are densely wooded with trees that might supply very good timber for building purposes. we rested four days at this pleasant spot, to recruit ourselves, and to allow the sick and feeble time to recover a little before testing their ability in the ascent of the usagara mountains. the th of may saw us with our terribly jaded men and animals winding up the steep slopes of the first line of hills; gaining the summit of which we obtained a view remarkably grand, which exhibited as in a master picture the broad valley of the makata, with its swift streams like so many cords of silver, as the sunshine played on the unshadowed reaches of water, with its thousands of graceful palms adding not a little to the charm of the scene, with the great wall of the uruguru and uswapanga mountains dimly blue, but sublime in their loftiness and immensity--forming a fit background to such an extensive, far-embracing prospect. turning our faces west, we found ourselves in a mountain world, fold rising above fold, peak behind peak, cone jostling cone; away to the north, to the west, to the south, the mountain tops rolled like so many vitrified waves; not one adust or arid spot was visible in all this scene. the diorama had no sudden changes or striking contrasts, for a universal forest of green trees clothed every peak, cone, and summit. to the men this first day's march through the mountain region of usagara was an agreeable interlude after the successive journey over the flats and heavy undulations of the maritime region, but to the loaded and enfeebled animals it was most trying. we were minus two by the time we had arrived at our camp, but seven miles from rehenneko, our first instalment of the debt we owed to makata. water, sweet and clear, was abundant in the deep hollows of the mountains, flowing sometimes over beds of solid granite, sometimes over a rich red sandstone, whose soft substance was soon penetrated by the aqueous element, and whose particles were swept away constantly to enrich the valley below; and in other ravines it dashed, and roared, miniature thunder, as it leaped over granite boulders and quartz rock. the th of may, after another such an up-and-down course, ascending hills and descending into the twilight depths of deepening valleys, we came suddenly upon the mukondokwa, and its narrow pent-up valley crowded with rank reedy grass, cane, and thorny bushes; and rugged tamarisk which grappled for existence with monster convolvuli, winding their coils around their trunks with such tenacity and strength that the tamarisk seemed grown but for their support. the valley was barely a quarter of a mile broad in some places--at others it widened to about a mile. the hills on either side shot up into precipitous slopes, clothed with mimosa, acacia, and tamarisk, enclosing a river and valley whose curves and folds were as various as a serpent's. shortly after debouching into the mukondokwa valley, we struck the road traversed by captains buxton and speke in , between mbumi and kadetamare (the latter place should be called misonghi, kadetamare being but the name of a chief). after following the left bank of the mukondokwa, during which our route diverged to every point from south-east to west, north and northeast, for about an hour, we came to the ford. beyond the ford, a short half-hour's march, we came to kiora. at this filthy village of kiora, which was well-grounded with goat-dung, and peopled with a wonderful number of children for a hamlet that did not number twenty families, with a hot sun pouring on the limited open space, with a fury that exceeded degrees fahrenheit; which swarmed with flies and insects of known and unknown species; i found, as i had been previously informed, the third caravan, which had started out of bagamoyo so well fitted and supplied. the leader, who was no other than the white man farquhar, was sick-a-bed with swollen legs (bright's disease), unable to move. as he heard my voice, farquhar staggered out of his tent, so changed from my spruce mate who started from bagamoyo, that i hardly knew him at first. his legs were ponderous, elephantine, since his leg-illness was of elephantiasis, or dropsy. his face was of a deathly pallor, for he had not been out of his tent for two weeks. a breezy hill, overlooking the village of kiora, was chosen by me for my camping-ground, and as soon as the tents were pitched, the animals attended to, and a boma made of thorn bushes, farquhar was carried up by four men into my tent. upon being questioned as to the cause of his illness, he said he did not know what had caused it. he had no pain, he thought, anywhere. i asked, "do you not sometimes feel pain on the right side?"--"yes, i think i do; but i don't know."--"nor over the left nipple sometimes--a quick throbbing, with a shortness of breath?"--"yes, i think i have. i know i breathe quick sometimes." he said his only trouble was in the legs, which were swollen to an immense size. though he had a sound appetite, he yet felt weak in the legs. from the scant information of the disease and its peculiarities, as given by farquhar himself, i could only make out, by studying a little medical book i had with me, that "a swelling of the legs, and sometimes of the body, might result from either heart, liver, or kidney disease." but i did not know to what to ascribe the disease, unless it was to elephantiasis--a disease most common in zanzibar; nor did i know how to treat it in a man who, could not tell me whether he felt pain in his head or in his back, in his feet or in his chest. it was therefore fortunate for me that i overtook him at kiora; though he was about to prove a sore incumbrance to me, for he was not able to walk, and the donkey-carriage, after the rough experience of the makata valley, was failing. i could not possibly leave him at kiora, death would soon overtake him there; but how long i could convey a man in such a state, through a country devoid of carriage, was a question to be resolved by circumstances. on the th of may, the third and fifth caravans, now united, followed up the right bank of the mukondokwa, through fields of holcus, the great mukondokwa ranges rising in higher altitude as we proceeded west, and enfolding us in the narrow river valley round about. we left muniyi usagara on our right, and soon after found hill-spurs athwart our road, which we were obliged to ascend and descend. a march of eight miles from the ford of misonghi brought us to another ford of the mukondokwa, where we bid a long adieu to burton's road, which led up to the goma pass and up the steep slopes of rubeho. our road left the right bank and followed the left over a country quite the reverse of the mukondokwa valley, enclosed between mountain ranges. fertile soils and spontaneous vegetation, reeking with miasma and overpowering from their odour, we had exchanged for a drouthy wilderness of aloetic and cactaceous plants, where the kolquall and several thorn bushes grew paramount. instead of the tree-clad heights, slopes and valleys, instead of cultivated fields, we saw now the confines of uninhabited wilderness. the hill-tops were bared of their bosky crowns, and revealed their rocky natures bleached white by rain and sun. nguru peak, the loftiest of the usagara cones, stood right shoulderwards of us as we ascended the long slope of dun-grey soil which rose beyond the brown mukondokwa on the left. at the distance of two miles from the last ford, we found a neat khambi, situated close to the river, where it first broke into a furious rapid. the next morning the caravan was preparing for the march, when i was informed that the "bana mdogo"--little master--shaw, had not yet arrived with the cart, and the men in charge of it. late the previous night i had despatched one donkey for shaw, who had said he was too ill to walk, and another for the load that was on the cart; and had retired satisfied that they would soon arrive. my conclusion, when i learned in the morning that the people had not yet come in, was that shaw was not aware that for five days we should have to march through a wilderness totally uninhabited. i therefore despatched chowpereh, a mgwana soldier, with the following note to him:--"you will, upon receipt of this order pitch the cart into the nearest ravine, gully, or river, as well as all the extra pack saddles; and come at once, for god's sake, for we must not starve here!" one, two, three, and four hours were passed by me in the utmost impatience, waiting, but in vain, for shaw. having a long march before us, i could wait no longer, but went to meet his party myself. about a quarter of mile from the ford i met the van of the laggards--stout burly chowpereh--and, o cartmakers, listen! he carried the cart on his head--wheels, shafts, body, axle, and all complete; he having found that carrying it was much easier than drawing it. the sight was such a damper to my regard for it as an experiment, that the cart was wheeled into the depths of the tall reeds, and there left. the central figure was shaw himself, riding at a gait which seemed to leave it doubtful on my mind whether he or his animal felt most sleepy. upon expostulating with him for keeping the caravan so long waiting when there was a march on hand, in a most peculiar voice--which he always assumed when disposed to be ugly-tempered--he said he had done the best he could; but as i had seen the solemn pace at which he rode, i felt dubious about his best endeavours; and of course there was a little scene, but the young european mtongi of an east african expedition must needs sup with the fellows he has chosen. we arrived at madete at p.m., minus two donkeys, which had stretched their weary limbs in death. we had crossed the mukondokwa about p.m., and after taking its bearings and course, i made sure that its rise took place near a group of mountains about forty miles north by west of nguru peak. our road led w.n.w., and at this place finally diverged from the river. on the th, after a march of seven miles over hills whose sandstone and granite formation cropped visibly here and there above the surface, whose stony and dry aspect seemed reflected in every bush and plant, and having gained an altitude of about eight hundred feet above the flow of the mukondokwa, we sighted the lake of ugombo--a grey sheet of water lying directly at the foot of the hill, from whose summit we gazed at the scene. the view was neither beautiful nor pretty, but what i should call refreshing; it afforded a pleasant relief to the eyes fatigued from dwelling on the bleak country around. besides, the immediate neighbourhood of the lake was too tame to call forth any enthusiasm; there were no grandly swelling mountains, no smiling landscapes--nothing but a dun-brown peak, about one thousand feet high above the surface of the lake at its western extremity, from which the lake derived its name, ugombo; nothing but a low dun-brown irregular range, running parallel with its northern shore at the distance of a mile; nothing but a low plain stretching from its western shore far away towards the mpwapwa mountains and marenga mkali, then apparent to us from our coign of vantage, from which extensive scene of dun-brownness we were glad to rest our eyes on the quiet grey water beneath. descending from the summit of the range, which bounded the lake east for about four hundred feet, we travelled along the northern shore. the time occupied in the journey from the eastern to the western extremity was exactly one hour and thirty minutes. as this side represents its greatest length i conclude that the lake is three miles long by two miles greatest breadth. the immediate shores of the lake on all sides, for at least fifty feet from the water's edge, is one impassable morass nourishing rank reeds and rushes, where the hippopotamus' ponderous form has crushed into watery trails the soft composition of the morass as he passes from the lake on his nocturnal excursions; the lesser animals; such as the "mbogo" (buffalo), the "punda-terra" (zebra); the "twiga" (giraffe), the boar, the kudu, the hyrax or coney and the antelope; come here also to quench their thirst by night. the surface of the lake swarms with an astonishing variety of water-fowl; such as black swan, duck, ibis sacra cranes, pelicans; and soaring above on the look-out for their prey are fish-eagles and hawks, while the neighbourhood is resonant with the loud chirps of the guinea-fowls calling for their young, with the harsh cry of the toucan, the cooing of the pigeon, and the "to-whit, to-whoo" of the owl. from the long grass in its vicinity also issue the grating and loud cry of the florican, woodcock, and grouse. being obliged to halt here two days, owing to the desertion of the hindi cooper jako with one of my best carbines, i improved the opportunity of exploring the northern and southern shores of the lake. at the rocky foot of a low, humpy hill on the northern side, about fifteen feet above the present surface of the water i detected in most distinct and definite lines the agency of waves. from its base could be traced clear to the edge of the dank morass tiny lines of comminuted shell as plainly marked as the small particles which lie in rows on a beech after a receding tide. there is no doubt that the wave-marks on the sandstone might have been traced much higher by one skilled in geology; it was only its elementary character that was visible to me. nor do i entertain the least doubt, after a two days' exploration of the neighbourhood, especially of the low plain at the western end, that this lake of ugombo is but the tail of what was once a large body of water equal in extent to the tanganika; and, after ascending half way up ugombo peak, this opinion was confirmed when i saw the long-depressed line of plain at its base stretching towards the mpwapwa mountains thirty miles off, and thence round to marenga mkali, and covering all that extensive surface of forty miles in breadth, and an unknown length. a depth of twelve feet more, i thought, as i gazed upon it, would give the lake a length of thirty miles, and a breadth of ten. a depth of thirty feet would increase its length over a hundred miles, and give it a breadth of fifty, for such was the level nature of the plain that stretched west of ugombo, and north of marenga mkali. besides the water of the lake partook slightly of the bitter nature of the matamombo creek, distant fifteen miles, and in a still lesser degree of that of marenga mkali, forty miles off. towards the end of the first day of our halt the hindi cooper jako arrived in camp, alleging as an excuse, that feeling fatigued he had fallen asleep in some bushes a few feet from the roadside. having been the cause of our detention in the hungry wilderness of ugombo, i was not in a frame of mind to forgive him; so, to prevent any future truant tricks on his part, i was under the necessity of including him with the chained gangs of runaways. two more of our donkeys died, and to prevent any of the valuable baggage being left behind, i was obliged to send farquhar off on my own riding-ass to the village of mpwapwa, thirty miles off, under charge of mabruki burton. to save the expedition from ruin, i was reluctantly compelled to come to the conclusion that it were better for me, for him, and concerned, that he be left with some kind chief of a village, with a six months' supply of cloth and beads, until he got well, than that he make his own recovery impossible. the th of may saw us journeying over the plain which lies between ugombo and mpwapwa, skirting close, at intervals, a low range of trap-rock, out of which had become displaced by some violent agency several immense boulders. on its slopes grew the kolquall to a size which i had not seen in abyssinia. in the plain grew baobab, and immense tamarind, and a variety of thorn. within five hours from ugombo the mountain range deflected towards the north-east, while we continued on a north-westerly course, heading for the lofty mountain-line of the mpwapwa. to our left towered to the blue clouds the gigantic rubeho. the adoption of this new road to unyanyembe by which we were travelling was now explained--we were enabled to avoid the passes and stiff steeps of rubeho, and had nothing worse to encounter than a broad smooth plain, which sloped gently to ugogo. after a march of fifteen miles we camped at a dry mtoni, called matamombo, celebrated for its pools of bitter water of the colour of ochre. monkeys and rhinoceroses, besides kudus, steinboks, and antelopes, were numerous in the vicinity. at this camp my little dog "omar" died of inflammation of the bowels, almost on the threshold of the country--ugogo--where his faithful watchfulness would have been invaluable to me. the next day's march was also fifteen miles in length, through one interminable jungle of thorn-bushes. within two miles of the camp, the road led up a small river bed, broad as an avenue, clear to the khambi of mpwapwa; which was situated close to a number of streams of the purest water. the following morning found us much fatigued after the long marches from ugombo, and generally disposed to take advantage of the precious luxuries mpwapwa offered to caravans fresh from the fly-plagued lands of the waseguhha and wadoe. sheikh thani--clever but innocently-speaking old arab--was encamped under the grateful umbrage of a huge mtamba sycamore, and had been regaling himself with fresh milk, luscious mutton, and rich bullock humps, ever since his arrival here, two days before; and, as he informed me, it did not suit his views to quit such a happy abundance so soon for the saline nitrous water of marenga mkali, with its several terekezas, and manifold disagreeables. "no!" said he to me, emphatically, "better stop here two or three days, give your tired animals some rest; collect all the pagazis you can, fill your inside with fresh milk, sweet potatoes, beef, mutton, ghee, honey, beans, matama, maweri, and nuts;--then, inshallah! we shall go together through ugogo without stopping anywhere." as the advice tallied accurately with my own desired and keen appetite for the good things he named, he had not long to wait for my assent to his counsel. "ugogo," continued he, "is rich with milk and honey--rich in flour, beans and almost every eatable thing; and, inshallah! before another week is gone we shall be in ugogo!" i had heard from passing caravans so many extremely favourable reports respecting ugogo and its productions that it appeared to me a very land of promise, and i was most anxious to refresh my jaded stomach with some of the precious esculents raised in ugogo; but when i heard that mpwapwa also furnished some of those delicate eatables, and good things, most of the morning hours were spent in inducing the slow-witted people to part with them; and when, finally, eggs, milk, honey, mutton, ghee, ground matama and beans had been collected in sufficient quantities to produce a respectable meal, my keenest attention and best culinary talents were occupied for a couple of hours in converting this crude supply into a breakfast which could be accepted by and befit a stomach at once fastidious and famished, such as mine was. the subsequent healthy digestion of it proved my endeavours to have been eminently successful. at the termination of this eventful day, the following remark was jotted down in my diary: "thank god! after fifty-seven days of living upon matama porridge and tough goat, i have enjoyed with unctuous satisfaction a real breakfast and dinner." it was in one of the many small villages which are situated upon the slopes of the mpwapwa that a refuge and a home for farquhar was found until he should be enabled by restored health to start to join us at unyanyembe. food was plentiful and of sufficient variety to suit the most fastidious--cheap also, much cheaper than we had experienced for many a day. leucole, the chief of the village, with whom arrangements for farquhar's protection and comfort were made, was a little old man of mild eye and very pleasing face, and on being informed that it was intended to leave the musungu entirely under his charge, suggested that some man should be left to wait on him, and interpret his wishes to his people. as jako was the only one who could speak english, except bombay and selim, jako was appointed, and the chief leucole was satisfied. six months' provisions of white beads, merikani and kaniki cloth, together with two doti of handsome cloth to serve as a present to leucole after his recovery, were taken to farquhar by bombay, together with a starr's carbine, rounds of cartridge, a set of cooking pots, and lbs. of tea. abdullah bin nasib, who was found encamped here with five hundred pagazis, and a train of arab and wasawahili satellites, who revolved around his importance, treated me in somewhat the same manner that hamed bin sulayman treated speke at kasenge. followed by his satellites, he came (a tall nervous-looking man, of fifty or thereabouts) to see me in my camp, and asked me if i wished to purchase donkeys. as all my animals were either sick or moribund, i replied very readily in the affirmative, upon which he graciously said he would sell me as many as i wanted, and for payment i could give him a draft on zanzibar. i thought him a very considerate and kind person, fully justifying the encomiums lavished on him in burton's 'lake regions of central africa,' and accordingly i treated him with the consideration due to so great and good a man. the morrow came, and with it went abdullah bin nasib, or "kisesa," as he is called by the wanyamwezi, with all his pagazis, his train of followers, and each and every one of his donkeys, towards bagamoyo, without so much as giving a "kwaheri," or good-bye. at this place there are generally to be found from ten to thirty pagazis awaiting up-caravans. i was fortunate enough to secure twelve good people, who, upon my arrival at unyanyembe, without an exception, voluntarily engaged themselves as carriers to ujiji. with the formidable marches of marenga mkali in front, i felt thankful for this happy windfall, which resolved the difficulties i had been anticipating; for i had but ten donkeys left, and four of these were so enfeebled that they were worthless as baggage animals. mpwapwa--so called by the arabs, who have managed to corrupt almost every native word--is called "mbambwa" by the wasagara. it is a mountain range rising over , feet above the sea, bounding on the north the extensive plain which commences at ugombo lake, and on the east that part of the plain which is called marenga mkali, which stretches away beyond the borders of uhumba. opposite mpwapwa, at the distance of thirty miles or so, rises the anak peak of rubeho, with several other ambitious and tall brethren cresting long lines of rectilinear scarps, which ascend from the plain of ugombo and marenga mkali as regularly as if they had been chiselled out by the hands of generations of masons and stonecutters. upon looking at mpwapwa's greenly-tinted slopes, dark with many a densely-foliaged tree; its many rills flowing sweet and clear, nourishing besides thick patches of gum and thorn bush, giant sycamore and parachute-topped mimosa, and permitting my imagination to picture sweet views behind the tall cones above, i was tempted to brave the fatigue of an ascent to the summit. nor was my love for the picturesque disappointed. one sweep of the eyes embraced hundreds of square miles of plain and mountain, from ugombo peak away to distant ugogo, and from rubeho and ugogo to the dim and purple pasture lands of the wild, untamable wahumba. the plain of ugombo and its neighbour of marenga mkali, apparently level as a sea, was dotted here and there with "hillocks dropt in nature's careless haste," which appeared like islands amid the dun and green expanse. where the jungle was dense the colour was green, alternating with dark brown; where the plain appeared denuded of bush and brake it had a whity-brown appearance, on which the passing clouds now and again cast their deep shadows. altogether this side of the picture was not inviting; it exhibited too plainly the true wilderness in its sternest aspect; but perhaps the knowledge that in the bosom of the vast plain before me there was not one drop of water but was bitter as nitre, and undrinkable as urine, prejudiced me against it, the hunter might consider it a paradise, for in its depths were all kinds of game to attract his keenest instincts; but to the mere traveller it had a stern outlook. nearer, however, to the base of the mpwapwa the aspect of the plain altered. at first the jungle thinned, openings in the wood appeared, then wide and naked clearings, then extensive fields of the hardy holcus, indian corn, and maweri or bajri, with here and there a square tembe or village. still nearer ran thin lines of fresh young grass, great trees surrounded a patch of alluvial meadow. a broad river-bed, containing several rivulets of water, ran through the thirsty fields, conveying the vivifying element which in this part of usagara was so scarce and precious. down to the river-bed sloped the mpwapwa, roughened in some places by great boulders of basalt, or by rock masses, which had parted from a precipitous scarp, where clung the kolquall with a sure hold, drawing nourishment where every other green thing failed; clad in others by the hardy mimosa, which rose like a sloping bank of green verdure almost to the summit. and, happy sight to me so long a stranger to it, there were hundreds of cattle grazing, imparting a pleasing animation to the solitude of the deep folds of the mountain range. but the fairest view was obtained by looking northward towards the dense group of mountains which buttressed the front range, facing towards rubeho. it was the home of the winds, which starting here and sweeping down the precipitous slopes and solitary peaks on the western side, and gathering strength as they rushed through the prairie-like marenga mkali, howled through ugogo and unyamwezi with the force of a storm, it was also the home of the dews, where sprang the clear springs which cheered by their music the bosky dells below, and enriched the populous district of mpwapwa. one felt better, stronger, on this breezy height, drinking in the pure air and feasting the eyes on such a varied landscape as it presented, on spreading plateaus green as lawns, on smooth rounded tops, on mountain vales containing recesses which might charm a hermit's soul, on deep and awful ravines where reigned a twilight gloom, on fractured and riven precipices, on huge fantastically-worn boulders which overtopped them, on picturesque tracts which embraced all that was wild, and all that was poetical in nature. mpwapwa, though the traveller from the coast will feel grateful for the milk it furnished after being so long deprived of it, will be kept in mind as a most remarkable place for earwigs. in my tent they might be counted by thousands; in my slung cot they were by hundreds; on my clothes they were by fifties; on my neck and head they were by scores. the several plagues of locusts, fleas, and lice sink into utter insignificance compared with this fearful one of earwigs. it is true they did not bite, and they did not irritate the cuticle, but what their presence and numbers suggested was something so horrible that it drove one nearly insane to think of it. who will come to east africa without reading the experiences of burton and speke? who is he that having read them will not remember with horror the dreadful account given by speke of his encounters with these pests? my intense nervous watchfulness alone, i believe, saved me from a like calamity. second to the earwigs in importance and in numbers were the white ants, whose powers of destructiveness were simply awful. mats, cloth, portmanteaus, clothes, in short, every article i possessed, seemed on the verge of destruction, and, as i witnessed their voracity, i felt anxious lest my tent should be devoured while i slept. this was the first khambi since leaving the coast where their presence became a matter of anxiety; at all other camping places hitherto the red and black ants had usurped our attention, but at mpwapwa the red species were not seen, while the black were also very scarce. after a three days' halt at mpwapwa i decided of a march to marenga mkali, which should be uninterrupted until we reached mvumi in ugogo, where i should be inducted into the art of paying tribute to the wagogo chiefs. the first march to kisokweh was purposely made short, being barely four miles, in order to enable sheikh thani, sheikh hamed, and five or six wasawahili caravans to come up with me at chunyo on the confines of marenga mkali. chapter vii. -- marenga mkali, ugogo, and uyanzi, to unyanyembe. mortality amongst the baggage animals.--the contumacious wagogo--mobs of maenads.--tribute paying.--necessity of prudence.--oration of the guide.--the genuine "ugogians."-- vituperative power.--a surprised chief.--the famous mizanza.--killing hyaenas.--the greeks and romans of africa.--a critical moment.--the "elephant's back."--the wilderness of ukimbu.--end of the first stage of the search.--arrival at unyanyembe. the nd of may saw thani and hamed's caravans united with my own at chunyo, three and a half hours' march from mpwapwa. the road from the latter place ran along the skirts of the mpwapwa range; at three or four places it crossed outlying spurs that stood isolated from the main body of the range. the last of these hill spurs, joined by an elevated cross ridge to the mpwapwa, shelters the tembe of chunyo, situated on the western face, from the stormy gusts that come roaring down the steep slopes. the water of chunyo is eminently bad, in fact it is its saline-nitrous nature which has given the name marenga mkali--bitter water--to the wilderness which separates usagara from ugogo. though extremely offensive to the palate, arabs and the natives drink it without fear, and without any bad results; but they are careful to withhold their baggage animals from the pits. being ignorant of its nature, and not exactly understanding what precise location was meant by marenga mkali, i permitted the donkeys to be taken to water, as usual after a march; and the consequence was calamitous in the extreme. what the fearful swamp of makata had spared, the waters of marenga mkali destroyed. in less than five days after our departure from chunyo or marenga mali, five out of the nine donkeys left to me at the time--the five healthiest animals--fell victims. we formed quite an imposing caravan as we emerged from inhospitable chunyo, in number amounting to about four hundred souls. we were strong in guns, flags, horns, sounding drums and noise. to sheikh hamed, by permission of sheikh thani, and myself was allotted the task of guiding and leading this great caravan through dreaded ugogo; which was a most unhappy selection, as will be seen hereafter. marenga mali, over thirty miles across, was at last before us. this distance had to be traversed within thirty-six hours, so that the fatigue of the ordinary march would be more than doubled by this. from chunyo to ugogo not one drop of water was to be found. as a large caravan, say over two hundred souls, seldom travels over one and three-quarter miles per hour, a march of thirty miles would require seventeen hours of endurance without water and but little rest. east africa generally possessing unlimited quantities of water, caravans have not been compelled for lack of the element to have recourse to the mushok of india and the khirbeh of egypt. being able to cross the waterless districts by a couple of long marches, they content themselves for the time with a small gourdful, and with keeping their imaginations dwelling upon the copious quantities they will drink upon arrival at the watering-place. the march through this waterless district was most monotonous, and a dangerous fever attacked me, which seemed to eat into my very vitals. the wonders of africa that bodied themselves forth in the shape of flocks of zebras, giraffes, elands, or antelopes, galloping over the jungleless plain, had no charm for me; nor could they serve to draw my attention from the severe fit of sickness which possessed me. towards the end of the first march i was not able to sit upon the donkey's back; nor would it do, when but a third of the way across the wilderness, to halt until the next day; soldiers were therefore detailed to carry me in a hammock, and, when the terekeza was performed in the afternoon, i lay in a lethargic state, unconscious of all things. with the night passed the fever, and, at o'clock in the morning, when the march was resumed, i was booted and spurred, and the recognized mtongi of my caravan once more. at a.m. we had performed the thirty-two miles. the wilderness of marenga mkali had been passed and we had entered ugogo, which was at once a dreaded land to my caravan, and a land of promise to myself. the transition from the wilderness into this promised land was very gradual and easy. very slowly the jungle thinned, the cleared land was a long time appearing, and when it had finally appeared, there were no signs of cultivation until we could clearly make out the herbage and vegetation on some hill slopes to our right running parallel with our route, then we saw timber on the hills, and broad acreage under cultivation--and, lo! as we ascended a wave of reddish earth covered with tall weeds and cane, but a few feet from us, and directly across our path, were the fields of matama and grain we had been looking for, and ugogo had been entered an hour before. the view was not such as i expected. i had imagined a plateau several hundred feet higher than marenga mkali, and an expansive view which should reveal ugogo and its characteristics at once. but instead, while travelling from the tall weeds which covered the clearing which had preceded the cultivated parts, we had entered into the depths of the taller matama stalks, and, excepting some distant hills near mvumi, where the great sultan lived--the first of the tribe to whom we should pay tribute--the view was extremely limited. however, in the neighbourhood of the first village a glimpse at some of the peculiar features of ugogo was obtained, and there was a vast plain--now flat, now heaving upwards, here level as a table, there tilted up into rugged knolls bristling with scores of rough boulders of immense size, which lay piled one above another as if the children of a titanic race had been playing at house-building. indeed, these piles of rounded, angular, and riven rock formed miniature hills of themselves; and appeared as if each body had been ejected upwards by some violent agency beneath. there was one of these in particular, near mvumi, which was so large, and being slightly obscured from view by the outspreading branches of a gigantic baobab, bore such a strong resemblance to a square tower of massive dimensions, that for a long time i cherished the idea that i had discovered something most interesting which had strangely escaped the notice of my predecessors in east africa. a nearer view dispelled the illusion, and proved it to be a huge cube of rock, measuring about forty feet each way. the baobabs were also particularly conspicuous on this scene, no other kind of tree being visible in the cultivated parts. these had probably been left for two reasons: first, want of proper axes for felling trees of such enormous growth; secondly, because during a famine the fruit of the baobab furnishes a flour which, in the absence of anything better, is said to be eatable and nourishing. the first words i heard in ugogo were from a wagogo elder, of sturdy form, who in an indolent way tended the flocks, but showed a marked interest in the stranger clad in white flannels, with a hawkes' patent cork solar topee on his head, a most unusual thing in ugogo, who came walking past him, and there were "yambo, musungu, yambo, bana, bana," delivered with a voice loud enough to make itself heard a full mile away. no sooner had the greeting been delivered than the word "musungu" seemed to electrify his entire village; and the people of other villages, situated at intervals near the road, noting the excitement that reigned at the first, also participated in the general frenzy which seemed suddenly to have possessed them. i consider my progress from the first village to mvumi to have been most triumphant; for i was accompanied by a furious mob of men, women, and children, all almost as naked as mother eve when the world first dawned upon her in the garden of eden, fighting, quarrelling, jostling, staggering against each other for the best view of the white man, the like of whom was now seen for the first time in this part of ugogo. the cries of admiration, such as "hi-le!" which broke often and in confused uproar upon my ear, were not gratefully accepted, inasmuch as i deemed many of them impertinent. a respectful silence and more reserved behaviour would have won my esteem; but, ye powers, who cause etiquette to be observed in usungu,* respectful silence, reserved behaviour, and esteem are terms unknown in savage ugogo. hitherto i had compared myself to a merchant of bagdad travelling among the kurds of kurdistan, selling his wares of damascus silk, kefiyehs, &c.; but now i was compelled to lower my standard, and thought myself not much better than a monkey in a zoological collection. one of my soldiers requested them to lessen their vociferous noise; but the evil-minded race ordered him to shut up, as a thing unworthy to speak to the wagogo! when i imploringly turned to the arabs for counsel in this strait, old sheikh thani, always worldly wise, said, "heed them not; they are dogs who bite besides barking." -------- * white man's land. -------- at a.m. we were in our boma, near mvumi village; but here also crowds of wagogo came to catch a glimpse of the musungu, whose presence was soon made known throughout the district of mvumi. but two hours later i was oblivious of their endeavours to see me; for, despite repeated doses of quinine, the mukunguru had sure hold of me. the next day was a march of eight miles, from east mvumi to west mvumi, where lived the sultan of the district. the quantity and variety of provisions which arrived at our boma did not belie the reports respecting the productions of ugogo. milk, sour and sweet, honey, beans, matama, maweri, indian corn, ghee, pea-nuts, and a species of bean-nut very like a large pistachio or an almond, water-melons, pumpkins, mush-melons, and cucumbers were brought, and readily exchanged for merikani, kaniki, and for the white merikani beads and sami-sami, or sam-sam. the trade and barter which progressed in the camp from morning till night reminded me of the customs existing among the gallas and abyssinians. eastward, caravans were obliged to despatch men with cloth, to purchase from the villagers. this was unnecessary in ugogo, where the people voluntarily brought every vendible they possessed to the camp. the smallest breadth of white or blue cloth became saleable and useful in purchasing provisions--even a loin-cloth worn threadbare. the day after our march was a halt. we had fixed this day for bearing the tribute to the great sultan of mvumi. prudent and cautious sheikh thani early began this important duty, the omission of which would have been a signal for war. hamed and thani sent two faithful slaves, well up to the eccentricities of the wagogo sultans--well spoken, having glib tongues and the real instinct for trade as carried on amongst orientals. they bore six doti of cloths, viz., one doti of dabwani ulyah contributed by myself, also one doti of barsati from me, two doti merikani satine from sheikh thani, and two doti of kaniki from sheikh hamed, as a first instalment of the tribute. the slaves were absent a full hour, but having wasted their powers of pleading, in vain, they returned with the demand for more, which sheikh thani communicated to me in this wise: "auf! this sultan is a very bad man--a very bad man indeed; he says, the musungu is a great man, i call him a sultan; the musungu is very rich, for he has several caravans already gone past; the musungu must pay forty doti, and the arabs must pay twelve doti each, for they have rich caravans. it is of no use for you to tell me you are all one caravan, otherwise why so many flags and tents? go and bring me sixty doti, with less i will not be satisfied." i suggested to sheikh thani, upon hearing this exorbitant demand, that had i twenty wasungu* armed with winchester repeating rifles, the sultan might be obliged to pay tribute to me; but thani prayed and begged me to be cautious lest angry words might irritate the sultan and cause him to demand a double tribute, as he was quite capable of doing so; "and if you preferred war," said he, "your pagazis would all desert, and leave you and your cloth to the small mercy of the wagogo." but i hastened to allay his fears by telling bombay, in his presence, that i had foreseen such demands on the part of the wagogo, and that having set aside one hundred and twenty doti of honga cloths, i should not consider myself a sufferer if the sultan demanded and i paid forty cloths to him; that he must therefore open the honga bale, and permit sheikh thani to extract such cloths as the sultan might like. sheikh thani, having put on the cap of consideration and joined heads with hamed and the faithful serviles, thought if i paid twelve doti, out of which three should be of ulyah+ quality, that the sultan might possibly condescend to accept our tribute; supposing he was persuaded by the oratorical words of the "faithfuls," that the musungu had nothing with him but the mashiwa (boat), which would be of no use to him, come what might,--with which prudent suggestion the musungu concurred, seeing its wisdom. * white men. + best, or superior. the slaves departed, bearing this time from our boma thirty doti, with our best wishes for their success. in an hour they returned with empty hands, but yet unsuccessful. the sultan demanded six doti of merikani, and a fundo of bubu, from the musungu; and from the arabs and other caravans, twelve doti more. for the third time the slaves departed for the sultan's tembe, carrying with them six doti merikani and a fundo of bubu from myself, and ten doti from the arabs. again they returned to us with the sultan's words, "that, as the doti of the musungu were short measure, and the cloths of the arabs of miserable quality, the musungu must send three doti full measure, and the arabs five doti of kaniki." my three doti were at once measured out with the longest fore-arm--according to kigogo measure--and sent off by bombay; but the arabs, almost in despair, declared they would be ruined if they gave way to such demands, and out of the five doti demanded sent only two, with a pleading to the sultan that he would consider what was paid as just and fair muhongo, and not ask any more. but the sultan of mvumi was by no means disposed to consider any such proposition, but declared he must have three doti, and these to be two of ulyah cloth, and one kitambi barsati, which, as he was determined to obtain, were sent to him heavy with the deep maledictions of sheikh hamed and the despairing sighs of sheikh thani. altogether the sultanship of a district in ugogo must be very remunerative, besides being a delightful sinecure, so long as the sultan has to deal with timid arab merchants who fear to exhibit anything approaching to independence and self-reliance, lest they might be mulcted in cloth. in one day from one camp the sultan received forty-seven doti, consisting of merikani, kaniki, barsati, and dabwani, equal to $ . , besides seven doti of superior cloths, consisting of rehani, sohari, and daobwani ulyah, and one fundo of bubu, equal to $ . , making a total of $ . --a most handsome revenue for a mgogo chief. on the th may we gladly shook the dust of mvumi from our feet, and continued on our route--ever westward. five of my donkeys had died the night before, from the effects of the water of marenga mkali. before leaving the camp of mvumi, i went to look at their carcases; but found them to have been clean picked by the hyaenas, and the bones taken possession of by an army of white-necked crows. as we passed the numerous villages, and perceived the entire face of the land to be one vast field of grain, and counted the people halted by scores on the roadside to feast their eyes with a greedy stare on the musungu, i no longer wondered at the extortionate demands of the wagogo. for it was manifest that they had but to stretch out their hands to possess whatever the wealth of a caravan consisted of; and i began to think better of the people who, knowing well their strength, did not use it--of people who were intellectual enough to comprehend that their interest lay in permitting the caravans to pass on without attempting any outrage. between mvumi and the nest sultan's district, that of matamburu, i counted no less than twenty-five villages, scattered over the clayey, coloured plain. despite the inhospitable nature of the plain, it was better cultivated than any part of any other country we had seen since leaving bagamoyo. when we had at last arrived at our boma of matamburu, the same groups of curious people, the same eager looks, the same exclamations of surprise, the same, peals of laughter, at something they deemed ludicrous in the musungu's dress or manner, awaited us, as at mvumi. the arabs being "wakonongo" travellers, whom they saw every day, enjoyed a complete immunity from the vexations which we had to endure. the sultan of matamburu, a man of herculean form, and massive head well set on shoulders that might vie with those of milo, proved to be a very reasonable person. not quite so powerful as the sultan of mvumi, he yet owned a fair share of ugogo and about forty villages, and could, if he chose, have oppressed the mercantile souls of my arab companions, in the same way as he of mvumi. four doti of cloth were taken to him as a preliminary offering to his greatness, which he said he would accept, if the arabs and musungu would send him four more. as his demands were so reasonable, this little affair was soon terminated to everybody's satisfaction; and soon after, the kirangozi of sheikh hamed sounded the signal for the morrow's march. at the orders of the same sheikh, the kirangozi stood up to speak before the assembled caravans. "words, words, from the bana," he shouted. "give ear, kirangozis! listen, children of unyamwezi! the journey is for to-morrow! the road is crooked and bad, bad! the jungle is there, and many wagogo lie hidden within it! wagogo spear the pagazis, and cut the throats of those who carry mutumba (bales) and ushanga (beads)! the wagogo have been to our camp, they have seen your bales; to-night they seek the jungle: to-morrow watch well, o wanyamwezi! keep close together, lag not behind! kirangozis walk slow, that the weak, the sick, and the young may keep up with the strong! take two rests on the journey! these are the words of the bana (master). do you hear them, wanyamwezi? (a loud shout in the affirmative from all.) do you understand them well? (another chorus); then bas;" having said which, the eloquent kirangozi retired into the dark night, and his straw hut. the march to bihawana, our next camp, was rugged and long, through a continuous jungle of gums and thorns, up steep hills and finally over a fervid plain, while the sun waxed hotter and hotter as it drew near the meridian, until it seemed to scorch all vitality from inanimate nature, while the view was one white blaze, unbearable to the pained sight, which sought relief from the glare in vain. several sandy watercourses, on which were impressed many a trail of elephants, were also passed on this march. the slope of these stream-beds trended south-east and south. in the middle of this scorching plain stood the villages of bihawana, almost undistinguishable, from the extreme lowness of the huts, which did not reach the height of the tall bleached grass which stood smoking in the untempered heat. our camp was in a large boma, about a quarter of a mile from the sultan's tembe. soon after arriving at the camp, i was visited by three wagogo, who asked me if i had seen a mgogo on the road with a woman and child. i was about to answer, very innocently, "yes," when mabruki--cautious and watchful always for the interests of the master--requested me not to answer, as the wagogo, as customary, would charge me with having done away with them, and would require their price from me. indignant at the imposition they were about to practise upon me, i was about to raise my whip to flog them out of the camp, when again mabruki, with a roaring voice, bade me beware, for every blow would cost me three or four doti of cloth. as i did not care to gratify my anger at such an expense, i was compelled to swallow my wrath, and consequently the wagogo escaped chastisement. we halted for one day at this place, which was a great relief to me, as i was suffering severely from intermittent fever, which lasted in this case two weeks, and entirely prevented my posting my diary in full, as was my custom every evening after a march. the sultan of bihawana, though his subjects were evil-disposed, and ready-handed at theft and murder, contented himself with three doti as honga. from this chief i received news of my fourth caravan, which had distinguished itself in a fight with some outlawed subjects of his; my soldiers had killed two who had attempted, after waylaying a couple of my pagazis, to carry away a bale of cloth and a bag of beads; coming up in time, the soldiers decisively frustrated the attempt. the sultan thought that if all caravans were as well guarded as mine were, there would be less depredations committed on them while on the road; with which i heartily agreed. the next sultan's tembe through whose territory we marched, this being on the th may, was at kididimo, but four miles from bihawna. the road led through a flat elongated plain, lying between two lengthy hilly ridges, thickly dotted with the giant forms of the baobab. kididimo is exceedingly bleak in aspect. even the faces of the wagogo seemed to have contracted a bleak hue from the general bleakness around. the water of the pits obtained in the neighbourhood had an execrable flavor, and two donkeys sickened and died in less than an hour from its effects. man suffered nausea and a general irritability of the system, and accordingly revenged himself by cursing the country and its imbecile ruler most heartily. the climax came, however, when bombay reported, after an attempt to settle the muhongo, that the chief's head had grown big since he heard that the musungu had come, and that its "bigness" could not be reduced unless he could extract ten doti as tribute. though the demand was large, i was not in a humour--being feeble, and almost nerveless, from repeated attacks of the mukunguru--to dispute the sum: consequently it was paid without many words. but the arabs continued the whole afternoon negotiating, and at the end had to pay eight doti each. between kididimo and nyambwa, the district of the sultan pembera pereh, was a broad and lengthy forest and jungle inhabited by the elephant, rhinoceros, zebra, deer, antelope, and giraffe. starting at dawn of the st; we entered the jungle, whose dark lines and bosky banks were clearly visible from our bower at kididimo; and, travelling for two hours, halted for rest and breakfast, at pools of sweet water surrounded by tracts of vivid green verdure, which were a great resort for the wild animals of the jungle, whose tracks were numerous and recent. a narrow nullah, shaded deeply with foliage, afforded excellent retreats from the glaring sunshine. at meridian, our thirst quenched, our hunger satisfied, our gourds refilled, we set out from the shade into the heated blaze of hot noon. the path serpentined in and out of jungle, and thin forest, into open tracts of grass bleached white as stubble, into thickets of gums and thorns, which emitted an odour as rank as a stable; through clumps of wide-spreading mimosa and colonies of baobab, through a country teeming with noble game, which, though we saw them frequently, were yet as safe from our rifles as if we had been on the indian ocean. a terekeza, such as we were now making, admits of no delay. water we had left behind at noon: until noon of the next day not a drop was to be obtained; and unless we marched fast and long on this day, raging thirst would demoralize everybody. so for six long weary hours we toiled bravely; and at sunset we camped, and still a march of two hours, to be done before the sun was an hour high, intervened between us and our camp at nyambwa. that night the men bivouacked under the trees, surrounded by many miles of dense forest, enjoying the cool night unprotected by hat or tent, while i groaned and tossed throughout the night in a paroxysm of fever. the morn came; and, while it was yet young, the long caravan, or string of caravans, was under way. it was the same forest, admitting, on the narrow line which we threaded, but one man at a time. its view was as limited. to our right and left the