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THE
LAKE REGIONS or CENTRAL AFRICA
VOL. Il.
LONDON
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THE
LAKE REGIONS or CENTRAL AFRICA
A PICTURE OF EXPLORATION
BY
RICHARD F. BURTON
Capt. H.M. I. Army : Fellow and Gold Medallist of the Royal Geographical Society
“ Some to discover islands far away” —Shakspere
IN TWO VOLUMES
VOL. II.
LONDON LONGMAN, GREEN, LONGMAN, AND ROBERTS 1860
The right of translation is reserved
CONTENTS
OF
THE SECOND VOLUME.
CHAPTER XII.
The Geography and Ethnology of Unyamwezi. — The Fourth Region. ‘ ; : :
CHAP. XIII.
At length we sight the Lake Tanganyika, the “Sea of Ujiji.” .
CHAP. XIV.
We explore the Tanganyika Lake
CHAP. XV.
The Tanganyika Lake and its Periplus
CHAP. XVI.
We return to Unyanyembe
CHAP. XVII.
The Down-march to the Coast
Page
o4
30
- 155
. 223
vi CONTENTS.
Page CHAP. XVIII. Village Life in East Africa . ; : ; 218 CHAP. XIX. The Character and Religion of the East Africans; their Government, and Slavery . , . . 824 Conclusion. , : ; . 379 APPENDICES. ApPENDIx JI.: Commerce, Imports, and Exports . ‘ . 3887
Appenprix IT.: Official Correspondence . ; . 420
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
IN
THE SECOND VOLUME.
rN |
CHROMOXYLOGRAPHS. Navigation of the Tanganyika Lake . ‘ Frontispiece. View in Usagara ; : . ? to face page 1 Snay bin Amir’s House 5 155 Saydumi, a native of Uganda - 223 The Basin of Maroro % 255 The Basin of Kisanga if 278 WOODCUTS. Iwanza, or public-houses ; with Looms to the left 1 My Tembe near the Tangangika 34 Head Dresses of Wanyamwezi 80 African heads, and Ferry-boat : 134 Portraits of Muinyi Kidogo, the Kirangozi, the Mganes, kes 155 Mgongo Thembo, or the Elephant’s Back 223 Jiwe la Mkoa, the Round Rock 242 Rufita Pass in Usagara 259 The Ivory Porter, the Cloth Barter ae avore ann in Ueeores 278 Gourd, Stool, Bellows, Guitar, and Drum : : 292 Gourds 313 A: Mnyamwezi and a Mheha 324 The Bull-headed Mabruki, and the Apion sanding position 378 The Elephant Rock A ; E84
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CHAPTER XII.
THE GEOGRAPHY AND ETHNOLOGY OF UNYAMWEZI.—THE FOURTH REGION.
Tse fourth division is a hilly table-land, extending
from the western skirts of the desert Mgunda Mk’hali,
in E. long. 83° 57’, to the eastern banks of the Mala-
garazi River, in E. long. 31° 10’: it thus stretches VOL. I. B
2 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA.
diagonally over 155 rectilinear geographical miles. Bounded on the north by Usui and the Nyanza Lake, to the south-eastwards by Ugala, southwards by Ukimbu, and south-westwards by Uwende, it has a depth of from twenty-five to thirty marches. Native caravans, if lightly laden, can accomplish it in twenty-five days, including four halts. The maximum altitude observed by B. P. therm. was 4050 feet, the minimum 2850. This region contains the two great divisions of Unyam- wezi and Uvinza. |
The name of Unyamwezi was first heard by the Portuguese, according to Giovanni Botero, towards the end of the sixteenth century, or about 1589. Piga- fetta, who, in 1591, systematised the discoveries of the earlier Portuguese, placed the empire of “ Monemugi” or Munimigi in a vast triangular area, whose limits were Monomotapa, Congo, and Abyssinia: from his pages it appears that the people of this central kingdom were closely connected by commerce with the towns on the eastern coast of Africa. According to Dapper, the Dutch historian, (1671,) whose work has been the great mine of information to subsequent writers upon Africa south of the equator, about sixty days’ journey from the Atlantic is the kingdom of Monemugi, which others call “ Nimeamaye,” a name still retained under the cor- rupted form “ Nimeaye” in our atlases. M. Malte- Brun, senior, mentioning Mounemugi, adds, “ ou, selon une autographe plus authentique, Jfou-nimoug.” All the Portuguese authors call the people Monemugi or Mono-emugi; Mr. Cooley prefers Monomoezi, which he derives from “‘Munha Munge,” or “lord of the world,” the title of a great African king in the interior, commemor- ated by the historian De Barros. Mr. Macqueen (‘Geo- graphy of Central Africa’), who also gives Manmoise, declares that “ Mueno-muge, Mueno-muize, Monomoise,