forest was dark and deep. above was a riband of glassy sky flecked by the floating nimbus. we heard nothing save a few stray notes from a flying bird, or the din of the caravans as the men sang, or hummed, or conversed, or shouted, as the thought struck them that we were nearing water. one of my pagazis, wearied and sick, fell, and never rose again. the last of the caravan passed him before he died. at a.m. we were encamped at nyambwa, drinking the excellent water found here with the avidity of thirsty camels. extensive fields of grain had heralded the neighbourhood of the villages, at the sight of which we were conscious that the caravan was quickening its pace, as approaching its halting-place. as the wasungu drew within the populated area, crowds of wagogo used their utmost haste to see them before they passed by. young and old of both genders pressed about us in a multitude--a very howling mob. this excessive demonstrativeness elicited from my sailor overseer the characteristic remark, "well, i declare, these must be the genuine ugogians, for they stare! stare--there is no end to their staring. i'm almost tempted to slap 'em in the face!" in fact, the conduct of the wagogo of nyambwa was an exaggeration of the general conduct of wagogo. hitherto, those we had met had contented themselves with staring and shouting; but these outstepped all bounds, and my growing anger at their excessive insolence vented itself in gripping the rowdiest of them by the neck, and before he could recover from his astonishment administering a sound thrashing with my dog-whip, which he little relished. this proceeding educed from the tribe of starers all their native power of vituperation and abuse, in expressing which they were peculiar. approaching in manner to angry tom-cats, they jerked their words with something of a splitting hiss and a half bark. the ejaculation, as near as i can spell it phonetically, was "hahcht" uttered in a shrill crescendo tone. they paced backwards and forwards, asking themselves, "are the wagoga to be beaten like slaves by this musungu? a mgogo is a mgwana (a free man); he is not used to be beaten,--hahcht." but whenever i made motion, flourishing my whip, towards them, these mighty braggarts found it convenient to move to respectable distances from the irritated musungu. perceiving that a little manliness and show of power was something which the wagogo long needed, and that in this instance it relieved me from annoyance, i had recourse to my whip, whose long lash cracked like a pistol shot, whenever they overstepped moderation. so long as they continued to confine their obtrusiveness to staring, and communicating to each other their opinions respecting my complexion, and dress, and accoutrements, i philosophically resigned myself in silence for their amusement; but when they pressed on me, barely allowing me to proceed, a few vigorous and rapid slashes right and left with my serviceable thong, soon cleared the track. pembera pereh is a queer old man, very small, and would be very insignificant were he not the greatest sultan in ugogo; and enjoying a sort of dimediate power over many other tribes. though such an important chief, he is the meanest dressed of his subjects,--is always filthy,--ever greasy--eternally foul about the mouth; but these are mere eccentricities: as a wise judge, he is without parallel, always has a dodge ever ready for the abstraction of cloth from the spiritless arab merchants, who trade with unyanyembe every year; and disposes with ease of a judicial case which would overtask ordinary men. sheikh hamed, who was elected guider of the united caravans now travelling through ugogo, was of such a fragile and small make, that he might be taken for an imitation of his famous prototype "dapper." being of such dimensions, what he lacked for weight and size he made up by activity. no sooner had he arrived in camp than his trim dapper form was seen frisking about from side to side of the great boma, fidgeting, arranging, disturbing everything and everybody. he permitted no bales or packs to be intermingled, or to come into too close proximity to his own; he had a favourite mode of stacking his goods, which he would see carried out; he had a special eye for the best place for his tent, and no one else must trespass on that ground. one would imagine that walking ten or fifteen miles a day, he would leave such trivialities to his servants, but no, nothing could be right unless he had personally superintended it; in which work he was tireless and knew no fatigue. another not uncommon peculiarity pertained to sheikh hamed; as he was not a rich man, he laboured hard to make the most of every shukka and doti expended, and each fresh expenditure seemed to gnaw his very vitals: he was ready to weep, as he himself expressed it, at the high prices of ugogo, and the extortionate demands of its sultans. for this reason, being the leader of the caravans, so far as he was able we were very sure not to be delayed in ugogo, where food was so dear. the day we arrived at nyambwa will be remembered by hamed as long as he lives, for the trouble and vexation which he suffered. his misfortunes arose from the fact that, being too busily engaged in fidgeting about the camp, he permitted his donkeys to stray into the matama fields of pembera pereh, the sultan. for hours he and his servants sought for the stray donkeys, returning towards evening utterly unsuccessful, hamed bewailing, as only an oriental can do, when hard fate visits him with its inflictions, the loss of a hundred do dollars worth of muscat donkeys. sheikh thani, older, more experienced, and wiser, suggested to him that he should notify the sultan of his loss. acting upon the sagacious advice, hamed sent an embassy of two slaves, and the information they brought back was, that pembera pereh's servants had found the two donkeys eating the unripened matama, and that unless the arab who owned them would pay nine doti of first-class cloths, he, pembera pereh, would surely keep them to remunerate him for the matama they had eaten. hamed was in despair. nine doti of first-class cloths, worth $ in unyanyembe, for half a chukka's worth of grain, was, as he thought, an absurd demand; but then if he did not pay it, what would become of the hundred dollars' worth of donkeys? he proceeded to the sultan to show him the absurdity of the damage claim, and to endeavour to make him accept one chukka, which would be more than double the worth of what grain the donkeys had consumed. but the sultan was sitting on pombe; he was drunk, which i believe to be his normal state--too drunk to attend to business, consequently his deputy, a renegade mnyamwezi, gave ear to the business. with most of the wagogo chiefs lives a mnyamwezi, as their right-hand man, prime minister, counsellor, executioner, ready man at all things save the general good; a sort of harlequin unyamwezi, who is such an intriguing, restless, unsatisfied person, that as soon as one hears that this kind of man forms one of and the chief of a mgogo sultan's council, one feels very much tempted to do damage to his person. most of the extortions practised upon the arabs are suggested by these crafty renegades. sheikh hamed found that the mnyamwezi was far more obdurate than the sultan--nothing under nine doti first-class cloths would redeem the donkeys. the business that day remained unsettled, and the night following was, as one may imagine, a very sleepless one to hamed. as it turned out, however, the loss of the donkeys, the after heavy fine, and the sleepless night, proved to be blessings in disguise; for, towards midnight, a robber mgogo visited his camp, and while attempting to steal a bale of cloth, was detected in the act by the wide-awake and irritated arab, and was made to vanish instantly with a bullet whistling in close proximity to his ear. from each of the principals of the caravans, the mnyamwezi had received as tribute for his drunken master fifteen doti, and from the other six caravans six doti each, altogether fifty-one doti, yet on the next morning when we took the road he was not a whit disposed to deduct a single cloth from the fine imposed on hamed, and the unfortunate sheikh was therefore obliged to liquidate the claim, or leave his donkeys behind. after travelling through the corn-fields of pembera pereh we emerged upon a broad flat plain, as level as the still surface of a pond, whence the salt of the wagogo is obtained. from kanyenyi on the southern road, to beyond the confines of uhumba and ubanarama, this saline field extends, containing many large ponds of salt bitter water whose low banks are covered with an effervescence partaking of the nature of nitrate. subsequently, two days afterwards, having ascended the elevated ridge which separates ugogo from uyanzi, i obtained a view of this immense saline plain, embracing over a hundred square miles. i may have been deceived, but i imagined i saw large expanses of greyish-blue water, which causes me to believe that this salina is but a corner of a great salt lake. the wahumba, who are numerous, from nyambwa to the uyanzi border, informed my soldiers that there was a "maji kuba" away to the north. mizanza, our next camp after nyambwa, is situated in a grove of palms, about thirteen miles from the latter place. soon after arriving i had to bury myself under blankets, plagued with the same intermittent fever which first attacked me during the transit of marenga mkali. feeling certain that one day's halt, which would enable me to take regular doses of the invaluable sulphate of quinine, would cure me, i requested sheikh thani to tell hamed to halt on the morrow, as i should be utterly unable to continue thus long, under repeated attacks of a virulent disease which was fast reducing me into a mere frame of skin and bone. hamed, in a hurry to arrive at unyanyembe in order to dispose of his cloth before other caravans appeared in the market, replied at first that he would not, that he could not, stop for the musungu. upon thani's reporting his answer to me, i requested him to inform hamed that, as the musungu did not wish to detain him, or any other caravan, it was his express wish that hamed would march and leave him, as he was quite strong enough in guns to march through ugogo alone. whatever cause modified the sheikh's resolution and his anxiety to depart, hamed's horn signal for the march was not heard that night, and on the morrow he had not gone. early in the morning i commenced on my quinine doses; at a.m. i took a second dose; before noon i had taken four more--altogether, fifty measured grains-the effect of which was manifest in the copious perspiration which drenched flannels, linen, and blankets. after noon i arose, devoutly thankful that the disease which had clung to me for the last fourteen days had at last succumbed to quinine. on this day the lofty tent, and the american flag which ever flew from the centre pole, attracted the sultan of mizanza towards it, and was the cause of a visit with which he honoured me. as he was notorious among the arabs for having assisted manwa sera in his war against sheikh sny bin amer, high eulogies upon whom have been written by burton, and subsequently by speke, and as he was the second most powerful chief in ugogo, of course he was quite a curiosity to me. as the tent-door was uplifted that he might enter, the ancient gentleman was so struck with astonishment at the lofty apex, and internal arrangements, that the greasy barsati cloth which formed his sole and only protection against the chills of night and the heat of noon, in a fit of abstraction was permitted to fall down to his feet, exposing to the musungu's unhallowed gaze the sad and aged wreck of what must once have been a towering form. his son, a youth of about fifteen, attentive to the infirmities of his father, hastened with filial duty to remind him of his condition, upon which, with an idiotic titter at the incident, he resumed his scanty apparel and sat down to wonder and gibber out his admiration at the tent and the strange things which formed the musungu's personal baggage and furniture. after gazing in stupid wonder at the table, on which was placed some crockery and the few books i carried with me; at the slung hammock, which he believed was suspended by some magical contrivance; at the portmanteaus which contained my stock of clothes, he ejaculated, "hi-le! the musungu is a great sultan, who has come from his country to see ugogo." he then noticed me, and was again wonder-struck at my pale complexion and straight hair, and the question now propounded was, "how on earth was i white when the sun had burned his people's skins into blackness?" whereupon he was shown my cork topee, which he tried on his woolly head, much to his own and to our amusement. the guns were next shown to him; the wonderful repeating rifle of the winchester company, which was fired thirteen times in rapid succession to demonstrate its remarkable murderous powers. if he was astonished before he was a thousand times more so now, and expressed his belief that the wagogo could not stand before the musungu in battle, for wherever a mgogo was seen such a gun would surely kill him. then the other firearms were brought forth, each with its peculiar mechanism explained, until, in, a burst of enthusiasm at my riches and power, he said he would send me a sheep or goat, and that he would be my brother. i thanked him for the honour, and promised to accept whatever he was pleased to send me. at the instigation of sheikh thani, who acted as interpreter, who said that wagogo chiefs must not depart with empty hands, i cut off a shukka of kaniki and presented it to him, which, after being examined and measured, was refused upon the ground that, the musungu being a great sultan should not demean himself so much as to give him only a shukka. this, after the twelve doti received as muhongo from the caravans, i thought, was rather sore; but as he was about to present me with a sheep or goat another shukka would not matter much. shortly after he departed, and true to his promise, i received a large, fine sheep, with a broad tail, heavy with fat; but with the words: "that being now his brother, i must send him three doti of good cloth." as the price of a sheep is but a doti and a half, i refused the sheep and the fraternal honour, upon the ground that the gifts were all on one side; and that, as i had paid muhongo, and given him a doti of kaniki as a present, i could not, afford to part with any more cloth without an adequate return. during the afternoon one more of my donkeys died, and at night the hyaenas came in great numbers to feast upon the carcase. ulimengo, the chasseur, and best shot of my wangwana, stole out and succeeded in shooting two, which turned out to be some of the largest of their kind.. one of them measured six feet from the tip of the nose to the extremity of the tail, and three feet around the girth. on the th. june we struck camp, and after travelling westward for about three miles, passing several ponds of salt water, we headed north by west, skirting the range of low hills which separates ugogo from uyanzi. after a three hours' march, we halted for a short time at little mukondoku, to settle tribute with the brother of him who rules at mukondoku proper. three doti satisfied the sultan, whose district contains but two villages, mostly occupied by pastoral wahumba and renegade wahehe. the wahumba live in plastered (cow-dung) cone huts, shaped like the tartar tents of turkestan. the wahumba, so far as i have seen them, are a fine and well-formed race. the men are positively handsome, tall, with small heads, the posterior parts of which project considerably. one will look in vain for a thick lip or a flat nose amongst them; on the contrary, the mouth is exceedingly well cut, delicately small; the nose is that of the greeks, and so universal was the peculiar feature, that i at once named them the greeks of africa. their lower limbs have not the heaviness of the wagogo and other tribes, but are long and shapely, clean as those of an antelope. their necks are long and slender, on which their small heads are poised most gracefully. athletes from their youth, shepherd bred, and intermarrying among themselves, thus keeping the race pure, any of them would form a fit subject for the sculptor who would wish to immortalize in marble an antinous, a hylas, a daphnis, or an apollo. the women are as beautiful as the men are handsome. they have clear ebon skins, not coal-black, but of an inky hue. their ornaments consist of spiral rings of brass pendent from the ears, brass ring collars about the necks, and a spiral cincture of brass wire about their loins for the purpose of retaining their calf and goat skins, which are folded about their bodies, and, depending from the shoulder, shade one half of the bosom, and fall to the knees. the wahehe may be styled the romans of africa. resuming our march, after a halt of an hour, in foul hours more we arrived at mukondoku proper. this extremity of ugogo is most populous, the villages which surround the central tembe, where the sultan swaruru lives, amount to thirty-six. the people who flocked from these to see the wonderful men whose faces were white, who wore the most wonderful things on their persons, and possessed the most wonderful weapons; guns which "bum-bummed" as fast as you could count on your fingers, formed such a mob of howling savages, that i for an instant thought there was something besides mere curiosity which caused such commotion, and attracted such numbers to the roadside. halting, i asked what was the matter, and what they wanted, and why they made such noise? one burly rascal, taking my words for a declaration of hostilities, promptly drew his bow, but as prompt as he had fixed his arrow my faithful winchester with thirteen shots in the magazine was ready and at the shoulder, and but waited to see the arrow fly to pour the leaden messengers of death into the crowd. but the crowd vanished as quickly as they had come, leaving the burly thersites, and two or three irresolute fellows of his tribe, standing within pistol range of my levelled rifle. such a sudden dispersion of the mob which, but a moment before, was overwhelming in numbers, caused me to lower my rifle, and to indulge in a hearty laugh at the disgraceful flight of the men-destroyers. the arabs, who were as much alarmed at their boisterous obtrusiveness, now came up to patch a truce, in which they succeeded to everybody's satisfaction. a few words of explanation, and the mob came back in greater numbers than before; and the thersites who had been the cause of the momentary disturbance was obliged to retire abashed before the pressure of public opinion. a chief now came up, whom i afterwards learned was the second man to swaruru, and lectured the people upon their treatment of the "white stranger." "know ye not, wagogo," shouted he, "that this musungu is a sultan (mtemi--a most high title). he has not come to ugogo like the wakonongo (arabs), to trade in ivory, but to see us, and give presents. why do you molest him and his people? let them pass in peace. if you wish to see him, draw near, but do not mock him. the first of you who creates a disturbance, let him beware; our great mtemi shall know how you treat his friends." this little bit of oratorical effort on the part of the chief was translated to me there and then by the old sheik thani; which having understood, i bade the sheikh inform the chief that, after i had rested, i should like him to visit me in my tent. having arrived at the khambi, which always surrounds some great baobab in ugogo, at the distance of about half a mile from the tembe of the sultan, the wagogo pressed in such great numbers to the camp that sheikh thani resolved to make an effort to stop or mitigate the nuisance. dressing himself in his best clothes, he went to appeal to the sultan for protection against his people. the sultan was very much inebriated, and was pleased to say, "what is it you want, you thief? you have come to steal my ivory or my cloth. go away, thief!" but the sensible chief, whose voice had just been heard reproaching the people for their treatment of the wasungu, beckoned to thani to come out of the tembe, and then proceeded with him towards the khambi. the camp was in a great uproar; the curious wagogo monopolized almost every foot of ground; there was no room to turn anywhere. the wanyamwezi were quarreling with the wagogo, the wasawahili servants were clamoring loud that the wagogo pressed down their tents, and that the property of the masters was in danger; while i, busy on my diary within my tent, cared not how great was the noise and confusion outside as long as it confined itself to the wagogo, wanyamwezi, and wangwana. the presence of the chief in the camp was followed by a deep silence that i was prevailed upon to go outside to see what had caused it. the chief's words were few, and to the point. he said, "to your tembes, wagogo--to your tembes! why, do you come to trouble the wakonongo: what have you to do with them? to your tembes: go! each mgogo found in the khambi without meal, without cattle to sell, shall pay to the mtemi cloth or cows. away with you!" saying which, he snatched up a stick and drove the hundreds out of the khambi, who were as obedient to him as so many children. during the two days we halted at mukondoku we saw no more of the mob, and there was peace. the muhongo of the sultan swaruru was settled with few words. the chief who acted for the sultan as his prime minister having been "made glad" with a doti of rehani ulyah from me, accepted the usual tribute of six doti, only one of which was of first-class cloth. there remained but one more sultan to whom muhongo must be paid after mukondoku, and this was the sultan of kiwyeh, whose reputation was so bad that owners of property who had control over their pagazis seldom passed by kiwyeh, preferring the hardships of long marches through the wilderness to the rudeness and exorbitant demands of the chief of kiwyeh. but the pagazis, on whom no burden or responsibility fell save that of carrying their loads, who could use their legs and show clean heels in the case of a hostile outbreak, preferred the march to kiwyeh to enduring thirst and the fatigue of a terekeza. often the preference of the pagazis won the day, when their employers were timid, irresolute men, like sheikh hamed. the th of june was the day fixed for our departure from mukondoku, so the day before, the arabs came to my tent to counsel with me as to the route we should adopt. on calling together the kirangozis of the respective caravans and veteran wanyamwezi pagazis, we learned there were three roads leading from mukondoku to uyanzi. the first was the southern road, and the one generally adopted, for the reasons already stated, and led by kiwyeh. to this hamed raised objections. "the sultan was bad," he said; "he sometimes charged a caravan twenty doti; our caravan would have to pay about sixty doti. the kiwyeh road would not do at all. besides," he added, "we have to make a terekeza to reach kiwyeh, and then we will not reach it before the day after to-morrow." the second was the central road. we should arrive at munieka on the morrow; the day after would be a terekeza from mabunguru nullah to a camp near unyambogi; two hours the next day would bring us to kiti, where there was plenty of water and food. as neither of the kirangozis or arabs knew this road, and its description came from one of my ancient pagazis, hamed said he did not like to trust the guidance of such a large caravan in the hands of an old mnyamwezi, and would therefore prefer to hear about the third road, before rendering his decision. the third road was the northern. it led past numerous villages of the wagogo for the first two hours; then we should strike a jungle; and a three hours' march would then bring us to simbo, where there was water, but no village. starting early next morning, we would travel six hours when we would arrive at a pool of water. here taking a short rest, an afternoon march of five hours would bring us within three hours of another village. as this last road was known to many, hamed said, "sheikh thani, tell the sahib that i think this is the best road." sheikh thani was told, after he had informed me that, as i had marched with them through ugogo, if they decided upon going by simbo, my caravan would follow. immediately after the discussion among the principals respecting the merits of the several routes, arose a discussion among the pagazis which resulted in an obstinate clamor against the simbo road, for its long terekeza and scant prospects of water, the dislike to the simbo road communicated itself to all the caravans, and soon it was magnified by reports of a wilderness reaching from simbo to kusuri, where there was neither food nor water to be obtained. hamed's pagazis, and those of the arab servants, rose in a body and declared they could not go on that march, and if hamed insisted upon adopting it they would put their packs down and leave him to carry them himself. hamed kimiani, as he was styled by the arabs, rushed up to sheikh thani, and declared that he must take the kiwyeh road, otherwise his pagazis would all desert. thani replied that all the roads were the same to him, that wherever hamed chose to go, he would follow. they then came to my tent, and informed me of the determination at which the wanyamwezi had arrived. calling my veteran mnyamwezi, who had given me the favourable report once more to my tent, i bade him give a correct account of the kiti road. it was so favourable that my reply to hamed was, that i was the master of my caravan, that it was to go wherever i told the kirangozi, not where the pagazis chose; that when i told them to halt they must halt, and when i commanded a march, a march should be made; and that as i fed them well and did not overwork them, i should like to see the pagazi or soldier that disobeyed me. "you made up your mind just now that you would take the simbo road, and we were agreed upon it, now your pagazis say they will take, the kiwyeh road, or desert. go on the kiwyeh road and pay twenty doti muhongo. i and my caravan to-morrow morning will take the kiti road, and when you find me in unyanyembe one day ahead of you, you will be sorry you did not take the same road." this resolution of mine had the effect of again changing the current of hamed's thoughts, for he instantly said, "that is the best road after all, and as the sahib is determined to go on it, and we have all travelled together through the bad land of the wagogo, inshallah! let us all go the same way," and thani=-good old man--not objecting, and hamed having decided, they both joyfully went out of the tent to communicate the news. on the th the caravans--apparently unanimous that the kiti road was to be taken--were led as usual by hamed's kirangozi. we had barely gone a mile before i perceived that we had left the simbo road, had taken the direction of kiti, and, by a cunning detour, were now fast approaching the defile of the mountain ridge before us, which admitted access to the higher plateau of kiwyeh. instantly halting my caravan, i summoned the veteran who had travelled by kiti, and asked him whether we were not going towards kiwyeh. he replied that we were. calling my pagazis together, i bade bombay tell them that the musuugu never changed his mind; that as i had said my caravan should march by kiti; to kiti it must go whether the arabs followed or not. i then ordered the veteran to take up his load and show the kirangozi the proper road to kiti. the wanyamwezi pagazis put down their bales, and then there was every indication of a mutiny. the wangwana soldiers were next ordered to load their guns and to flank the caravan, and shoot the first pagazis who made an attempt to run away. dismounting, i seized my whip, and, advancing towards the first pagazi who had put down his load, i motioned to him to take up his load and march. it was unnecessary to proceed further; without an exception, all marched away obediently after the kirangozi. i was about bidding farewell to thani, and hamed, when thani said, "stop a bit, sahib; i have had enough of this child's play; i come with you," and his caravan was turned after mine. hamed's caravan was by this time close to the defile, and he himself was a full mile behind it, weeping like a child at what he was pleased to call our desertion of him. pitying his strait--for he was almost beside himself as thoughts of kiwyeh's sultan, his extortion and rudeness, swept across his mind--i advised him to run after his caravan, and tell it, as all the rest had taken the other road, to think of the sultan of kiwyeh. before reaching the kiti defile i was aware that hamed's caravan was following us. the ascent of the ridge was rugged and steep, thorns of the prickliest nature punished us severely, the _acacia horrida_ was here more horrid than usual, the gums stretched out their branches, and entangled the loads, the mimosa with its umbrella-like top served to shade us from the sun, but impeded a rapid advance. steep outcrops of syenite and granite, worn smooth by many feet, had to be climbed over, rugged terraces of earth and rock had to be ascended, and distant shots resounding through the forest added to the alarm and general discontent, and had i not been immediately behind my caravan, watchful of every manoeuvre, my wanyamwezi had deserted to a man. though the height we ascended was barely feet above the salina we had just left, the ascent occupied two hours. having surmounted the plateau and the worst difficulties, we had a fair road comparatively, which ran through jungle, forest, and small open tracts, which in three hours more brought us to munieka, a small village, surrounded by a clearing richly cultivated by a colony of subjects of swaruru of mukondoku. by the time we had arrived at camp everybody had recovered his good humour and content except hamed. thani's men happened to set his tent too close to hamed's tree, around which his bales were stacked. whether the little sheikh imagined honest old thani capable of stealing one is not known, but it is certain that he stormed and raved about the near neighbourhood of his best friend's tent, until thani ordered its removal a hundred yards off. this proceeding even, it seems, did not satisfy hamed, for it was quite midnight--as thani said--when hamed came, and kissing his hands and feet, on his knees implored forgiveness, which of course thani, being the soul of good-nature, and as large-hearted as any man, willingly gave. hamed was not satisfied, however, until, with the aid of his slaves, he had transported his friend's tent to where it had at first been pitched. the water at munieka was obtained from a deep depression in a hump of syenite, and was as clear as crystal, and' cold as ice-water--a luxury we had not experienced since leaving simbamwenni. we were now on the borders of uyanzi, or, as it is better known, "magunda mkali "--the hot-ground, or hot-field. we had passed the village populated by wagogo, and were about to shake the dust of ugogo from our feet. we had entered ugogo full of hopes, believing it a most pleasant land--a land flowing with milk and honey. we had been grievously disappointed; it proved to be a land of gall and bitterness, full of trouble and vexation of spirit, where danger was imminent at every step--where we were exposed to the caprice of inebriated sultans. is it a wonder, then, that all felt happy at such a moment? with the prospect before us of what was believed by many to be a real wilderness, our ardor was not abated, but was rather strengthened. the wilderness in africa proves to be, in many instances, more friendly than the populated country. the kirangozi blew his kudu horn much more merrily on this morning than he was accustomed to do while in ugogo. we were about to enter magunda mkali. at a.m., three hours after leaving munieka, and two hours since we had left the extreme limits of ugogo, we were halted at mabunguru nullah. the nullah runs southwesterly after leaving its source in the chain of hills dividing ugogo from magunda mkali. during the rainy season it must be nearly impassable, owing to the excessive slope of its bed. traces of the force of the torrent are seen in the syenite and basalt boulders which encumber the course. their rugged angles are worn smooth, and deep basins are excavated where the bed is of the rock, which in the dry season serve as reservoirs. though the water contained in them has a slimy and greenish appearance, and is well populated with frogs, it is by no means unpalatable. at noon we resumed our march, the wanyamwezi cheering, shouting, and singing, the wangwana soldiers, servants, and pagazis vieing with them in volume of voice and noise-making the dim forest through which we were now passing resonant with their voices. the scenery was much more picturesque than any we had yet seen since leaving bagamoyo. the ground rose into grander waves--hills cropped out here and there--great castles of syenite appeared, giving a strange and weird appearance to the forest. from a distance it would almost seem as if we were approaching a bit of england as it must have appeared during feudalism; the rocks assumed such strange fantastic shapes. now they were round boulders raised one above another, apparently susceptible to every breath of wind; anon, they towered like blunt-pointed obelisks, taller than the tallest trees; again they assumed the shape of mighty waves, vitrified; here, they were a small heap of fractured and riven rock; there, they rose to the grandeur of hills. by p.m. we had travelled twenty miles, and the signal was sounded for a halt. at a.m., the moon being up, hamed's horn and voice were heard throughout the silent camp awaking his pagazis for the march. evidently sheikh hamed was gone stark mad, otherwise why should he be so frantic for the march at such an early hour? the dew was falling heavily, and chilled one like frost; and an ominous murmur of deep discontent responded to the early call on all sides. presuming, however, that he had obtained better information than we had, sheikh thani and i resolved to be governed as the events proved him to be right or wrong. as all were discontented, this night, march was performed in deep silence. the thermometer was at °, we being about , feet above the level of the sea. the pagazis, almost naked, walked quickly in order to keep warm, and by so doing many a sore foot was made by stumbling against obtrusive roots and rocks, and treading on thorns. at a.m. we arrived at the village of unyambogi, where we threw ourselves down to rest and sleep until dawn should reveal what else was in store for the hard-dealt-with caravans. it was broad daylight when i awoke; the sun was flaring his hot beams in my face. sheikh thani came soon after to inform me that hamed had gone to kiti two hours since; but he, when asked to accompany him, positively refused, exclaiming against it as folly, and utterly unnecessary. when my advice was asked by thani, i voted the whole thing as sheer nonsense; and, in turn, asked him what a terekeza was for? was it not an afternoon march to enable caravans to reach water and food? thani replied than it was. i then asked him if there was no water or food to be obtained in unyambogi. thani replied that he had not taken pains to inquire, but was told by the villagers that there was an abundance of matamia, hindi, maweri, sheep; goats, and chickens in their village at cheap prices, such as were not known in ugogo. "well, then," said i, "if hamed wants to be a fool, and kill his pagazis, why should we? i have as much cause for haste as sheikh hamed; but unyanyembe is far yet, and i am not going to endanger my property by playing the madman." as thani had reported, we found an abundance of provisions at the village, and good sweet water from some pits close by. a sheep cost one chukka; six chickens were also purchased at that price; six measures of matama, maweri, or hindi, were procurable for the same sum; in short, we were coming, at last, into the land of plenty. on the th june we arrived at kiti after a journey of four hours and a half, where we found the irrepressible hamed halted in sore trouble. he who would be a caesar, proved to be an irresolute antony. he had to sorrow over the death of a favourite slave girl, the loss of five dish-dashes (arab shirts), silvered-sleeve and gold-embroidered jackets, with which he had thought to enter unyanyembe in state, as became a merchant of his standing, which had disappeared with three absconding servants, besides copper trays, rice, and pilau dishes, and two bales of cloth with runaway wangwana pagazis. selim, my arab servant, asked him, "what are you doing here, sheikh hamed? i thought you were well on the road to unyanyembe." said he, "could i leave thani, my friend, behind?" kiti abounded in cattle and grain, and we were able to obtain food at easy rates. the wakimbu, emigrants from ukimbu, near urori, are a quiet race, preferring the peaceful arts of agriculture to war; of tending their flocks to conquest. at the least rumor of war they remove their property and family, and emigrate to the distant wilderness, where they begin to clear the land, and to hunt the elephant for his ivory. yet we found them to be a fine race, and well armed, and seemingly capable, by their numbers and arms, to compete with any tribe. but here, as elsewhere, disunion makes them weak. they are mere small colonies, each colony ruled by its own chief; whereas, were they united, they might make a very respectable front before an enemy. our next destination was msalalo, distant fifteen miles from kiti. hamed, after vainly searching for his runaways and the valuable property he had lost, followed us, and tried once more, when he saw us encamped at msalalo, to pass us; but his pagazis failed him, the march having been so long. welled ngaraiso was reached on the th, after a three and a half hours' march. it is a flourishing little place, where provisions were almost twice as cheap as they were at unyambogi. two hours' march south is jiweh la mkoa, on the old road, towards which the road which we have been travelling since leaving bagamoyo was now rapidly leading. unyanyembe being near, the pagazis and soldiers having behaved excellently during the lengthy marches we had lately made, i purchased a bullock for three doti, and had it slaughtered for their special benefit. i also gave each a khete of red beads to indulge his appetite for whatever little luxury the country afforded. milk and honey were plentiful, and three frasilah of sweet potatoes were bought for a shukka, equal to about cents of our money. the th june brought us to the last village of magunda mkali, in the district of jiweh la singa, after a short march of eight miles and three-quarters. kusuri--so called by the arabs--is called konsuli by the wakimbu who inhabit it. this is, however, but one instance out of many where the arabs have misnamed or corrupted the native names of villages and districts. between ngaraiso and kusuri we passed the village of kirurumo, now a thriving place, with many a thriving village near it. as we passed it, the people came out to greet the musungu, whose advent had been so long heralded by his loud-mouthed caravans, and whose soldiers had helped them win the day in a battle against their fractious brothers of jiweh la mkoa. a little further on we came across a large khambi, occupied by sultan bin mohammed, an omani arab of high descent, who, as soon as he was notified of my approach, came out to welcome me, and invite me to his khambi. as his harem lodged in his tent, of course i was not invited thither; but a carpet outside was ready for his visitor. after the usual questions had been asked about my health, the news of the road, the latest from zanzibar and oman, he asked me if i had much cloth with me. this was a question often asked by owners of down caravans, and the reason of it is that the arabs, in their anxiety to make as much as possible of their cloth at the ivory ports on the tanganika and elsewhere, are liable to forget that they should retain a portion for the down marches. as, indeed, i had but a bale left of the quantity of cloth retained for provisioning my party on the road, when outfitting my caravans on the coast, i could unblushingly reply in the negative. i halted a day at kusuri to give my caravan a rest, after its long series of marches, before venturing on the two days' march through the uninhabited wilderness that separates the district of jiweh la singa uyanzi from the district of tura in unyanyembe. hamed preceded, promising to give sayd bin salim notice of my coming, and to request him to provide a tembe for me. on the th, having ascertained that sheikh thani would be detained several days at kusuri, owing to the excessive number of his people who were laid up with that dreadful plague of east africa, the small-pox, i bade him farewell, and my caravan struck out of kusuri once more for the wilderness and the jungle. a little before noon we halted at the khambi of mgongo tembo, or the elephant's back--so called from a wave of rock whose back, stained into dark brownness by atmospheric influences, is supposed by the natives to resemble the blue-brown back of this monster of the forest. my caravan had quite an argument with me here, as to whether we should make the terekeza on this day or on the next. the majority was of the opinion that the next day would be the best for a terekeza; but i, being the "bana," consulting my own interests, insisted, not without a flourish or two of my whip, that the terekeza should be made on this day. mgongo tembo, when burton and speke passed by, was a promising settlement, cultivating many a fair acre of ground. but two years ago war broke out, for some bold act of its people upon caravans, and the arabs came from unyanyembe with their wangwana servants, attacked them, burnt the villages, and laid waste the work of years. since that time mgongo tembo has been but blackened wrecks of houses, and the fields a sprouting jungle. a cluster of date palm-trees, overtopping a dense grove close to the mtoni of mgongo tembo, revived my recollections of egypt. the banks of the stream, with their verdant foliage, presented a strange contrast to the brown and dry appearance of the jungle which lay on either side. at p.m. we resumed our loads and walking staffs, and in a short time were en route for the ngwhalah mtoni, distant eight and three-quarter miles from the khambi. the sun was hot; like a globe of living, seething flame, it flared its heat full on our heads; then as it descended towards the west, scorched the air before it was inhaled by the lungs which craved it. gourds of water were emptied speedily to quench the fierce heat that burned the throat and lungs. one pagazi, stricken heavily with the small-pox, succumbed, and threw himself down on the roadside to die. we never saw him afterwards, for the progress of a caravan on a terekeza, is something like that of a ship in a hurricane. the caravan must proceed--woe befall him who lags behind, for hunger and thirst will overtake him--so must a ship drive before the fierce gale to escape foundering--woe befall him who falls overboard! an abundance of water, good, sweet, and cool, was found in the bed of the mtoni in deep stony reservoirs. here also the traces of furious torrents were clearly visible as at mabunguru. the nghwhalah commences in ubanarama to the north--a country famous for its fine breed of donkeys--and after running south, south-south-west, crosses the unyanyembe road, from which point it has more of a westerly turn. on the th we arrived at madedita, so called from a village which was, but is now no more. madedita is twelve and a half miles from the nghwhalah mtoni. a pool of good water a few hundred yards from the roadside is the only supply caravans can obtain, nearer than tura in unyamwezi. the tsetse or chufwa-fly, as called by the wasawahili, stung us dreadfully, which is a sign that large game visit the pool sometimes, but must not be mistaken for an indication that there is any in the immediate neighbourhood of the water. a single pool so often frequented by passing caravans, which must of necessity halt here, could not be often visited by the animals of the forest, who are shy in this part of africa of the haunts of man. at dawn the neat day we were on the road striding at a quicker pace than on most days, since we were about to quit magunda mali for the more populated and better land of unyamwezi. the forest held its own for a wearisomely long time, but at the end of two hours it thinned, then dwarfed into low jungle, and finally vanished altogether, and we had arrived on the soil of unyamwezi, with a broad plain, swelling, subsiding, and receding in lengthy and grand undulations in our front to one indefinite horizontal line which purpled in the far distance. the view consisted of fields of grain ripening, which followed the contour of the plain, and which rustled merrily before the morning breeze that came laden with the chills of usagara. at a.m. we had arrived at the frontier village of unyamwezi, eastern tura, which we invaded without any regard to the disposition of the few inhabitants who lived there. here we found nondo, a runaway of speke's, one of those who had sided with baraka against bombay, who, desiring to engage himself with me, was engaging enough to furnish honey and sherbet to his former companions, and lastly to the pagazis. it was only a short breathing pause we made here, having another hour's march to reach central tura. the road from eastern tura led through vast fields of millet, indian corn, holcus sorghum, maweri, or panicum, or bajri, as called by the arabs; gardens of sweet potatoes, large tracts of cucumbers, water-melons, mush-melons, and pea-nuts which grew in the deep furrows between the ridges of the holcus. some broad-leafed plantain plants were also seen in the neighbourhood of the villages, which as we advanced became very numerous. the villages of the wakimbu are like those of the wagogo, square, flat-roofed, enclosing an open area, which is sometimes divided into three or four parts by fences or matama stalks. at central tura, where we encamped, we had evidence enough of the rascality of the wakimbu of tura. hamed, who, despite his efforts to reach unyanyembe in time to sell his cloths before other arabs came with cloth supplies, was unable to compel his pagazis to the double march every day, was also encamped at central tura, together with the arab servants who preferred hamed's imbecile haste to thani's cautious advance. our first night in unyamwezi was very exciting indeed. the musungu's camp was visited by two crawling thieves, but they were soon made aware by the portentous click of a trigger that the white man's camp was well guarded. hamed's camp was next visited; but here also the restlessness of the owner frustrated their attempts, for he was pacing backwards and forwards through his camp, with a loaded gun in his hand; and the thieves were obliged to relinquish the chance of stealing any of his bales. from hamed's they proceeded to hassan's camp (one of the arab servants), where they were successful enough to reach and lay hold of a couple of bales; but, unfortunately, they made a noise, which awoke the vigilant and quick-eared slave, who snatched his loaded musket, and in a moment had shot one of them through the heart. such were our experiences of the wakimbu of tura. on the th the three caravans, hamed's, hassan's, and my own, left tura by a road which zig-zagged towards all points through the tall matama fields. in an hour's time we had passed tura perro, or western tura, and had entered the forest again, whence the wakimbu of tura obtain their honey, and where they excavate deep traps for the elephants with which the forest is said to abound. an hour's march from western tura brought us to a ziwa, or pond. there were two, situated in the midst of a small open mbuga, or plain, which, even at this late season, was yet soft from the water which overflows it during the rainy season. after resting three hours, we started on the terekeza, or afternoon march. it was one and the same forest that we had entered soon after leaving western tura, that we travelled through until we reached the kwala mtoni, or, as burton has misnamed it on his map, "kwale." the water of this mtoni is contained in large ponds, or deep depressions in the wide and crooked gully of kwala. in these ponds a species of mud-fish, was found, off one of which i made a meal, by no means to be despised by one who had not tasted fish since leaving bagamoyo. probably, if i had my choice, being, when occasion demands it, rather fastidious in my tastes, i would not select the mud-fish. from tura to the kwala mtoni is seventeen and a half miles, a distance which, however easy it may be traversed once a fortnight, assumes a prodigious length when one has to travel it almost every other day, at least, so my pagazis, soldiers, and followers found it, and their murmurs were very loud when i ordered the signal to be sounded on the march. abdul kader, the tailor who had attached himself to me, as a man ready-handed at all things, from mending a pair of pants, making a delicate entremets, or shooting an elephant, but whom the interior proved to be the weakliest of the weakly, unfit for anything except eating and drinking---almost succumbed on this march. long ago the little stock of goods which abdul had brought from zanzibar folded in a pocket-handkerchief, and with which he was about to buy ivory and slaves, and make his fortune in the famed land of unyamwezi, had disappeared with the great eminent hopes he had built on them, like those of alnaschar the unfortunate owner of crockery in the arabian tale. he came to me as we prepared for the march, with a most dolorous tale about his approaching death, which he felt in his bones, and weary back: his legs would barely hold him up; in short, he had utterly collapsed--would i take mercy on him, and let him depart? the cause of this extraordinary request, so unlike the spirit with which he had left zanzibar, eager to possess the ivory and slaves of unyamwezi, was that on the last long march, two of my donkeys being dead, i had ordered that the two saddles which they had carried should be abdul kader's load to unyanyembe. the weight of the saddles was lbs., as the spring balance-scale indicated, yet abdul kader became weary of life, as, he counted the long marches that intervened between the mtoni and unyanyembe. on the ground he fell prone, to kiss my feet, begging me in the name of god to permit him to depart. as i had had some experience of hindoos, malabarese, and coolies in abyssinia, i knew exactly how to deal with a case like this. unhesitatingly i granted the request as soon as asked, for as much tired as abdul kader said he was of life, i was with abdul kader's worthlessness. but the hindi did not want to be left in the jungle, he said, but, after arriving in unyanyembe. "oh," said i, "then you must reach unyanyembe first; in the meanwhile you will carry those saddles there for the food which you must eat." as the march to rubuga was eighteen and three-quarter miles, the pagazis walked fast and long without resting. rubuga, in the days of burton, according to his book, was a prosperous district. even when we passed, the evidences of wealth and prosperity which it possessed formerly, were plain enough in the wide extent of its grain fields, which stretched to the right and left of the unyanyembe road for many a mile. but they were only evidences of what once were numerous villages, a well-cultivated and populous district, rich in herds of cattle and stores of grain. all the villages are burnt down, the people have been driven north three or four days from rubuga, the cattle were taken by force, the grain fields were left standing, to be overgrown with jungle and rank weeds. we passed village after village that had been burnt, and were mere blackened heaps of charred timber and smoked clay; field after field of grain ripe years ago was yet standing in the midst of a crop of gums and thorns, mimosa and kolquall. we arrived at the village, occupied by about sixty wangwana, who have settled here to make a living by buying and selling ivory. food is provided for them in the deserted fields of the people of rubuga. we were very tired and heated from the long march, but the pagazis had all arrived by p.m. at the wangwana village we met amer bin sultan, the very type of an old arab sheikh, such as we read of in books, with a snowy beard, and a clean reverend face, who was returning to zanzibar after a ten years' residence in unyanyembe. he presented me with a goat; and a goatskin full of rice; a most acceptable gift in a place where a goat costs five cloths. after a day's halt at rubuga, during which i despatched soldiers to notify sheikh sayd bin salim and sheikh bin nasib, the two chief dignitaries of unyanyembe, of my coming, on the st of june we resumed the march for kigwa, distant five hours. the road ran through another forest similar to that which separated tura from rubuga, the country rapidly sloping as we proceeded westward. kigwa we found to have been visited by the same vengeance which rendered rubuga such a waste. the next day, after a three and a half hours' rapid march, we crossed the mtoni--which was no mtoni--separating kigwa from unyanyembe district, and after a short halt to quench our thirst, in three and a half hours more arrived at shiza. it was a most delightful march, though a long one, for its picturesqueness of scenery which every few minutes was revealed, and the proofs we everywhere saw of the peaceable and industrious disposition of the people. a short half hour from shiza we beheld the undulating plain wherein the arabs have chosen to situate the central depot which commands such wide and extensive field of trade. the lowing of cattle and the bleating of the goats and sheep were everywhere heard, giving the country a happy, pastoral aspect. the sultan of shiza desired me to celebrate my arrival in unyanyembe, with a five-gallon jar of pombe, which he brought for that purpose. as the pombe was but stale ale in taste, and milk and water in colour, after drinking a small glassful i passed it to the delighted soldiers and pagazis. at my request the sultan brought a fine fat bullock, for which he accepted four and a half doti of merikani. the bullock was immediately slaughtered and served out to the caravan as a farewell feast. no one slept much that night, and long before the dawn the fires were lit, and great steaks were broiling, that their stomachs might rejoice before parting with the musungu, whose bounty they had so often tasted. six rounds of powder were served to each soldier and pagazi who owned a gun, to fire away when we should be near the arab houses. the meanest pagazi had his best cloth about his loins, and some were exceedingly brave in gorgeous ulyah "coombeesa poonga" and crimson "jawah," the glossy "rehani," and the neat "dabwani." the soldiers were mustered in new tarbooshes, and the long white shirts of the mrima and the island. for this was the great and happy day which had been on our tongues ever since quitting the coast, for which we had made those noted marches latterly--one hundred and seventy-eight and a half miles in sixteen days, including pauses--something over eleven miles a day. the signal sounded and the caravan was joyfully off with banners flying, and trumpets and horns blaring. a short two and a half hours' march brought us within sight of kwikuru, which is about two miles south of tabora, the main arab town; on the outside of which we saw a long line of men in clean shirts, whereat we opened our charged batteries, and fired a volley of small arms such as kwikuru seldom heard before. the pagazis closed up and adopted the swagger of veterans: the soldiers blazed away uninterruptedly, while i, seeing that the arabs were advancing towards me, left the ranks, and held out my hand, which was immediately grasped by sheikh sayd bin salim, and then by about two dozen people, and thus our entrée into unyanyembe was effected. chapter viii. -- my life and troubles during my residence in unyas nyembe. i become engaged in a war. i received a noiseless ovation as i walked side by side with the governor, sayd bin salim, towards his tembe in kwikuru, or the capital. the wanyamwezi pagazis were out by hundreds, the warriors of mkasiwa, the sultan, hovered around their chief, the children were seen between the legs of their parents, even infants, a few months old, slung over their mothers' backs, all paid the tribute due to my colour, with one grand concentrated stare. the only persons who talked with me were the arabs, and aged mkasiwa, ruler of unyanyembe. sayd bin salim's house was at the north-western corner of the inclosure, a stockaded boma of kwikuru. we had tea made in a silver tea-pot, and a bountiful supply of "dampers" were smoking under a silver cover; and to this repast i was invited. when a man has walked eight miles or so without any breakfast, and a hot tropical sun has been shining on him for three or four hours, he is apt to do justice to a meal, especially if his appetite is healthy. i think i astonished the governor by the dexterous way in which i managed to consume eleven cups of his aromatic concoction of an assam herb, and the easy effortless style with which i demolished his high tower of "slap jacks," that but a minute or so smoked hotly under their silver cover. for the meal, i thanked the sheikh, as only an earnest and sincerely hungry man, now satisfied, could thank him. even if i had not spoken, my gratified looks had well informed him, under what obligations i had been laid to him. out came my pipe and tobacco-pouch. "my friendly sheikh, wilt thou smoke?" "no, thanks! arabs never smoke." "oh, if you don't, perhaps you would not object to me smoking, in order to assist digestion?" "ngema--good--go on, master." then began the questions, the gossipy, curious, serious, light questions: "how came the master? "by the mpwapwa road." "it is good. was the makata bad?" "very bad." "what news from zanzibar?" "good; syed toorkee has possession of muscat, and azim bin ghis was slain in the streets." "is this true, wallahi?" (by god.) "it is true." "heh-heh-h! this is news!"--stroking his beard. "have you heard, master, of suleiman bin ali?" "yes, the bombay governor sent him to zanzibar, in a man-of-war, and suleiman bin ali now lies in the gurayza (fort)." "heh, that is very good." "did you have to pay much tribute to the wagogo?" "eight times; hamed kimiani wished me to go by kiwyeh, but i declined, and struck through the forest to munieka. hamed and thani thought it better to follow me, than brave kiwyeh by themselves." "where is that hajji abdullah (captain burton) that came here, and spiki?" (speke.) "hajji abdullah! what hajji abdullah? ah! sheikh burton we call him. oh, he is a great man now; a balyuz (a consul) at el scham" (damascus.) "heh-heh; balyuz! heh, at el scham! is not that near betlem el kuds?" (jerusalem.) "yes, about four days. spiki is dead. he shot himself by accident." "ah, ah, wallah (by god), but this is bad news. spiki dead? mash-allah! ough, he was a good man--a good man! dead!" "but where is this kazeh, sheikh sayd?" "kazeh? kazeh? i never heard the name before." "but you were with burton, and speke, at kazeh; you lived there several months, when you were all stopping in unyanyembe; it must be close here; somewhere. where did hajji abdullah and spiki live when they were in unyanyembe? was it not in musa mzuri's house?" "that was in tabora." "well, then, where is kazeh? i have never seen the man yet who could tell me where that place is, and yet the three white men have that word down, as the name of the place they lived at when you were with them. you must know where it is." "wallahi, bana, i never heard the name; but stop, kazeh, in kinyamwezi, means 'kingdom.' perhaps they gave that name to the place they stopped at. but then, i used to call the first house sny bin amer's house, and speke lived at musa mzuri's house, but both houses, as well as all the rest, are in tabora." "thank you, sheikh. i should like to go and look after my people; they must all be wanting food." "i shall go with you to show you your house. the tembe is in kwihara, only an hour's walk from tabora." on leaving kwikuru we crossed a low ridge, and soon saw kwihara lying between two low ranges of hills, the northernmost of which was terminated westward by the round fortress-like hill of zimbili. there was a cold glare of intense sunshine over the valley, probably the effect of an universal bleakness or an autumnal ripeness of the grass, unrelieved by any depth of colour to vary the universal sameness. the hills were bleached, or seemed to be, under that dazzling sunshine, and clearest atmosphere. the corn had long been cut, and there lay the stubble, and fields,--a browny-white expanse; the houses were of mud, and their fiat roofs were of mud, and the mud was of a browny-whiteness; the huts were thatched, and the stockades around them of barked timber, and these were of a browny whiteness. the cold, fierce, sickly wind from the mountains of usagara sent a deadly chill to our very marrows, yet the intense sunshiny glare never changed, a black cow or two, or a tall tree here and there, caught the eye for a moment, but they never made one forget that the first impression of kwihara was as of a picture without colour, or of food without taste; and if one looked up, there was a sky of a pale blue, spotless, and of an awful serenity. as i approached the tembe of sayd bin salim, sheikh bin nasib and other great arabs joined us. before the great door of the tembe the men had stacked the bales, and piled the boxes, and were using their tongues at a furious rate, relating to the chiefs and soldiers of the first, second, and fourth caravans the many events which had befallen them, and which seemed to them the only things worth relating. outside of their own limited circles they evidently cared for nothing. then the several chiefs of the other caravans had in turn to relate their experiences of the road; and the noise of tongues was loud and furious. but as we approached, all this loud-sounding gabble ceased, and my caravan chiefs and guides rushed to me to hail me as "master," and to salute me as their friend. one fellow, faithful baruti, threw himself at my feet, the others fired their guns and acted like madmen suddenly become frenzied, and a general cry of "welcome" was heard on all sides. "walk in, master, this is your house, now; here are your men's quarters; here you will receive the great arabs, here is the cook-house; here is the store-house; here is the prison for the refractory; here are your white man's apartments; and these are your own: see, here is the bedroom, here is the gun-room, bath-room, &c.;" so sheikh sayd talked, as he showed me the several places. on my honour, it was a most comfortable place, this, in central africa. one could almost wax poetic, but we will keep such ambitious ideas for a future day. just now, however, we must have the goods stored, and the little army of carriers paid off and disbanded. bombay was ordered to unlock the strong store-room, to pile the bales in regular tiers, the beads in rows one above another, and the wire in a separate place. the boats, canvas, &c., were to be placed high above reach of white ants, and the boxes of ammunition and powder kegs were to be stored in the gun-room, out of reach of danger. then a bale of cloth was opened, and each carrier was rewarded according to his merits, that each of them might proceed home to his friends and neighbours, and tell them how much better the white man behaved than the arabs. the reports of the leaders of the first, second, and fourth caravans were then received, their separate stores inspected, and the details and events of their marches heard. the first caravan had been engaged in a war at kirurumo, and had come out of the fight successful, and had reached unyanyembe without loss of anything. the second had shot a thief in the forest between pembera pereh and kididimo; the fourth had lost a bale in the jungle of marenga mkali, and the porter who carried it had received a "very sore head" from a knob stick wielded by one of the thieves, who prowl about the jungle near the frontier of ugogo. i was delighted to find that their misfortunes were no more, and each leader was then and there rewarded with one handsome cloth, and five doti of merikani. just as i began to feel hungry again, came several slaves in succession, bearing trays full of good things from the arabs; first an enormous dish of rice, with a bowlful of curried chicken, another with a dozen huge wheaten cakes, another with a plateful of smoking hot crullers, another with papaws, another with pomegranates and lemons; after these came men driving five fat hump backed oxen, eight sheep, and ten goats, and another man with a dozen chickens, and a dozen fresh eggs. this was real, practical, noble courtesy, munificent hospitality, which quite took my gratitude by storm. my people, now reduced to twenty-five, were as delighted at the prodigal plenitude visible on my tables and in my yard, as i was myself. and as i saw their eyes light up at the unctuous anticipations presented to them by their riotous fancies, i ordered a bullock to be slaughtered and distributed. the second day of the arrival of the expedition in the country which i now looked upon as classic ground, since capts. burton, speke, and grant years ago had visited it, and described it, came the arab magnates from tabora to congratulate me. tabora* is the principal arab settlement in central africa. it contains over a thousand huts and tembes, and one may safely estimate the population, arabs, wangwana, and natives, at five thousand people. between tabora and the next settlement, kwihara, rise two rugged hill ridges, separated from each other by a low saddle, over the top of which tabora is always visible from kwihara. ________________ * there is no such recognised place as kazeh. ________________ they were a fine, handsome body of men, these arabs. they mostly hailed from oman: others were wasawahili; and each of my visitors had quite a retinue with him. at tabora they live quite luxuriously. the plain on which the settlement is situated is exceedingly fertile, though naked of trees; the rich pasturage it furnishes permits them to keep large herds of cattle and goats, from which they have an ample supply of milk, cream, butter, and ghee. rice is grown everywhere; sweet potatoes, yams, muhogo, holcus sorghum, maize, or indian corn, sesame, millet, field-peas, or vetches, called choroko, are cheap, and always procurable. around their tembes the arabs cultivate a little wheat for their own purposes, and have planted orange, lemon, papaw, and mangoes, which thrive here fairly well. onions and garlic, chilies, cucumbers, tomatoes, and brinjalls, may be procured by the white visitor from the more important arabs, who are undoubted epicureans in their way. their slaves convey to them from the coast, once a year at least, their stores of tea, coffee sugar, spices, jellies, curries, wine, brandy, biscuits, sardines, salmon, and such fine cloths and articles as they require for their own personal use. almost every arab of any eminence is able to show a wealth of persian carpets, and most luxurious bedding, complete tea and coffee-services, and magnificently carved dishes of tinned copper and brass lavers. several of them sport gold watches and chains, mostly all a watch and chain of some kind. and, as in persia, afghanistan, and turkey, the harems form an essential feature of every arab's household; the sensualism of the mohammedans is as prominent here as in the orient. the arabs who now stood before the front door of my tembe were the donors of the good things received the day before. as in duty bound, of course, i greeted sheikh sayd first, then sheikh bin nasib, his highness of zanzibar's consul at karagwa, then i greeted the noblest trojan amongst the arab population, noblest in bearing, noblest in courage and manly worth--sheikh khamis bin abdullah; then young amram bin mussoud, who is now making war on the king of urori and his fractious people; then handsome, courageous soud, the son of sayd bin majid; then dandified thani bin abdullah; then mussoud bin abdullah and his cousin abdullah bin mussoud, who own the houses where formerly lived burton and speke; then old suliman dowa, sayd bin sayf, and the old hetman of tabora--sheikh sultan bin ali. as the visit of these magnates, under whose loving protection white travellers must needs submit themselves, was only a formal one, such as arab etiquette, ever of the stateliest and truest, impelled them to, it is unnecessary to relate the discourse on my health, and their wealth, my thanks, and their professions of loyalty, and attachment to me. after having expended our mutual stock of congratulations and nonsense, they departed, having stated their wish that i should visit them at tabora and partake of a feast which they were about to prepare for me. three days afterwards i sallied out of my tembe, escorted by eighteen bravely dressed men of my escort, to pay tabora a visit. on surmounting the saddle over which the road from the valley of kwihara leads to tabora, the plain on which the arab settlement is situated lay before us, one expanse of dun pasture land, stretching from the base of the hill on our left as far as the banks of the northern gombe, which a few miles beyond tabora heave into purple-coloured hills and blue cones. within three-quarters of an hour we were seated on the mud veranda of the tembe of sultan bin ali, who, because of his age, his wealth, and position--being a colonel in seyd burghash's unlovely army--is looked upon by his countrymen, high and low, as referee and counsellor. his boma or enclosure contains quite a village of hive-shaped huts and square tembes. from here, after being presented with a cup of mocha coffee, and some sherbet, we directed our steps towards khamis bin abdullah's house, who had, in anticipation of my coming, prepared a feast to which he had invited his friends and neighbours. the group of stately arabs in their long white dresses, and jaunty caps, also of a snowy white, who stood ready to welcome me to tabora, produced quite an effect on my mind. i was in time for a council of war they were holding--and i was requested to attend. khamis bin abdullah, a bold and brave man, ever ready to stand up for the privileges of the arabs, and their rights to pass through any countries for legitimate trade, is the man who, in speke's 'journal of the discovery of the source of the nile,' is reported to have shot maula, an old chief who sided with manwa sera during the wars of ; and who subsequently, after chasing his relentless enemy for five years through ugogo and unyamwezi as far as ukonongo, had the satisfaction of beheading him, was now urging the arabs to assert their rights against a chief called mirambo of uyoweh, in a crisis which was advancing. this mirambo of uyoweh, it seems, had for the last few years been in a state of chronic discontent with the policies of the neighbouring chiefs. formerly a pagazi for an arab, he had now assumed regal power, with the usual knack of unconscionable rascals who care not by what means they step into power. when the chief of uyoweh died, mirambo, who was head of a gang of robbers infesting the forests of wilyankuru, suddenly entered uyoweh, and constituted himself lord paramount by force. some feats of enterprise, which he performed to the enrichment of all those who recognised his authority, established him firmly in his position. this was but a beginning; he carried war through ugara to ukonongo, through usagozi to the borders of uvinza, and after destroying the populations over three degrees of latitude, he conceived a grievance against mkasiwa, and against the arabs, because they would not sustain him in his ambitious projects against their ally and friend, with whom they were living in peace. the first outrage which this audacious man committed against the arabs was the halting of an ujiji-bound caravan, and the demand for five kegs of gunpowder, five guns, and five bales of cloth. this extraordinary demand, after expending more than a day in fierce controversy, was paid; but the arabs, if they were surprised at the exorbitant black-mail demanded of them, were more than ever surprised when they were told to return the way they came; and that no arab caravan should pass through his country to ujiji except over his dead body. on the return of the unfortunate arabs to unyanyembe, they reported the facts to sheikh sayd bin salim, the governor of the arab colony. this old man, being averse to war, of course tried every means to induce mirambo as of old to be satisfied with presents; but mirambo this time was obdurate, and sternly determined on war unless the arabs aided him in the warfare he was about to wage against old mkasiwa, sultan of the wanyamwezi of unyanyembe. "this is the status of affairs," said khamis bin abdullah. "mirambo says that for years he has been engaged in war against the neighbouring washensi and has come out of it victorious; he says this is a great year with him; that he is going to fight the arabs, and the wanyamwezi of unyanyembe, and that he shall not stop until every arab is driven from unyanyembe, and he rules over this country in place of mkasiwa. children of oman, shall it be so? speak, salim, son of sayf, shall we go to meet this mshensi (pagan) or shall we return to our island?" a murmur of approbation followed the speech of khamis bin abdullah, the majority of those present being young men eager to punish the audacious mirambo. salim, the son of sayf, an old patriarch, slow of speech, tried to appease the passions of the young men, scions of the aristocracy of muscat and muttrah, and bedaweens of the desert, but khamis's bold words had made too deep an impression on their minds. soud, the handsome arab whom i have noticed already as the son of sayd the son of majid, spoke: "my father used to tell me that he remembered the days when the arabs could go through the country from bagamoyo to ujiji, and from kilwa to lunda, and from usenga to uganda armed with canes. those days are gone by. we have stood the insolence of the wagogo long enough. swaruru of usui just takes from us whatever he wants; and now, here is mirambo, who says, after taking more than five bales of cloth as tribute from one man, that no arab caravan shall go to ujiji, but over his body. are we prepared to give up the ivory of ujiji, of urundi, of karagwah, of uganda, because of this one man? i say war--war until we have got his beard under our feet--war until the whole of uyoweh and wilyankuru is destroyed--war until we can again travel through any part of the country with only our walking canes in our hands!" the universal assent that followed send's speech proved beyond a doubt that we were about to have a war. i thought of livingstone. what if he were marching to unyanyembe directly into the war country? having found from the arabs that they intended to finish the war quickly--at most within fifteen days, as uyoweh was only four marches distant--i volunteered to accompany them, take my loaded caravan with me as far as mfuto, and there leave it in charge of a few guards, and with the rest march on with the arab army. and my hope was, that it might be possible, after the defeat of mirambo, and his forest banditti--the ruga-ruga--to take my expedition direct to ujiji by the road now closed. the arabs were sanguine of victory, and i partook of their enthusiasm. the council of war broke up. a great dishful of rice and curry, in which almonds, citron, raisins, and currants were plentifully mixed, was brought in, and it was wonderful how soon we forgot our warlike fervor after our attention had been drawn to this royal dish. i, of course, not being a mohammedan, had a dish of my own, of a similar composition, strengthened by platters containing roast chicken, and kabobs, crullers, cakes, sweetbread, fruit, glasses of sherbet and lemonade, dishes of gum-drops and muscat sweetmeats, dry raisins, prunes, and nuts. certainly khamis bin abdullah proved to me that if he had a warlike soul in him, he could also attend to the cultivated tastes acquired under the shade of the mangoes on his father's estates in zanzibar--the island. after gorging ourselves on these uncommon dainties some of the chief arabs escorted me to other tembes of tabora. when we went to visit mussoud bin abdullah, he showed me the very ground where burton and speke's house stood--now pulled down and replaced by his office--sny bin amer's house was also torn down, and the fashionable tembe of unyanyembe, now in vogue, built over it,--finely-carved rafters--huge carved doors, brass knockers, and lofty airy rooms--a house built for defence and comfort. the finest house in unyanyembe belongs to amram bin mussoud, who paid sixty frasilah of ivory--over $ , --for it. very fair houses can be purchased for from twenty to thirty frasilah of ivory. amram's house is called the "two seas"--"baherein." it is one hundred feet in length, and twenty feet high, with walls four feet thick, neatly plastered over with mud mortar. the great door is a marvel of carving-work for unyanyembe artisans. each rafter within is also carved with fine designs. before the front of the house is a young plantation of pomegranate trees, which flourish here as if they were indigenous to the soil. a shadoof, such as may be seen on the nile, serves to draw water to irrigate the gardens. towards evening we walked back to our own finely situated tembe in kwihara, well satisfied with what we had seen at tabora. my men drove a couple of oxen, and carried three sacks of native rice--a most superior kind--the day's presents of hospitality from khamis bin abdullah. in unyanyembe i found the livingstone caravan, which started off in a fright from bagamoyo upon the rumour that the english consul was coming. as all the caravans were now halted at unyanyembe because of the now approaching war, i suggested to sayd bin salim, that it were better that the men of the livingstone caravan should live with mine in my tembe, that i might watch over the white man's goods. sayd bin salim agreed with me, and the men and goods were at once brought to my tembe. one day asmani, who was now chief of livingstone's caravan, the other having died of small-pox, two or three days before, brought out a tent to the veranda where, i was sitting writing, and shewed me a packet of letters, which to my surprise was marked: "to dr. livingstone, "ujiji, "november st, . "registered letters." from november st, , to february , , just one hundred days, at bagamoyo! a miserable small caravan of thirty-three men halting one hundred days at bagamoyo, only twenty-five miles by water from zanzibar! poor livingstone! who knows but he maybe suffering for want of these very supplies that were detained so long near the sea. the caravan arrived in unyanyembe some time about the middle of may. about the latter part of may the first disturbances took place. had this caravan arrived here in the middle of march, or even the middle of april, they might have travelled on to ujiji without trouble. on the th of july, about p.m., i was sitting on the burzani as usual; i felt listless and languid, and a drowsiness came over me; i did not fall asleep, but the power of my limbs seemed to fail me. yet the brain was busy; all my life seemed passing in review before me; when these retrospective scenes became serious, i looked serious; when they were sorrowful, i wept hysterically; when they were joyous, i laughed loudly. reminiscences of yet a young life's battles and hard struggles came surging into the mind in quick succession: events of boyhood, of youth, and manhood; perils, travels, scenes, joys, and sorrows; loves and hates; friendships and indifferences. my mind followed the various and rapid transition of my life's passages; it drew the lengthy, erratic, sinuous lines of travel my footsteps had passed over. if i had drawn them on the sandy floor, what enigmatical problems they had been to those around me, and what plain, readable, intelligent histories they had been to me! the loveliest feature of all to me was the form of a noble, and true man, who called me son. of my life in the great pine forests of arkansas, and in missouri, i retained the most vivid impressions. the dreaming days i passed under the sighing pines on the ouachita's shores; the new clearing, the block-house, our faithful black servant, the forest deer, and the exuberant life i led, were all well remembered. and i remembered how one day, after we had come to live near the mississipi, i floated down, down, hundreds of miles, with a wild fraternity of knurly giants, the boatmen of the mississipi, and how a dear old man welcomed me back, as if from the grave. i remembered also my travels on foot through sunny spain, and france, with numberless adventures in asia minor, among kurdish nomads. i remembered the battle-fields of america and the stormy scenes of rampant war. i remembered gold mines, and broad prairies, indian councils, and much experience in the new western lands. i remembered the shock it gave me to hear after my return from a barbarous country of the calamity that had overtaken the fond man whom i called father, and the hot fitful life that followed it. stop! ************ dear me; is it the st of july? yes, shaw informed me that it was the st of july after i recovered from my terrible attack of fever; the true date was the th of july, but i was not aware that i had jumped a week, until i met dr. livingstone. we two together examined the nautical almanack, which i brought with me. we found that the doctor was three weeks out of his reckoning, and to my great surprise i was also one week out, or one week ahead of the actual date. the mistake was made by my being informed that i had been two weeks sick, and as the day i recovered my senses was friday, and shaw and the people were morally sure that i was in bed two weeks, i dated it on my diary the st of july. however, on the tenth day after the first of my illness, i was in excellent trim again, only, however, to see and attend to shaw, who was in turn taken sick. by the nd july shaw was recovered, then selim was prostrated, and groaned in his delirium for four days, but by the th we were all recovered, and were beginning to brighten up at the prospect of a diversion in the shape of a march upon mirambo's stronghold. the morning of the th i had fifty men loaded with bales, beads, and wire, for ujiji. when they were mustered for the march outside the tembe, the only man absent was bombay. while men were sent to search for him, others departed to get one more look, and one more embrace with their black delilahs. bombay was found some time about p.m., his face faithfully depicting the contending passions under which he was labouring--sorrow at parting from the fleshpots of unyanyembe--regret at parting from his dulcinea of tabora--to be, bereft of all enjoyment now, nothing but marches--hard, long marches--to go to the war--to be killed, perhaps, oh! inspired by such feelings, no wonder bombay was inclined to be pugnacious when i ordered him to his place, and i was in a shocking bad temper for having been kept waiting from a.m. to p.m. for him. there was simply a word and a savage look, and my cane was flying around bombay's shoulders, as if he were to be annihilated. i fancy that the eager fury of my onslaught broke his stubbornness more than anything else; for before i had struck him a dozen times he was crying for "pardon." at that word i ceased belaboring him, for this was the first time he had ever uttered that word. bombay was conquered at last. "march!" and the guide led off, followed in solemn order by forty-nine of his fellows, every man carrying a heavy load of african moneys, besides his gun, hatchet, and stock of ammunition, and his ugali-pot. we presented quite an imposing sight while thus marching on in silence and order, with our flags flying, and the red blanket robes of the men streaming behind them as the furious north-easter blew right on our flank. the men seemed to feel they were worth seeing, for i noticed that several assumed a more martial tread as they felt their royal joho cloth tugging at their necks, as it was swept streaming behind by the wind. maganga, a tall mnyamwezi, stalked along like a very goliah about to give battle alone, to mirambo and his thousand warriors. frisky khamisi paced on under his load, imitating a lion and there was the rude jester--the incorrigible ulimengo--with a stealthy pace like a cat. but their silence could not last long. their vanity was so much gratified, the red cloaks danced so incessantly before their eyes, that it would have been a wonder if they could have maintained such serious gravity or discontent one half hour longer. ulimengo was the first who broke it. he had constituted himself the kirangozi or guide, and was the standard-bearer, bearing the american flag, which the men thought would certainly strike terror into the hearts of the enemy. growing confident first, then valorous, then exultant, he suddenly faced the army he was leading, and shouted "hoy! hoy! chorus.--hoy! hoy! hoy! hoy! chorus.--hoy! hoy! hoy! hoy! chorus.--hoy! hoy! where are ye going? chorus.--going to war. against whom? chorus.--against mirambo. who is your master? chorus.--the white man. ough! ough! chorus.--ough! ough! hyah! hyah! chorus.--hyah. hyah!" this was the ridiculous song they kept up all day without intermission. we camped the first day at bomboma's village, situated a mile to the south-west of the natural hill fortress of zimbili. bombay was quite recovered from his thrashing, and had banished the sullen thoughts that had aroused my ire, and the men having behaved themselves so well, a five-gallon pot of pombe was brought to further nourish the valour, which they one and all thought they possessed. the second day we arrived at masangi. i was visited soon afterwards by soud, the son of sayd bin majid, who told me the arabs were waiting for me; that they would not march from mfuto until i had arrived. eastern mfuto, after a six hours' march, was reached on the third day from unyanyembe. shaw gave in, laid down in the road, and declared he was dying. this news was brought to me about p.m. by one of the last stragglers. i was bound to despatch men to carry him to me, into my camp, though every man was well tired after the long march. a reward stimulated half-a-dozen to venture into the forest just at dusk to find shaw, who was supposed to be at least three hours away from camp. about two o'clock in the morning my men returned, having carried shaw on their backs the entire distance. i was roused up, and had him conveyed to my tent. i examined him, and i assured myself he was not suffering from fever of any kind; and in reply to my inquiries as to how he felt, he said he could neither walk nor ride, that he felt such extreme weakness and lassitude that he was incapable of moving further. after administering a glass of port wine to him in a bowlful of sago gruel, we both fell asleep. we arrived early the following morning at mfuto, the rendezvous of the arab army. a halt was ordered the next day, in order to make ourselves strong by eating the beeves, which we freely slaughtered. the personnel of our army was as follows: sheikh sayd bin salim...... half caste " khamis bin abdullah.... slaves " thani bin abdullah.... " " mussoud bin abdullah.... " " abdullah bin mussoud.... " " ali bin sayd bin nasib... " " nasir bin mussoud..... " " hamed kimiami...... " " hamdam........ " " sayd bin habib...... " " salim bin sayf..... " " sunguru........ " " sarboko........ " " soud bin sayd bin majid... " " mohammed bin mussoud.... " " sayd bin hamed...... " " the 'herald' expedition... soldiers " mkasiwa's wanyamwezi... " " half-castes and wangwana.. " " independent chiefs and their followers....... " these made a total of , , according to numbers given me by thani bin abdullah, and corroborated by a baluch in the pay of sheikh bin nasib. of these men , were armed with guns--flint-lock muskets, german and french double-barrels, some english enfields, and american springfields--besides these muskets, they were mostly armed with spears and long knives for the purpose of decapitating, and inflicting vengeful gashes in the dead bodies. powder and ball were plentiful: some men were served a hundred rounds each, my people received each man sixty rounds. as we filed out of the stronghold of mfuto, with waving banners denoting the various commanders, with booming horns, and the roar of fifty bass drums, called gomas--with blessings showered on us by the mollahs, and happiest predications from the soothsayers, astrologers, and the diviners of the koran--who could have foretold that this grand force, before a week passed over its head, would be hurrying into that same stronghold of mfuto, with each man's heart in his mouth from fear? the date of our leaving mfuto for battle with mirambo was the rd of august. all my goods were stored in mfuto, ready for the march to ujiji, should we be victorious over the african chief, but at least for safety, whatever befel us. long before we reached umanda, i was in my hammock in the paroxysms of a fierce attack of intermittent fever, which did not leave me until late that night. at umanda, six hours from mfuto, our warriors bedaubed themselves with the medicine which the wise men had manufactured for them--a compound of matama flour mixed with the juices of a herb whose virtues were only known to the waganga of the wanyamwezi. at a.m. on the th of august we were once more prepared for the road, but before we were marched out of the village, the "manneno," or speech, was delivered by the orator of the wanyamwezi: "words! words! words! listen, sons of mkasiwa, children of unyamwezi! the journey is before you, the thieves of the forest are waiting; yes, they are thieves, they cut up your caravans, they steal your ivory, they murder your women. behold, the arabs are with you, el wali of the arab sultan, and the white man are with you. go, the son of mkasiwa is with you; fight; kill, take slaves, take cloth, take cattle, kill, eat, and fill yourselves! go!" a loud, wild shout followed this bold harangue, the gates of the village were thrown open, and blue, red, and white-robed soldiers were bounding upward like so many gymnasts; firing their guns incessantly, in order to encourage themselves with noise, or to strike terror into the hearts of those who awaited us within the strong enclosure of zimbizo, sultan kolongo's place. as zimbizo was distant only five hours from umanda, at a.m. we came in view of it. we halted on the verge of the cultivated area around it and its neighbours within the shadow of the forest. strict orders had been given by the several chiefs to their respective commands not to fire, until they were within shooting distance of the boma. khamis bin abdullah crept through the forest to the west of the village. the wanyamwezi took their position before the main gateway, aided by the forces of soud the son of sayd on the right, and the son of habib on the left, abdullah, mussoud, myself, and others made ready to attack the eastern gates, which arrangement effectually shut them in, with the exception of the northern side. suddenly, a volley opened on us as we emerged from the forest along the unyanyembe road, in the direction they had been anticipating the sight of an enemy, and immediately the attacking forces began their firing in most splendid style. there were some ludicrous scenes of men pretending to fire, then jumping off to one side, then forward, then backward, with the agility of hopping frogs, but the battle was none the less in earnest. the breech-loaders of my men swallowed my metallic cartridges much faster than i liked to see; but happily there was a lull in the firing, and we were rushing into the village from the west, the south, the north, through the gates and over the tall palings that surrounded the village, like so many merry andrews; and the poor villagers were flying from the enclosure towards the mountains, through the northern gate, pursued by the fleetest runners of our force, and pelted in the back by bullets from breech-loaders and shot-guns. the village was strongly defended, and not more than twenty dead bodies were found in it, the strong thick wooden paling having afforded excellent protection against our bullets. from zimbizo, after having left a sufficient force within, we sallied out, and in an hour had cleared the neighbourhood of the enemy, having captured two other villages, which we committed to the flames, after gutting them of all valuables. a few tusks of ivory, and about fifty slaves, besides an abundance of grain, composed the "loot," which fell to the lot of the arabs. on the th, a detachment of arabs and slaves, seven hundred strong, scoured the surrounding country, and carried fire and devastation up to the boma of wilyankuru. on the th, soud bin sayd and about twenty other young arabs led a force of five hundred men against wilyankuru itself, where it was supposed mirambo was living. another party went out towards the low wooded hills, a short distance north of zimbizo, near which place they surprised a youthful forest thief asleep, whose head they stretched backwards, and cut it off as though he were a goat or a sheep. another party sallied out southward, and defeated a party of mirambo's "bush-whackers," news of which came to our ears at noon. in the morning i had gone to sayd bin salim's tembe, to represent to him how necessary it was to burn the long grass in the forest of zimbizo, lest it might hide any of the enemy; but soon afterwards i had been struck down with another attack of intermittent fever, and was obliged to turn in and cover myself with blankets to produce perspiration; but not, however, till i had ordered shaw and bombay not to permit any of my men to leave the camp. but i was told soon afterwards by selim that more than one half had gone to the attack on wilyankuru with soud bin sayd. about p.m. the entire camp of zimbizo was electrified with the news that all the arabs who had accompanied soud bin sayd had been killed; and that more than one-half of his party had been slain. some of my own men returned, and from them i learned that uledi, grant's former valet, mabruki khatalabu (killer of his father), mabruki (the little), baruti of useguhha, and ferahan had been killed. i learned also that they had succeeded in capturing wilyankuru in a very short time, that mirambo and his son were there, that as they succeeded in effecting an entrance, mirambo had collected his men, and after leaving the village, had formed an ambush in the grass, on each side of the road, between wilyankuru and zimbizo, and that as the attacking party were returning home laden with over a hundred tusks of ivory, and sixty bales of cloth, and two or three hundred slaves, mirambo's men suddenly rose up on each side of them, and stabbed them with their spears. the brave soud had fired his double-barrelled gun and shot two men, and was in the act of loading again when a spear was launched, which penetrated through and through him: all the other arabs shared the same fate. this sudden attack from an enemy they believed to be conquered so demoralized the party that, dropping their spoil, each man took to his heels, and after making a wide detour through the woods, returned to zimbizo to repeat the dolorous tale. the effect of this defeat is indescribable. it was impossible to sleep, from the shrieks of the women whose husbands had fallen. all night they howled their lamentations, and sometimes might be heard the groans of the wounded who had contrived to crawl through the grass unperceived by the enemy. fugitives were continually coming in throughout the night, but none of my men who were reported to be dead, were ever heard of again. the th was a day of distrust, sorrow, and retreat; the arabs accused one another for urging war without expending all peaceful means first. there were stormy councils of war held, wherein were some who proposed to return at once to unyanyembe, and keep within their own houses; and khamis bin abdullah raved, like an insulted monarch, against the abject cowardice of his compatriots. these stormy meetings and propositions to retreat were soon known throughout the camp, and assisted more than anything else to demoralize completely the combined forces of wanyamwezi and slaves. i sent bombay to sayd bin salim to advise him not to think of retreat, as it would only be inviting mirambo to carry the war to unyanyembe. after, despatching bombay with this message, i fell asleep, but about . p.m. i was awakened by selim saying, "master, get up, they are all running away, and khamis bin abdullah is himself going." with the aid of selim i dressed myself, and staggered towards the door. my first view was of thani bin abdullah being dragged away, who, when he caught sight of me, shouted out "bana--quick--mirambo is coming." he was then turning to run, and putting on his jacket, with his eyes almost starting out of their sockets with terror. khamis bin abdullah was also about departing, he being the last arab to leave. two of my men were following him; these selim was ordered to force back with a revolver. shaw was saddling his donkey with my own saddle, preparatory to giving me the slip, and leaving me in the lurch to the tender mercies of mirambo. there were only bombay, mabruki speke, chanda who was coolly eating his dinner, mabruk unyauyembe, mtamani, juma, and sarmean---only seven out of fifty. all the others had deserted, and were by this time far away, except uledi (manwa sera) and zaidi, whom selim brought back at the point of a loaded revolver. selim was then told to saddle my donkey, and bombay to assist shaw to saddle his own. in a few moments we were on the road, the men ever looking back for the coming enemy; they belabored the donkeys to some purpose, for they went at a hard trot, which caused me intense pain. i would gladly have lain down to die, but life was sweet, and i had not yet given up all hope of being able to preserve it to the full and final accomplishment of my mission. my mind was actively at work planning and contriving during the long lonely hours of night, which we employed to reach mfuto, whither i found the arabs had retreated. in the night shaw tumbled off his donkey, and would not rise, though implored to do so. as i did not despair myself, so i did not intend that shaw should despair. he was lifted on his animal, and a man was placed on each side of him to assist him; thus we rode through the darkness. at midnight we reached mfuto safely, and were at once admitted into the village, from which we had issued so valiantly, but to which we were now returned so ignominiously. i found all my men had arrived here before dark. ulimengo, the bold guide who had exulted in his weapons and in our numbers, and was so sanguine of victory, had performed the eleven hours' march in six hours; sturdy chowpereh, whom i regarded as the faithfullest of my people, had arrived only half an hour later than ulimengo; and frisky khamisi, the dandy--the orator--the rampant demagogue--yes--he had come third; and speke's "faithfuls" had proved as cowardly as any poor "nigger" of them all. only selim was faithful. i asked selim, "why did you not also run away, and leave your master to die?" "oh, sir," said the arab boy, naively, "i was afraid you would whip me." chapter ix. -- my life and troubles in unyanyembe-(continued). it never occurred to the arab magnates that i had cause of complaint against them, or that i had a right to feel aggrieved at their conduct, for the base desertion of an ally, who had, as a duty to friendship, taken up arms for their sake. their "salaams" the next morning after the retreat, were given as if nothing had transpired to mar the good feeling that had existed between us. they were hardly seated, however, before i began to inform them that as the war was only between them and mirambo, and that as i was afraid, if they were accustomed to run away after every little check, that the war might last a much longer time than i could afford to lose; and that as they had deserted their wounded on the field, and left their sick friends to take care of themselves, they must not consider me in the light of an ally any more. "i am satisfied," said i, "having seen your mode of fighting, that the war will not be ended in so short a time as you think it will. it took you five years, i hear, to conquer and kill manwa sera, you will certainly not conquer mirambo in less than a year.* i am a white man, accustomed to wars after a different style, i know something about fighting, but i never saw people run away from an encampment like ours at zimbizo for such slight cause as you had. by running away, you have invited mirambo to follow you to unyanyembe; you may be sure he will come." __________________ * the same war is still raging, april, . __________________ the arabs protested one after another that they had not intended to have left me, but the wanyamwezi of mkasiwa had shouted out that the "musungu" was gone, and the cry had caused a panic among their people, which it was impossible to allay. later that day the arabs continued their retreat to tabora; which is twenty-two miles distant from mfuto. i determined to proceed more leisurely, and on the second day after the flight from zimbizo, the expedition, with all the stores and baggage, marched back to masangi, and on the third day to kwihara. the following extracts from my diary will serve to show better than anything else, my feelings and thoughts about this time, after our disgraceful retreat: kwihara. friday, th august, .--arrived to-day from zimbili, village of bomboma's. i am quite disappointed and almost disheartened. but i have one consolation, i have done my duty by the arabs, a duty i thought i owed to the kindness they received me with, now, however, the duty is discharged, and i am free to pursue my own course. i feel happy, for some reasons, that the duty has been paid at such a slight sacrifice. of course if i had lost my life in this enterprise, i should have been justly punished. but apart from my duty to the consideration with which the arabs had received me, was the necessity of trying every method of reaching livingstone. this road which the war with mirambo has closed, is only a month's march from this place, and, if the road could be opened with my aid, sooner than without it, why should i refuse my aid? the attempt has been made for the second time to ujiji--both have failed. i am going to try another route; to attempt to go by the north would be folly. mirambo's mother and people, and the wasui, are between me and ujiji, without including the watuta, who are his allies, and robbers. the southern route seems to be the most practicable one. very few people know anything of the country south; those whom i have questioned concerning it speak of "want of water" and robber wazavira, as serious obstacles; they also say that the settlements are few and far between. but before i can venture to try this new route, i have to employ a new set of men, as those whom i took to mfuto consider their engagements at an end, and the fact of five of their number being killed rather damps their ardor for travelling. it is useless to hope that wanyamwezi can be engaged, because it is against their custom to go with caravans, as carriers, during war time. my position is most serious. i have a good excuse for returning to the coast, but my conscience will not permit me to do so, after so much money has been expended, and so much confidence has been placed in me. in fact, i feel i must die sooner than return. saturday, august th.--my men, as i supposed they would, have gone; they said that i engaged them to go, to ujiji by mirambo's road. i have only thirteen left. with this small body of men, whither can i go? i have over one hundred loads in the storeroom. livingstone's caravan is also here; his goods consist of seventeen bales of cloth, twelve boxes, and six bags of beads. his men are luxuriating upon the best the country affords. if livingstone is at ujiji, he is now locked up with small means of escape. i may consider myself also locked up at unyamyembe, and i suppose cannot go to ujiji until this war with mirambo is settled. livingstone cannot get his goods, for they are here with mine. he cannot return to zanzibar, and the road to the nile is blocked up. he might, if he has men and stores, possibly reach baker by travelling northwards, through urundi, thence through ruanda, karagwah, uganda, unyoro, and ubari to gondokoro. pagazis he cannot obtain, for the sources whence a supply might be obtained are closed. it is an erroneous supposition to think that livingstone, any more than any other energetic man of his calibre, can travel through africa without some sort of an escort, and a durable supply of marketable cloth and beads. i was told to-day by a man that when livingstone was coming from nyassa lake towards the tanganika (the very time that people thought him murdered) he was met by sayd bin omar's caravan, which was bound for ulamba. he was travelling with mohammed bin gharib. this arab, who was coming from urunga, met livingstone at chi-cumbi's, or kwa-chi-kumbi's, country, and travelled with him afterwards, i hear, to manyuema or manyema. manyuema is forty marches from the north of nyassa. livingstone was walking; he was dressed in american sheeting. he had lost all his cloth in lake liemba while crossing it in a boat. he had three canoes with him; in one he put his cloth, another he loaded with his boxes and some of his men, into the third he went himself with two servants and two fishermen. the boat with his cloth was upset. on leaving nyassa, livingstone went to ubisa, thence to uemba, thence to urungu. livingstone wore a cap. he had a breech-loading double-barreled rifle with him, which fired fulminating balls. he was also armed with two revolvers. the wahiyow with livingstone told this man that their master had many men with him at first, but that several had deserted him. august th.