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THE WORD UNYAMWEZI. 3
and Uniamese,” relate to the same place and people, comprehending a large extent of country in the interior of Africa: he explains the word erroneously to mean the “great Moises or Movisas.” The Rev. Mr. Erhardt asserts that for facility of pronunciation the coast mer- chants have turned the name “* Wanamesi” into “ Wania- mesi,” which also leads his readers into error. The Rev. Mr. Livingstone thus endorses the mistake of Messrs. Macqueen and Erhardt: “The names Mono- moizes, spelt also Monemuigis and Monomuizes, and Monomotapistas, when applied to the tribes, are exactly the same as if we should call the Scotch the Lord Douglases . . . Monomoizes was formed from ‘Moiza or Muiza, the singular of the word Babisa or <Aiza, the proper name of a large tribe to the north.” In these sentences there is 4 confusion between the lands of the Wanyamwezi, lying under the parallel of the Tanganyika Lake, and the Wabisa (in the singular Mbisdé, the Wavisa of the Rev. Mr. Rebmann), a well-known com- mercial tribe dwelling about the Maravi or Nyassa Lake, S.W. of Kilwa, whose name in times of old was cor- rupted by the Portuguese to Movizas or Movisas. Finally M. Guillain, in a work already alluded to, states correctly the name of the people to be Qua-nyamouczi, but in designating the country “ pays de Nyamouezi,” he shows little knowledge of the Zangian dialects. M. V. A. Malte-Brun, junior (‘Bulletin de Géogra- phie,’ Paris, 1856, Part II. p. 295) correctly writes Wanyamwezi.
A name so discrepantly corrupted deserves some notice. Unyamwezi is translated by Dr. Krapf and the Rev. Mr. Rebmann, ‘ Possessions of the Moon.” | The initial U, the causal and locative prefix, denotes the land, nya, of, and mwezi, articulated m’ezi with
B 2
4 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA.
semi-elision of the w, means the moon. The people sometimes pronounce their country name Unyamiezi, which would be a plural form, miezi signifying moons or months. The Arabs and the people of Zanzibar, for facility and rapidity of pronunciation, dispense with the initial dissyllable, and call the country and its race Mwezi. ‘The correct designation of the inhabitants of Unyamwezi is, therefore, Mnyamwezi in the singular, and Wanyamwezi in the plural: Kinyamwezi is the adjectival form. It is not a little curious that the Greeks should have placed their r4g ceayvyg op0¢s—the mountain of the moon—and the Hindus their Soma Giri (an ex- pression probably translated from the former), in the vicinity of the African “Land of the Moon.” It is impossible to investigate the antiquity of the vernacular term; all that can be discovered is, that nearly 350 years ago the Portuguese explorers of Western Africa heard the country designated by its present name. There is the evidence of barbarous tradition for a belief in the existence of Unyamwezi as a great empire, united under a single despot. The elders declare that their patriarchal ancestor became after death the first tree, and afforded shade to his children and descen- dants. According to the Arabs the people still perform pilgrimage to a holy tree, and believe that the penalty of sacrilege in cutting off a twig would be visited by sudden and mysterious death. All agree in relating that during the olden time Unyamwezi was united under a single sovereign, whose tribe was the Wakala- ganza, still inhabiting the western district, Usagozi. Ac- cording to the people, whose greatest: chronical measure is a Masika, or rainy season, in the days of the grand- fathers of their grandfathers the last of the Wanyam- wezi emperors died. His children and nobles divided and dismembered his dominions, further partitions en-
UNYAMWEZI A GREAT EMPIRE. 5
sued, and finally the old empire fell into the hands of a rabble of petty chiefs. Their wild computation would point to an epoch of 150 years ago—a date by no means improbable.