--a caravan came in to-day from the seacoast. they reported that william l. farquhar, whom i left sick at mpwapwa, usagara, and his cook, were dead. farquhar, i was told, died a few days after i had entered ugogo, his cook died a few weeks later. my first impulse was for revenge. i believed that leukole had played me false, and had poisoned him, or that he had been murdered in some other manner; but a personal interview with the msawahili who brought the news informing me that farquhar had succumbed to his dreadful illness has done away with that suspicion. so far as i could understand him, farquhar had in the morning declared himself well enough to proceed, but in attempting to rise, had fallen backward and died. i was also told that the wasagara, possessing some superstitious notions respecting the dead, had ordered jako to take the body out for burial, that jako, not being able to carry it, had dragged the body to the jungle, and there left it naked without the slightest covering of earth, or anything else. "there is one of us gone, shaw, my boy! who will be the next?" i remarked that night to my companion. august th.--wrote some letters to zanzibar. shaw was taken very ill last night. august th. saturday.--my soldiers are employed stringing beads. shaw is still a-bed. we hear that mirambo is coming to unyanyembe. a detachment of arabs and their slaves have started this morning to possess themselves of the powder left there by the redoubtable sheikh sayd bin salim, the commander-in-chief of the arab settlements. august st. monday.--shaw still sick. one hundred fundo of beads have been strung. the arabs are preparing for another sally against mirambo. the advance of mirambo upon unyanyembe was denied by sayd bin salim, this morning. august nd.--we were stringing beads this morning, when, about a.m., we heard a continued firing from the direction of tabora. rushing out from our work to the front door facing tabora, we heard considerable volleying, and scattered firing, plainly; and ascending to the top of my tembe, i saw with my glasses the smoke of the guns. some of my men who were sent on to ascertain the cause came running back with the information that mirambo had attacked tabora with over two thousand men, and that a force of over one thousand watuta, who had allied themselves with him for the sake of plunder, had come suddenly upon tabora, attacking from opposite directions. later in the day, or about noon, watching the low saddle over which we could see tabora, we saw it crowded with fugitives from that settlement, who were rushing to our settlement at kwihara for protection. from these people we heard the sad information that the noble khamis bin abdullah, his little protege, khamis, mohammed bin abdullah, ibrahim bin rashid, and sayf, the son of ali, the son of sheikh, the son of nasib, had been slain. when i inquired into the details of the attack, and the manner of the death of these arabs, i was told that after the first firing which warned the inhabitants of tabora that the enemy was upon them, khamis bin abdullah and some of the principal arabs who happened to be with him had ascended to the roof of his tembe, and with his spyglass he had looked towards the direction of the firing. to his great astonishment he saw the plain around tabora filled with approaching savages, and about two miles off, near kazima, a tent pitched, which he knew to belong to mirambo, from its having been presented to that chief by the arabs of tabora when they were on good terms with him. khamis bin abdullah descended to his house saying, "let us go to meet him. arm yourselves, my friends, and come with me." his friends advised him strongly sat to go out of his tembe; for so long as each arab kept to his tembe they were more than a match for the ruga ruga and the watuta together. but khamis broke out impatiently with, "would you advise us to stop in our tembes, for fear of this mshensi (pagan)? who goes with me?" his little protege, khamis, son of a dead friend, asked to be allowed to be his gun-bearer. mohammed bin abdulluh, ibrahim bin rashid, and sayf, the son of ali, young arabs of good families, who were proud to live with the noble khamis, also offered to go with him. after hastily arming eighty of his slaves, contrary to the advice of his prudent friends, he sallied out, and was soon face to face with his cunning and determined enemy mirambo. this chief, upon seeing the arabs advance towards him, gave orders to retreat slowly. khamis, deceived by this, rushed on with his friends after them. suddenly mirambo ordered his men to advance upon them in a body, and at the sight of the precipitate rush upon their party, khamis's slaves incontinently took to their heels, never even deigning to cast a glance behind them, leaving their master to the fate which was now overtaking him. the savages surrounded the five arabs, and though several of them fell before the arabs' fire, continued to shoot at the little party, until khamis bin abdullah received a bullet in the leg, which brought him to his knees, and, for the first time, to the knowledge that his slaves had deserted him. though wounded, the brave man continued shooting, but he soon afterwards received a bullet through the heart. little khamis, upon seeing his adopted father's fall, exclaimed: "my father khamis is dead, i will die with him," and continued fighting until he received, shortly after, his death wound. in a few minutes there was not one arab left alive. late at night some more particulars arrived of this tragic scene. i was told by people who saw the bodies, that the body of khamis bin abdullah, who was a fine noble, brave, portly man, was found with the skin of his forehead, the beard and skin of the lower part of his face, the fore part of the nose, the fat over the stomach and abdomen, and, lastly, a bit from each heel, cut off, by the savage allies of mirambo. and in the same condition were found the bodies of his adopted son and fallen friends. the flesh and skin thus taken from the bodies was taken, of course, by the waganga or medicine men, to make what they deem to be the most powerful potion of all to enable men to be strong against their enemies. this potion is mixed up with their ugali and rice, and is taken in this manner with the most perfect confidence in its efficacy, as an invulnerable protection against bullets and missiles of all descriptions. it was a most sorry scene to witness from our excited settlement at kwihara, almost the whole of tabora in flames, and to see the hundreds of people crowding into kwihara. perceiving that my people were willing to stand by me, i made preparations for defence by boring loopholes for muskets into the stout clay walls of my tembe. they were made so quickly, and seemed so admirably adapted for the efficient defence of the tembe, that my men got quite brave, and wangwana refugees with guns in their hands, driven out of tabora, asked to be admitted into our tembe to assist in its defence. livingstone's men were also collected, and invited to help defend their master's goods against mirambo's supposed attack. by night i had one hundred and fifty armed men in my courtyard, stationed at every possible point where an attack might be expected. to-morrow mirambo has threatened that he will come to kwihara. i hope he will come, and if he comes within range of an american rifle, i shall see what virtue lies in american lead. august rd.--we have passed a very anxious day in the valley of kwihara. our eyes were constantly directed towards unfortunate tabora. it has been said that three tembes only have stood the brunt of the attack. abid bin suliman's house has been destroyed, and over two hundred tusks of ivory that belonged to him have become the property of the african bonaparte. my tembe is in as efficient a state of defence as its style and means of defence will allow. rifle-pits surround the house outside, and all native huts that obstructed the view have been torn down, and all trees and shrubs which might serve as a shelter for any one of the enemy have been cut. provisions and water enough for six days have been brought. i have ammunition enough to last two weeks. the walls are three feet thick, and there are apartments within apartments, so that a desperate body of men could fight until the last room had been taken. the arabs, my neighbours, endeavour to seem brave, but it is evident they are about despairing; i have heard it rumoured that the arabs of kwihara, if tabora is taken, will start en masse for the coast, and give the country up to mirambo. if such are their intentions, and they are really carried into effect, i shall be in a pretty mess. however, if they do leave me, mirambo will not reap any benefit from my stores, nor from livingstone's either, for i shall burn the whole house, and everything in it. august th.--the american flag is still waving above my house, and the arabs are still in unyanyembe. about a.m., a messenger came from tabora, asking us if we were not going to assist them against mirambo. i felt very much like going out to help them; but after debating long upon the pros and cons of it,--asking myself, was it prudent? ought i to go? what will become of the people if i were killed? will they not desert me again? what was the fate of khamis bin abdullah?--i sent word that i would not go; that they ought to feel perfectly at home in their tembes against such a force as mirambo had, that i should be glad if they could induce him to come to kwihara, in which case i would try and pick him off. they say that mirambo, and his principal officer, carry umbrellas over their heads, that he himself has long hair like a mnyamwezi pagazi, and a beard. if he comes, all the men carrying umbrellas will have bullets rained on them in the hope that one lucky bullet may hit him. according to popular ideas, i should make a silver bullet, but i have no silver with me. i might make a gold one. about, noon i went over to see sheikh bin nasib, leaving about men inside the house to guard it while i was absent. this old fellow is quite a philosopher in his way. i should call him a professor of minor philosophy. he is generally so sententious--fond of aphorisms, and a very deliberate character. i was astonished to find him so despairing. his aphorisms have deserted him, his philosophy has not been able to stand against disaster. he listened to me, more like a moribund, than one possessing all the means of defence and offence. i loaded his two-pounder with ball, and grape, and small slugs of iron, and advised him not to fire it until mirambo's people were at his gates. about p.m. i heard that mirambo had deported himself to kazima, a place north-west of tabora a couple of miles. august th.--the arabs sallied out this morning to attack kazima, but refrained, because mirambo asked for a day's grace, to eat the beef he had stolen from them. he has asked them impudently to come to-morrow morning, at which time he says he will give them plenty of fighting. kwihara is once more restored to a peaceful aspect, and fugitives no longer throng its narrow limits in fear and despair. august th.--mirambo retreated during the night; and when the arabs went in force to attack his village of kazima, they found it vacant. the arabs hold councils of war now-a-days--battle meetings, of which they seem to be very fond, but extremely slow to act upon. they were about to make friends with the northern watuta, but mirambo was ahead of them. they had talked of invading mirambo's territory the second time, but mirambo invaded unyanyembe with fire and sword, bringing death to many a household, and he has slain the noblest of them all. the arabs spend their hours in talking and arguing, while the ujiji and karagwah roads are more firmly closed than ever. indeed many of the influential arabs are talking of returning to zanzibar; saying, "unyanyembe is ruined." meanwhile, with poor success, however, perceiving the impossibility of procuring wanyamwezi pagazis, i am hiring the wangwana renegades living in unyanyembe to proceed with me to ujiji, at treble prices. each man is offered doti, ordinary hire of a carrier being only from to doti to ujiji. i want fifty men. i intend to leave about sixty or seventy loads here under charge of a guard. i shall leave all personal baggage behind, except one small portmanteau. august th.--no news to-day of mirambo. shaw is getting strong again. sheikh bin nasib called on me to-day, but, except on minor philosophy, he had nothing to say. i have determined, after a study of the country, to lead a flying caravan to ujiji, by a southern road through northern ukonongo and ukawendi. sheikh bin nasib has been informed to-night of this determination. august th.--shaw got up to-day for a little work. alas! all my fine-spun plans of proceeding by boat over the victoria n'yanza, thence down the nile, have been totally demolished, i fear, through this war with mirambo--this black bonaparte. two months have been wasted here already. the arabs take such a long time to come to a conclusion. advice is plentiful, and words are as numerous as the blades of grass in our valley; all that is wanting indecision. the arabs' hope and stay is dead--khamis bin abdullah is no more. where are the other warriors of whom the wangwana and wanyamwezi bards sing? where is mighty kisesa--great abdullah bin nasib? where is sayd, the son of majid? kisesa is in zanzibar, and sayd, the son of majid, is in ujiji, as yet ignorant that his son has fallen in the forest of wilyankuru. shaw is improving fast. i am unsuccessful as yet in procuring soldiers. i almost despair of ever being able to move from here. it is such a drowsy, sleepy, slow, dreaming country. arabs, wangwana, wanyamwezi, are all alike--all careless how time flies. their to-morrow means sometimes within a month. to me it is simply maddening. august th.--shaw will not work. i cannot get him to stir himself. i have petted him and coaxed him; i have even cooked little luxuries for him myself. and, while i am straining every nerve to get ready for ujiji, shaw is satisfied with looking on listlessly. what a change from the ready-handed bold man he was at zanzibar! i sat down by his side to-day with my palm and needle in order to encourage him, and to-day, for the first time, i told him of the real nature of my mission. i told him that i did not care about the geography of the country half as much as i cared about finding livingstone! i told him, for the first time, "now, my dear shaw, you think probably that i have been sent here to find the depth of the tanganika. not a bit of it, man; i was told to find livingstone. it is to find livingstone i am here. it is to find livingstone i am going. don't you see, old fellow, the importance of the mission; don't you see what reward you will get from mr. bennett, if you will help me? i am sure, if ever you come to new york, you will never be in want of a fifty-dollar bill. so shake yourself; jump about; look lively. say you will not die; that is half the battle. snap your fingers at the fever. i will guarantee the fever won't kill you. i have medicine enough for a regiment here!" his eyes lit up a little, but the light that shone in them shortly faded, and died. i was quite disheartened. i made some strong punch, to put fire in his veins, that i might see life in him. i put sugar, and eggs, and seasoned it with lemon and spice. "drink, shaw," said i, "and forget your infirmities. you are not sick, dear fellow; it is only ennui you are feeling. look at selim there. now, i will bet any amount, that he will not die; that i will carry him home safe to his friends! i will carry you home also, if you will, let me!" september st:--according to thani bin abdullah whom i visited to-day, at his tembe in maroro, mirambo lost two hundred men in the attack upon tabora, while the arabs' losses were, five arabs, thirteen freemen and eight slaves, besides three tembes, and over one hundred small huts burned, two hundred and eighty ivory tusks, and sixty cows and bullocks captured. september rd.--received a packet of letters and newspapers from capt. webb, at zanzibar. what a good thing it is that one's friends, even in far america, think of the absent one in africa! they tell me, that no one dreams of my being in africa yet! i applied to sheikh bin nasib to-day to permit livingstone's caravan to go under my charge to ujiji, but he would not listen to it. he says he feels certain i am going to my death. september th.--shaw is quite well to-day, he says. selim is down with the fever. my force is gradually increasing, though some of my old soldiers are falling off. umgareza is blind; baruti has the small-pox very badly; sadala has the intermittent. september th.--baruti died this morning. he was one of my best soldiers; and was one of those men who accompanied speke to egypt. baruti is number seven of those who have died since leaving zanzibar. to-day my ears have been poisoned with the reports of the arabs, about the state of the country i am about to travel through. "the roads are bad; they are all stopped; the ruga-ruga are out in the forests; the wakonongo are coming from the south to help mirambo; the washensi are at war, one tribe against another." my men are getting dispirited, they have imbibed the fears of the arabs and the wanyamwezi. bombay begins to feel that i had better go back to the coast, and try again some other time. we buried baruti under the shade of the banyan-tree, a few yards west of my tembe. the grave was made four and a half feet deep and three feet wide. at the bottom on one side a narrow trench was excavated, into which the body was rolled on his side, with his face turned towards mecca. the body was dressed in a doti and a half of new american sheeting. after it was placed properly in its narrow bed, a sloping roof of sticks, covered over with matting and old canvas, was made, to prevent the earth from falling over the body. the grave was then filled, the soldiers laughing merrily. on the top of the grave was planted a small shrub, and into a small hole made with the hand, was poured water lest he might feel thirsty--they said--on his way to paradise; water was then sprinkled all ever the grave, and the gourd broken. this ceremony being ended, the men recited the arabic fat-hah, after which they left the grave of their dead comrade to think no more of him. september th.--an arab named mohammed presented me to-day with a little boy-slave, called "ndugu m'hali" (my brother's wealth). as i did not like the name, i called the chiefs of my caravan together, and asked them to give him a better name. one suggested "simba" (a lion), another said he thought "ngombe" (a cow) would suit the boy-child, another thought he ought to be called "mirambo," which raised a loud laugh. bombay thought "bombay mdogo" would suit my black-skinned infant very well. ulimengo, however, after looking at his quick eyes, and noting his celerity of movement, pronounced the name ka-lu-la as the best for him, "because," said he, "just look at his eyes, so bright look at his form, so slim! watch his movements, how quick! yes, kalulu is his name." "yes, bana," said the others, "let it be kalulu." "kalulu" is a kisawahili term for the young of the blue-buck (perpusilla) antelope. "well, then," said i, water being brought in a huge tin pan, selim, who was willing to stand godfather, holding him over the water, "let his name henceforth be kalulu, and let no man take it from him," and thus it was that the little black boy of mohammed's came to be called kalulu. the expedition is increasing in numbers. we had quite an alarm before dark. much firing was heard at tabora, which led us to anticipate an attack on kwihara. it turned out, however, to be a salute fired in honour of the arrival of sultan kitambi to pay a visit to mkasiwa, sultan of unyanyembe. september th.--towards night sheikh bin nasib received a letter from an arab at mfuto, reporting that an attack was made on that place by mirambo and his watuta allies. it also warned him to bid the people of kwihara hold themselves in readiness, because if mirambo succeeded in storming mfuto, he would march direct on kwihara. september th.--mirambo was defeated with severe loss yesterday, in his attack upon mfuto. he was successful in an assault he made upon a small wanyamwezi village, but when he attempted to storm mfuto, he was repulsed with severe loss, losing three of his principal men. upon withdrawing his forces from the attack, the inhabitants sallied out, and followed him to the forest of umanda, where he was again utterly routed, himself ingloriously flying from the field. the heads of his chief men slain in the attack were brought to kwikuru, the boma of mkasiwa. september th.--the arab boy selim is delirious from constant fever. shaw is sick again. these two occupy most of my time. i am turned into a regular nurse, for i have no one to assist me in attending upon them. if i try to instruct abdul kader in the art of being useful, his head is so befogged with the villainous fumes of unyamwezi tobacco, that he wanders bewildered about, breaking dishes, and upsetting cooked dainties, until i get so exasperated that my peace of mind is broken completely for a full hour. if i ask ferajji, my now formally constituted cook, to assist, his thick wooden head fails to receive an idea, and i am thus obliged to play the part of chef de cuisine. september th.--the third month of my residence in unyanyembe is almost finished, and i am still here, but i hope to be gone before the rd inst. all last night, until nine a.m. this morning, my soldiers danced and sang to the names of their dead comrades, whose bones now bleach in the forests of wilyankuru. two or three huge pots of pombe failed to satisfy the raging thirst which the vigorous exercise they were engaged in, created. so, early this morning, i was called upon to contribute a shukka for another potful of the potent liquor. to-day i was busy selecting the loads for each soldier and pagazi. in order to lighten their labor as much as possible, i reduced each load from lbs. to lbs., by which i hope to be enabled to make some long marches. i have been able to engage ten pagazis during the last two or three days. i have two or three men still very sick, and it is almost useless to expect that they will be able to carry anything, but i am in hopes that other men may be engaged to take their places before the actual day of departure, which now seems to be drawing near rapidly. september th.--we have almost finished our work--on the fifth day from this--god willing--we shall march. i engaged two more pagazis besides two guides, named asmani and mabruki. if vastness of the human form could terrify any one, certainly asmani's appearance is well calculated to produce that effect. he stands considerably over six feet without shoes, and has shoulders broad enough for two ordinary men. to-morrow i mean to give the people a farewell feast, to celebrate our departure from this forbidding and unhappy country. september th.--the banquet is ended. i slaughtered two bullocks, and had a barbacue; three sheep, two goats, and fifteen chickens, lbs. of rice, twenty large loaves of bread made of indian corn-flour, one hundred eggs, lbs. of butter, and five gallons of sweet-milk, were the contents of which the banquet was formed. the men invited their friends and neighbours, and about one hundred women and children partook of it. after the banquet was ended, the pombe, or native beer, was brought in in five gallon pots, and the people commenced their dance, which continues even now as i write. september th.--i had a slight attack of fever to-day, which has postponed our departure. selim and shaw are both recovered. about p.m. sheik bin nasib came to me imploring me not to go away to-morrow, because i was so sick. thani sakhburi suggested to me that i might stay another month. in answer, i told them that white men are not accustomed to break their words. i had said i would go, and i intended to go. sheikh bin nasib gave up all hope of inducing me to remain another day, and he has gone away, with a promise to write to seyd burghash to tell him how obstinate i am; and that i am determined to be killed. this was a parting shot. about p.m. the fever had gone. all were asleep in the tembe but myself, and an unutterable loneliness came on me as i reflected on my position, and my intentions, and felt the utter lack of sympathy with me in all around. it requires more nerve than i possess, to dispel all the dark presentiments that come upon the mind. but probably what i call presentiments are simply the impress on the mind of the warnings which these false-hearted arabs have repeated so often. this melancholy and loneliness i feel, may probably have their origin from the same cause. the single candle, which barely lights up the dark shade that fills the corners of my room, is but a poor incentive to cheerfulness. i feel as though i were imprisoned between stone walls. but why should i feel as if baited by these stupid, slow-witted arabs and their warnings and croakings? i fancy a suspicion haunts my mind, as i write, that there lies some motive behind all this. i wonder if these arabs tell me all these things to keep me here, in the hope that i might be induced another time to assist them in their war with mirambo! if they think so, they are much mistaken, for i have taken a solemn, enduring oath, an oath to be kept while the least hope of life remains in me, not to be tempted to break the resolution i have formed, never to give up the search, until i find livingstone alive, or find his dead body; and never to return home without the strongest possible proofs that he is alive, or that he is dead. no living man, or living men, shall stop me, only death can prevent me. but death--not even this; i shall not die, i will not die, i cannot die! and something tells me, i do not know what it is--perhaps it is the ever-living hopefulness of my own nature, perhaps it is the natural presumption born out of an abundant and glowing vitality, or the outcome of an overweening confidence in oneself--anyhow and everyhow, something tells me to-night i shall find him, and--write it larger--find him! find him! even the words are inspiring. i feel more happy. have i uttered a prayer? i shall sleep calmly to-night. i have felt myself compelled to copy out of my diary the above notes, as they explain, written as they are on the spot, the vicissitudes of my "life at unyanyembe." to me they appear to explain far better than any amount of descriptive writing, even of the most graphic, the nature of the life i led. there they are, unexaggerated, in their literality, precisely as i conceived them at the time they happened. they speak of fevers without number to myself and men, they relate our dangers, and little joys, our annoyances and our pleasures, as they occurred. chapter x. -- to mrera, ukonongo. departure from unyanyembe.--the expedition reorganized.-- bombay.--mr. shaw returns sick to unyanyembe.--a noble forest.-the fever described.--happiness of the camp.--a park-land.--herds of game and noble sport.--a mutiny.-- punishment of the ringleaders. elephants.--arrival at mrera the th of september had arrived. this was the day i had decided to cut loose from those who tormented me with their doubts, their fears, and beliefs, and commence the march to ujiji by a southern route. i was very weak from the fever that had attacked me the day before, and it was a most injudicious act to commence a march under such circumstances. but i had boasted to sheikh bin nasib that a white man never breaks his word, and my reputation as a white man would have been ruined had i stayed behind, or postponed the march, in consequence of feebleness. i mustered the entire caravan outside the tembe, our flags and streamers were unfurled, the men had their loads resting on the walls, there was considerable shouting, and laughing, and negroidal fanfaronnade. the arabs had collected from curiosity's sake to see us off--all except sheikh bin nasib, whom i had offended by my asinine opposition to his wishes. the old sheikh took to his bed, but sent his son to bear me a last morsel of philosophic sentimentality, which i was to treasure up as the last words of the patriarchal sheikh, the son of nasib, the son of ali, the son of sayf. poor sheikh! if thou hadst only known what was at the bottom of this stubbornness--this ass-like determination to proceed the wrong way--what wouldst thou then have said, sheikh? but the sheikh comforted himself with the thought that i might know what i was about better than he did, which is most likely, only neither he nor any other arab will ever know exactly the motive that induced me to march at all westward--when the road to the east was ever so much easier. my braves whom i had enlisted for a rapid march somewhere, out of unyanyembe, were named as follows:-- . john william shaw, london, england. . selim heshmy, arab. . seedy mbarak mombay, zanzibar. . mabruki spoke, ditto. . ulimengo, ditto . ambari, ditto. . uledi, ditto. . asmani, ditto. . sarmean, ditto. . kamna, ditto. . zaidi, ditto. . khamisi, ditto. . chowpereh, bagamoyo. . kingaru, ditto. . belali, ditto. . ferous, unyanyembe. . rojab, bagamoyo. . mabruk unyanyembe, unyanyembe. . mtamani, ditto. . chanda, maroro. . sadala, zanzibar. . kombo, ditto. . saburi the great, maroro. . saburi the little, ditto. . marora, ditto. . ferajji (the cook), zanzibar. . mabruk saleem, zanzibar. . baraka, ditto. . ibrahim, maroro. . mabruk ferous, ditto. . baruti, bagamoyo. . umgareza, zanzibar. . hamadi (the guide), ditto. . asmani, ditto, ditto. . mabruk, ditto ditto. . hamdallah (the guide), tabora. . jumah, zanzibar. . maganga, mkwenkwe. . muccadum, tabora. . dasturi, ditto. . tumayona, ujiji. . mparamoto, ujiji. . wakiri, ditto. . mufu, ditto. . mpepo, ditto. . kapingu, ujiji. . mashishanga, ditto. . muheruka, ditto. . missossi, ditto. . tufum byah, ditto. . majwara (boy), uganda. . belali (boy), uemba. . kalulu (boy), lunda. . abdul kader (tailor), malabar. these are the men and boys whom i had chosen to be my companions on the apparently useless mission of seeking for the lost traveller, david livingstone. the goods with which i had burdened them, consisted of , doti, or , yds. of cloth, six bags of beads, four loads of ammunition, one tent, one bed and clothes, one box of medicine, sextant and books, two loads of tea, coffee, and sugar, one load of flour and candles, one load of canned meats, sardines, and miscellaneous necessaries, and one load of cooking utensils. the men were all in their places except bombay. bombay had gone; he could not be found. i despatched a man to hunt him up. he was found weeping in the arms of his delilah. "why did you go away, bombay, when you knew i intended to go, and was waiting?" "oh, master, i was saying good-bye to my missis." "oh, indeed?" "yes, master; you no do it, when you go away? "silence, sir." "oh! all right." "what is the matter with you, bombay?" "oh, nuffin." as i saw he was in a humour to pick a quarrel with me before those arabs who had congregated outside of my tembe to witness my departure; and as i was not in a humour to be balked by anything that might turn up, the consequence was, that i was obliged to thrash bombay, an operation which soon cooled his hot choler, but brought down on my head a loud chorus of remonstrances from my pretended arab friends--"now, master, don't, don't--stop it, master: the poor man knows better than you what he and you may expect on the road you are now taking." if anything was better calculated to put me in a rage than bombay's insolence before a crowd it was this gratuitous interference with what i considered my own especial business; but i restrained myself, though i told them, in a loud voice, that i did not choose to be interfered with, unless they wished to quarrel with me. "no, no, bana," they all exclaimed; "we do not wish to quarrel with you. in the name of god! go on your way in peace." "fare you well, then," said i, shaking hands with them. "farewell, master, farewell. we wish you, we are sure, all success, and god be with you, and guide you!" "march!" a parting salute was fired; the flags were raised up by the guides, each pagazi rushed for his load, and in a short time, with songs and shouts, the head of the expedition had filed round the western end of my tembe along the road to ugunda. "now, mr. shaw, i am waiting, sir. mount your donkey, if you cannot walk." "please, mr. stanley, i am afraid i cannot go." "why?" "i don't know, i am sure. i feel very weak." "so am i weak. it was but late last night, as you know, that the fever left me. don't back out before these arabs; remember you are a white man. here, selim, mabruki, bombay, help mr. shaw on his donkey, and walk by him." "oh, bana, bans," said the arabs, "don't take him. do you not see he is sick?" "you keep away; nothing will prevent me from taking him. he shall go." "go on, bombay." the last of my party had gone. the tembe, so lately a busy scene, had already assumed a naked, desolate appearance. i turned towards the arabs, lifted my hat, and said again, "farewell," then faced about for the south, followed by my four young gun-bearers, selim, kalulu, majwara, and belali. after half an hour's march the scenery became more animated. shaw began to be amused. bombay had forgotten our quarrel, and assured me, if i could pass mirambo's country, i should "catch the tanganika;" mabruki burton also believed we should. selim was glad to leave unyanyembe, where he had suffered so much from fever; and there was a something in the bold aspect of the hills which cropped upward--above fair valleys, that enlivened and encouraged me to proceed. in an hour and a half, we arrived at our camp in the kinyamwezi village of mkwenkwe, the birthplace--of our famous chanter maganga. my tent was pitched, the goods were stored in one of the tembes; but one-half the men had returned to kwihara, to take one more embrace of their wives and concubines. towards night i was attacked once again with the intermittent fever. before morning it had departed, leaving me terribly prostrated with weakness. i had heard the men conversing with each other over their camp-fires upon the probable prospects of the next day. it was a question with them whether i should continue the march. mostly all were of opinion that, since the master was sick, there would be no march. a superlative obstinacy, however, impelled me on, merely to spite their supine souls; but when i sallied out of my tent to call them to get ready, i found that at least twenty were missing; and livingstone's letter-carrier, "kaif-halek"--or, how-do-ye-do?--had not arrived with dr. livingstone's letter-bag. selecting twenty of the strongest and faithfulest men i despatched them back to unyanyembe in search of the missing men; and selim was sent to sheikh bin nasib to borrow, or buy, a long slave-chain. towards night my twenty detectives returned with nine of the missing men. the wajiji had deserted in a body, and they could not be found. selim also returned with a strong chain, capable of imprisoning within the collars attached to it at least ten men. kaif-halek also appeared with the letter-bag which he was to convey to livingstone under my escort. the men were then addressed, and the slave-chain exhibited to them. i told them that i was the first white man who had taken a slave-chain with him on his travels; but, as they were all so frightened of accompanying me, i was obliged to make use of it, as it was the only means of keeping them together. the good need never fear being chained by me--only the deserters, the thieves, who received their hire and presents, guns and ammunition, and then ran away. i would not put any one this time in chains; but whoever deserted after this day, i should halt, and not continue the march till i found him, after which he should march to ujiji with the slave-chain round his neck. "do you hear?"--"yes," was the answer. "do you understand?"--"yes." we broke up camp at p.m., and took the road for inesuka, at which place we arrived at p.m. when we were about commencing the march the next morning, it was discovered that two more had deserted. baraka and bombay were at once despatched to unyanyembe to bring back the two missing men--asmani and kingaru--with orders not to return without them. this was the third time that the latter had deserted, as the reader may remember. while the pursuit was being effected we halted at the village of inesuka, more for the sake of shaw than any one else. in the evening the incorrigible deserters were brought back, and, as i had threatened, were well flogged and chained, to secure them against further temptation. bombay and baraka had a picturesque story to relate of the capture; and, as i was in an exceedingly good humour, their services were rewarded with a fine cloth each. on the following morning another carrier had absconded, taking with him his hire of fifteen new cloths and a gun but to halt anywhere near unyanyembe any longer was a danger that could be avoided only by travelling without stoppages towards the southern jungle-lands. it will be remembered i had in my train the redoubtable abdul kader, the tailor, he who had started from bagamoyo with such bright anticipations of the wealth of ivory to be obtained in the great interior of africa. on this morning, daunted by the reports of the dangers ahead, abdul kader craved to be discharged. he vowed he was sick, and unable to proceed any further. as i was pretty well tired of him, i paid him off in cloth, and permitted him to go. about half way to kasegera mabruk saleem was suddenly taken sick. i treated him with a grain of calomel, and a couple of ounces of brandy. as he was unable to walk, i furnished him with a donkey. another man named zaidi was ill with a rheumatic fever; and shaw tumbled twice off the animal he was riding, and required an infinite amount of coaxing to mount again. verily, my expedition was pursued by adverse fortunes, and it seemed as if the fates had determined upon our return. it really appeared as if everything was going to wreck and ruin. if i were only fifteen days from unyanyembe, thought i, i should be saved! kasegera was a scene of rejoicing the afternoon and evening of our arrival. absentees had just returned from the coast, and the youths were brave in their gaudy bedizenment, their new barsatis, their soharis, and long cloths of bright new kaniki, with which they had adorned themselves behind some bush before they had suddenly appeared dressed in all this finery. the women "hi-hi'ed" like maenads, and the "lu-lu-lu'ing" was loud, frequent, and fervent the whole of that afternoon. sylphlike damsels looked up to the youthful heroes with intensest admiration on their features; old women coddled and fondled them; staff-using, stooping-backed patriarchs blessed them. this is fame in unyamwezi! all the fortunate youths had to use their tongues until the wee hours of next morning had arrived, relating all the wonders they had seen near the great sea, and in the "unguja," the island of zanzibar; of how they saw great white men's ships, and numbers of white men, of their perils and trials during their journey through the land of the fierce wagogo, and divers other facts, with which the reader and i are by this time well acquainted. on the th we struck camp, and marched through a forest of imbiti wood in a s.s.w. direction, and in about three hours came to kigandu. on arriving before this village, which is governed by a daughter of mkasiwa, we were informed we could not enter unless we paid toll. as we would not pay toll, we were compelled to camp in a ruined, rat-infested boma, situated a mile to the left of kigandu, being well scolded by the cowardly natives for deserting mkasiwa in his hour of extremity. we were accused of running away from the war. almost on the threshold of our camp shaw, in endeavouring to dismount, lost his stirrups, and fell prone on his face. the foolish fellow actually, laid on the ground in the hot sun a full hour; and when i coldly asked him if he did not feel rather uncomfortable, he sat up, and wept like a child. "do you wish to go back, mr. shaw?" "if you please. i do not believe i can go any farther; and if you would only be kind enough, i should like to return very much." "well, mr. shaw, i have come to the conclusion that it is best, you should return. my patience is worn out. i have endeavoured faithfully to lift you above these petty miseries which you nourish so devotedly. you are simply suffering from hypochondria. you imagine yourself sick, and nothing, evidently, will persuade you that you are not. mark my words--to return to unyanyembe, is to die! should you happen to fall sick in kwihara who knows how to administer medicine to you? supposing you are delirious, how can any of the soldiers know what you want, or what is beneficial and necessary for you? once again, i repeat, if you return, you die!" "ah, dear me; i wish i had never ventured to come! i thought life in africa was so different from this. i would rather go back if you will permit me." the next day was a halt, and arrangements were made for the transportation of shaw back to kwihara. a strong litter was made, and four stout pagazis were hired at kigandu to carry him. bread was baked, a canteen was filled with cold tea, and a leg of a kid was roasted for his sustenance while on the road. the night before we parted we spent together. shaw played some tunes on an accordion which i had purchased for him at zanzibar; but, though it was only a miserable ten-dollar affair, i thought the homely tunes evoked from the instrument that night were divine melodies. the last tune played before retiring was "home, sweet home." the morning of the th we were all up early: there was considerable vis in our movements. a long, long march lay before us that day; but then i was to leave behind all the sick and ailing. only those who were healthy, and could march fast and long, were to accompany me. mabruk saleem i left in charge of a native doctor, who was to medicate him for a gift of cloth which i gave him in advance. the horn sounded to get ready. shaw was lifted in his litter on the shoulders of his carriers. my men formed two ranks; the flags were lifted; and between these two living rows, and under those bright streamers, which were to float over the waters of the tanganika before he should see them again, shaw was borne away towards the north; while we filed off to the south, with quicker and more elastic steps, as if we felt an incubus had been taken from us. we ascended a ridge bristling with syenite boulders of massive size, appearing above a forest of dwarf trees. the view which we saw was similar to that we had often seen elsewhere. an illimitable forest stretching in grand waves far beyond the ken of vision--ridges, forest-clad, rising gently one above another until they receded in the dim purple-blue distance--with a warm haze floating above them, which, though clear enough in our neighbourhood, became impenetrably blue in the far distance. woods, woods, woods, leafy branches, foliage globes, or parachutes, green, brown, or sere in colour, forests one above another, rising, falling, and receding--a very leafy ocean. the horizon, at all points, presents the same view, there may be an indistinct outline of a hill far away, or here and there a tall tree higher than the rest conspicuous in its outlines against the translucent sky--with this exception it is the same--the same clear sky dropping into the depths of the forest, the same outlines, the same forest, the same horizon, day after day, week after week; we hurry to the summit of a ridge, expectant of a change, but the wearied eyes, after wandering over the vast expanse, return to the immediate surroundings, satiated with the eversameness of such scenes. carlyle, somewhere in his writings, says, that though the vatican is great, it is but the chip of an eggshell compared to the star-fretted dome where arcturus and orion glance for ever; and i say that, though the grove of central park, new york, is grand compared to the thin groves seen in other great cities, that though the windsor and the new forests may be very fine and noble in england, yet they are but fagots of sticks compared to these eternal forests of unyamwezi. we marched three hours, and then halted for refreshments. i perceived that the people were very tired, not yet inured to a series of long marches, or rather, not in proper trim for earnest, hard work after our long rest in kwihara. when we resumed our march again there were several manifestations of bad temper and weariness. but a few good-natured remarks about their laziness put them on their mettle, and we reached ugunda at p.m. after another four hours' spurt. ugunda is a very large village in the district of ugunda, which adjoins the southern frontier of unyanyembe. the village probably numbers four hundred families, or two thousand souls. it is well protected by a tall and strong palisade of three-inch timber. stages have been erected at intervals above the palisades with miniature embrasures in the timber, for the muskets of the sharpshooters, who take refuge within these box-like stages to pick out the chiefs of an attacking force. an inner ditch, with the sand or soil thrown up three or four feet high against the palings, serves as protection for the main body of the defenders, who kneel in the ditch, and are thus enabled to withstand a very large force. for a mile or two outside the village all obstructions are cleared, and the besieged are thus warned by sharp-eyed watchers to be prepared for the defence before the enemy approaches within musket range. mirambo withdrew his force of robbers from before this strongly-defended village after two or three ineffectual attempts to storm it, and the wagunda have been congratulating themselves ever since, upon having driven away the boldest marauder that unyamwezi has seen for generations. the wagunda have about three thousand acres under cultivation around their principal village, and this area suffices to produce sufficient grain not only for their own consumption, but also for the many caravans which pass by this way for ufipa and marungu. however brave the wagunda may be within the strong enclosure with which they have surrounded their principal village, they are not exempt from the feeling of insecurity which fills the soul of a mnyamwezi during war-time. at this place the caravans are accustomed to recruit their numbers from the swarms of pagazis who volunteer to accompany them to the distant ivory regions south; but i could not induce a soul to follow me, so great was their fear of mirambo and his ruga-raga. they were also full of rumors of wars ahead. it was asserted that mbogo was advancing towards ugunda with a thousand wakonongo, that the wazavira had attacked a caravan four months previously, that simba was scouring the country with a band of ferocious mercenaries, and much more of the same nature and to the same intent. on the th we arrived at a small snug village embosomed within the forest called benta, three hours and a quarter from ugunda. the road led through the cornfields of the wagunda, and then entered the clearings around the villages of kisari, within one of which we found the proprietor of a caravan who was drumming up carriers for ufipa. he had been halted here two months, and he made strenuous exertions to induce my men to join his caravan, a proceeding that did not tend to promote harmony between us. a few days afterwards i found, on my return, that he had given up the idea of proceeding south. leaving kisari, we marched through a thin jungle of black jack, over sun-cracked ground with here and there a dried-up pool, the bottom of which was well tramped by elephant and rhinoceros. buffalo and zebra tracks were now frequent, and we were buoyed up with the hope that before long we should meet game. benta was well supplied with indian corn and a grain which the natives called choroko, which i take to be vetches. i purchased a large supply of choroko for my own personal use, as i found it to be a most healthy food. the corn was stored on the flat roofs of the tembes in huge boxes made out of the bark of the mtundu-tree. the largest box i have ever seen in africa was seen here. it might be taken for a titan's hat-box; it was seven feet in diameter, and ten feet in height. on the th, after travelling in a s.w. by s. direction, we reached kikuru. the march lasted for five hours over sun-cracked plains, growing the black jack, and ebony, and dwarf shrubs, above which numerous ant-hills of light chalky-coloured earth appeared like sand dunes. the mukunguru, a kisawahili term for fever, is frequent in this region of extensive forests and flat plains, owing to the imperfect drainage provided by nature for them. in the dry season there is nothing very offensive in the view of the country. the burnt grass gives rather a sombre aspect to the country, covered with the hard-baked tracks of animals which haunt these plains during the latter part of the rainy season. in the forest numbers of trees lie about in the last stages of decay, and working away with might and main on the prostrate trunks may be seen numberless insects of various species. impalpably, however, the poison of the dead and decaying vegetation is inhaled into the system with a result sometimes as fatal as that which is said to arise from the vicinity of the upas-tree. the first evil results experienced from the presence of malaria are confined bowels and an oppressive languor, excessive drowsiness, and a constant disposition to yawn. the tongue assumes a yellowish, sickly hue, coloured almost to blackness; even the teeth become yellow, and are coated with an offensive matter. the eyes of the patient sparkle lustrously, and become suffused with water. these are sure symptoms of the incipient fever which shortly will rage through the system. sometimes this fever is preceded by a violent shaking fit, during which period blankets may be heaped on the patient's form, with but little amelioration of the deadly chill he feels. it is then succeeded by an unusually severe headache, with excessive pains about the loins and spinal column, which presently will spread over the shoulder-blades, and, running up the neck, find a final lodgment in the back and front of the head. usually, however, the fever is not preceded by a chill, but after languor and torpitude have seized him, with excessive heat and throbbing temples, the loin and spinal column ache, and raging thirst soon possesses him. the brain becomes crowded with strange fancies, which sometimes assume most hideous shapes. before the darkened vision of the suffering man, float in a seething atmosphere, figures of created and uncreated reptiles, which are metamorphosed every instant into stranger shapes and designs, growing every moment more confused, more complicated, more hideous and terrible. unable to bear longer the distracting scene, he makes an effort and opens, his eyes, and dissolves the delirious dream, only, however, to glide again unconsciously into another dream-land where another unreal inferno is dioramically revealed, and new agonies suffered. oh! the many many hours, that i have groaned under the terrible incubi which the fits of real delirium evoke. oh! the racking anguish of body that a traveller in africa must undergo! oh! the spite, the fretfulness, the vexation which the horrible phantasmagoria of diabolisms induce! the utmost patience fails to appease, the most industrious attendance fails to gratify, the deepest humility displeases. during these terrible transitions, which induce fierce distraction, job himself would become irritable, insanely furious, and choleric. a man in such a state regards himself as the focus of all miseries. when recovered, he feels chastened, becomes urbane and ludicrously amiable, he conjures up fictitious delights from all things which, but yesterday, possessed for him such awful portentous aspects. his men he regards with love and friendship; whatever is trite he views with ecstasy. nature appears charming; in the dead woods and monotonous forest his mind becomes overwhelmed with delight. i speak for myself, as a careful analysation of the attack, in all its severe, plaintive, and silly phases, appeared to me. i used to amuse myself with taking notes of the humorous and the terrible, the fantastic and exaggerated pictures that were presented to me--even while suffering the paroxysms induced by fever. we arrived at a large pool, known as the ziwani, after a four hours' march in a s.s.w. direction, the st of october. we discovered an old half-burnt khambi, sheltered by a magnificent mkuyu (sycamore), the giant of the forests of unyamwezi, which after an hour we transformed into a splendid camp. if i recollect rightly, the stem of the tree measured thirty-eight feet in circumference. it is the finest tree of its kind i have seen in africa. a regiment might with perfect ease have reposed under this enormous dome of foliage during a noon halt. the diameter of the shadow it cast on the ground was one hundred and twenty feet. the healthful vigor that i was enjoying about this time enabled me to regard my surroundings admiringly. a feeling of comfort and perfect contentment took possession of me, such as i knew not while fretting at unyanyembe, wearing my life away in inactivity. i talked with my people as to my friends and equals. we argued with each other about our prospects in quite a companionable, sociable vein. when daylight was dying, and the sun was sinking down rapidly over the western horizon, vividly painting the sky with the colours of gold and silver, saffron, and opal, when its rays and gorgeous tints were reflected upon the tops of the everlasting forest, with the quiet and holy calm of heaven resting upon all around, and infusing even into the untutored minds of those about me the exquisite enjoyments of such a life as we were now leading in the depths of a great expanse of forest, the only and sole human occupants of it--this was the time, after our day's work was ended, and the camp was in a state of perfect security, when we all would produce our pipes, and could best enjoy the labors which we had performed, and the contentment which follows a work well done. outside nothing is heard beyond the cry of a stray florican, or guinea-fowl, which has lost her mate, or the hoarse croaking of the frogs in the pool hard by, or the song of the crickets which seems to lull the day to rest; inside our camp are heard the gurgles of the gourd pipes as the men inhale the blue ether, which i also love. i am contented and happy, stretched on my carpet under the dome of living foliage, smoking my short meerschaum, indulging in thoughts--despite the beauty of the still grey light of the sky; and of the air of serenity which prevails around--of home and friends in distant america, and these thoughts soon change to my work--yet incomplete--to the man who to me is yet a myth, who, for all i know, may be dead, or may be near or far from me tramping through just such a forest, whose tops i see bound the view outside my camp. we are both on the same soil, perhaps in the same forest--who knows?--yet is he to me so far removed that he might as well be in his own little cottage of ulva. though i am even now ignorant of his very existence, yet i feel a certain complacency, a certain satisfaction which would be difficult to describe. why is man so feeble, and weak, that he must tramp, tramp hundreds of miles to satisfy the doubts his impatient and uncurbed mind feels? why cannot my form accompany the bold flights of my mind and satisfy the craving i feel to resolve the vexed question that ever rises to my lips--"is he alive?" o soul of mine, be patient, thou hast a felicitous tranquillity, which other men might envy thee! sufficient for the hour is the consciousness thou hast that thy mission is a holy one! onward, and be hopeful! monday, the nd of october, found us traversing the forest and plain that extends from the ziwani to manyara, which occupied us six and a half hours. the sun was intensely hot; but the mtundu and miombo trees grew at intervals, just enough to admit free growth to each tree, while the blended foliage formed a grateful shade. the path was clear and easy, the tamped and firm red soil offered no obstructions. the only provocation we suffered was from the attacks of the tsetse, or panga (sword) fly, which swarmed here. we knew we were approaching an extensive habitat of game, and we were constantly on the alert for any specimens that might be inhabiting these forests. while we were striding onward, at the rate of nearly three miles an hour, the caravan i perceived sheered off from the road, resuming it about fifty yards ahead of something on the road, to which the attention of the men was directed. on coming up, i found the object to be the dead body of a man, who had fallen a victim to that fearful scourge of africa, the small-pox. he was one of oseto's gang of marauders, or guerillas, in the service of mkasiwa of unyanyembe, who were hunting these forests for the guerillas of mirambo. they had been returning from ukonongo from a raid they had instituted against the sultan of mbogo, and they had left their comrade to perish in the road. he had apparently been only one day dead. apropos of this, it was a frequent thing with us to discover a skeleton or a skull on the roadside. almost every day we saw one, sometimes two, of these relics of dead, and forgotten humanity. shortly after this we emerged from the forest, and entered a mbuga, or plain, in which we saw a couple of giraffes, whose long necks were seen towering above a bush they had been nibbling at. this sight was greeted with a shout; for we now knew we had entered the game country, and that near the gombe creek, or river, where we intended to halt, we should see plenty of these animals. a walk of three hours over this hot plain brought us to the cultivated fields of manyara. arriving before the village-gate, we were forbidden to enter, as the country was throughout in a state of war, and it behoved them to be very careful of admitting any party, lest the villagers might be compromised. we were, however, directed to a khambi to the right of the village, near some pools of clear water, where we discovered some half dozen ruined huts, which looked very uncomfortable to tired people. after we had built our camp, the kirangozi was furnished with some cloths to purchase food from the village for the transit of a wilderness in front of us, which was said to extend nine marches, or miles. he was informed that the mtemi had strictly prohibited his people from selling any grain whatever. this evidently was a case wherein the exercise of a little diplomacy could only be effective; because it would detain us several days here, if we were compelled to send men back to kikuru for provisions. opening a bale of choice goods, i selected two royal cloths, and told bombay to carry them to him, with the compliments and friendship of the white man. the sultan sulkily refused them, and bade him return to the white man and tell him not to bother him. entreaties were of no avail, he would not relent; and the men, in exceedingly bad temper, and hungry, were obliged to go to bed supperless. the words of njara, a slave-trader, and parasite of the great sheikh bin nasib, recurred to me. "ah, master, master, you will find the people will be too much for you, and that you will have to return. the wa-manyara are bad, the wakonongo are very bad, the wazavira are the worst of all. you have come to this country at a bad time. it is war everywhere." and, indeed, judging from the tenor of the conversations around our camp-fires, it seemed but too evident. there was every prospect of a general decamp of all my people. however, i told them not to be discouraged; that i would get food for them in the morning. the bale of choice cloths was opened again next morning, and four royal cloths were this time selected, and two dotis of merikani, and bombay was again despatched, burdened with compliments, and polite words. it was necessary to be very politic with a man who was so surly, and too powerful to make an enemy of. what if he made up his mind to imitate the redoubtable mirambo, king of uyoweh! the effect of my munificent liberality was soon seen in the abundance of provender which came to my camp. before an hour went by, there came boxes full of choroko, beans, rice, matama or dourra, and indian corn, carried on the heads of a dozen villagers, and shortly after the mtemi himself came, followed by about thirty musketeers and twenty spearmen, to visit the first white man ever seen on this road. behind these warriors came a liberal gift, fully equal in value to that sent to him, of several large gourds of honey, fowls, goats, and enough vetches and beans to supply my men with four days' food. i met the chief at the gate of my camp, and bowing profoundly, invited him to my tent, which i had arranged as well as my circumstances would permit, for this reception. my persian carpet and bear skin were spread out, and a broad piece of bran-new crimson cloth covered my kitanda, or bedstead. the chief, a tall robust man, and his chieftains, were invited to seat themselves. they cast a look of such gratified surprise at myself, at my face, my clothes, and guns, as is almost impossible to describe. they looked at me intently for a few seconds, and then at each other, which ended in an uncontrollable burst of laughter, and repeated snappings of the fingers. they spoke the kinyamwezi language, and my interpreter maganga was requested to inform the chief of the great delight i felt in seeing them. after a short period expended in interchanging compliments, and a competitive excellence at laughing at one another, their chief desired me to show him my guns. the "sixteen-shooter," the winchester rifle, elicited a thousand flattering observations from the excited man; and the tiny deadly revolvers, whose beauty and workmanship they thought were superhuman, evoked such gratified eloquence that i was fain to try something else. the double-barrelled guns fired with heavy charges of power, caused them to jump up in affected alarm, and then to subside into their seats convulsed with laughter. as the enthusiasm of my guests increased, they seized each other's index fingers, screwed them, and pulled at them until i feared they would end in their dislocation. after having explained to them the difference between white men and arabs, i pulled out my medicine chest, which evoked another burst of rapturous sighs at the cunning neatness of the array of vials. he asked what they meant. "dowa," i replied sententiously, a word which may be interpreted--medicine. "oh-h, oh-h," they murmured admiringly. i succeeded, before long, in winning unqualified admiration, and my superiority, compared to the best of the arabs they had seen, was but too evident. "dowa, dowa," they added. "here," said i, uncorking a vial of medicinal brandy, "is the kisungu pombe" (white man's beer); "take a spoonful and try it," at the same time handing it. "hacht, hacht, oh, hacht! what! eh! what strong beer the white men have! oh, how my throat burns!" "ah, but it is good," said i, "a little of it makes men feel strong, and good; but too much of it makes men bad, and they die." "let me have some," said one of the chiefs; "and me," "and me," "and me," as soon as each had tasted. "i next produced a bottle of concentrated ammonia, which as i explained was for snake bites, and head-aches; the sultan immediately complained he had a head-ache, and must have a little. telling him to close his eyes, i suddenly uncorked the bottle, and presented it to his majesty's nose. the effect was magical, for he fell back as if shot, and such contortions as his features underwent are indescribable. his chiefs roared with laughter, and clapped their hands, pinched each other, snapped their fingers, and committed many other ludicrous things. i verily believe if such a scene were presented on any stage in the world the effect of it would be visible instantaneously on the audience; that had they seen it as i saw it, they would have laughed themselves to hysteria and madness. finally the sultan recovered himself, great tears rolling down his cheeks, and his features quivering with laughter, then he slowly uttered the word 'kali,'--hot, strong, quick, or ardent medicine. he required no more, but the other chiefs pushed forward to get one wee sniff, which they no sooner had, than all went into paroxysms of uncontrollable laughter. the entire morning was passed in this state visit, to the mutual satisfaction of all concerned. 'oh,' said the sultan at parting, 'these white men know everything, the arabs are dirt compared to them!'" that night hamdallah, one of the guides, deserted, carrying with him his hire ( doti), and a gun. it was useless to follow him in the morning, as it would have detained me many more days than i could afford; but i mentally vowed that mr. hamdallah should work out those doti of cloths before i reached the coast. wednesday, october th, saw us travelling to the gombe river, which is h. m. march from manyara. we had barely left the waving cornfields of my friend ma-manyara before we came in sight of a herd of noble zebra; two hours afterwards we had entered a grand and noble expanse of park land, whose glorious magnificence and vastness of prospect, with a far-stretching carpet of verdure darkly flecked here and there by miniature clumps of jungle, with spreading trees growing here and there, was certainly one of the finest scenes to be seen in africa. added to which, as i surmounted one of the numerous small knolls, i saw herds after herds of buffalo and zebra, giraffe and antelope, which sent the blood coursing through my veins in the excitement of the moment, as when i first landed on african soil. we crept along the plain noiselessly to our camp on the banks of the sluggish waters of the gombe. here at last was the hunter's paradise! how petty and insignificant appeared my hunts after small antelope and wild boar what a foolish waste of energies those long walks through damp grasses and through thorny jungles! did i not well remember ' my first bitter experience in african jungles when in the maritime region! but this--where is the nobleman's park that can match this scene? here is a soft, velvety expanse of young grass, grateful shade under those spreading clumps; herds of large and varied game browsing within easy rifle range. surely i must feel amply compensated now for the long southern detour i have made, when such a prospect as this opens to the view! no thorny jungles and rank smelling swamps are here to daunt the hunter, and to sicken his aspirations after true sport! no hunter could aspire after a nobler field to display his prowess. having settled the position of the camp, which overlooked one of the pools found in the depression of the gombe creek, i took my double-barrelled smooth-bore, and sauntered off to the park-land. emerging from behind a clump, three fine plump spring-bok were seen browsing on the young grass just within one hundred yards. i knelt down and fired; one unfortunate antelope bounded upward instinctively, and fell dead. its companions sprang high into the air, taking leaps about twelve feet in length, as if they were quadrupeds practising gymnastics, and away they vanished, rising up like india-rubber balls; until a knoll hid them from view. my success was hailed with loud shouts by the soldiers; who came running out from the camp as soon as they heard the reverberation of the gun, and my gun-bearer had his knife at the beast's throat, uttering a fervent "bismillah!" as he almost severed the head from the body. hunters were now directed to proceed east and north to procure meat, because in each caravan it generally happens that there are fundi, whose special trade it is to hunt for meat for the camp. some of these are experts in stalking, but often find themselves in dangerous positions, owing to the near approach necessary, before they can fire their most inaccurate weapons with any certainty. after luncheon, consisting of spring-bok steak, hot corn-cake, and a cup of delicious mocha coffee, i strolled towards the south-west, accompanied by kalulu and majwara, two boy gun-bearers. the tiny perpusilla started up like rabbits from me as i stole along through the underbrush; the honey-bird hopped from tree to tree chirping its call, as if it thought i was seeking the little sweet treasure, the hiding-place of which it only knew; but no! i neither desired perpusilla nor the honey. i was on the search for something great this day. keen-eyed fish-eagles and bustards poised on trees above the sinuous gombe thought, and probably with good reason that i was after them; judging by the ready flight with which both species disappeared as they sighted my approach. ah, no! nothing but hartebeest, zebra, giraffe, eland, and buffalo this day! after following the gombe's course for about a mile, delighting my eyes with long looks at the broad and lengthy reaches of water to which i was so long a stranger, i came upon a scene which delighted the innermost recesses of my soul; five, six, seven, eight, ten zebras switching their beautiful striped bodies, and biting one another, within about one hundred and fifty yards. the scene was so pretty, so romantic, never did i so thoroughly realize that i was in central africa. i felt momentarily proud that i owned such a vast domain, inhabited with such noble beasts. here i possessed, within reach of a leaden ball, any one i chose of the beautiful animals, the pride of the african forests! it was at my option to shoot any of them! mine they were without money or without price; yet, knowing this, twice i dropped my rifle, loth to wound the royal beasts, but--crack! and a royal one was on his back battling the air with his legs. ah, it was such a pity! but, hasten, draw the keen sharp-edged knife across the beautiful stripes which fold around the throat; and--what an ugly gash! it is done, and have a superb animal at my feet. hurrah! i shall taste of ukonongo zebra to-night. i thought a spring-bok and zebra enough for one day's sport, especially after a long march. the gombe, a long stretch of deep water, winding in and out of green groves, calm, placid, with lotus leaves lightly resting on its surface, all pretty, picturesque, peaceful as a summer's dream, looked very inviting for a bath. i sought out the most shady spot under a wide-spreading mimosa, from which the ground sloped smooth as a lawn, to the still, clear water. i ventured to undress, and had already stepped in to my ancles in the water, and had brought my hands together for a glorious dive, when my attention was attracted by an enormously long body which shot into view, occupying the spot beneath the surface that i was about to explore by a "header." great heavens, it was a crocodile! i sprang backward instinctively, and this proved my salvation, for the monster turned away with the most disappointed look, and i was left to congratulate myself upon my narrow escape from his jaws, and to register a vow never to be tempted again by the treacherous calm of an african river. as soon as i had dressed i turned away from the now repulsive aspect of the stream. in strolling through the jungle, towards my camp, i detected the forms of two natives looking sharply about them, and, after bidding my young attendants to preserve perfect quiet, i crept on towards them, and, by the aid of a thick clump of underbush, managed to arrive within a few feet of the natives undetected. their mere presence in the immense forest, unexplained, was a cause of uneasiness in the then disturbed state of the country, and my intention was to show myself suddenly to them, and note its effect, which, if it betokened anything hostile to the expedition, could without difficulty be settled at once, with the aid of my double-barrelled smooth-bore. as i arrived on one side of this bush, the two suspicious-looking natives arrived on the other side, and we were separated by only a few feet. i made a bound, and we were face to face. the natives cast a glance at the sudden figure of a white man, and seemed petrified for a moment, but then, recovering themselves, they shrieked out, "bana, bana, you don't know us. we are wakonongo, who came to your camp to accompany you to mrera, and we are looking for honey." "oh, to be sure, you are the wakonongo. yes--yes. ah, it is all right now, i thought you might be ruga-ruga." so the two parties, instead of being on hostile terms with each other, burst out laughing. the wakonongo enjoyed it very much, and laughed heartily as they proceeded on their way to search for the wild honey. on a piece of bark they carried a little fire with which they smoked the bees out from their nest in the great mtundu-trees. the adventures of the day were over; the azure of the sky had changed to a dead grey; the moon was appearing just over the trees; the water of the gombe was like a silver belt; hoarse frogs bellowed their notes loudly by the margin of the creek; the fish-eagles uttered their dirge-like cries as they were perched high on the tallest tree; elands snorted their warning to the herds in the forest; stealthy forms of the carnivora stole through the dark woods outside of our camp. within the high inclosure of bush and thorn, which we had raised around our camp, all was jollity, laughter, and radiant, genial comfort. around every camp-fire dark forms of men were seen squatted: one man gnawed at a luscious bone; another sucked the rich marrow in a zebra's leg-bone; another turned the stick, garnished with huge kabobs, to the bright blaze; another held a large rib over a flame; there were others busy stirring industriously great black potfuls of ugali, and watching anxiously the meat simmering, and the soup bubbling, while the fire-light flickered and danced bravely, and cast a bright glow over the naked forms of the men, and gave a crimson tinge to the tall tent that rose in the centre of the camp, like a temple sacred to some mysterious god; the fires cast their reflections upon the massive arms of the trees, as they branched over our camp, and, in the dark gloom of their foliage, the most fantastic shadows were visible. altogether it was a wild, romantic, and impressive scene. but little recked my men for shadows and moonlight, for crimson tints, and temple-like tents--they were all busy relating their various experiences, and gorging themselves with the rich meats our guns had obtained for us. one was telling how he had stalked a wild boar, and the furious onset the wounded animal made on him, causing him to drop his gun, and climb a tree, and the terrible grunt of the beast he well remembered, and the whole welkin rang with the peals of laughter which his mimic powers evoked. another had shot a buffalo-calf, and another had bagged a hartebeest; the wakonongo related their laughable rencontre with me in the woods, and were lavish in their description of the stores of honey to be found in the woods; and all this time selim and his youthful subs were trying their sharp teeth on the meat of a young pig which one of the hunters had shot, but which nobody else would eat, because of the mohammedan aversion to pig, which they had acquired during their transformation from negro savagery to the useful docility of the zanzibar freed-man. we halted the two following days, and made frequent raids on the herds of this fine country. the first day i was fairly successful again in the sport. i bagged a couple of antelopes, a kudu (a. strepsiceros) with fine twisting horns, and a pallah-buck (a. melampus), a reddish-brown animal, standing about three and a half feet, with broad posteriors. i might have succeeded in getting dozens of animals had i any of those accurate, heavy rifles manufactured by lancaster, reilly, or blissett, whose every shot tells. but my weapons, save my light smoothbore, were unfit for african game. my weapons were more for men. with the winchester rifle, and the starr's carbine, i was able to hit anything within two hundred yards, but the animals, though wounded, invariably managed to escape the knife, until i was disgusted with the pea-bullets. what is wanted for this country is a heavy bore--no. or is the real bone-crusher--that will drop every animal shot in its tracks, by which all fatigue and disappointment are avoided. several times during these two days was i disappointed after most laborious stalking and creeping along the ground. once i came suddenly upon an eland while i had a winchester rifle in my hand--the eland and myself mutually astonished--at not more than twenty-five yards apart. i fired at its chest, and bullet, true to its aim, sped far into the internal parts, and the blood spouted from the wound: in a few minutes he was far away, and i was too much disappointed to follow him. all love of the chase seemed to be dying away before these several mishaps. what were two antelopes for one day's sport to the thousands that browsed over the plain? the animals taken to camp during our three days' sport were two buffaloes, two wild boar, three hartebeest, one zebra, and one pallah; besides which, were shot eight guinea-fowls, three florican, two fish-eagles, one pelican, and one of the men caught a couple of large silurus fish. in the meantime the people had cut, sliced, and dried this bounteous store of meat for our transit through the long wilderness before us. saturday the th day of october, we broke up camp, to the great regret of the meat-loving, gormandizing wangwana. they delegated bombay early in the morning to speak to me, and entreat of me to stop one day longer. it was ever the case; they had always an unconquerable aversion to work, when in presence of meat. bombay was well scolded for bearing any such request to me after two days' rest, during which time they had been filled to repletion with meat. and bombay was by no means in the best of humour; flesh-pots full of meat were more to his taste than a constant tramping, and its consequent fatigues. i saw his face settle into sulky ugliness, and his great nether lip hanging down limp, which meant as if expressed in so many words, "well, get them to move yourself, you wicked hard man! i shall not help you." an ominous silence followed my order to the kirangozi to sound the horn, and the usual singing and chanting were not heard. the men turned sullenly to their bales, and asmani, the gigantic guide, our fundi, was heard grumblingly to say he was sorry he had engaged to guide me to the tanganika. however, they started, though reluctantly. i stayed behind with my gunbearers, to drive the stragglers on. in about half an hour i sighted the caravan at a dead stop, with the bales thrown on the ground, and the men standing in groups conversing angrily and excitedly. taking my double-barrelled gun from selim's shoulder, i selected a dozen charges of buck-shot, and slipping two of them into the barrels, and adjusting my revolvers in order for handy work, i walked on towards them. i noticed that the men seized their guns, as i advanced. when within thirty yards of the groups, i discovered the heads of two men appear above an anthill on my left, with the barrels of their guns carelessly pointed toward the road. i halted, threw the barrel of my gun into the hollow of the left hand, and then, taking a deliberate aim at them, threatened to blow their heads off if they did not come forward to talk to me. these two men were, gigantic asmani and his sworn companion mabruki, the guides of sheikh bin nasib. as it was dangerous not to comply with such an order, they presently came, but, keeping my eye on asmani, i saw him move his fingers to the trigger of his gun, and bring his gun to a "ready." again i lifted my gun, and threatened him with instant death, if he did not drop his gun. asmani came on in a sidelong way with a smirking smile on his face, but in his eyes shone the lurid light of murder, as plainly as ever it shone in a villain's eyes. mabruki sneaked to my rear, deliberately putting powder in the pan of his musket, but sweeping the gun sharply round, i planted the muzzle of it at about two feet from his wicked-looking face, and ordered him to drop his gun instantly. he let it fall from his hand quickly, and giving him a vigorous poke in the breast with my gun, which sent him reeling away a few feet from me, i faced round to asmani, and ordered him to put his gun down, accompanying it with a nervous movement of my gun, pressing gently on the trigger at the same time. never was a man nearer his death than was asmani during those few moments. i was reluctant to shed his blood, and i was willing to try all possible means to avoid doing so; but if i did not succeed in cowing this ruffian, authority was at an end. the truth was, they feared to proceed further on the road, and the only possible way of inducing them to move was by an overpowering force, and exercise of my power and will in this instance, even though he might pay the penalty of his disobedience with death. as i was beginning to feel that asmani had passed his last moment on earth, as he was lifting his gun to his shoulder, a form came up from behind him, and swept his gun aside with an impatient, nervous movement, and i heard mabruki burton say in horror-struck accents: "man, how dare you point your gun, at the master?" mabruki then threw himself at my feet, and endeavoured to kiss them and entreated me not to punish him. "it was all over now," he said; "there would be no more quarreling, they would all go as far as the tanganika, without any more noise; and inshallah!" said he, "we shall find the old musungu * at ujiji." *livingstone "speak, men, freedmen, shall we not?--shall we not go to the tanganika without any more trouble? tell the master with one voice." "ay wallah! ay wallah! bana yango! hamuna manneno mgini!" which literally translated means, "yes by god! yes by god! my master! there are no other words," said each man loudly. "ask the master's pardon, man, or go thy way," said mabruki peremptorily, to asmani: which asmani did, to the gratification of us all. it remained for me only to extend a general pardon to all except to bombay and ambari, the instigators of the mutiny, which was now happily quelled. for bombay could have by a word, as my captain, nipped all manifestation of bad temper at the outset, had he been so disposed. but no, bombay was more averse to marching than the cowardliest of his fellows, not because he was cowardly, but because he loved indolence. again the word was given to march, and each man, with astonishing alacrity, seized his load, and filed off quickly out of sight. while on this subject, i may as well give here a sketch of each of the principal men whose names must often appear in the following chapters. according to rank, they consist of bombay, mabruki burton, asmani the guide, chowpereh, ulimengo, khamisi, ambari, jumah, ferajji the cook, maganga the mnyamwezi, selim the arab boy, and youthful kalulu a gunbearer. bombay has received an excellent character from burton and speke. "incarnation of honesty" burton grandly terms him. the truth is, bombay was neither very honest nor very dishonest, i.e., he did not venture to steal much. he sometimes contrived cunningly, as he distributed the meat, to hide a very large share for his own use. this peccadillo of his did not disturb me much; he deserved as captain a larger share than the others. he required to be closely watched, and when aware that this was the case, he seldom ventured to appropriate more cloth than i would have freely given him, had he asked for it. as a personal servant, or valet, he would have been unexceptionable, but as a captain or jemadar over his fellows, he was out of his proper sphere. it was too much brain-work, and was too productive of anxiety to keep him in order. at times he was helplessly imbecile in his movements, forgot every order the moment it was given him, consistently broke or lost some valuable article, was fond of argument, and addicted to bluster. he thinks hajji abdullah one of the wickedest white men born, because he saw him pick up men's skulls and put them in sacks, as if he was about to prepare a horrible medicine with them. he wanted to know whether his former master had written down all he himself did, and when told that burton had not said anything, in his books upon the lake regions, upon collecting skulls at kilwa, thought i would be doing a good work if i published this important fact. * bombay intends to make a pilgrimage to visit speke's grave some day. ** i find upon returning to england, that capt. burton has informed the world of this "wicked and abominable deed," in his book upon zanzibar, and that the interesting collection may be seen at the royal college of surgeons, london. mabruki, "ras-bukra mabruki," bull-headed mabruki, as burton calls him, is a sadly abused man in my opinion. mabruki, though stupid, is faithful. he is entirely out of his element as valet, he might as well be clerk. as a watchman he is invaluable, as a second captain or fundi, whose duty it is to bring up stragglers, he is superexcellent. he is ugly and vain, but he is no coward. asmani the guide is a large fellow, standing over six feet, with the neck and shoulders of a hercules. besides being guide, he is a fundi, sometimes called fundi asmani, or hunter. a very superstitious man, who takes great care of his gun, and talismanic plaited cord, which he has dipped in the blood of all the animals he has ever shot. he is afraid of lions, and will never venture out where lions are known to be. all other animals he regards as game, and is indefatigable in their pursuit. he is seldom seen without an apologetic or a treacherous smile on his face. he could draw a knife across a man's throat and still smile. chowpereh is a sturdy short man of thirty or thereabouts; very good-natured, and humorous. when chowpereh speaks in his dry mark twain style, the whole camp laughs. i never quarrel with chowpereh, never did quarrel with him. a kind word given to chowpereh is sure to be reciprocated with a good deed. he is the strongest, the healthiest, the amiablest, the faithfulest of all. he is the embodiment of a good follower. khamisi is a neat, cleanly boy of twenty, or thereabouts, active, loud-voiced, a boaster, and the cowardliest of the cowardly. he will steal at every opportunity. he clings to his gun most affectionately; is always excessively anxious if a screw gets loose, or if a flint will not strike fire, yet i doubt that he would be able to fire his gun at an enemy from excessive trembling. khamisi would rather trust his safety to his feet, which are small, and well shaped. ambari is a man of about forty. he is one of the "faithfuls" of speke, and one of my faithfuls. he would not run away from me except when in the presence of an enemy, and imminent personal danger. he is clever in his way, but is not sufficiently clever to enact the part of captain--could take charge of a small party, and give a very good account of them. is lazy, and an admirer of good living--abhors marching, unless he has nothing to carry but his gun. jumah is the best abused man of the party, because he has old-womanish ways with him, yet in his old-womanish ways he is disposed to do the best he can for me, though he will not carry a pound in weight without groaning terribly at his hard fate. to me he is sentimental and pathetic; to the unimportant members of the caravan he is stern and uncompromising. but the truth is, that i could well dispense with jumah's presence: he was one of the incorrigible inutiles, eating far more than he was worth; besides being an excessively grumbling and querulous fool. ulimengo, a strong stalwart fellow of thirty, was the maddest and most hare-brained of my party. though an arrant coward, he was a consummate boaster. but though a devotee of pleasure and fun, he was not averse from work. with one hundred men such as he, i could travel through africa provided there was no fighting to do. it will be remembered that he was the martial coryphaeus who led my little army to war against mirambo, chanting the battle-song of the wangwana; and that i stated, that when the retreat was determined upon, he was the first of my party to reach the stronghold of mfuto. he is a swift runner, and a fair hunter. i have been indebted to him on several occasions for a welcome addition to my larder. ferajji, a former dish-washer to speke, was my cook. he was promoted to this office upon the defection of bunder salaam, and the extreme non-fitness of abdul kader. for cleaning dishes, the first corn-cob, green twig, a bunch of leaves or grass, answered ferajji's purposes in the absence of a cloth. if i ordered a plate, and i pointed out a black, greasy, sooty thumbmark to him, a rub of a finger ferajji thought sufficient to remove all objections. if i hinted that a spoon was rather dirty, ferajji fancied that with a little saliva, and a rub of his loin cloth, the most fastidious ought to be satisfied. every pound of meat, and every three spoonfuls of musk or porridge i ate in africa, contained at least ten grains of sand. ferajji was considerably exercised at a threat i made to him that on arrival at zanzibar, i would get the great english doctor there to open my stomach, and count every grain of sand found in it, for each grain of which ferajji should be charged one dollar. the consciousness that my stomach must contain a large number, for which the forfeits would be heavy, made him feel very sad at times. otherwise, ferajji was a good cook, most industrious, if not accomplished. he could produce a cup of tea, and three or four hot pancakes, within ten minutes after a halt was ordered, for which i was most grateful, as i was almost always hungry after a long march. ferajji sided with baraka against bombay in unyoro, and when speke took bombay's side of the question, ferajji, out of love for baraka, left speke's service, and so forfeited his pay. maganga was a mnyamwezi, a native of mkwenkwe, a strong, faithful servant, an excellent pagazi, with an irreproachable temper. he it was who at all times, on the march, started the wildly exuberant song of the wanyamwezi porters, which, no matter how hot the sun, or how long the march, was sure to produce gaiety and animation among the people. at such times all hands sang, sang with voices that could be heard miles away, which made the great forests ring with the sounds, which startled every animal big or little, for miles around. on approaching a village the temper of whose people might be hostile to us, maganga would commence his song, with the entire party joining in the chorus, by which mode we knew whether the natives were disposed to be friendly or hostile. if hostile, or timid, the gates would at once be closed, and dark faces would scowl at us from the interior; if friendly, they rushed outside of their gates to welcome us, or to exchange friendly remarks. an important member of the expedition was selim, the young arab. without some one who spoke good arabic, i could not have obtained the friendship of the chief arabs in unyanyembe; neither could i have well communicated with them, for though i understood arabic, i could not speak it. i have already related how kalulu came to be in my service, and how he came to bear his present name. i soon found how apt and quick he was to learn, in consequence of which, he was promoted to the rank of personal attendant. even selim could not vie with kalulu in promptness and celerity, or in guessing my wants at the table. his little black eyes were constantly roving over the dishes, studying out the problem of what was further necessary, or had become unnecessary. we arrived at the ziwani, in about h. m. from the time of our quitting the scene which had well-nigh witnessed a sanguinary conflict. the ziwani, or pool, contained no water, not a drop, until the parched tongues of my people warned them that they must proceed and excavate for water. this excavation was performed (by means of strong hard sticks sharply pointed) in the dry hard-caked bottom. after digging to a depth of six feet their labours were rewarded with the sight of a few drops of muddy liquid percolating through the sides, which were eagerly swallowed to relieve their raging thirst. some voluntarily started with buckets, gourds, and canteens south to a deserted clearing called the "tongoni" in ukamba, and in about three hours returned with a plentiful supply for immediate use, of good and clear water. in h. m. we arrived at this tongoni, or deserted clearing of the wakamba. here were three or four villages burnt, and an extensive clearing desolate, the work of the wa-ruga-raga of mirambo. those of the inhabitants who were left, after the spoliation and complete destruction of the flourishing settlement, emigrated westerly to ugara. a large herd of buffalo now slake their thirst at the pool which supplied the villages of ukamba with water. great masses of iron haematite cropped up above the surfaces in these forests. wild fruit began to be abundant; the wood-apple and tamarind and a small plum-like fruit, furnished us with many an agreeable repast. the honey-bird is very frequent in these forests of ukonongo. its cry is a loud, quick chirrup. the wakonongo understand how to avail themselves of its guidance to the sweet treasure of honey which the wild bees have stored in the cleft of some great tree. daily, the wakonongo who had joined our caravan brought me immense cakes of honey-comb, containing delicious white and red honey. the red honey-comb generally contains large numbers of dead bees, but our exceedingly gluttonous people thought little of these. they not only ate the honey-bees, but they also ate a good deal of the wax. as soon as the honey-bird descries the traveller, he immediately utters a series of wild, excited cries, hops about from twig to twig, and from branch to branch, then hops to another tree, incessantly repeating his chirruping call. the native, understanding the nature of the little bird, unhesitatingly follows him; but perhaps his steps are too slow for the impatient caller, upon which he flies back, urging him louder, more impatient cries, to hasten, and then darts swiftly forward, as if he would show how quickly he could go to the honey-store, until at last the treasure is reached, the native has applied fire to the bees' nest, and secured the honey, while the little bird preens himself, and chirrups in triumphant notes, as if he were informing the biped that without his aid he never could have found the honey. buffalo gnats and tsetse were very troublesome on this march, owing to the numerous herds of game in the vicinity. on the th of october we made a long march in a southerly direction, and formed our camp in the centre of a splendid grove of trees. the water was very scarce on the road. the wamrima and wanyamwezi are not long able to withstand thirst. when water is plentiful they slake their thirst at every stream and pool; when it is scarce, as it is here and in the deserts of marenga and magunda mkali, long afternoon-marches are made; the men previously, however, filling their gourds, so as to enable them to reach the water early next morning. selim was never able to endure thirst. it mattered not how much of the precious liquid he carried, he generally drank it all before reaching camp, and he consequently suffered during the night. besides this, he endangered his life by quaffing from every muddy pool; and on this day he began to complain that he discharged blood, which i took to be an incipient stage of dysentery. during these marches, ever since quitting ugunda, a favourite topic at the camp-fires were the wa-ruga-ruga, and their atrocities, and a possible encounter that we might have with these bold rovers of the forest. i verily believe that a sudden onset of half a dozen of mirambo's people would have set the whole caravan arunning. we reached marefu the next day, after a short three hours' march. we there found an embassy sent by the arabs of unyanyembe, to the southern watuta, bearing presents of several bales, in charge of hassan the mseguhha. this valiant leader and diplomatist had halted here some ten days because of wars and rumours of wars in his front. it was said that mbogo, sultan of mboga in ukonongo, was at war with the brother of manwa sera, and as mbogo was a large district of ukonongo only two days' march from marefu; fear of being involved in it was deterring old hassan from proceeding. he advised me also not to proceed, as it was impossible to be able to do so without being embroiled in the conflict. i informed him that i intended to proceed on my way, and take my chances, and graciously offered him my escort as far as the frontier of ufipa, from which he could easily and safely continue on his way to the watuta, but he declined it. we had now been travelling fourteen days in a south-westerly direction, having made a little more than one degree of latitude. i had intended to have gone a little further south, because it was such a good road, also since by going further south we should have labored under no fear of meeting mirambo; but the report of this war in our front, only two days off, compelled me, in the interest of the expedition, to strike across towards the tanganika, an a west-by-north course through the forest, travelling, when it was advantageous, along elephant tracks and local paths. this new plan was adopted after consulting with asmani, the guide. we were now in ukonongo, having entered this district when we crossed the gombe creek. the next day after arriving at marefu we plunged westward, in view of the villagers, and the arab ambassador, who kept repeating until the last moment that we should "certainly catch it." we marched eight hours through a forest, where the forest peach, or the "mbembu," is abundant. the tree that bears this fruit is very like a pear-tree, and is very productive. i saw one tree, upon which i estimated there were at least six or seven bushels. i ate numbers of the peaches on this day. so long as this fruit can be produced, a traveller in these regions need not fear starvation. at the base of a graceful hilly cone we found a village called utende, the inhabitants of which were in a state of great alarm, as we suddenly appeared on the ridge above them. diplomacy urged me to send forward a present of one doti to the sultan, who, however, would not accept it, because he happened to be drunk with pombe, and was therefore disposed to be insolent. upon being informed that he would refuse any present, unless he received four more cloths, i immediately ordered a strong boma to be constructed on the summits of a little hill, near enough to a plentiful supply of water, and quietly again packed up the present in the bale. i occupied a strategically chosen position, as i could have swept the face of the hill, and the entire space between its base and the village of watende. watchmen were kept on the look-out all night; but we were fortunately not troubled until the morning; when a delegation of the principal men came to ask if i intended to depart without having made a present to the chief. i replied to them that i did not intend passing through any country without making friends with the chief; and if their chief would accept a good cloth from me, i would freely give it to him. though they demurred at the amount of the present at first, the difference between us was finally ended by my adding a fundo of red beads--sami-sami--for the chief's wife. from the hill and ridge of utende sloped a forest for miles and miles westerly, which was terminated by a grand and smooth-topped ridge rising or feet above the plain. a four hours' march, on the th of october, brought us to a nullah similar to the gombe, which, during the wet season, flows to the gombe river, and thence into the malagarazi river. a little before camping we saw a herd of nimba, or pallah; i had the good fortune to shoot one, which was a welcome addition to our fast diminishing store of dried meats, prepared in our camp on the gombe. by the quantity of bois de vaches, we judged buffaloes were plentiful here, as well as elephant and rhinoceros. the feathered species were well represented by ibis, fish-eagles, pelicans, storks, cranes, several snowy spoon-bills, and flamingoes. from the nullah, or mtoni, we proceeded to mwaru, the principal village of the district of mwaru, the chief of which is ka-mirambo. our march lay over desolated clearings once occupied by ka-mirambo's people, but who were driven away by mkasiwa some ten years ago, during his warfare against manwa sera. niongo, the brother of the latter, now waging war against mbogo, had passed through mwaru the day before we arrived, after being defeated by his enemy. the hilly ridge that bounded the westward horizon, visible from utende, was surmounted on this day. the western slope trends south-west, and is drained by the river mrera, which empties into the malagarazi river. we perceived the influence of the tanganika, even here, though we were yet twelve or fifteen marches from the lake. the jungles increased in density, and the grasses became enormously tall; these points reminded us of the maritime districts of ukwere and ukami. we heard from a caravan at this place, just come from ufipa, that a white man was reported to be in "urua," whom i supposed to mean livingstone. upon leaving mwaru we entered the district of mrera, a chief who once possessed great power and influence over this region. wars, however, have limited his possessions to three or four villages snugly embosomed within a jungle, whose outer rim is so dense that it serves like a stone wall to repel invaders. there were nine bleached skulls, stuck on the top of as many poles, before the principal gate of entrance, which told us of existing feuds between the wakonongo and the wazavira. this latter tribe dwelt in a country a few marches west of us; whose territory we should have to avoid, unless we sought another opportunity to distinguish ourselves in battle with the natives. the wazavira, we were told by the wakonongo of mrera, were enemies to all wangwana. in a narrow strip of marsh between mwaru and mrera, we saw a small herd of wild elephants. it was the first time i had ever seen these animals in their native wildness, and my first impressions of them i shall not readily forget. i am induced to think that the elephant deserves the title of "king of beasts." his huge form, the lordly way in which he stares at an intruder on his domain, and his whole appearance indicative of conscious might, afford good grounds for his claim to that title. this herd, as we passed it at the distance of a mile, stopped to survey the caravan as it passed: and, after having satisfied their curiosity, the elephants trooped into the forest which bounded the marshy plain southward, as if caravans were every-day things to them, whilst they--the free and unconquerable lords of the forest and the marsh--had nothing in common with the cowardly bipeds, who never found courage to face them in fair combat. the destruction which a herd makes in a forest is simply tremendous. when the trees are young whole swathes may be found uprooted and prostrate, which mark the track of the elephants as they "trampled their path through wood and brake." the boy selim was so ill at this place that i was compelled to halt the caravan for him for two days. he seemed to be affected with a disease in the limbs, which caused him to sprawl, and tremble most painfully, besides suffering from an attack of acute dysentery. but constant attendance and care soon brought him round again; and on the third day he was able to endure the fatigue of riding. i was able to shoot several animals during our stay at mrera. the forest outside of the cultivation teems with noble animals. zebra, giraffe, elephant, and rhinoceros are most common; ptarmigan and guinea-fowl were also plentiful. the warriors of mrera are almost all armed with muskets, of which they take great care. they were very importunate in their demands for flints, bullets, and powder, which i always made it a point to refuse, lest at any moment a fracas occurring they might use the ammunition thus supplied to my own disadvantage. the men of this village were an idle set, doing little but hunting, gaping, gossiping, and playing like great boys. during the interval of my stay at mrera i employed a large portion of my time in mending my shoes, and patching up the great rents in my clothes, which the thorn species, during the late marches, had almost destroyed. westward, beyond mrera, was a wilderness, the transit of which we were warned would occupy nine days hence arose the necessity to purchase a large supply of grain, which, ere attempting the great uninhabited void in our front, was to be ground and sifted. chapter xi. -- through ukawendi, uvinza, and uhha, to ujiji. happy auspices,--ant-hills.--the water-shed of the tanganika lion.--the king of kasera.--the home of the lion and the leopard.--a donkey frightens a leopard--sublime scenes in kawendi,--starvation imminent.--amenities of travel in africa.--black-mailers.--the stormy children of uhha.--news of a white man.--energetic marches--mionvu, chief of tribute-takers.--an escape at midnight.--toiling through the jungles.--the lake mountains.--first view of the tanganika.