These glimmerings of light thrown by African tradi- | tion illustrate the accounts given by the early Portu- guese concerning the extent and the civilisation of the Unyamweziempire. Moreover, African travellers in the seventeenth century concur in asserting that, between 250 and 300 years ago, there was an outpouring of the barbarians from the heart of A‘thiopia and from the shores of the Central Lake towards the eastern and southern coasts of the peninsula, a general waving and wandering of tribes which caused great ethnological and geographical confusion, public demoralisation, dis- memberment of races, and change, confusion, and cor- ruption of tongues. About this period it is supposed the kingdom of Mtanda, the first Kazembe, was es- tablished. The Kafirs of the Cape also date their migra- tion from the northern regions to the banks of the Kei about a century and a half ago.
In these days Unyamwezi has returned to the political status of Eastern Africa in the time of the Periplus. It is broken up into petty divisions, each ruled by its own tyrant ; his authority never extends beyond five marches; moreover, the minor chiefs of the different districts are virtually independent of their suzerains. One language is spoken throughout the land of the Moon, but the dialectic differences are such that the tribes in the east with difficulty understand their brethren in the west. The principal provinces are — Utakama to the extreme north, Usukuma on the south, —in Kinyamwezi sukuma means the north, takama the south, kiya the east, and mwere the west,—Unyan-
B 3
6 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA.
yembe in the centre, Ufyoma and Utumbara in the north-west, Unyangwira in the south-east, Usagozi and Usumbwa to the westward. The three normal divisions of the people are into Wanyamwezi, Wasukuma or — northern, and Watakama or southern.
The general character of Unyamwezi is rolling ground, intersected with low conical and tabular hills, whose lines ramify in all directions. No mountain is found in the country. The superjacent stratum is clay, overlying the sandstone based upon various granites, which in some places crop out, picturesquely disposed in blocks and boulders and huge domes and lumpy masses; ironstone is met with at a depth varying from five to twelve feet, and at Kazeh, the Arab settlement in Unyanyembe, bits of coarse ore were found by digging not more than four feet in a chance spot. During the rains a coat of many-tinted greens conceals the soil; in the dry sea- son the land is grey, lighted up by golden stubbles and dotted with wind-distorted trees, shallow swamps of emerald grass, and wide sheets of dark mud. Dwarfed stumps and charred “black-jacks” deform the fields, which are sometimes ditched or hedged in, whilst a thin forest of parachute-shaped thorns diver- sifies the waves of rolling land and earth-hills spotted with sun-burnt stone. The reclaimed tracts and clear- ings are divided from one another by strips of primeeval jungle, varying from two to twelve miles in length. As in most parts of Eastern Africa, the country is dotted with “ fairy mounts” — dwarf mounds, the ancient sites of trees now crumbled to dust, and the débris of insect architecture ; they appear to be rich ground, as they are always diligently cultivated. The yield of the soil, ac- cording to the Arabs, averages sixty-fold, even in un- favourable seasons.
BEAUTY OF UNYAMWEZI. 7
The Land of the Moon, which is the garden of Central Intertropical Africa, presents an aspect of peaceful rural beauty which soothes the eye like a medicine after the red glare of barren Ugogo, and the dark monotonous verdure of the western provinces. Lhe inhabitants are comparatively numerous in the villages, which rise at short intervals above their im- pervious walls of the lustrous green milk-bush, with its coral-shaped arms, variegating the well-hoed plains ; whilst in the pasture-lands frequent herds of many- coloured cattle, plump, round-barrelled, and high- humped, like the Indian breeds, and mingled flocks of goats and sheep dispersed over the landscape, suggest ideas of barbarous comfort and plenty. There are few scenes more soft and soothing than a view of Unyam- wezi in the balmy evenings of spring. As the large yellow sun nears the horizon, a deep stillness falls upon earth: even the zephyr seems to lose the power of rust- ling the lightest leaf. The milky haze of midday dis- appears from the firmament, the flush of departing day mantles the distant features of scenery with a lovely rose-tint, and the twilight is an orange glow that burns like distant horizontal fires, passing upwards through an imperceptibly graduated scale of colours — saffron, yel- low, tender green, and the lightest azure—into the dark blue of the infinite space above. The charm of the hour seems to affect even the unimaginative Africans, as they sit in the central spaces of their villages, or, stretched under the forest-trees, gaze upon the glories around.