-- arrival at ujiji,--the happy meeting with livingstone. we bade farewell to mrera on the th of october, to continue our route north-westward. all the men and i were firm friends now; all squabbling had long ceased. bombay and i had forgotten our quarrel; the kirangozi and myself were ready to embrace, so loving and affectionate were the terms upon which we stood towards one another. confidence returned to all hearts--for now, as mabruk unyanyembe said, "we could smell the fish of the tanganika." unyanyembe, with all its disquietude, was far behind. we could snap our fingers at that terrible mirambo and his unscrupulous followers, and by-and-by, perhaps, we may be able to laugh at the timid seer who always prophesied portentous events--sheikh, the son of nasib. we laughed joyously, as we glided in indian file through the young forest jungle beyond the clearing of mrera, and boasted of our prowess. oh! we were truly brave that morning! emerging from the jungle, we entered a thin forest, where numerous ant-hills were seen like so many sand-dunes. i imagine that these ant-hills were formed during a remarkably wet season, when, possibly, the forest-clad plain was inundated. i have seen the ants at work by thousands, engaged in the work of erecting their hills in other districts suffering from inundation. what a wonderful system of cells these tiny insects construct! a perfect labyrinth--cell within cell, room within room, hall within hall--an exhibition of engineering talents and high architectural capacity--a model city, cunningly contrived for safety and comfort! emerging after a short hour's march out of the forest, we welcome the sight of a murmuring translucent stream, swiftly flowing towards the north-west, which we regard with the pleasure which only men who have for a long time sickened themselves with that potable liquid of the foulest kind, found in salinas, mbugas, pools, and puddle holes, can realize. beyond this stream rises a rugged and steep ridge, from the summit of which our eyes are gladdened with scenes that are romantic, animated and picturesque. they form an unusual feast to eyes sated with looking into the depths of forests, at towering stems of trees, and at tufted crowns of foliage. we have now before us scores of cones, dotting the surface of a plain which extends across southern ukonongo to the territory of the wafipa, and which reaches as far as the rikwa plain. the immense prospect before which we are suddenly ushered is most varied; exclusive of conical hills and ambitious flat-topped and isolated mountains, we are in view of the watersheds of the rungwa river, which empties into the tanganika south of where we stand, and of the malagarazi river, which the tanganika receives, a degree or so north of this position. a single but lengthy latitudinal ridge serves as a dividing line to the watershed of the rungwa and malagarazi; and a score of miles or so further west of this ridge rises another, which runs north and south. we camped on this day in the jungle, close to a narrow ravine with a marshy bottom, through the oozy, miry contents of which the waters from the watershed of the rungwa slowly trickled southward towards the rikwa plain. this was only one of many ravines, however, some of which were several hundred yards broad, others were but a few yards in width, the bottoms of which were most dangerous quagmires, overgrown with dense tall reeds and papyrus. over the surface of these great depths of mud were seen hundreds of thin threads of slimy ochre-coloured water, which swarmed with animalculae. by-and-by, a few miles south of the base of this ridge (which i call kasera, from the country which it cuts in halves), these several ravines converge and debouch into the broad, [marshy?], oozy, spongy "river" of usense, which trends in a south-easterly direction; after which, gathering the contents of the watercourses from the north and northeast into its own broader channel, it soon becomes a stream of some breadth and consequence, and meets a river flowing from the east, from the direction of urori, with which it conflows in the rikwa plain, and empties about sixty rectilineal miles further west into the tanganika lake. the rungwa river, i am informed, is considered as a boundary line between the country of usowa on the north, and ufipa on the south. we had barely completed the construction of our camp defences when some of the men were heard challenging a small party of natives which advanced towards our camp, headed by a man who, from his garb and head-dress, we knew was from zanzibar. after interchanging the customary salutations, i was informed that this party was an embassy from simba ("lion"), who ruled over kasera, in southern unyamwezi. simba, i was told, was the son of mkasiwa, king of unyanyembe, and was carrying on war with the wazavira, of whom i was warned to beware. he had heard such reports of my greatness that he was sorry i did not take his road to ukawendi, that he might have had the opportunity of seeing me, and making friends with me; but in the absence of a personal visit simba had sent this embassy to overtake me, in the hope that i would present him with a token of my friendship in the shape of cloth. though i was rather taken aback by the demand, still it was politic in me to make this powerful chief my friend, lest on my return from the search after livingstone he and i might fall out. and since it was incumbent on me to make a present, for the sake of peace, it was necessary to exhibit my desire for peace by giving--if i gave at all--a royal present. the ambassador conveyed from me to simba, or the "lion" of kasera, two gorgeous cloths, and two other doti consisting of merikani and kaniki; and, if i might believe the ambassador, i had made simba a friend for ever. on the th of october, breaking camp at the usual hour, we continued our march north-westward by a road which zig-zagged along the base of the kasera mountains, and which took us into all kinds of difficulties. we traversed at least a dozen marshy ravines, the depth of mire and water in which caused the utmost anxiety. i sunk up to my neck in deep holes in the stygian ooze caused by elephants, and had to tramp through the oozy beds of the rungwa sources with any clothes wet and black with mud and slime. decency forbade that i should strip; and the hot sun would also blister my body. moreover, these morasses were too frequent to lose time in undressing and dressing, and, as each man was weighted with his own proper load, it would have been cruel to compel the men to bear me across. nothing remained, therefore, but to march on, all encumbered as i was with my clothing and accoutrements, into these several marshy watercourses, with all the philosophical stoicism that my nature could muster for such emergencies. but it was very uncomfortable, to say the least of it. we soon entered the territory of the dreaded wazavira, but no enemy was in sight. simba, in his wars, had made clean work of the northern part of uzavira, and we encountered nothing worse than a view of the desolated country, which must have been once--judging from the number of burnt huts and debris of ruined villages--extremely populous. a young jungle was sprouting up vigorously in their fields, and was rapidly becoming the home of wild denizens of the forest. in one of the deserted and ruined villages, i found quarters for the expedition, which were by no means uncomfortable. i shot three brace of guinea-fowl in the neighbourhood of misonghi, the deserted village we occupied, and ulimengo, one of my hunters, bagged an antelope, called the "mbawala," for whose meat some of the wanyamwezi have a superstitious aversion. i take this species of antelope, which stands about three and a half feet high, of a reddish hide, head long, horns short, to be the "nzoe" antelope discovered by speke in uganda, and whose latin designation is, according to dr. sclater, "tragelaphus spekii." it has a short bushy tail, and long hair along the spine. a long march in a west-by-north direction, lasting six hours, through a forest where the sable antelope was seen, and which was otherwise prolific with game, brought us to a stream which ran by the base of a lofty conical hill, on whose slopes flourished quite a forest of feathery bamboo. on the th, leaving our camp, which lay between the stream and the conical hill above mentioned, and surmounting a low ridge which sloped from the base of the hill-cone, we were greeted with another picturesque view, of cones and scarped mountains, which heaved upward in all directions. a march of nearly five hours through this picturesque country brought us to the mpokwa river, one of the tributaries of the rungwa, and to a village lately deserted by the wazavira. the huts were almost all intact, precisely as they were left by their former inhabitants. in the gardens were yet found vegetables, which, after living so long on meat, were most grateful to us. on the branches of trees still rested the lares and penates of the wazavira, in the shape of large and exceedingly well-made earthen pots. in the neighbouring river one of my men succeeded, in few minutes, in catching sixty fish of the silurus species the hand alone. a number of birds hovered about stream, such as the white-headed fish-eagle and the kingfisher, enormous, snowy spoonbills, ibis, martins, &c. this river issued from a mountain clump eight miles or so north of the village of mpokwa, and comes flowing down a narrow thread of water, sinuously winding amongst tall reeds and dense brakes on either side-the home of hundreds of antelopes and buffaloes. south of mpokwa, the valley broadens, and the mountains deflect eastward and westward, and beyond this point commences the plain known as the rikwa, which, during the masika is inundated, but which, in the dry season, presents the same bleached aspect that plains in africa generally do when the grass has ripened. travelling up along the right bank of the mpokwa, on the st we came to the head of the stream, and the sources of the mpokwa, issuing out of deep defiles enclosed by lofty ranges. the mbawala and the buffalo were plentiful. on the nd, after a march of four hours and a half, we came to the beautiful stream of mtambu--the water of which was sweet, and clear as crystal, and flowed northward. we saw for the first time the home of the lion and the leopard. hear what freiligrath says of the place: where the thorny brake and thicket densely fill the interspace of the trees, through whose thick branches never sunshine lights the place, there the lion dwells, a monarch, mightiest among the brutes; there his right to reign supremest never one his claim disputes. there he layeth down to slumber, having slain and ta'en his fill; there he roameth, there be croucheth, as it suits his lordly will. we camped but a few yards from just such a place as the poet describes. the herd-keeper who attended the goats and donkeys, soon after our arrival in camp, drove the animals to water, and in order to obtain it they travelled through a tunnel in the brake, caused by elephants and rhinoceros. they had barely entered the dark cavernous passage, when a black-spotted leopard sprang, and fastened its fangs in the neck of one of the donkeys, causing it, from the pain, to bray hideously. its companions set up such a frightful chorus, and so lashed their heels in the air at the feline marauder, that the leopard bounded away through the brake, as if in sheer dismay at the noisy cries which the attack had provoked. the donkey's neck exhibited some frightful wounds, but the animal was not dangerously hurt. thinking that possibly i might meet with an adventure with a lion or a leopard in that dark belt of tall trees, under whose impenetrable shade grew the dense thicket that formed such admirable coverts for the carnivorous species, i took a stroll along the awesome place with the gunbearer, kalulu, carrying an extra gun, and a further supply of ammunition. we crept cautiously along, looking keenly into the deep dark dens, the entrances of which were revealed to us, as we journeyed, expectant every moment to behold the reputed monarch of the brake and thicket, bound forward to meet us, and i took a special delight in picturing, in my imagination, the splendor and majesty of the wrathful brute, as he might stand before me. i peered closely into every dark opening, hoping to see the deadly glitter of the great angry eyes, and the glowering menacing front of the lion as he would regard me. but, alas! after an hour's search for adventure, i had encountered nothing, and i accordingly waxed courageous, and crept into one of these leafy, thorny caverns, and found myself shortly standing under a canopy of foliage that was held above my head fully a hundred feet by the shapely and towering stems of the royal mvule. who can imagine the position? a smooth lawn-like glade; a dense and awful growth of impenetrable jungle around us; those stately natural pillars--a glorious phalanx of royal trees, bearing at such sublime heights vivid green masses of foliage, through which no single sun-ray penetrated, while at our feet babbled the primeval brook, over smooth pebbles, in soft tones befitting the sacred quiet of the scene! who could have desecrated this solemn, holy harmony of nature? but just as i was thinking it impossible that any man could be tempted to disturb the serene solitude of the place, i saw a monkey perched high on a branch over my head, contemplating, with something of an awe-struck look, the strange intruders beneath. well, i could not help it, i laughed--laughed loud and long, until i was hushed by the chaos of cries and strange noises which seemed to respond to my laughing. a troop of monkeys, hidden in the leafy depths above, had been rudely awakened, and, startled by the noise i made, were hurrying away from the scene with a dreadful clamor of cries and shrieks. emerging again into the broad sunlight, i strolled further in search of something to shoot. presently, i saw, feeding quietly in the forest which bounded the valley of the mtambu on the left, a huge, reddish-coloured wild boar, armed with most horrid tusks. leaving kalulu crouched down behind a tree, and my solar helmet behind another close by--that i might more safely stalk the animal--i advanced towards him some forty yards, and after taking a deliberate aim, fired at his fore shoulder. as if nothing had hurt him whatever, the animal made a furious bound, and then stood with his bristles erected, and tufted tail, curved over the back--a most formidable brute in appearance. while he was thus listening, and searching the neighbourhood with his keen, small eyes, i planted another shot in his chest, which ploughed its way through his body. instead of falling, however, as i expected he would, he charged furiously in the direction the bullet had come, and as he rushed past me, another ball was fired, which went right through him; but still he kept on, until, within six or seven yards from the trees behind which kalulu was crouching down on one side, and the helmet was resting behind another, he suddenly halted, and then dropped. but as i was about to advance on him with my knife to cut his throat, he suddenly started up; his eyes had caught sight of the little boy kalulu, and were then, almost immediately afterwards, attracted by the sight of the snowy helmet. these strange objects on either side of him proved too much for the boar, for, with a terrific grunt, he darted on one side into a thick brake, from which it was impossible to oust him, and as it was now getting late, and the camp was about three miles away, i was reluctantly obliged to return without the meat. on our way to camp we were accompanied by a large animal which persistently followed us on our left. it was too dark to see plainly, but a large form was visible, if not very clearly defined. it must have been a lion, unless it was the ghost of the dead boar. that night, about p.m., we were startled by the roar of a lion, in close proximity to the camp. soon it was joined by another, and another still, and the novelty of the thing kept me awake. i peered through the gate of the camp, and endeavoured to sight a rifle--my little winchester, in the accuracy of which i had perfect confidence; but, alas! for the cartridges, they might have been as well filled with sawdust for all the benefit i derived from them. disgusted with the miserable ammunition, i left the lions alone, and turned in, with their roaring as a lullaby. that terrestrial paradise for the hunter, the valley of the pellucid mtambu, was deserted by us the next morning for the settlement commonly known to the wakawendi as imrera's, with as much unconcern as though it were a howling desert. the village near which we encamped was called itaga, in the district of rusawa. as soon as we had crossed the river mtambu we had entered ukawendi, commonly called "kawendi" by the natives of the country. the district of rusawa is thickly populated. the people are quiet and well-disposed to strangers, though few ever come to this region from afar. one or two wasawahili traders visit it every year or so from pumburu and usowa; but very little ivory being obtained from the people, the long distance between the settlements serves to deter the regular trader from venturing hither. if caravans arrive here, the objective point to them is the district of pumburu, situated south-westerly one day's good marching, or, say, thirty statute miles from imrera; or they make for usowa, on the tanganika, via pumburu, katuma, uyombeh, and ugarawah. usowa is quite an important district on the tanganika, populous and flourishing. this was the road we had intended to adopt after leaving imrera, but the reports received at the latter place forbade such a venture. for mapunda, the sultan of usowa, though a great friend to arab traders, was at war with the colony of the wazavira, who we must remember were driven from mpokwa and vicinity in utanda, and who were said to have settled between pumburu and usowa. it remained for us, like wise, prudent men, having charge of a large and valuable expedition on our hands, to decide what to do, and what route to adopt, now that we had approached much nearer to ujiji than we were to unyanyembe. i suggested that we should make direct for the tanganika by compass, trusting to no road or guide, but to march direct west until we came to the tanganika, and then follow the lake shore on foot until we came to ujiji. for it ever haunted my mind, that, if dr. livingstone should hear of my coming, which he might possibly do if i travelled along any known road, he would leave, and that my search for him would consequently be a "stern chase." but my principal men thought it better that we should now boldly turn our faces north, and march for the malagarazi, which was said to be a large river flowing from the east to the tanganika. but none of my men knew the road to the malagarazi, neither could guides be hired from sultan imrera. we were, however, informed that the malagarazi was but two days' march from imrera. i thought it safe, in such a case, to provision my men with three days' rations. the village of itaga is situated in a deep mountain hollow, finely overlooking a large extent of cultivation. the people grow sweet potatoes, manioc--out of which tapioca is made--beans, and the holcus. not one chicken could be purchased for love or money, and, besides grain, only a lean, scraggy specimen of a goat, a long time ago imported form uvinza, was procurable. october the th will be remembered by me as a day of great troubles; in fact, a series of troubles began from this date. we struck an easterly road in order to obtain a passage to the lofty plateau which bounded the valley of imrera on the west and on the north. we camped, after a two and a half hours' march, at its foot. the defile promised a feasible means of ascent to the summit of the plateau, which rose upward in a series of scarps a thousand feet above the valley of imrera. while ascending that lofty arc of mountains which bounded westerly and northerly the basin of imrera, extensive prospects southward and eastward were revealed. the character of the scenery at ukawendi is always animated and picturesque, but never sublime. the folds of this ridge contained several ruins of bomas, which seemed to have been erected during war time. the mbemba fruit was plentiful along this march, and every few minutes i could see from the rear one or two men hastening to secure a treasure of it which they discovered on the ground. a little before reaching the camp i had a shot at a leopard, but failed to bring him down as he bounded away. at night the lions roared as at the mtambu river. a lengthy march under the deep twilight shadows of a great forest, which protected us from the hot sunbeams, brought us, on the next day, to a camp newly constructed by a party of arabs from ujiji, who had advanced thus far on their road to unyanyembe, but, alarmed at the reports of the war between mirambo and the arabs, had returned. our route was along the right bank of the rugufu, a broad sluggish stream, well choked with the matete reeds and the papyrus. the tracks and the bois de vaches of buffaloes were numerous, and there were several indications of rhinoceros being near. in a deep clump of timber near this river we discovered a colony of bearded and leonine-looking monkeys. as we were about leaving our camp on the morning of the th a herd of buffalo walked deliberately into view. silence was quickly restored, but not before the animals, to their great surprise, had discovered the danger which confronted them. we commenced stalking them, but we soon heard the thundering sound of their gallop, after which it becomes a useless task to follow them, with a long march in a wilderness before one. the road led on this day over immense sheets of sandstone and iron ore. the water was abominable, and scarce, and famine began to stare us in the face. we travelled for six hours, and had yet seen no sign of cultivation anywhere. according to my map we were yet two long marches from the malagarazi--if captain burton had correctly laid down the position of the river; according to the natives' account, we should have arrived at the malagarazi on this day. on the th we left our camp, and after a few minutes, we were in view of the sublimest, but ruggedest, scenes we had yet beheld in africa. the country was cut up in all directions by deep, wild, and narrow ravines trending in all directions, but generally toward the north-west, while on either side rose enormous square masses of naked rock (sandstone), sometimes towering, and rounded, sometimes pyramidal, sometimes in truncated cones, sometimes in circular ridges, with sharp, rugged, naked backs, with but little vegetation anywhere visible, except it obtained a precarious tenure in the fissured crown of some gigantic hill-top, whither some soil had fallen, or at the base of the reddish ochre scarps which everywhere lifted their fronts to our view. a long series of descents down rocky gullies, wherein we were environed by threatening masses of disintegrated rock, brought us to a dry, stony ravine, with mountain heights looming above us a thousand feet high. this ravine we followed, winding around in all directions, but which gradually widened, however, into a broad plain, with a western trend. the road, leaving this, struck across a low ridge to the north; and we were in view of deserted settlements where the villages were built on frowning castellated masses of rock. near an upright mass of rock over seventy feet high, and about fifty yards in diameter, which dwarfed the gigantic sycamore close to it, we made our camp, after five hours and thirty minutes' continuous and rapid marching. the people were very hungry; they had eaten every scrap of meat, and every grain they possessed, twenty hours before, and there was no immediate prospect of food. i had but a pound and a half of flour left, and this would not have sufficed to begin to feed a force of over forty-five people; but i had something like thirty pounds of tea, and twenty pounds of sugar left, and i at once, as soon as we arrived at camp, ordered every kettle to be filled and placed on the fire, and then made tea for all; giving each man a quart of a hot, grateful beverage; well sweetened. parties stole out also into the depths: of the jungle to search for wild fruit, and soon returned laden with baskets of the wood-peach and tamarind fruit, which though it did not satisfy, relieved them. that night, before going to sleep, the wangwana set up a loud prayer to "allah" to give them food. we rose betimes in the morning, determined to travel on until food could be procured, or we dropped down from sheer fatigue and weakness. rhinoceros' tracks abounded, and buffalo seemed to be plentiful, but we never beheld a living thing. we crossed scores of short steeps, and descended as often into the depths of dry, stony gullies, and then finally entered a valley, bounded on one side by a triangular mountain with perpendicular sides, and on the other by a bold group, a triplet of hills. while marching down this valley--which soon changed its dry, bleached aspect to a vivid green--we saw a forest in the distance, and shortly found ourselves in corn-fields. looking keenly around for a village, we descried it on the summit of the lofty triangular hill on our right. a loud exultant shout was raised at the discovery. the men threw down their packs, and began to clamour for food. volunteers were asked to come forward to take cloth, and scale the heights to obtain it from the village, at any price. while three or four sallied off we rested on the ground, quite worn out. in about an hour the foraging party returned with the glorious tidings that food was plentiful; that the village we saw was called, "welled nzogera's"--the son of nzogera--by which, of course, we knew that we were in uvinza, nzogera being the principal chief in uvinza. we were further informed that nzogera, the father, was at war with lokanda-mire, about some salt-pans in the valley of the malagarazi, and that it would be difficult to go to ujiji by the usual road, owing to this war; but, for a consideration, the son of nzogera was willing to supply us with guides, who would take us safely, by a northern road, to ujiji. everything auguring well for our prospects, we encamped to enjoy the good cheer, for which our troubles and privations, during the transit of the ukawendi forests and jungles, had well prepared us. i am now going to extract from my diary of the march, as, without its aid, i deem it impossible to relate fully our various experiences, so as to show them properly as they occurred to us; and as these extracts were written and recorded at the close of each day, they possess more interest, in my opinion, than a cold relation of facts, now toned down in memory. october st. tuesday.--our road led e.n.e. for a considerable time after leaving the base of the triangular mountain whereon the son of nzogera has established his stronghold, in order to avoid a deep and impassable portion of marsh, that stood between us and the direct route to the malagarazi river. the valley sloped rapidly to this marsh, which received in its broad bosom the drainage of three extensive ranges. soon we turned our faces northwest, and prepared to cross the marsh; and the guides informed us, as we halted on its eastern bank, of a terrible catastrophe which occurred a few yards above where we were preparing to cross. they told of an arab and his caravan, consisting of thirty-five slaves, who had suddenly sunk out of sight, and who were never more heard of. this marsh, as it appeared to us, presented a breadth of some hundreds of yards, on which grew a close network of grass, with much decayed matter mixed up with it. in the centre of this, and underneath it, ran a broad, deep, and rapid stream. as the guides proceeded across, the men stole after them with cautious footsteps. as they arrived near the centre we began to see this unstable grassy bridge, so curiously provided by nature for us, move up and down in heavy languid undulations, like the swell of the sea after a storm. where the two asses of the expedition moved, the grassy waves rose a foot high; but suddenly one unfortunate animal plunged his feet through, and as he was unable to rise, he soon made a deep hollow, which was rapidly filling with water. with the aid of ten men, however, we were enabled to lift him bodily up and land him on a firmer part, and guiding them both across rapidly, the entire caravan crossed without accident. on arriving at the other side, we struck off to the north, and found ourselves in a delightful country, in every way suitable for agriculturists. great rocks rose here and there, but in their fissures rose stately trees, under whose umbrage nestled the villages of the people. we found the various village elders greedy for cloth, but the presence of the younger son of nzogera's men restrained their propensity for extortion. goats and sheep were remarkably cheap, and in good condition; and, consequently, to celebrate our arrival near the malagarazi, a flock of eight goats was slaughtered, and distributed to the men. november st.--striking north-west, after leaving our camp, and descending the slope of a mountain, we soon beheld the anxiously looked-for malagarazi, a narrow but deep stream, flowing through a valley pent in by lofty mountains. fish-eating birds lined the trees on its banks; villages were thickly scattered about. food was abundant and cheap. after travelling along the left bank of the river a few miles, we arrived at the settlements recognizing kiala as their ruler. i had anticipated we should be able at once to cross the river, but difficulties arose. we were told to camp, before any negotiations could be entered into. when we demurred, we were informed we might cross the river if we wished, but we should not be assisted by any mvinza. being compelled to halt for this day, the tent was pitched in the middle of one of the villages, and the bales were stored in one of the huts, with four soldiers to guard them. after despatching an embassy to kiala, eldest son of the great chief nzogera, to request permission to cross the river as a peaceable caravan, kiala sent word that the white man should cross his river after the payment of fifty-six cloths! fifty-six cloths signified a bale nearly! here was another opportunity for diplomacy. bombay and asmani were empowered to treat with kiala about the honga, but it was not to exceed twenty-five doti. at a.m., having spoken for seven hours, the two men returned, with the demand for thirteen doti for nzogera, and ten doti for kiala. poor bombay was hoarse, but asmani still smiled; and i relented, congratulating myself that the preposterous demand, which was simply robbery, was no worse. three hours later another demand was made. kiala had been visited by a couple of chiefs from his father; and the chiefs being told that a white man was at the ferry, put in a claim for a couple of guns and a keg of gunpowder. but here my patience was exhausted, and i declared that they should have to take them by force, for i would never consent to be robbed and despoiled after any such fashion. until p.m., bombay and asmani were negotiating about this extra demand, arguing, quarreling, threatening, until bombay declared they would talk him mad if it lasted much longer. i told bombay to take two cloths, one for each chief, and, if they did not consider it enough, then i should fight. the present was taken, and the negotiations were terminated at midnight. november nd.--ihata island, one and a half hour west of kiala's. we arrived before the island of ihata, on the left bank of the malagarazi, at p.m.; the morning having been wasted in puerile talk with the owner of the canoes at the ferry. the final demand for ferriage across was eight yards of cloth and four fundo* of sami-sami, or red beads; which was at once paid. four men, with their loads, were permitted to cross in the small, unshapely, and cranky canoes. when the boatmen had discharged their canoes of their passengers and cargoes, they were ordered to halt on the other side, and, to my astonishment, another demand was made. the ferrymen had found that two fundo of these were of short measure, and two fundo more must be paid, otherwise the contract for ferrying us across would be considered null and void. so two fundo more were added, but not without demur and much "talk," which in these lands is necessary. ** fundo == necklaces; fundo being necklaces. three times the canoes went backwards and forwards, when, lo! another demand was made, with the usual clamour and fierce wordy dispute; this time for five khete # for the man who guided us to the ferry, a shukka of cloth for a babbler, who had attached himself to the old-womanish jumah, who did nothing but babble and increase the clamor. these demands were also settled. # necklaces. about sunset we endeavoured to cross the donkeys. "simba," a fine wild kinyamwezi donkey, went in first, with a rope attached to his neck. he had arrived at the middle of the stream when we saw him begin to struggle--a crocodile had seized him by the throat. the poor animal's struggles were terrific. chowpereh was dragging on the rope with all his might, but to no use, for the donkey sank, and we saw no more of him. the depth of the river at this place was about fifteen feet. we had seen the light-brown heads, the glittering eyes, and the ridgy backs, hovering about the vicinity, but we had never thought that the reptiles would advance so near such an exciting scene as the vicinity of the ferry presented during the crossing. saddened a little by this loss, we resumed our work, and by p.m. we were all across, excepting bombay and the only donkey now left, which was to be brought across in the morning, when the crocodiles should have deserted the river. november rd.--what contention have we not been a witness to these last three days! what anxiety have we not suffered ever since our arrival in uvinza! the wavinza are worse than the wagogo, and their greed is more insatiable. we got the donkey across with the aid of a mganga, or medicine man, who spat some chewed leaves of a tree which grows close to the stream over him. he informed me he could cross the river at any time, day or night, after rubbing his body with these chewed leaves, which he believed to be a most potent medicine. about a.m. appeared from the direction of ujiji a caravan of eighty waguhha, a tribe which occupies a tract of country on the south-western side of the lake tanganika. we asked the news, and were told a white man had just arrived at ujiji from manyuema. this news startled us all. "a white man?" we asked. "yes, a white man," they replied. "how is he dressed?" "like the master," they answered, referring to me. "is he young, or old?" "he is old. he has white hair on his face, and is sick." "where has he come from?" "from a very far country away beyond uguhha, called manyuema." "indeed! and is he stopping at ujiji now?" "yes, we saw him about eight days ago." "do you think he will stop there until we see him?" "sigue" (don't know). "was he ever at ujiji before?" "yes, he went away a long time ago." hurrah! this is livingstone! he must be livingstone! he can be no other; but still;--he may be some one else--some one from the west coast--or perhaps he is baker! no; baker has no white hair on his face. but we must now march quick, lest he hears we are coming, and runs away. i addressed my men, and asked them if they were willing to march to ujiji without a single halt, and then promised them, if they acceded to my wishes, two doti each man. all answered in the affirmative, almost as much rejoiced as i was myself. but i was madly rejoiced; intensely eager to resolve the burning question, "is it dr. david livingstone?" god grant me patience, but i do wish there was a railroad, or, at least, horses in this country. we set out at once from the banks of the malagarazi, accompanied by two guides furnished us by usenge, the old man of the ferry, who, now that we had crossed, showed himself more amiably disposed to us. we arrived at the village of isinga, sultan katalambula, after a little over an hour's march across a saline plain, but which as we advanced into the interior became fertile and productive. november th.--started early with great caution, maintaining deep silence. the guides were sent forward, one two hundred yards ahead of the other, that we might be warned in time. the first part of the march was through a thin jungle of dwarf trees, which got thinner and thinner until finally it vanished altogether, and we had entered uhha--a plain country. villages were visible by the score among the tall bleached stalks of dourra and maize. sometimes three, sometimes five, ten, or twenty beehive-shaped huts formed a village. the wahha were evidently living in perfect security, for not one village amongst them all was surrounded with the customary defence of an african village. a narrow dry ditch formed the only boundary between uhha and uvinza. on entering uhha, all danger from makumbi vanished. we halted at kawanga, the chief of which lost no time in making us understand that he was the great mutware of kimenyi under the king, and that he was the tribute gatherer for his kiha majesty. he declared that he was the only one in kimenyi--an eastern division of uhha--who could demand tribute; and that it would be very satisfactory to him, and a saving of trouble to ourselves, if we settled his claim of twelve doti of good cloths at once. we did not think it the best way of proceeding, knowing as we did the character of the native african; so we at once proceeded to diminish this demand; but, after six hours' hot argument, the mutware only reduced it by two. this claim was then settled, upon the understanding that we should be allowed to travel through uhha as far as the rusugi river without being further mulcted. november th.--leaving kawanga early in the morning and continuing our march over the boundless plains, which were bleached white by the hot equatorial sun, we were marching westward full of pleasant anticipations that we were nearing the end of our troubles, joyfully congratulating ourselves that within five days we should see that which i had come so far from civilisation, and through so many difficulties, to see, and were about passing a cluster of villages, with all the confidence which men possess against whom no one had further claim or a word to say, when i noticed two men darting from a group of natives who were watching us, and running towards the head of the expedition, with the object, evidently, of preventing further progress. the caravan stopped, and i walked forward to ascertain the cause from the two natives. i was greeted politely by the two wahha with the usual "yambos," and was then asked, "why does the white man pass by the village of the king of uhha without salutation and a gift? does not the white man know there lives a king in uhha, to whom the wangwana and arabs pay something for right of passage?" "why, we paid last night to the chief of kawanga, who informed us that he was the man deputed by the king of uhha to collect the toll." "how much did you pay?" "ten doti of good cloth." "are you sure?" "quite sure. if you ask him, he will tell you so." "well," said one of the wahha, a fine, handsome, intelligent-looking youth, "it is our duty to the king to halt you here until we find out the truth of this. will you walk to our village, and rest yourselves under the shade of our trees until we can send messengers to kawanga?" "no; the sun is but an hour high, and we have far to travel; but, in order to show you we do not seek to pass through your country without doing that which is right, we will rest where we now stand, and we will send with your messengers two of our soldiers, who will show you the man to whom we paid the cloth." the messengers departed; but, in the meantime, the handsome youth, who turned out to be the nephew of the king, whispered some order to a lad, who immediately hastened away, with the speed of an antelope, to the cluster of villages which we had just passed. the result of this errand, as we saw in a short time, was the approach of a body of warriors, about fifty in number, headed by a tall, fine-looking man, who was dressed in a crimson robe called joho, two ends of which were tied in a knot over the left shoulder; a new piece of american sheeting was folded like a turban around his head, and a large curved piece of polished ivory was suspended to his neck. he and his people were all armed with spears, and bows and arrows, and their advance was marked with a deliberation that showed they felt confidence in any issue that might transpire. we were halted on the eastern side of the pombwe stream, near the village of lukomo, in kimenyi, uhha. the gorgeously-dressed chief was a remarkable man in appearance. his face was oval in form, high cheek-bones, eyes deeply sunk, a prominent and bold forehead, a fine nose, and a well-cut mouth; he was tall in figure, and perfectly symmetrical. when near to us, he hailed me with the words, "yambo, bana?--how do you do, master?" in quite a cordial tone. i replied cordially also, "yambo, mutware?--how do you do, chief?" we, myself and men, interchanged "yambos" with his warriors; and there was nothing in our first introduction to indicate that the meeting was of a hostile character. the chief seated himself, his haunches resting on his heels, laying down his bow and arrows by his side; his men did likewise. i seated myself on a bale, and each of my men sat down on their loads, forming quite a semicircle. the wahha slightly outnumbered my party; but, while they were only armed with bows and arrows, spears, and knob-sticks, we were armed with rifles, muskets, revolvers, pistols, and hatchets. all were seated, and deep silence was maintained by the assembly. the great plains around us were as still in this bright noon as if they were deserted of all living creatures. then the chief spoke: "i am mionvu, the great mutware of kimenyi, and am next to the king, who lives yonder," pointing to a large village near some naked hills about ten miles to the north. "i have come to talk with the white man. it has always been the custom of the arabs and the wangwana to make a present to the king when they pass through his country. does not the white man mean to pay the king's dues? why does the white man halt in the road? why will he not enter the village of lukomo, where there is food and shade--where we can discuss this thing quietly? does the white man mean to fight? i know well he is stronger than we are. his men have guns, and the wahha have but bows and arrows, and spears; but uhha is large, and our villages are many. let him look about him everywhere--all is uhha, and our country extends much further than he can see or walk in a day. the king of uhha is strong; yet he wishes friendship only with the white man. will the white man have war or peace?" a deep murmur of assent followed this speech of mionvu from his people, and disapprobation, blended with a certain uneasiness; from my men. when about replying, the words of general sherman, which i heard him utter to the chiefs of the arapahoes and cheyennes at north platte, in , came to my mind; and something of their spirit i embodied in my reply to mionvu, mutware of kimenyi. "mionvu, the great mutware, asks me if i have come for war. when did mionvu ever hear of white men warring against black men? mionvu must understand that the white men are different from the black. white men do not leave their country to fight the black people, neither do they come here to buy ivory or slaves. they come to make friends with black people; they come to search for rivers; and lakes, and mountains; they come to discover what countries, what peoples, what rivers, what lakes, what forests, what plains, what mountains and hills are in your country; to know the different animals that are in the land of the black people, that, when they go back, they may tell the white kings, and men, and children, what they have seen and heard in the land so far from them. the white people are different from the arabs and wangwana; the white people know everything, and are very strong. when they fight, the arabs and the wangwana run away. we have great guns which thunder, and when they shoot the earth trembles; we have guns which carry bullets further than you can see: even with these little things" (pointing to my revolvers) "i could kill ten men quicker than you could count. we are stronger than the wahha. mionvu has spoken the truth, yet we do not wish to fight. i could kill mionvu now, yet i talk to him as to a friend. i wish to be a friend to mionvu, and to all black people. will mionvu say what i can do for him?" as these words were translated to him--imperfectly, i suppose, but still, intelligibly--the face of the wahha showed how well they appreciated them. once or twice i thought i detected something like fear, but my assertions that i desired peace and friendship with them soon obliterated all such feelings. mionvu replied: "the white man tells me he is friendly. why does he not come to our village? why does he stop on the road? the sun is hot. mionvu will not speak here any more. if the white man is a friend he will come to the village." "we must stop now. it is noon. you have broken our march. we will go and camp in your village," i said, at the same time rising and pointing to the men to take up their loads. we were compelled to camp; there was no help for it; the messengers had not returned from kawanga. having arrived in his village, mionvu had cast himself at full length under the scanty shade afforded by a few trees within the boma. about p.m. the messengers returned, saying it was true the chief of kawanga had taken ten cloths; not, however for the king of uhha, but for himself! mionvu, who evidently was keen-witted, and knew perfectly what he was about, now roused himself, and began to make miniature faggots of thin canes, ten in each faggot, and shortly he presented ten of these small bundles, which together contained one hundred, to me, saying each stick represented a cloth, and the amount of the "honga" required by the king of uhha was one hundred cloths!--nearly two bales! recovering from our astonishment, which was almost indescribable, we offered ten. "ten! to the king of uhha! impossible. you do not stir from lukomo until you pay us one hundred!" exclaimed mionvu, in a significant manner. i returned no answer, but went to my hut, which mionvu had cleared for my use, and bombay, asmani, mabruki, and chowpereh were invited--to come to me for consultation. upon my asking them if we could not fight our way through uhha, they became terror-stricken, and bombay, in imploring accents, asked me to think well what i was about to do, because it was useless to enter on a war with the wahha. "uhha is all a plain country; we cannot hide anywhere. every village will rise all about us, and how can forty-five men fight thousands of people? they would kill us all in a few minutes, and how would you ever reach ujiji if you died? think of it, my dear master, and do not throw your life away for a few rags of cloth." "well, but, bombay, this is robbery. shall we submit to be robbed? shall we give this fellow everything he asks? he might as well ask me for all the cloth, and all my guns, without letting him see that we can fight. i can kill mionvu and his principal men myself, and you can slay all those howlers out there without much trouble. if mionvu and his principal were dead we should not be troubled much, and we could strike south to the mala-garazi, and go west to ujiji." "no, no, dear master, don't think of it for a moment. if we went neat the malagarazi we should come across lokanda-mira." "well, then, we will go north." "up that way uhha extends far; and beyond uhha are the watuta." "well, then, say what we shall do. we must do something; but we must not be robbed." "pay mionvu what he asks, and let us go away from here. this is the last place we shall have to pay. and in four days we shall be in ujiji." "did mionvu tell you that this is the last time we would have to pay?" "he did, indeed." "what do you say, asmani? shall we fight or pay?" asmani's face wore the usual smile, but he replied, "i am afraid we must pay. this is positively the last time." "and you, chowpereh?" "pay, bana; it is better to get along quietly in this country. if we were strong enough they would pay us. ah, if we had only two hundred guns, how these wahha would run!" "what do you say, mabruki?" "ah, master, dear master; it is very hard, and these people are great robbers. i would like to chop their heads off, all; so i would. but you had better pay. this is the last time; and what are one hundred cloths to you?" "well, then, bombay and asmani, go to mionvu, and offer him twenty. if he will not take twenty, give him thirty. if he refuses thirty, give him forty; then go up to eighty, slowly. make plenty of talk; not one doti more. i swear to you i will shoot mionvu if he demands more than eighty. go, and remember to be wise." i will cut the matter short. at p.m. sixty-four doti were handed over to mionvu, for the king of uhha; six doti for himself, and five doti for his sub; altogether seventy-five doti-- a bale and a quarter! no sooner had we paid than they began to fight amongst themselves over the booty, and i was in hopes that the factions would proceed to battle, that i might have good excuse for leaving them, and plunging south to the jungle that i believed existed there, by which means, under its friendly cover, we might strike west. but no, it was only a verbose war, which portended nothing more than a noisy clamor. november th.--at dawn we were on the road, very silent and sad. our stock of cloth was much diminished; we had nine bales left, sufficient to have taken us to the atlantic ocean--aided by the beads, which were yet untouched--if we practised economy. if i met many more like mionvu i had not enough to take me to ujiji, and, though we were said to be so near, livingstone seemed to me to be just as far as ever. we crossed the pombwe, and then struck across a slowly-undulating plain rising gradually to mountains on our right, and on our left sinking towards the valley of the malagarazi, which river was about twenty miles away. villages rose to our view everywhere. food was cheap, milk was plentiful, and the butter good. after a four hours' march, we crossed the kanengi river, and entered the boma of kahirigi, inhabited by several watusi and wahha. here, we were told, lived the king of uhha's brother. this announcement was anything but welcome, and i began to suspect i had fallen into another hornets' nest. we had not rested two hours before two wangwana entered my tent, who were slaves of thani bin abdullah, our dandified friend of unyanyembe. these men came, on the part of the king's brother, to claim the honga! the king's brother, demanded thirty doti! half a bale! merciful providence! what shall i do? we had been told by mionvu that the honga of uhha was settled--and now here is another demand from the king's brother! it is the second time the lie has been told, and we have twice been deceived. we shall be deceived no more. these two men informed us there were five more chiefs, living but two hours from each other, who would exact tribute, or black-mail, like those we had seen. knowing this much, i felt a certain calm. it was far better to know the worst at once. five more chiefs with their demands would assuredly ruin us. in view of which, what is to be done? how am i to reach livingstone, without being beggared? dismissing the men, i called bombay, and told him to assist asmani in settling the honga--"as cheaply as possible." i then lit my pipe, put on the cap of consideration, and began to think. within half an hour, i had made a plan, which was to be attempted to be put in execution that very night. i summoned the two slaves of thani bin abdullah, after the honga had been settled to everybody's satisfaction--though the profoundest casuistries and diplomatic arguments failed to reduce it lower than twenty-six doti--and began asking them about the possibility of evading the tribute-taking wahha ahead. this rather astonished them at first, and they declared it to be impossible; but, finally, after being pressed, they replied, that one of their number should guide us at midnight, or a little after, into the jungle which grew on the frontiers of uhha and uvinza. by keeping a direct west course through this jungle until we came to ukaranga we might be enabled--we were told--to travel through uhha without further trouble. if i were willing to pay the guide twelve doti, and if i were able to impose silence on my people while passing through the sleeping village, the guide was positive i could reach ujiji without paying another doti. it is needless to add, that i accepted the proffered assistance at such a price with joy. but there was much to be done. provisions were to be purchased, sufficient to last four days, for the tramp through the jungle, and men were at once sent with cloth to purchase grain at any price. fortune favoured us, for before p.m. we had enough for six days. november th.--i did not go to sleep at all last night, but a little after midnight, as the moon was beginning to show itself, by gangs of four, the men stole quietly out of the village; and by a.m. the entire expedition was outside the boma, and not the slightest alarm had been made. after a signal to the new guide, the expedition began to move in a southern direction along the right bank of the kanengi river. after an hour's march in this direction, we struck west, across the grassy plain, and maintained it, despite the obstacles we encountered, which were sore enough to naked men. the bright moon lighted our path: dark clouds now and then cast immense long shadows over the deserted and silent plains, and the moonbeans were almost obscured, and at such times our position seemed awful-- till the moon. rising in clouded majesty, at length, apparent queen, unveiled her peerless light, and o'er the dark her silver mantle threw. bravely toiled the men, without murmur, though their legs were bleeding from the cruel grass. "ambrosial morn" at last appeared, with all its beautiful and lovely features. heaven was born anew to us, with comforting omens and cheery promise. the men, though fatigued at the unusual travel, sped forward with quicker, pace as daylight broke, until, at a.m., we sighted the swift rusugi river, when a halt was ordered in a clump of jungle near it, for breakfast and rest. both banks of the river were alive with buffalo, eland, and antelope, but, though the sight was very tempting, we did not fire, because we dared not. the report of a gun would have alarmed the whole country. i preferred my coffee, and the contentment which my mind experienced at our success. an hour after we had rested, some natives, carrying salt from the malagarazi, were seen coming up the right bank of the river. when abreast of our hiding-place, they detected us, and dropping their salt-bags, they took to their heels at once, shouting out as they ran, to alarm some villages that appeared about four miles north of us. the men were immediately ordered to take up their loads, and in a few minutes we had crossed the rusugi, and were making direct for a bamboo jungle that appeared in our front. on, on, we kept steadily until, at p.m., we sighted the little lake of musunya, as wearied as possible with our nine hours march. lake musunya is one of the many circular basins found in this part of uhha. there was quite a group of them. the more correct term of these lakes would be immense pools. in the masika season, lake musunya must extend to three or four miles in length by two in breadth. it swarms with hippopotami, and its shores abound with noble game. we were very quiet, as may be imagined, in our bivouac; neither tent nor hut was raised, nor was fire kindled, so that, in case of pursuit, we could move off without delay. i kept my winchester rifle (the gift of my friend mr. morris, and a rare gift it was for such a crisis) with its magazine full, and two hundred cartridges in a bag slung over my shoulders. each soldier's gun was also ready and loaded, and we retired to sleep our fatigues off with a feeling of perfect security. november th.--long before dawn appeared, we were on the march, and, as daylight broke, we emerged from the bamboo jungle, and struck across the naked plain of uhha, once more passing several large pools by the way--far-embracing prospects of undulating country, with here and there a characteristic clump of trees relieving the general nudity of the whole. hour after hour we toiled on, across the rolling land waves, the sun shining with all its wonted african fervor, but with its heat slightly tempered by the welcome breezes, which came laden with the fragrance of young grass, and perfume of strange flowers of various hues, that flecked the otherwise pale-green sheet which extended so far around us. we arrived at the rugufu river--not the ukawendi rugufu, but the northern stream of that name, a tributary of the malagarazi. it was a broad shallow stream, and sluggish, with an almost imperceptible flow south-west. while we halted in the deep shade afforded by a dense clump of jungle, close to the right bank, resting awhile before continuing our journey. i distinctly heard a sound as of distant thunder in the west. upon asking if it were thunder, i was told it was kabogo. "kabogo? what is that?" "it is a great mountain on the other side of the tanganika, full of deep holes, into which the water rolls; and when there is wind on the tanganika, there is a sound like mvuha (thunder). many boats have been lost there, and it is a custom with arabs and natives to throw cloth--merikani and kaniki--and especially white (merikani) beads, to appease the mulungu (god) of the lake. those who throw beads generally get past without trouble, but those who do not throw beads into the lake get lost, and are drowned. oh, it is a dreadful place!" this story was told me by the ever-smiling guide asmani, and was corroborated by other former mariners of the lake whom i had with me. at the least, this place where we halted for dinner, on the banks of the rugufu river, is eighteen and a half hours, or forty-six miles, from ujiji; and, as kabogo is said to be near uguhha, it must be over sixty miles from ujiji; therefore the sound of the thundering surf, which is said to roll into the caves of kabogo, was heard by us at a distance of over one hundred miles away from them. continuing our journey for three hours longer, through thin forests, over extensive beds of primitive rock, among fields of large boulders thickly strewn about, passing by numerous herds of buffalo, giraffe, and zebra, over a quaking quagmire which resembled peat, we arrived at the small stream of sunuzzi, to a camping place only a mile removed from a large settlement of wahha. but we were buried in the depths of a great forest--no road was in the vicinity, no noise was made, deep silence was preserved; nor were fires lit. we might therefore rest tranquilly secure, certain that we should not be disturbed. to-morrow morning the kirangozi has promised we shall be out of uhha, and if we travel on to niamtaga, in ukaranga, the same day, the next day would see us in ujiji. patience, my soul! a few hours more, then the end of all this will be known! i shall be face to face with that "white man with the white hairs on his face, whoever he is!" november th.--two hours before dawn we left our camp on the sunuzzi river, and struck through the forest in a north-by-west direction, having muzzled our goats previously, lest, by their bleating, they might betray us. this was a mistake which might have ended tragically, for just as the eastern sky began to assume a pale greyish tint, we emerged from the jungle on the high road. the guide thought we had passed uhha, and set up a shout which was echoed by every member of the caravan, and marched onward with new vigor and increased energy, when plump we came to the outskirts of a village, the inhabitants of which were beginning to stir. silence was called for at once, and the expedition halted immediately. i walked forward to the front to advise with the guide. he did not know what to do. there was no time to consider, so i ordered the goats to be slaughtered and left on the road, and the guide to push on boldly through the village. the chickens also had their throats cut; after which the expedition resumed the march quickly and silently, led by the guide, who had orders to plunge into the jungle south of the road. i stayed until the last man had disappeared; then, after preparing my winchester, brought up the rear, followed by my gunbearers with their stock of ammunition. as we were about disappearing beyond the last hut, a man darted out of his hut, and uttered an exclamation of alarm, and loud voices were heard as if in dispute. but in a short time we were in the depths of the jungle, hurrying away from the road in a southern direction, and edging slightly westward. once i thought we were pursued, and i halted behind a tree to check our foes if they persisted in following us; but a few minutes proved to me that we were not pursued, after half-an-hour's march we again turned our faces westward. it was broad daylight now, and our eyes were delighted with most picturesque and sequestered little valleys, where wild fruit-trees grew, and rare flowers blossomed, and tiny brooks tumbled over polished pebbles--where all was bright and beautiful--until, finally, wading through one pretty pure streamlet, whose soft murmurs we took for a gentle welcome, we passed the boundary of wicked uhha, and had entered ukaranga!-- an event that was hailed with extravagant shouts of joy. presently we found the smooth road, and we trod gaily with elastic steps, with limbs quickened for the march which we all knew to be drawing near its end. what cared we now for the difficulties we had encountered--for the rough and cruel forests, for the thorny thickets and hurtful grass, for the jangle of all savagedom, of which we had been the joyless audience! to-morrow! ay, the great day draws nigh, and we may well laugh and sing while in this triumphant mood. we have been sorely tried; we have been angry with each other when vexed by troubles, but we forget all these now, and there is no face but is radiant with the happiness we have all deserved. we made a short halt at noon, for rest and refreshment. i was shown the hills from which the tanganika could be seen, which bounded the valley of the liuche on the east. i could not contain myself at the sight of them. even with this short halt i was restless and unsatisfied. we resumed the march again. i spurred my men forward with the promise that to-morrow should see their reward. we were in sight of the villages of the wakaranga; the people caught sight of us, and manifested considerable excitement. i sent men ahead to reassure them, and they came forward to greet us. this was so new and welcome to us, so different from the turbulent wavinza and the black-mailers of uhha, that we were melted. but we had no time to loiter by the way to indulge our joy. i was impelled onward by my almost uncontrollable feelings. i wished to resolve my doubts and fears. was he still there? had he heard of my coming? would he fly? how beautiful ukaranga appears! the green hills are crowned by clusters of straw-thatched cones. the hills rise and fall; here denuded and cultivated, there in pasturage, here timbered, yonder swarming with huts. the country has somewhat the aspect of maryland. we cross the mkuti, a glorious little river! we ascend the opposite bank, and stride through the forest like men who have done a deed of which they may be proud. we have already travelled nine hours, and the sun is sinking rapidly towards the west; yet, apparently, we are not fatigued. we reach the outskirts of niamtaga, and we hear drums beat. the people are flying into the woods; they desert their villages, for they take us to be ruga-ruga--the forest thieves of mirambo, who, after conquering the arabs of unyanyembe, are coming to fight the arabs of ujiji. even the king flies from his village, and every man, woman, and child, terror-stricken, follows him. we enter into it and quietly take possession. finally, the word is bruited about that we are wangwana, from unyanyembe. "well, then, is mirambo dead?" they ask. "no," we answer. "well, how did you come to ukaranga?" "by way of ukonongo, ukawendi, and uhha." "oh--hi-le!" then they laugh heartily at their fright, and begin to make excuses. the king is introduced to me, and he says he had only gone to the woods in order to attack us again--he meant to have come back and killed us all, if we had been ruga-ruga. but then we know the poor king was terribly frightened, and would never have dared to return, had we been rugaruga--not he. we are not, however, in a mood to quarrel with him about an idiomatic phrase peculiar to him, but rather take him by the hand and shake it well, and say we are so very glad to see him. and he shares in our pleasure, and immediately three of the fattest sheep, pots of beer, flour, and honey are brought to us as a gift, and i make him happier still with two of the finest cloths i have in my bales; and thus a friendly pact is entered into between us. while i write my diary of this day's proceedings, i tell my servant to lay out my new flannel suit, to oil my boots, to chalk my helmet, and fold a new puggaree around it, that i may make as presentable an appearance as possible before the white man with the grey beard, and before the arabs of ujiji; for the clothes i have worn through jungle and forest are in tatters. good-night; only let one day come again, and we shall see what we shall see. november th. friday.--the th day from bagamoyo on the sea, and the st day from unyanyembe. general direction to ujiji, west-by-south. time of march, six hours. it is a happy, glorious morning. the air is fresh and cool. the sky lovingly smiles on the earth and her children. the deep woods are crowned in bright vernal leafage; the water of the mkuti, rushing under the emerald shade afforded by the bearded banks, seems to challenge us for the race to ujiji, with its continuous brawl. we are all outside the village cane fence, every man of us looking as spruce, as neat, and happy as when we embarked on the dhows at zanzibar, which seems to us to have been ages ago--we have witnessed and experienced so much. "forward!" "ay wallah, ay wallah, bana yango!" and the lighthearted braves stride away at a rate which must soon bring us within view of ujiji. we ascend a hill overgrown with bamboo, descend into a ravine through which dashes an impetuous little torrent, ascend another short hill, then, along a smooth footpath running across the slope of a long ridge, we push on as only eager, lighthearted men can do. in two hours i am warned to prepare for a view of the tanganika, for, from the top of a steep mountain the kirangozi says i can see it. i almost vent the feeling of my heart in cries. but wait, we must behold it first. and we press forward and up the hill breathlessly, lest the grand scene hasten away. we are at last on the summit. ah! not yet can it be seen. a little further on--just yonder, oh! there it is--a silvery gleam. i merely catch sight of it between the trees, and--but here it is at last! true--the tanganika! and there are the blue-black mountains of ugoma and ukaramba. an immense broad sheet, a burnished bed of silver--lucid canopy of blue above--lofty mountains are its valances, palm forests form its fringes! the tanganika!--hurrah! and the men respond to the exultant cry of the anglo-saxon with the lungs of stentors, and the great forests and the hills seem to share in our triumph. "was this the place where burton and speke stood, bombay, when they saw the lake first?" "i don't remember, master; it was somewhere about here, i think." "poor fellows! the one was half-paralyzed, the other half-blind," said sir roderick murchison, when he described burton and spoke's arrival in view of the tanganika. and i? well, i am so happy that, were i quite paralyzed and blinded, i think that at this supreme moment i could take up my bed and walk, and all blindness would cease at once. fortunately, however, i am quite well; i have not suffered a day's sickness since the day i left unyanyembe. how much would shaw be willing to give to be in my place now? who is happiest--he revelling in the luxuries of unyanyembe, or i, standing on the summit of this mountain, looking down with glad eyes and proud heart on the tanganika? we are descending the western slope of the mountain, with the valley of the liuche before us. something like an hour before noon we have gained the thick matete brake, which grows on both banks of the river; we wade through the clear stream, arrive on the other side, emerge out of the brake, and the gardens of the wajiji are around us--a perfect marvel of vegetable wealth. details escape my hasty and partial observation. i am almost overpowered with my own emotions. i notice the graceful palms, neat plots, green with vegetable plants, and small villages surrounded with frail fences of the matete-cane. we push on rapidly, lest the news of our coming might reach the people of ujiji before we come in sight, and are ready for them. we halt at a little brook, then ascend the long slope of a naked ridge, the very last of the myriads we have crossed. this alone prevents us from seeing the lake in all its vastness. we arrive at the summit, travel across and arrive at its western rim, and-- pause, reader--the port of ujiji is below us, embowered in the palms, only five hundred yards from us! at this grand moment we do not think of the hundreds of miles we have marched, or of the hundreds of hills that we have ascended and descended, or of the many forests we have traversed, or of the jungles and thickets that annoyed us, or of the fervid salt plains that blistered our feet, or of the hot suns that scorched us, nor of the dangers and difficulties, now happily surmounted! at last the sublime hour has arrived;--our dreams, our hopes, and anticipations are now about to be realised! our hearts and our feelings are with our eyes, as we peer into the palms and try to make out in which hut or house lives the "white man with the grey beard" we heard about when we were at the malagarazi. "unfurl the flags, and load your guns!" "we will, master, we will, master!" respond the men eagerly. "one, two, three,--fire!" a volley from nearly fifty guns roars like a salute from a battery of artillery: we shall note its effect presently on the peaceful-looking village below. "now, kirangozi, hold the white man's flag up high, and let the zanzibar flag bring up the rear. and you men keep close together, and keep firing until we halt in the market-place, or before the white man's house. you have said to me often that you could smell the fish of the tanganika--i can smell the fish of the tanganika now. there are fish, and beer, and a long rest waiting for you. march!" before we had gone a hundred yards our repeated volleys had the effect desired. we had awakened ujiji to the knowledge that a caravan was coming, and the people were witnessed rushing up in hundreds to meet us. the mere sight of the flags informed every one immediately that we were a caravan, but the american flag borne aloft by gigantic asmani, whose face was one vast smile on this day, rather staggered them at first. however, many of the people who now approached us, remembered the flag. they had seen it float above the american consulate, and from the mast-head of many a ship in the harbor of zanzibar, and they were soon heard welcoming the beautiful flag with cries of "bindera kisungu!"--a white man's flag! "bindera merikani!"--the american flag! then we were surrounded by them: by wajiji, wanyamwezi, wangwana, warundi, waguhha, wamanyuema, and arabs, and were almost deafened with the shouts of "yambo, yambo, bana! yambo, bana! yambo, bana!" to all and each of my men the welcome was given. we were now about three hundred yards from the village of ujiji, and the crowds are dense about me. suddenly i hear a voice on my right say, "good morning, sir!" startled at hearing this greeting in the midst of such a crowd of black people, i turn sharply around in search of the man, and see him at my side, with the blackest of faces, but animated and joyous--a man dressed in a long white shirt, with a turban of american sheeting around his woolly head, and i ask: "who the mischief are you?" "i am susi, the servant of dr. livingstone," said be, smiling, and showing a gleaming row of teeth. "what! is dr. livingstone here?" "yes, sir." "in this village?" "yes, sir." "are you sure?" "sure, sure, sir. why, i leave him just now." "good morning, sir," said another voice. "hallo," said i, "is this another one?" "yes, sir." "well, what is your name?" "my name is chumah, sir." "what! are you chumah, the friend of wekotani?" "yes, sir." "and is the-doctor well?" "not very well, sir." "where has he been so long?" "in manyuema." "now, you susi, run, and tell the doctor i am coming." "yes, sir," and off he darted like a madman. but by this time we were within two hundred yards of the village, and the multitude was getting denser, and almost preventing our march. flags and streamers were out; arabs and wangwana were pushing their way through the natives in order to greet us, for according to their account, we belonged to them. but the great wonder of all was, "how did you come from unyanyembe?" soon susi came running back, and asked me my name; he had told the doctor i was coming, but the doctor was too surprised to believe him, and when the doctor asked him my name, susi was rather staggered. but, during susi's absence, the news had been conveyed to the doctor that it was surely a white man that was coming, whose guns were firing, and whose flag could be seen; and the great arab magnates of ujiji--mohammed bin sali, sayd bin majid, abid bin suliman, mohammed bin gharib, and others--had gathered together before the doctor's house, and the doctor had come out from his veranda to discuss the matter and await my arrival. in the meantime, the head of the expedition had halted, and the kirangozi was out of the ranks, holding his flag aloft, and selim said to me, "i see the doctor, sir. oh, what an old man! he has got a white beard." and i--what would i not have given for a bit of friendly wilderness, where, unseen, i might vent my joy in some mad freak, such as idiotically biting my hand; turning a somersault, or slashing at trees, in order to allay those exciting feelings that were well-nigh uncontrollable. my heart beats fast, but i must not let my face betray my emotions, lest it shall detract from the dignity of a white man appearing under such extraordinary circumstances. so i did that which i thought was most dignified. i pushed back the crowds, and, passing from the rear, walked down a living avenue of people, until i came in front of the semicircle of arabs, before which stood the "white man with the grey beard." as i advanced slowly towards him i noticed he was pale, that he looked wearied and wan, that he had grey whiskers and moustache, that he wore a bluish cloth cap with a faded gold band on a red ground round it, and that he had on a red-sleeved waistcoat, and a pair of grey tweed trousers. i would have run to him, only i was a coward in the presence of such a mob--would have embraced him, but that i did not know how he would receive me; so i did what moral cowardice and false pride suggested was the best thing--walked deliberately to him, took off my hat, and said: "dr. livingstone, i presume?" "yes," said he, with a kind, cordial smile, lifting his cap slightly. i replaced my hat on my head, and he replaced his cap, and we both grasped hands. i then said aloud: "i thank god, doctor, i have been permitted to see you." he answered, "i feel thankful that i am here to welcome you." i turned to the arabs, took off my hat to them in response to the saluting chorus of "yambos" i received, and the doctor introduced them to me by name. then, oblivious of the crowds, oblivious of the men who shared with me my dangers, we--livingstone and i-- turned our faces towards his house. he pointed to the veranda, or rather, mud platform, under the broad overhanging eaves; he pointed to his own particular seat, which i saw his age and experience in africa had suggested, namely, a straw mat, with a goatskin over it, and another skin nailed against the wall to protect his back from contact with the cold mud. i protested against taking this seat, which so much more befitted him than i, but the doctor would not yield: i must take it. we were seated--the doctor and i--with our backs to the wall. the arabs took seats on our left. more than a thousand natives were in our front, filling the whole square densely, indulging their curiosity, and discussing the fact of two white men meeting at ujiji--one just come from manyuema, in the west, the other from unyanyembe, in the east. conversation began. what about? i declare i have forgotten. oh! we mutually asked questions of one another, such as "how did you come here?" and "where have you been all this long time?--the world has believed you to be dead." yes, that was the way it began: but whatever the doctor informed me, and that which i communicated to him, i cannot correctly report, for i found myself gazing at him, conning the wonderful figure and face of the man at whose side i now sat in central africa. every hair of his head and beard, every wrinkle of his face, the wanness of his features, and the slightly wearied look he wore, were all imparting intelligence to me--the knowledge i craved for so much ever since i heard the words, "take what you want, but find livingstone." what i saw was deeply interesting intelligence to me, and unvarnished truth. i was listening and reading at the same time. what did these dumb witnesses relate to me? oh, reader, had you been at my side on this day in ujiji, how eloquently could be told the nature of this man's work! had you been there but to see and hear! his lips gave me the details; lips that never lie. i cannot repeat what he said; i was too much engrossed to take my note-book out, and begin to stenograph his story. he had so much to say that he began at the end, seemingly oblivious of the fact that five or six years had to be accounted for. but his account was oozing out; it was growing fast into grand proportions-- into a most marvellous history of deeds. the arabs rose up, with a delicacy i approved, as if they intuitively knew that we ought to be left to ourselves. i sent bombay with them to give them the news they also wanted so much to know about the affairs at unyanyembe. sayd bin majid was the father of the gallant young man whom i saw at masangi, and who fought with me at zimbizo, and who soon afterwards was killed by mirambo's ruga-ruga in the forest of wilyankuru; and, knowing that i had been there, he earnestly desired to hear the tale of the fight; but they had all friends at unyanyembe, and it was but natural that they should be anxious to hear of what concerned them. after giving orders to bombay and asmani for the provisioning of the men of the expedition, i called "kaif-halek," or "how-do-ye-do," and introduced him to dr. livingstone as one of the soldiers in charge of certain goods left at unyanyembe, whom i had compelled to accompany me to ujiji, that he might deliver in person to his master the letter-bag with which he had been entrusted. this was that famous letter-bag marked "nov. st, ," which was now delivered into the doctor's hands days after it left zanzibar! how long, i wonder, had it remained at unyanyembe had i not been despatched into central africa in search of the great traveller? the doctor kept the letter-bag on his knee, then, presently, opened it, looked at the letters contained there, and read one or two of his children's letters, his face in the meanwhile lighting up. he asked me to tell him the news. "no, doctor," said i, "read your letters first, which i am sure you must be impatient to read." "ah," said he, "i have waited years for letters, and i have been taught patience. i can surely afford to wait a few hours longer. no, tell me the general news: how is the world getting along? "you probably know much already. do you know that the suez canal is a fact--is opened, and a regular trade carried on between europe and india through it?" "i did not hear about the opening of it. well, that is grand news! what else?" shortly i found myself enacting the part of an annual periodical to him. there was no need of exaggeration of any penny-a-line news, or of any sensationalism. the world had witnessed and experienced much the last few years. the pacific railroad had been completed ( ); grant had been elected president of the united states; egypt had been flooded with savans: the cretan rebellion had terminated ( - ); a spanish revolution had driven isabella from the throne of spain, and a regent had been appointed: general prim was assassinated; a castelar had electrified europe with his advanced ideas upon the liberty of worship; prussia had humbled denmark, and annexed schleswig-holstein < >, and her armies were now around paris; the "man of destiny" was a prisoner at wilhelmshohe; the queen of fashion and the empress of the french was a fugitive; and the child born in the purple had lost for ever the imperial crown intended for his head; the napoleon dynasty was extinguished by the prussians, bismarck and von moltke; and france, the proud empire, was humbled to the dust. what could a man have exaggerated of these facts? what a budget of news it was to one who had emerged from the depths of the primeval forests of manyuema! the reflection of the dazzling light of civilisation was cast on him while livingstone was thus listening in wonder to one of the most exciting pages of history ever repeated. how the puny deeds of barbarism paled before these! who could tell under what new phases of uneasy life europe was labouring even then, while we, two of her lonely children, rehearsed the tale of her late woes and glories? more worthily, perhaps, had the tongue of a lyric demodocus recounted them; but, in the absence of the poet, the newspaper correspondent performed his part as well and truthfully as he could. not long after the arabs had departed, a dishful of hot hashed-meat cakes was sent to us by sayd bin majid, and a curried chicken was received from mohammed bin sali, and moeni kheri sent a dishful of stewed goat-meat and rice; and thus presents of food came in succession, and as fast as they were brought we set to. i had a healthy, stubborn digestion--the exercise i had taken had put it in prime order; but livingstone--he had been complaining that he had no appetite, that his stomach refused everything but a cup of tea now and then--he ate also--ate like a vigorous, hungry man; and, as he vied with me in demolishing the pancakes, he kept repeating, "you have brought me new life. you have brought me new life." "oh, by george!" i said, "i have forgotten something. hasten, selim, and bring that bottle; you know which and bring me the silver goblets. i brought this bottle on purpose for this event, which i hoped would come to pass, though often it seemed useless to expect it." selim knew where the bottle was, and he soon returned with it--a bottle of sillery champagne; and, handing the doctor a silver goblet brimful of the exhilarating wine, and pouring a small quantity into my own, i said, "dr. livingstone, to your very good health, sir." "and to yours!" he responded, smilingly. and the champagne i had treasured for this happy meeting was drunk with hearty good wishes to each other. but we kept on talking and talking, and prepared food was being brought to us all that afternoon; and we kept on eating each time it was brought, until i had eaten even to repletion, and the doctor was obliged to confess that he had eaten enough. still, halimah, the female cook of the doctor's establishment, was in a state of the greatest excitement. she had been protruding her head out of the cookhouse to make sure that there were really two white men sitting down in the veranda, when there used to be only one, who would not, because he could not, eat anything; and she had been considerably exercised in her mind about this fact. she was afraid the doctor did not properly appreciate her culinary abilities; but now she was amazed at the extraordinary quantity of food eaten, and she was in a state of delightful excitement. we could hear her tongue rolling off a tremendous volume of clatter to the wondering crowds who halted before the kitchen to hear the current of news with which she edified them. poor, faithful soul! while we listened to the noise of her furious gossip, the doctor related her faithful services, and the terrible anxiety she evinced when the guns first announced the arrival of another white man in ujiji; how she had been flying about in a state cf the utmost excitement, from the kitchen into his presence, and out again into the square, asking all sorts of questions; how she was in despair at the scantiness of the general larder and treasury of the strange household; how she was anxious to make up for their poverty by a grand appearance-- to make up a sort of barmecide feast to welcome the white man. "why," said she, "is he not one of us? does he not bring plenty of cloth and beads? talk about the arabs! who are they that they should be compared to white men? arabs, indeed!" the doctor and i conversed upon many things, especially upon his own immediate troubles, and his disappointments, upon his arrival in ujiji, when told that all his goods had been sold, and he was reduced to poverty. he had but twenty cloths or so left of the stock he had deposited with the man called sherif, the half-caste drunken tailor, who was sent by the consul in charge of the goods. besides which he had been suffering from an attack of dysentery, and his condition was most deplorable. he was but little improved on this day, though he had eaten well, and already began to feel stronger and better. this day, like all others, though big with happiness to me, at last was fading away. while sitting with our faces looking to the east, as livingstone had been sitting for days preceding my arrival, we noted the dark shadows which crept up above the grove of palms beyond the village, and above the rampart of mountains which we had crossed that day, now looming through the fast approaching darkness; and we listened, with our hearts full of gratitude to the great giver of good and dispenser of all happiness, to the sonorous thunder of the surf of the tanganika, and to the chorus which the night insects sang. hours passed, and we were still sitting there with our minds busy upon the day's remarkable events, when i remembered that the traveller had not yet read his letters. "doctor," i said, "you had better read your letters. i will not keep you up any longer." "yes," he answered, "it is getting late; and i will go and read my friends' letters. good-night, and god bless you." "good-night, my dear doctor; and let me hope that your news will be such as you desire." i have now related, by means of my diary, "how i found livingstone," as recorded on the evening of that great day. i have been averse to reduce it by process of excision and suppression, into a mere cold narrative, because, by so doing, i would be unable to record what feelings swayed each member of the expedition as well as myself during the days preceding the discovery of the lost traveller, and more especially the day it was the good fortune of both livingstone and myself to clasp each other's hands in the strong friendship which was born in that hour we thus strangely met. the aged traveller, though cruelly belied, contrary to all previous expectation, received me as a friend; and the cordial warmth with which he accepted my greeting; the courtesy with which he tendered to me a shelter in his own house; the simple candour of his conversation; graced by unusual modesty of manner, and meekness of spirit, wrought in me such a violent reaction in his favor, that when the parting "good-night" was uttered, i felt a momentary vague fear lest the fulness of joy which i experienced that evening would be diminished by some envious fate, before the morrow's sun should rise above ujiji. chapter xii. -- intercourse with livingstone at ujiji--livingstone's own story of his journeys, his troubles, and disappointments. "if there is love between us, inconceivably delicious, and profitable will our intercourse be; if not, your time is lost, and you will only annoy me. i shall seem to you stupid, and the reputation i have false. all my good is magnetic, and i educate not by lessons, but by going about my business."--emerson's 'representative men'. i woke up early next morning with a sudden start. the room was strange! it was a house, and not my tent! ah, yes! i recollected i had discovered livingstone, and i was in his house. i listened, that the knowledge dawning on me might be confirmed by the sound of his voice. i heard nothing but the sullen roar of the surf. i lay quietly in bed. bed! yes, it was a primitive four-poster, with the leaves of the palm-tree spread upon it instead of down, and horsehair and my bearskin spread over this serving me in place of linen. i began to put myself under rigid mental cross-examination, and to an analyzation of my position. "what was i sent for?" "to find livingstone." "have you found him?" "yes, of course; am i not in his house? whose compass is that hanging on a peg there? whose clothes, whose boots, are those? who reads those newspapers, those 'saturday reviews' and numbers of 'punch' lying on the floor?" "well, what are you going to do now?" "i shall tell him this morning who sent me, and what brought me here. i will then ask him to write a letter to mr. bennett, and to give what news he can spare. i did not come here to rob him of his news. sufficient for me is it that i have found him. it is a complete success so far. but it will be a greater one if he gives me letters for mr. bennett, and an acknowledgment that he has seen me." "do you think he will do so?" "why not? i have come here to do him a service. he has no goods. i have. he has no men with him. i have. if i do a friendly part by him, will he not do a friendly part by me? what says the poet?-- nor hope to find a friend, but who has found a friend in thee. all like the purchase; few the price will pay and this makes friends such wonders here below. i have paid the purchase, by coming so far to do him a service. but i think, from what i have seen of him last night, that he is not such a niggard and misanthrope as i was led to believe. he exhibited considerable emotion, despite the monosyllabic greeting, when he shook my hand. if he were a man to feel annoyance at any person coming after him, he would not have received me as he did, nor would he ask me to live with him, but he would have surlily refused to see me, and told me to mind my own business. neither does he mind my nationality; for 'here,' said he, 'americans and englishmen are the same people. we speak the same language and have the same ideas.' just so, doctor; i agree with you. here at least, americans and englishmen shall be brothers, and, whatever i can do for you, you may command me freely." i dressed myself quietly, intending to take a stroll along the tanganika before the doctor should rise; opened the door, which creaked horribly on its hinges, and walked out to the veranda. "halloa, doctor!--you up already? i hope you have slept well?" "good-morning, mr. stanley! i am glad to see you. i hope you rested well. i sat up late reading my letters. you have brought me good and bad news. but sit down." he made a place for me by his side. "yes, many of my friends are dead. my eldest son has met with a sad accident--that is, my boy tom; my second son, oswell, is at college studying medicine, and is doing well i am told. agnes, my eldest daughter, has been enjoying herself in a yacht, with 'sir paraffine' young and his family. sir roderick, also, is well, and expresses a hope that he will soon see me. you have brought me quite a budget." the man was not an apparition, then, and yesterday's scenes were not the result of a dream! and i gazed on him intently, for thus i was assured he had not run away, which was the great fear that constantly haunted me as i was journeying to ujiji. "now, doctor," said i, "you are, probably, wondering why i came here?" "it is true," said he; "i have been wondering. i thought you, at first, an emissary of the french government, in the place of lieutenant le saint, who died a few miles above gondokoro. i heard you had boats, plenty of men, and stores, and i really believed you were some french officer, until i saw the american flag; and, to tell you the truth, i was rather glad it was so, because i could not have talked to him in french; and if he did not know english, we had been a pretty pair of white men in ujiji! i did not like to ask you yesterday, because i thought it was none of my business." "well," said i, laughing, "for your sake i am glad that i am an american, and not a frenchman, and that we can understand each other perfectly without an interpreter. i see that the arabs are wondering that you, an englishman, and i, an american, understand each other. we must take care not to tell them that the english and americans have fought, and that there are 'alabama' claims left unsettled, and that we have such people as fenians in america, who hate you. but, seriously, doctor--now don't be frightened when i tell you that i have come after--you!" "after me?" "yes." "how?" "well. you have heard of the 'new york herald?'" "oh--who has not heard of that newspaper?" "without his father's knowledge or consent, mr. james gordon bennett, son of mr. james gordon bennett, the proprietor of the 'herald,' has commissioned me to find you--to get whatever news of your discoveries you like to give--and to assist you, if i can, with means." "young mr. bennett told you to come after me, to find me out, and help me! it is no wonder, then, you praised mr. bennett so much last night." "i know him--i am proud to say--to be just what i say he is. he is an ardent, generous, and true man." "well, indeed! i am very much obliged to him; and it makes me feel proud to think that you americans think so much of me. you have just come in the proper time; for i was beginning to think that i should have to beg from the arabs. even they are in want of cloth, and there are but few beads in ujiji. that fellow sherif has robbed me of all. i wish i could embody my thanks to mr. bennett in suitable words; but if i fail to do so, do not, i beg of you, believe me the less grateful." "and now, doctor, having disposed of this little affair, ferajji shall bring breakfast; if you have no objection." "you have given me an appetite," he said. "halimah is my cook, but she never can tell the difference between tea and coffee." ferajji, the cook, was ready as usual with excellent tea, and a dish of smoking cakes; "dampers," as the doctor called them. i never did care much for this kind of a cake fried in a pan, but they were necessary to the doctor, who had nearly lost all his teeth from the hard fare of lunda. he had been compelled to subsist on green ears of indian corn; there was no meat in that district; and the effort to gnaw at the corn ears had loosened all his teeth. i preferred the corn scones of virginia, which, to my mind, were the nearest approach to palatable bread obtainable in central africa. the doctor said he had thought me a most luxurious and rich man, when he saw my great bath-tub carried on the shoulders of one of my men; but he thought me still more luxurious this morning, when my knives and forks, and plates, and cups, saucers, silver spoons, and silver teapot were brought forth shining and bright, spread on a rich persian carpet, and observed that i was well attended to by my yellow and ebon mercuries. this was the beginning of our life at ujiji. i knew him not as a friend before my arrival. he was only an object to me--a great item for a daily newspaper, as much as other subjects in which the voracious news-loving public delight in. i had gone over battlefields, witnessed revolutions, civil wars, rebellions, emeutes and massacres; stood close to the condemned murderer to record his last struggles and last sighs; but never had i been called to record anything that moved me so much as this man's woes and sufferings, his privations and disappointments, which now were poured into my ear. verily did i begin to perceive that "the gods above do with just eyes survey the affairs of men." i began to recognize the hand of an overruling and kindly providence. the following are singular facts worthy for reflection. i was, commissioned for the duty of discovering livingstone sometime in october, . mr. bennett was ready with the money, and i was ready for the journey. but, observe, reader, that i did not proceed directly upon the search mission. i had many tasks to fulfil before proceeding with it, and many thousand miles to travel over. supposing that i had gone direct to zanzibar from paris, seven or eight months afterwards, perhaps, i should have found myself at ujiji, but livingstone would not have been found there then; he was on the lualaba; and i should have had to follow him on his devious tracks through the primeval forests of manyuema, and up along the crooked course of the lualaba for hundreds of miles. the time taken by me in travelling up the nile, back to jerusalem, then to constantinople, southern russia, the caucasus, and persia, was employed by livingstone in fruitful discoveries west of the tanganika. again, consider that i arrived at unyanyembe in the latter part of june, and that owing to a war i was delayed three months at unyanyembe, leading a fretful, peevish and impatient life. but while i was thus fretting myself, and being delayed by a series of accidents, livingstone was being forced back to ujiji in the same month. it took him from june to october to march to ujiji. now, in september, i broke loose from the thraldom which accident had imposed on me, and hurried southward to ukonongo, then westward to kawendi, then northward to uvinza, then westward to ujiji, only about three weeks after the doctor's arrival, to find him resting under the veranda of his house with his face turned eastward, the direction from which i was coming. had i gone direct from paris on the search i might have lost him; had i been enabled to have gone direct to ujiji from unyanyembe i might have lost him. the days came and went peacefully and happily, under the palms of ujiji. my companion was improving in health and spirits. life had been brought back to him; his fading vitality was restored, his enthusiasm for his work was growing up again into a height that was compelling him to desire to be up and doing. but what could he do, with five men and fifteen or twenty cloths? "have you seen the northern head of the tangannka, doctor?" i asked one day. "no; i did try to go there, but the wajiji were doing their best to fleece me, as they did both burton and speke, and i had not a great deal of cloth. if i had gone to the head of the tanganika, i could not have gone, to manyuema. the central line of drainage was the most important, and that is the lualaba. before this line the question whether there is a connection between the tanganika and the albert n'yanza sinks into insignificance. the great line of drainage is the river flowing from latitude degrees south, which i followed for over seven degrees northward. the chambezi, the name given to its most southern extremity, drains a large tract of country south of the southernmost source of the tanganika; it must, therefore, be the most important. i have not the least doubt, myself, but that this lake is the upper tanganika, and the albert n'yanza of baker is the lower tanganika, which are connected by a river flowing from the upper to the lower. this is my belief, based upon reports of the arabs, and a test i made of the flow with water-plants. but i really never gave it much thought." "well, if i were you, doctor, before leaving ujiji, i should explore it, and resolve the doubts upon the subject; lest, after you leave here, you should not return by this way. the royal geographical society attach much importance to this supposed connection, and declare you are the only man who can settle it. if i can be of any service to you, you may command me. though i did not come to africa as an explorer, i have a good deal of curiosity upon the subject, and should be willing to accompany you. i have with me about twenty men who understand rowing we have plenty of guns, cloth, and beads; and if we can get a canoe from the arabs we can manage the thing easily." "oh, we can get a canoe from sayd bin majid. this man has been very kind to me, and if ever there was an arab gentleman, he is one." "then it is settled, is it, that we go?" "i am ready, whenever you are." "i am at your command. don't you hear my men call you the 'great master,' and me the 'little master?' it would never do for the 'little master' to command." by this time livingstone was becoming known to me. i defy any one to be in his society long without thoroughly fathoming him, for in him there is no guile, and what is apparent on the surface is the thing that is in him. i simply write down my own opinion of the man as i have seen him, not as he represents himself; as i know him to be, not as i have heard of him. i lived with him from the th november, , to the th march, ; witnessed his conduct in the camp, and on the march, and my feelings for him are those of unqualified admiration. the camp is the best place to discover a man's weaknesses, where, if he is flighty or wrong-headed, he is sure to develop his hobbies and weak side. i think it possible, however, that livingstone, with an unsuitable companion, might feel annoyance. i know i should do so very readily, if a man's character was of that oblique nature that it was an impossibility to travel in his company. i have seen men, in whose company i felt nothing but a thraldom, which it was a duty to my own self-respect to cast off as soon as possible; a feeling of utter incompatibility, with whose nature mine could never assimilate. but livingstone was a character that i venerated, that called forth all my enthusiasm, that evoked nothing but sincerest admiration. dr. livingstone is about sixty years old, though after he was restored to health he appeared more like a man who had not passed his fiftieth year. his hair has a brownish colour yet, but is here and there streaked with grey lines over the temples; his whiskers and moustache are very grey. he shaves his chin daily. his eyes, which are hazel, are remarkably bright; he has a sight keen as a hawk's. his teeth alone indicate the weakness of age; the hard fare of lunda has made havoc in their lines. his form, which soon assumed a stoutish appearance, is a little over the ordinary height with the slightest possible bow in the shoulders. when walking he has a firm but heavy tread, like that of an overworked or fatigued man. he is accustomed to wear a naval cap with a semicircular peak, by which he has been identified throughout africa. his dress, when first i saw him, exhibited traces of patching and repairing, but was scrupulously clean. i was led to believe that livingstone possessed a splenetic, misanthropic temper; some have said that he is garrulous, that he is demented; that he has utterly changed from the david livingstone whom people knew as the reverend missionary; that he takes no notes or observations but such as those which no other person could read but himself; and it was reported, before i proceeded to central africa, that he was married to an african princess. i respectfully beg to differ with all and each of the above statements. i grant he is not an angel, but he approaches to that being as near as the nature of a living man will allow. i never saw any spleen or misanthropy in him--as for being garrulous, dr. livingstone is quite the reverse: he is reserved, if anything; and to the man who says dr. livingstone is changed, all i can say is, that he never could have known him, for it is notorious that the doctor has a fund of quiet humour, which he exhibits at all times whenever he is among friends. i must also beg leave to correct the gentleman who informed me that livingstone takes no notes or observations. the huge letts's diary which i carried home to his daughter is full of notes, and there are no less than a score of sheets within it filled with observations which he took during the last trip he made to manyuema alone; and in the middle of the book there is sheet after sheet, column after column, carefully written, of figures alone. a large letter which i received from him has been sent to sir thomas maclear, and this contains nothing but observations. during the four months i was with him, i noticed him every evening making most careful notes; and a large tin box that he has with him contains numbers of field note-books, the contents of which i dare say will see the light some time. his maps also evince great care and industry. as to the report of his african marriage, it is unnecessary to say more than that it is untrue, and it is utterly beneath a gentleman to hint at such a thing in connection with the name of david livingstone. there is a good-natured abandon about livingstone which was not lost on me. whenever he began to laugh, there was a contagion about it, that compelled me to imitate him. it was such a laugh as herr teufelsdrockh's--a laugh of the whole man from head to heel. if he told a story, he related it in such a way as to convince one of its truthfulness; his face was so lit up by the sly fun it contained, that i was sure the story was worth relating, and worth listening to. the wan features which had shocked me at first meeting, the heavy step which told of age and hard travel, the grey beard and bowed shoulders, belied the man. underneath that well-worn exterior lay an endless fund of high spirits and inexhaustible humour; that rugged frame of his enclosed a young and most exuberant soul. every day i heard innumerable jokes and pleasant anecdotes; interesting hunting stories, in which his friends oswell, webb, vardon, and gorden cumming were almost always the chief actors. i was not sure, at first, but this joviality, humour, and abundant animal spirits were the result of a joyous hysteria; but as i found they continued while i was with him, i am obliged to think them natural. another thing which specially attracted my attention was his wonderfully retentive memory. if we remember the many years he has spent in africa, deprived of books, we may well think it an uncommon memory that can recite whole poems from byron, burns, tennyson, longfellow, whittier, and lowell. the reason of this may be found, perhaps, in the fact, that he has lived all his life almost, we may say, within himself. zimmerman, a great student of human nature, says on this subject "the unencumbered mind recalls all that it has read, all that pleased the eye, and delighted the ear; and reflecting on every idea which either observation, or experience, or discourse has produced, gains new information by every reflection. the intellect contemplates all the former scenes of life; views by anticipation those that are yet to come; and blends all ideas of past and future in the actual enjoyment of the present moment." he has lived in a world which revolved inwardly, out of which he seldom awoke except to attend to the immediate practical necessities of himself and people; then relapsed again into the same happy inner world, which he must have peopled with his own friends, relations, acquaintances, familiar readings, ideas, and associations; so that wherever he might be, or by whatsoever he was surrounded, his own world always possessed more attractions to his cultured mind than were yielded by external circumstances. the study of dr. livingstone would not be complete if we did not take the religious side of his character into consideration. his religion is not of the theoretical kind, but it is a constant, earnest, sincere practice. it is neither demonstrative nor loud, but manifests itself in a quiet, practical way, and is always at work. it is not aggressive, which sometimes is troublesome, if not impertinent. in him, religion exhibits its loveliest features; it governs his conduct not only towards his servants, but towards the natives, the bigoted mohammedans, and all who come in contact with him. without it, livingstone, with his ardent temperament, his enthusiasm, his high spirit and courage, must have become uncompanionable, and a hard master. religion has tamed him, and made him a christian gentleman: the crude and wilful have been refined and subdued; religion has made him the most companionable of men and indulgent of masters--a man whose society is pleasurable. in livingstone i have seen many amiable traits. his gentleness never forsakes him; his hopefulness never deserts him. no harassing anxieties, distraction of mind, long separation from home and kindred, can make him complain. he thinks "all will come out right at last;" he has such faith in the goodness of providence. the sport of adverse circumstances, the plaything of the miserable beings sent to him from zanzibar--he has been baffled and worried, even almost to the grave, yet he will not desert the charge imposed upon him by his friend, sir roderick murchison. to the stern dictates of duty, alone, has he sacrificed his home and ease, the pleasures, refinements, and luxuries of civilized life. his is the spartan heroism, the inflexibility of the roman, the enduring resolution of the anglo-saxon--never to relinquish his work, though his heart yearns for home; never to surrender his obligations until he can write finis to his work. but you may take any point in dr. livingstone's character, and analyse it carefully, and i would challenge any man to find a fault in it. he is sensitive, i know; but so is any man of a high mind and generous nature. he is sensitive on the point of being doubted or being criticised. an extreme love of truth is one of his strongest characteristics, which proves him to be a man of strictest principles, and conscientious scruples; being such, he is naturally sensitive, and shrinks from any attacks on the integrity of his observations, and the accuracy of his reports. he is conscious of having laboured in the course of geography and science with zeal and industry, to have been painstaking, and as exact as circumstances would allow. ordinary critics seldom take into consideration circumstances, but, utterly regardless of the labor expended in obtaining the least amount of geographical information in a new land, environed by inconceivable dangers and difficulties, such as central africa presents, they seem to take delight in rending to tatters, and reducing to nil, the fruits of long years of labor, by sharply-pointed shafts of ridicule and sneers. livingstone no doubt may be mistaken in some of his conclusions about certain points in the geography of central africa, but he is not so dogmatic and positive a man as to refuse conviction. he certainly demands, when arguments in contra are used in opposition to him, higher authority than abstract theory. his whole life is a testimony against its unreliability, and his entire labor of years were in vain if theory can be taken in evidence against personal observation and patient investigation. the reluctance he manifests to entertain suppositions, possibilities regarding the nature, form, configuration of concrete immutable matter like the earth, arises from the fact, that a man who commits himself to theories about such an untheoretical subject as central africa is deterred from bestirring himself to prove them by the test of exploration. his opinion of such a man is, that he unfits himself for his duty, that he is very likely to become a slave to theory--a voluptuous fancy, which would master him. it is his firm belief, that a man who rests his sole knowledge of the geography of africa on theory, deserves to be discredited. it has been the fear of being discredited and criticised and so made to appear before the world as a man who spent so many valuable years in africa for the sake of burdening the geographical mind with theory that has detained him so long in africa, doing his utmost to test the value of the main theory which clung to him, and would cling to him until he proved or disproved it. this main theory is his belief that in the broad and mighty lualaba he has discovered the head waters of the nile. his grounds for believing this are of such nature and weight as to compel him to despise the warning that years are advancing on him, and his former iron constitution is failing. he believes his speculations on this point will be verified; he believes he is strong enough to pursue his explorations until he can return to his country, with the announcement that the lualaba is none other than the nile. on discovering that the insignificant stream called the chambezi, which rises between degrees s. and degrees s., flowed westerly, and then northerly through several lakes, now under the names of the chambezi, then as the luapula, and then as the lualaba, and that it still continued its flow towards the north for over degrees, livingstone became firmly of the opinion that the river whose current he followed was the egyptian nile. failing at lat. degrees s. to pursue his explorations further without additional supplies, he determined to return to ujiji to obtain them. and now, having obtained them, he intends to return to the point where he left off work. he means to follow that great river until it is firmly established what name shall eventually be given the noble water-way whose course he has followed through so many sick toilings and difficulties. to all entreaties to come home, to all the glowing temptations which home and innumerable friends offer, he returns the determined answer:-- "no; not until my work is ended." i have often heard our servants discuss our respective merits. "your master," say my servants to livingstone's, "is a good man--a very good man; he does not beat you, for he has a kind heart; but ours--oh! he is sharp--hot as fire"--"mkali sana, kana moto." from being hated and thwarted in every possible way by the arabs and half-castes upon first arrival in ujiji, he has, through his uniform kindness and mild, pleasant temper, won all hearts. i observed that universal respect was paid to him. even the mohammedans never passed his house without calling to pay their compliments, and to say, "the blessing of god rest on you." each sunday morning he gathers his little flock around him, and reads prayers and a chapter from the bible, in a natural, unaffected, and sincere tone; and afterwards delivers a short address in the kisawahili language, about the subject read to them, which is listened to with interest and attention. there is another point in livingstone's character about which readers of his books, and students of his travels, would like to know, and that is his ability to withstand the dreadful climate of central africa, and the consistent energy with which he follows up his explorations. his consistent energy is native to him and to his race. he is a very fine example of the perseverance, doggedness, and tenacity which characterise the anglo-saxon spirit; but his ability to withstand the climate is due not only to the happy constitution with which he was born, but to the strictly temperate life he has ever led. a drunkard and a man of vicious habits could never have withstood the climate of central africa. the second day after my arrival in ujiji i asked the doctor if he did not feel a desire, sometimes, to visit his country, and take a little rest after his six years' explorations; and the answer he gave me fully reveals the man. said he: "i should like very much to go home and see my children once again, but i cannot bring my heart to abandon the task i have undertaken, when it is so nearly completed. it only requires six or seven months more to trace the true source that i have discovered with petherick's branch of the white nile, or with the albert n'yanza of sir samuel baker, which is the lake called by the natives 'chowambe.' why should i go home before my task is ended, to have to come back again to do what i can very well do now?" "and why?" i asked, "did you come so far back without finishing the task which you say you have got to do?" "simply because i was forced. my men would not budge a step forward. they mutinied, and formed a secret resolution--if i still insisted upon going on--to raise a disturbance in the country, and after they had effected it to abandon me; in which case i should have been killed. it was dangerous to go any further. i had explored six hundred miles of the watershed, had traced all the principal streams which discharge their waters into the central line of drainage, but when about starting to explore the last hundred miles the hearts of my people failed them, and they set about frustrating me in every possible way. now, having returned seven hundred miles to get a new supply of stores, and another escort, i find myself destitute of even the means to live but for a few weeks, and sick in mind and body." here i may pause to ask any brave man how he would have comported himself in such a crisis. many would have been in exceeding hurry to get home to tell the news of the continued explorations and discoveries, and to relieve the anxiety of the sorrowing family and friends awaiting their return. enough surely had been accomplished towards the solution of the problem that had exercised the minds of his scientific associates of the royal geograpical society. it was no negative exploration, it was hard, earnest labor of years, self-abnegation, enduring patience, and exalted fortitude, such as ordinary men fail to exhibit. suppose livingstone had hurried to the coast after he had discovered lake bangweolo, to tell the news to the geographical world; then had returned to discover moero, and run away again; then went back once more only to discover kamolondo, and to race back again. this would not be in accordance with livingstone's character. he must not only discover the chambezi, lake bangweolo, luapula river, lake moero, lualaba river, and lake kamolondo, but he must still tirelessly urge his steps forward to put the final completion to the grand lacustrine river system. had he followed the example of ordinary explorers, he would have been running backwards and forwards to tell the news, instead of exploring; and he might have been able to write a volume upon the discovery of each lake, and earn much money thereby. they are no few months' explorations that form the contents of his books. his 'missionary travels' embraces a period of sixteen years; his book on the zambezi, five years; and if the great traveller lives to come home, his third book, the grandest of all, must contain the records of eight or nine years. it is a principle with livingstone to do well what he undertakes to do; and in the consciousness that he is doing it, despite the yearning for his home which is sometimes overpowering, he finds, to a certain extent, contentment, if not happiness. to men differently constituted, a long residence amongst the savages of africa would be contemplated with horror, yet livingstone's mind can find pleasure and food for philosophic studies. the wonders of primeval nature, the great forests and sublime mountains, the perennial streams and sources of the great lakes, the marvels of the earth, the splendors of the tropic sky by day and by night--all terrestrial and celestial phenomena are manna to a man of such self-abnegation and devoted philanthropic spirit. he can be charmed with the primitive simplicity of ethiop's dusky children, with whom he has spent so many years of his life; he has a sturdy faith in their capabilities; sees virtue in them where others see nothing but savagery; and wherever he has gone among them, he has sought to elevate a people that were apparently forgotten of god and christian man. one night i took out my note-book, and prepared to take down from his own lips what he had to say about his travels; and unhesitatingly he related his experiences, of which the following is a summary: dr. david livingstone left the island of zanzibar in march, . on the th of the following month he departed from mikindany bay for the interior, with an expedition consisting of twelve sepoys from bombay, nine men from johanna, of the comoro islands, seven liberated slaves, and two zambezi men, taking them as an experiment; six camels, three buffaloes, two mules, and three donkeys. he had thus thirty men with him, twelve of whom, viz., the sepoys, were to act as guards for the expedition. they were mostly armed with the enfield rifles presented to the doctor by the bombay government. the baggage of the expedition consisted of ten bales of cloth and two bags of beads, which were to serve as the currency by which they would be enabled to purchase the necessaries of life in the countries the doctor intended to visit. besides the cumbrous moneys, they carried several boxes of instruments, such as chronometers, air thermometers, sextant, and artificial horizon, boxes containing clothes, medicines, and personal necessaries. the expedition travelled up the left bank of the rovuma river, a route as full of difficulties as any that could be chosen. for miles livingstone and his party had to cut their way with their axes through the dense and almost impenetrable jungles which lined the river's banks. the road was a mere footpath, leading in the most erratic fashion into and through the dense vegetation, seeking the easiest outlet from it without any regard to the course it ran. the pagazis were able to proceed easily enough; but the camels, on account of their enormous height, could not advance a step without the axes of the party clearing the way. these tools of foresters were almost always required; but the advance of the expedition was often retarded by the unwillingness of the sepoys and johanna men to work. soon after the departure of the expedition from the coast, the murmurings and complaints of these men began, and upon every occasion and at every opportunity they evinced a decided hostility to an advance. in order to prevent the progress of the doctor, and in hopes that it would compel him to return to the coast, these men so cruelly treated the animals that before long there was not one left alive. but as this scheme failed, they set about instigating the natives against the white men, whom they accused most wantonly of strange practices. as this plan was most likely to succeed, and as it was dangerous to have such men with him, the doctor arrived at the conclusion that it was best to discharge them, and accordingly sent the sepoys back to the coast; but not without having first furnished them with the means of subsistence on their journey to the coast. these men were such a disreputable set that the natives spoke of them as the doctor's slaves. one of their worst sins was the custom of giving their guns and ammunition to carry to the first woman or boy they met, whom they impressed for that purpose by such threats or promises as they were totally unable to perform, and unwarranted in making. an hour's marching was sufficient to fatigue them, after which they lay down on the road to bewail their hard fate, and concoct new schemes to frustrate their leader's purposes. towards night they generally made their appearance at the camping-ground with the looks of half-dead men. such men naturally made but a poor escort; for, had the party been attacked by a wandering tribe of natives of any strength, the doctor could have made no defence, and no other alternative would have been left to him but to surrender and be ruined. the doctor and his little party arrived on the th july, , at a village belonging to a chief of the wahiyou, situate eight days' march south of the rovuma, and overlooking the watershed of the lake nyassa. the territory lying between the rovuma river and this wahiyou village was an uninhabited wilderness, during the transit of which livingstone and his expedition suffered considerably from hunger and desertion of men. early in august, , the doctor came to the country of mponda, a chief who dwelt near the lake nyassa. on the road thither, two of the liberated slaves deserted him. here also, wekotani, a protege of the doctor, insisted upon his discharge, alleging as an excuse--an excuse which the doctor subsequently found to be untrue--that he had found his brother. he also stated that his family lived on the east side of the nyassa lake. he further stated that mponda's favourite wife was his sister. perceiving that wekotani was unwilling to go with him further, the doctor took him to mponda, who now saw and heard of him for the first time, and, having furnished the ungrateful boy with enough cloth and beads to keep him until his "big brother" should call for him, left him with the chief, after first assuring himself that he would receive honourable treatment from him. the doctor also gave wekotanti writing-paper--as he could read and write, being accomplishments acquired at bombay, where he had been put to school--so that, should he at any time feel disposed, he might write to his english friends, or to himself. the doctor further enjoined him not to join in any of the slave raids usually made by his countrymen, the men of nyassa, on their neighbours. upon finding that his application for a discharge was successful, wekotani endeavoured to induce chumah, another protege of the doctor's, and a companion, or chum, of wekotani, to leave the doctor's service and proceed with him, promising, as a bribe, a wife and plenty of pombe from his "big brother." chumah, upon referring the matter to the doctor, was advised not to go, as he (the doctor) strongly suspected that wekotani wanted only to make him his slave. chumah wisely withdrew from his tempter. from mponda's, the doctor proceeded to the heel of the nyassa, to the village of a babisa chief, who required medicine for a skin disease. with his usual kindness, he stayed at this chief's village to treat his malady. while here, a half-caste arab arrived from the western shore of the lake, and reported that he had been plundered by a band of mazitu, at a place which the doctor and musa, chief of the johanna men, were very well aware was at least miles north-north-west of where they were then stopping. musa, however, for his own reasons--which will appear presently--eagerly listened to the arab's tale, and gave full credence to it. having well digested its horrible details, he came to the doctor to give him the full benefit of what he had heard with such willing ears. the traveller patiently listened to the narrative, which lost nothing of its portentous significance through musa's relation, and then asked musa if he believed it. "yes," answered musa, readily; "he tell me true, true. i ask him good, and he tell me true, true." the doctor, however, said he did not believe it, for the mazitu would not have been satisfied with merely plundering a man, they would have murdered him; but suggested, in order to allay the fears of his moslem subordinate, that they should both proceed to the chief with whom they were staying, who, being a sensible man, would be able to advise them as to the probability or improbability of the tale being correct. together, they proceeded to the babisa chief, who, when he had heard the arab's story, unhesitatingly denounced the arab as a liar, and his story without the least foundation in fact; giving as a reason that, if the mazitu had been lately in that vicinity, he should have heard of it soon enough. but musa broke out with "no, no, doctor; no, no, no; i no want to go to mazitu. i no want mazitu to kill me. i want to see my father, my mother, my child, in johanna. i want no mazitu." these are musa's words _ipsissima verba_. to which the doctor replied, "i don't want the mazitu to kill me either; but, as you are afraid of them, i promise to go straight west until we get far past the beat of the mazitu." musa was not satisfied, but kept moaning and sorrowing, saying, "if we had two hundred guns with us i would go; but our small party of men they will attack by night, and kill all." the doctor repeated his promise, "but i will not go near them; i will go west." as soon as he turned his face westward, musa and the johanna men ran away in a body. the doctor says, in commenting upon musa's conduct, that he felt strongly tempted to shoot musa and another ringleader, but was, nevertheless, glad that he did not soil his hands with their vile blood. a day or two afterwards, another of his men--simon price by name--came to the doctor with the same tale about the mazitu, but, compelled by the scant number of his people to repress all such tendencies to desertion and faint-heartedness, the doctor silenced him at once, and sternly forbade him to utter the name of the mazitu any more. had the natives not assisted him, he must have despaired of ever being able to penetrate the wild and unexplored interior which he was now about to tread. "fortunately," as the doctor says with unction, "i was in a country now, after leaving the shores of nyassa, which the foot of the slave-trader has not trod; it was a new and virgin land, and of course, as i have always found in such cases, the natives were really good and hospitable, and for very small portions of cloth my baggage was conveyed from village to village by them." in many other ways the traveller, in his extremity, was kindly treated by the yet unsophisticated and innocent natives. on leaving this hospitable region in the early part of december, , the doctor entered a country where the mazitu had exercised their customary marauding propensities. the land was swept clean of provisions and cattle, and the people had emigrated to other countries, beyond the bounds of those ferocious plunderers. again the expedition was besieged by pinching hunger from which they suffered; they had recourse to the wild fruits which some parts of the country furnished. at intervals the condition of the hard-pressed band was made worse by the heartless desertion of some of its members, who more than once departed with the doctor's personal kit, changes of clothes, linen, &c. with more or less misfortunes constantly dogging his footsteps, he traversed in safety the countries of the babisa, bobemba, barungu, ba-ulungu, and lunda. in the country of lunda lives the famous cazembe, who was first made known to europeans by dr. lacerda, the portuguese traveller. cazembe is a most intelligent prince; he is a tall, stalwart man, who wears a peculiar kind of dress, made of crimson print, in the form of a prodigious kilt. in this state dress, king cazembe received dr. livingstone, surrounded by his chiefs and body-guards. a chief, who had been deputed by the king and elders to discover all about the white man, then stood up before the assembly, and in a loud voice gave the result of the inquiry he had instituted. he had heard that the white man had come to look for waters, for rivers, and seas; though he could not understand what the white man could want with such things, he had no doubt that the object was good. then cazembe asked what the doctor proposed doing, and where he thought of going. the doctor replied that he had thought of proceeding south, as he had heard of lakes and rivers being in that direction. cazembe asked, "what can you want to go there for? the water is close here. there is plenty of large water in this neighbourhood." before breaking up the assembly, cazembe gave orders to let the white man go where he would through his country undisturbed and unmolested. he was the first englishman he had seen, he said, and he liked him. shortly after his introduction to the king, the queen entered the large house, surrounded by a body-guard of amazons with spears. she was a fine, tall, handsome young woman, and evidently thought she was about to make an impression upon the rustic white man, for she had clothed herself after a most royal fashion, and was armed with a ponderous spear. but her appearance--so different from what the doctor had imagined--caused him to laugh, which entirely spoiled the effect intended; for the laugh of the doctor was so contagious, that she herself was the first to imitate it, and the amazons, courtier-like, followed suit. much disconcerted by this, the queen ran back, followed by her obedient damsels--a retreat most undignified and unqueenlike, compared with her majestic advent into the doctor's presence. but livingstone will have much to say about his reception at this court, and about this interesting king and queen; and who can so well relate the scenes he witnessed, and which belong exclusively to him, as he himself? soon after his arrival in the country of lunda, or londa, and before he had entered the district ruled over by cazembe, he had crossed a river called the chambezi, which was quite an important stream. the similarity of the name with that large and noble river south, which will be for ever connected with his name, misled livingstone at that time, and he, accordingly, did not pay to it the attention it deserved, believing that the chambezi was but the head-waters of the zambezi, and consequently had no bearing or connection with the sources of the river of egypt, of which he was in search. his fault was in relying too implicitly upon the correctness of portuguese information. this error it cost him many months of tedious labour and travel to rectify. from the beginning of --the time of his arrival at cazembe's--till the middle of march, --the time of his arrival at ujiji--he was mostly engaged in correcting the errors and misrepresentations of the portuguese travellers. the portuguese, in speaking of the river chambezi, invariably spoke of it as "our own zambezi,"--that is, the zambezi which flows through the portuguese possessions of the mozambique. "in going to cazembe from nyassa," said they, "you will cross our own zambezi." such positive and reiterated information--given not only orally, but in their books and maps--was naturally confusing. when the doctor perceived that what he saw and what they described were at variance, out of a sincere wish to be correct, and lest he might have been mistaken himself, he started to retravel the ground he had travelled before. over and over again he traversed the several countries watered by the several rivers of the complicated water system, like an uneasy spirit. over and over again he asked the same questions from the different peoples he met, until he was obliged to desist, lest they might say, "the man is mad; he has got water on the brain!" but his travels and tedious labours in lunda and the adjacent countries have established beyond doubt--first, that the chambezi is a totally distinct river from the zambezi of the portuguese; and, secondly, that the chambezi, starting from about latitude degrees south, is no other than the most southerly feeder of the great nile; thus giving that famous river a length of over , miles of direct latitude; making it, second to the mississippi, the longest river in the world. the real and true name of the zambezi is dombazi. when lacerda and his portuguese successors, coming to cazembe, crossed the chambezi, and heard its name, they very naturally set it down as "our own zambezi," and, without further inquiry, sketched it as running in that direction. during his researches in that region, so pregnant in discoveries, livingstone came to a lake lying north-east of cazembe, which the natives call liemba, from the country of that name which bordered it on the east and south. in tracing the lake north, he found it to be none other than the tanganika, or the south-eastern extremity of it, which looks, on the doctor's map, very much like an outline of italy. the latitude of the southern end of this great body of water is about degrees minutes south, which thus gives it a length, from north to south, of geographical miles. from the southern extremity of the tanganika he crossed marungu, and came in sight of lake moero. tracing this lake, which is about sixty miles in length, to its southern head, he found a river, called the luapula, entering it from that direction. following the luapula south, he found it issue from the large lake of bangweolo, which is nearly as large in superficial area as the tanganika. in exploring for the waters which discharged themselves into the lake, he found that by far the most important of these feeders was the chambezi; so that he had thus traced the chambezi from its source to lake bangweolo, and the issue from its northern head, under the name of luapula, and found it enter lake moero. again he returned to cazembe's, well satisfied that the river running north through three degrees of latitude could not be the river running south under the name of zambezi, though there might be a remarkable resemblance in their names. at cazembe's he found an old white-bearded half-caste named mohammed bin sali, who was kept as a kind of prisoner at large by the king because of certain suspicious circumstances attending his advent and stay in the country. through livingstone's influence mohammed bin sali obtained his release. on the road to ujiji he had bitter cause to regret having exerted himself in the half-caste's behalf. he turned out to be a most ungrateful wretch, who poisoned the minds of the doctor's few followers, and ingratiated himself with them by selling the favours of his concubines to them, by which he reduced them to a kind of bondage under him. the doctor was deserted by all but two, even faithful susi and chumah deserted him for the service of mohammed bin sali. but they soon repented, and returned to their allegiance. from the day he had the vile old man in his company manifold and bitter misfortunes followed the doctor up to his arrival at ujiji in march, . from the date of his arrival until the end of june, , he remained at ujiji, whence he dated those letters which, though the outside world still doubted his being alive, satisfied the minds of the royal geographical people, and his intimate friends, that he still existed, and that musa'a tale was the false though ingenious fabrication of a cowardly deserter. it was during this time that the thought occurred to him of sailing around the lake tanganika, but the arabs and natives were so bent upon fleecing him that, had he undertaken it, the remainder or his goods would not have enabled him to explore the central line of drainage, the initial point of which he found far south of cazembe's in about latitude degrees, in the river called chambezi. in the days when tired captain burton was resting in ujiji, after his march from the coast near zanzibar, the land to which livingstone, on his departure from ujiji, bent his steps was unknown to the arabs save by vague report. messrs. burton and speke never heard of it, it seems. speke, who was the geographer of burton's expedition, heard of a place called urua, which he placed on his map, according to the general direction indicated by the arabs; but the most enterprising of the arabs, in their search after ivory, only touched the frontiers of rua, as, the natives and livingstone call it; for rua is an immense country, with a length of six degrees of latitude, and as yet an undefined breadth from east to west. at the end of june, , livingstone quitted ujiji and crossed over to uguhha, on the western shore, for his last and greatest series of explorations; the result of which was the further discovery of a lake of considerable magnitude connected with moero by the large river called the lualaba, and which was a continuation of the chain of lakes he had previously discovered. from the port of uguhha he set off, in company with a body of traders, in an almost direct westerly course, for the country of urua. fifteen days' march brought them to bambarre, the first important ivory depot in manyema, or, as the natives pronounce it, manyuema. for nearly six months he was detained at bambarre from ulcers in the feet, which discharged bloody ichor as soon as he set them on the ground. when recovered, he set off in a northerly direction, and after several days came to a broad lacustrine river, called the lualaba, flowing northward and westward, and in some places southward, in a most confusing way. the river was from one to three miles broad. by exceeding pertinacity he contrived to follow its erratic course, until he saw the lualaba enter the narrow, long lake of kamolondo, in about latitude degrees minutes. retracing this to the south, he came to the point where he had seen the luapula enter lake moero. one feels quite enthusiastic when listening to livingstone's description of the beauties of moero scenery. pent in on all sides by high mountains, clothed to the edges with the rich vegetation of the tropics, the moero discharges its superfluous waters through a deep rent in the bosom of the mountains. the impetuous and grand river roars through the chasm with the thunder of a cataract, but soon after leaving its confined and deep bed it expands into the calm and broad lualaba, stretching over miles of ground. after making great bends west and south-west, and then curving northward, it enters kamolondo. by the natives it is called the lualaba, but the doctor, in order to distinguish it from other rivers of the same name, has given it the name of "webb's river," after mr. webb, the wealthy proprietor of newstead abbey, whom the doctor distinguishes as one of his oldest and most consistent friends. away to the south-west from kamolondo is another large lake, which discharges its waters by the important river loeki, or lomami, into the great lualaba. to this lake, known as chebungo by the natives, dr. livingstone has given the name of "lincoln," to be hereafter distinguished on maps and in books as lake lincoln, in memory of abraham lincoln, our murdered president. this was done from the vivid impression produced on his mind by hearing a portion of his inauguration speech read from an english pulpit, which related to the causes that induced him to issue his emancipation proclamation, by which memorable deed , , of slaves were for ever freed. to the memory of the man whose labours on behalf of the negro race deserves the commendation of all good men, livingstone has contributed a monument more durable than brass or stone. entering webb's river from the south-south-west, a little north of kamolondo, is a large river called lufira, but the streams, that discharge themselves from the watershed into the lualaba are so numerous that the doctor's map would not contain them, so he has left all out except the most important. continuing his way north, tracing the lualaba through its manifold and crooked curves as far as latitude degrees south, he came to where he heard of another lake, to the north, into which it ran. but here you may come to a dead halt, and read what lies beyond this spot thus.... this was the furthermost point, whence he was compelled to return on the weary road to ujiji, a distance of miles. in this brief sketch of dr. livingstone's wonderful travels it is to be hoped the most superficial reader, as well as the student of geography, comprehends this grand system of lakes connected together by webb's river. to assist him, let him glance at the map accompanying this book. he will then have a fair idea of what dr. livingstone has been doing during these long years, and what additions he has made to the study of african geography. that this river, distinguished under several titles, flowing from one lake into another in a northerly direction, with all its great crooked bends and sinuosities, is the nile--the true nile--the doctor has not the least doubt. for a long time he entertained great scepticism, because of its deep bends and curves west, and south-west even; but having traced it from its head waters, the chambezi, through degrees of latitude--that is, from degrees s. to lat. degrees n.--he has been compelled to come to the conclusion that it can be no other river than the nile. he had thought it was the congo; but has discovered the sources of the congo to be the kassai and the kwango, two rivers which rise on the western side of the nile watershed, in about the latitude of bangweolo; and he was told of another river called the lubilash, which rose from the north, and ran west. but the lualaba, the doctor thinks, cannot be the congo, from its great size and body, and from its steady and continued flow northward through a broad and extensive valley, bounded by enormous mountains westerly and easterly. the altitude of the most northerly point to which the doctor traced the wonderful river was a little in excess of , feet; so that, though baker makes out his lake to be , feet above the sea, yet the bahr ghazal, through which petherick's branch of the white nile issues into the nile, is but , feet; in which case there is a possibility that the lualaba may be none other than petherick's branch. it is well known that trading stations for ivory have been established for about miles up petherick's branch. we must remember this fact when told that gondokoro, in lat. degrees n., is , feet above the sea, and lat. degrees s., where the halt was made, is only a little over , feet above the sea. that the two rivers said to be , feet above the sea, separated from each other by degrees of latitude, are one and the same river, may among some men be regarded as a startling statement. but we must restrain mere expressions of surprise, and take into consideration that this mighty and broad lualaba is a lacustrine river broader than the mississippi; that at intervals the body of water forms extensive lakes; then, contracting into a broad river, it again forms a lake, and so on, to lat. degrees; and even beyond this point the doctor hears of a large lake again north. we must wait also until the altitudes of the two rivers, the lualaba, where the doctor halted, and the southern point on the bahr ghazal, where petherick has been, are known with perfect accuracy. now, for the sake of argument, suppose we give this nameless lake a length of degrees of latitude, as it may be the one discovered by piaggia, the italian traveller, from which petherick's branch of the white nile issues out through reedy marshes, into the bahr ghazal, thence into the white nile, south of gondokoro. by this method we can suppose the rivers one; for if the lake extends over so many degrees of latitude, the necessity of explaining the differences of altitude that must naturally exist between two points of a river degrees of latitude apart, would be obviated. also, livingstone's instruments for observation and taking altitudes may have been in error; and this is very likely to have been the case, subjected as they have been to rough handling during nearly six years of travel. despite the apparent difficulty of the altitude, there is another strong reason for believing webb's river, or the lualaba, to be the nile. the watershed of this river, miles of which livingstone has travelled, is drained from a valley which lies north and south between lofty eastern and western ranges. this valley, or line of drainage, while it does not receive the kassai and the kwango, receives rivers flowing from a great distance west, for instance, the important tributaries lufira and lomami, and large rivers from the east, such as the lindi and luamo; and, while the most intelligent portuguese travellers and traders state that the kassai, the kwango, and lubilash are the head waters of the congo river, no one has yet started the supposition that the grand river flowing north, and known by the natives as the lualaba, is the congo. this river may be the congo, or, perhaps, the niger. if the lualaba is only , feet above the sea, and the albert n'yanza , feet, the lualaba cannot enter that lake. if the bahr ghazal does not extend by an arm for eight degrees above gondokoro, then the lualaba cannot be the nile. but it would be premature to dogmatise on the subject. livingstone will clear up the point himself; and if he finds it to be the congo, will be the first to admit his error. livingstone admits the nile sources have not been found, though he has traced the lualaba through seven degrees of latitude flowing north; and, though he has not a particle of doubt of its being the nile, not yet can the nile question be said to be resolved and ended. for two reasons: . he has heard of the existence of four fountains, two of which gave birth to a river flowing north, webb's river, or the lualaba, and to a river flowing south, which is the zambezi. he has repeatedly heard of these fountains from the natives. several times he has been within and miles from them, but something always interposed to prevent his going to see them. according to those who have seen them, they rise on either side of a mound or level, which contains no stones. some have called it an ant-hill. one of these fountains is said to be so large that a man, standing on one side, cannot be seen from the other. these fountains must be discovered, and their position taken. the doctor does not suppose them to be south of the feeders of lake bangweolo. in his letter to the 'herald' he says "these four full-grown gushing fountains, rising so near each other, and giving origin to four large rivers, answer in a certain degree to the description given of the unfathomable fountains of the nile, by the secretary of minerva, in the city of sais, in egypt, to the father of all travellers--herodotus." for the information of such readers as may not have the original at hand, i append the following from cary's translation of herodotus: (ii. ) (jul the history of herodotus v by herodotus; macaulay) *** with respect to the sources of the nile, no man of all the egyptians, libyans, or grecians, with whom i have conversed, ever pretended to know anything, except the registrar* of minerva's *the secretary of the treasury of the goddess neith, or athena as herodotus calls her: ho grammatiste:s to:n hiro:n xre:mato:n te:s athe:naie:s> treasury at sais, in egypt. he, indeed, seemed to be trifling with me when he said he knew perfectly well; yet his account was as follows: "that there are two mountains, rising into a sharp peak, situated between the city of syene, in thebais, and elephantine. the names of these mountains are the one crophi, the other mophi; that the sources of the nile, which are bottomless, flow from between these mountains and that half of the water flows over egypt and to the north, the other half over ethiopia and the south. that the fountains of the nile are bottomless, he said, psammitichus, king of egypt, proved by experiment: for, having caused a line to be twisted many thousand fathoms in length, he let it down, but could not find a bottom." such, then, was the opinion the registrar gave, if, indeed, he spoke the real truth; proving, in my opinion, that there are strong whirlpools and an eddy here, so that the water beating against the rocks, a sounding-line, when let down, cannot reach the bottom. i was unable to learn anything more from any one else. but thus much i learnt by carrying my researches as far as possible, having gone and made my own observations as far as elephantine, and beyond that obtaining information from hearsay. as one ascends the river, above the city of elephantine, the country is steep; here, therefore; it is necessary to attach a rope on both sides of a boat, as one does with an ox in a plough, and so proceed; but if the rope should happen to break, the boat is carried away by the force of the stream. this kind of country lasts for a four-days' passage, and the nile here winds as much as the maeander. there are twelve schoeni, which it is necessary to sail through in this manner; and after that you will come to a level plain, where the nile flows round an island; its name is tachompso. ethiopians inhabit the country immediately above elephantine, and one half of the island; the other half is inhabited by egyptians. near to this island lies a vast lake, on the borders of which ethiopian nomades dwell. after sailing through this lake you will come to the channel of the nile, which flows into it: then you will have to land and travel forty days by the side of the river, for sharp rocks rise in the nile, and there are many sunken ones, through which it is not possible to navigate a boat. having passed this country in the forty days, you must go on board another boat, and sail for twelve days; and then you will arrive at a large city, called meroe; this city is said to be the capital of all ethiopia. the inhabitants worship no other gods than jupiter and bacchus; but these they honour with great magnificence. they have also an oracle of jupiter; and they make war whenever that god bids them by an oracular warning, and against whatever country he bids them. sailing from this city, you will arrive at the country of the automoli, in a space of time equal to that which you took in coming from elephantine to the capital of the ethiopians. these automoli are called by the name of asmak, which, in the language of greece, signifies "those that stand at the left hand of the king." these, to the number of two hundred and forty thousand of the egyptian war-tribe, revolted to the ethiopians on the following occasion. in the reign of king psammitichus garrisons were stationed at elephantine against the ethiopians, and another at the pelusian daphnae against the arabians and syrians, and another at marea against libya; and even in my time garrisons of the persians are stationed in the same places as they were in the time of psammitichus, for they maintain guards at elephantine and daphnae. now, these egyptians, after they had been on duty three years, were not relieved; therefore, having consulted together and come to an unanimous resolution, they all revolted from psammitichus, and went to ethiopia. psammitichus, hearing of this, pursued them; and when he overtook them he entreated them by many arguments, and adjured them not to forsake the gods of their fathers, and their children and wives but one of them is reported to have uncovered [ ] and to have said, that wheresoever these were there they ["which it is said that one of them pointed to his privy member and said that wherever this was, there would they have both children and wives"--macaulay tr.; published edition censors] should find both children and wives." these men, when they arrived in ethiopia, offered their services to the king of the ethiopians, who made them the following recompense. there were certain ethiopians disaffected towards him; these he bade them expel, and take possession of their land. by the settlement of these men among the ethiopians, the ethiopians became more civilized, and learned the manners of the egyptians. now, for a voyage and land journey of four months, the nile is known, in addition to the part f the stream that is in egypt; for, upon computation, so many months are known to be spent by a person who travels from elephantine to the automoli. this river flows from the west and the setting of the sun; but beyond this no one is able to speak with certainty, for the rest of the country is desert by reason of the excessive heat. but i have heard the following account from certain cyrenaeans, who say that they went to the oracle of ammon, and had a conversation with etearchus, king of the ammonians, and that, among other subjects, they happened to discourse about the nile--that nobody knew its sources; whereupon etearchus said that certain nasamonians once came to him--this nation is lybian, and inhabits the syrtis, and the country for no great distance eastward of the syrtis--and that when these nasamonians arrived, and were asked if they could give any further formation touching the deserts of libya, they answered, that there were some daring youths amongst them, sons of powerful men; and that they, having reached man's estate, formed many other extravagant plans, and, moreover, chose five of their number by lot to explore the deserts of libya, to see if they could make any further discovery than those who had penetrated the farthest. (for, as respects the parts of libya along the northern sea, beginning from egypt to the promontory of solois, where is the extremity of libya, libyans and various nations of libyans reach all along it, except those parts which are occupied by grecians and phoenicians; but as respects the parts above the sea, and those nations which reach down to the sea, in the upper parts libya is infested by wild beasts; and all beyond that is sand, dreadfully short of water, and utterly desolate.) they further related, "that when the young men deputed by their companions set out, well furnished with water and provisions, they passed first through the inhabited country; and having traversed this, they came to the region infested by wild beasts; and after this they crossed the desert, making their way towards the west; and when they had traversed much sandy ground, during a journey of many days, they at length saw some trees growing in a plain; and that they approached and began to gather the fruit that grew on the trees; and while they were gathering, some diminutive men, less than men of middle stature, came up, and having seized them carried them away; and that the nasamonians did not at all understand their language, nor those who carried them off the language of the nasamonians. however, they conducted them through vast morasses, and when they had passed these, they came to a city in which all the inhabitants were of the same size as their conductors, and black in colour: and by the city flowed a great river, running from the west to the east, and that crocodiles were seen in it." thus far i have set forth the account of etearchus the ammonian; to which may be added, as the cyrenaeans assured me, "that he said the nasamonians all returned safe to their own country, and that the men whom they came to were all necromancers." etearchus also conjectured that this river, which flows by their city, is the nile; and reason so evinces: for the nile flows from libya, and intersects it in the middle; and (as i conjecture, inferring things unknown from things known) it sets out from a point corresponding with the ister. for the ister, beginning from the celts, and the city of pyrene, divides europe in its course; but the celts are beyond the pillars of hercules, and border on the territories of the cynesians, who lie in the extremity of europe to the westward; and the ister terminates by flowing through all europe into the euxine sea, where a milesian colony is settled in istria. now the ister, as it flows through a well-peopled country, is generally known; but no one is able to speak about the sources of the nile, because libya, through which it flows, is uninhabited and desolate. respecting this stream, therefore, as far as i was able to reach by inquiry, i have already spoken. it however discharges itself into egypt; and egypt lies, as near as may be, opposite to the mountains of cilicia; from whence to sinope, on the euxine sea, is a five days' journey in a straight line to an active man; and sinope is opposite to the ister, where it discharges itself into the sea. so i think that the nile, traversing the whole of libya, may be properly compared with the ister. such, then, is the account that i am able to give respecting the nile. ***