In Unyamwezi water generally lies upon the surface, during the rains, in broad shallow pools, which become favourite sites for rice-fields. These little ziwa and mbuga — ponds and marshes — vary from two to five
B 4
8 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA.
feet below the level of the land; in the dry season they are betrayed from afar by a green line of livelier vegetation streaking the dead tawny plain. The Arabs seldom dig their wells deeper than six feet, and they complain of the want of “ live-water” gushing from the rocky ground, as in their native Oman. The country contains few springs, andthe surface of retentive clay prevents the moisture penetrating to the subsoil. The peculiarity of the produce is its decided chalybeate flavour. The versant of the country varies. The eastern third, falling to the south-east, discharges its surplus supplies through the Rwaha river into the Indian Ocean ; in the centre, water seems to stagnate ; and in the western third, the flow, turning to the north and north-west, is carried by the Gombe nullah—a string of pools during the dry season, and a rapid un- fordable stream during the rains—into the great Mala- garazi river, the principal eastern influent of the Tan- ganyika Lake. The levels of the country and the direction of the waters combine to prove that the great depres- sion of Central Africa, alluded to in the preceding chap- ter, commences in the district of _Kigwa in Unyamwezi.
The climate of the island and coast of Zanzibar has, it must be remembered, double seasons, which are ex- ceedingly confused and irregular. The lands of Un- yamwezi and Uvinza, on the other hand, are as remarkable for simplicity of division. There eight seasons disturb the idea of year; here but two —a summer and a winter. Central Africa has, as the Spaniards say of the Philippine Isles,
“Seis mezes de polvo, Seis mezes de lodo.”
In 1857 the Masika, or rains, commenced throughout Eastern Unyamwezi on the 14th of November. In the
VIOLENT STORMS. | 9
northern and western provinces the wet monsoon begins earlier and lasts longer. At Msene it precedes Unyan- yembe about a month; in Ujiji, Karagwah, and Uganda, nearly two months. Thus the latter countries have a rainy season which lasts from the middle of September till the middle of May.
The moisture-bearing wind in this part of Africa is the fixed south-east trade, deflected, as in the great valley of the Mississippi and in the island of Ceylon, into a periodical south-west monsoon. As will appear in these pages, the downfalls begin earlier in Central Africa than upon the eastern coast, and from the latter point they travel by slow degrees, with the northing sun, to the north-east, till they find a grave upon the rocky slopes of the Himalayas.
The rainy monsoon is here ushered in, accompanied, and terminated by storms of thunder and lightning, and occasional hail-falls. The blinding flashes of white, yellow, or rose colour play over the firma- ment uninterruptedly for hours, during which no darkness is visible. In the lighter storms thirty and thirty-five flashes may be counted in a minute: so vivid is the glare that it discloses the finest shades of colour, and appears followed by a thick and palpable gloom, such as would hang before a blind man’s eyes, whilst a deafening roar simultaneously following the flash, seems to travel, as it were, to and fro overhead. Several claps sometimes sound almost at the same moment, and as if coming from different directions. The same storm will, after the most violent of its discharges, pass over, and be immediately followed by a second, showing the superabundance of electricity inthe atmosphere. When hail is about to fall, a rushing noise is heard in the air, with sudden coolness-and a strange darkness from the
10 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA.
canopy of brownish purple clouds. The winds are exceedingly variable: perhaps they are most often from the east and north-east during summer, from the north- west and south-west in the rains; but they are answered from all quarters of the heavens, and the most violent storms sail up against the lower atmospheric currents. The Portuguese of the Mozambique attribute these ter- rible discharges of electricity to the quantity of mineral substances scattered about the country ; but a steaming land like Eastern Africa wants, during the rains, no stronger battery. In the rainy season the sensation is that experienced during the equinoctial gales in the Mediterranean, where the scirocco diffuses everywhere discomfort and disease. ‘The fall is not, as in Western India, a steady downpour, lasting sometimes two or three days without a break. In Central Africa, rain seldom endures beyond twelve hours, and it often as- sumes for weeks an appearance of regularity, re-occurring at a certain time. Night is its normal season; the morn- ings are often wet, and the torrid midday is generally dry. <As in Southern Africa, a considerable decrease of temperature is the consequence of long-continued rain. Westward of Unyanyembe, hail-storms, during the rainy monsoon, are frequent and violent; according to the Arabs, the stones sometimes rival pigeons’ eggs in size. Throughout this monsoon the sun burns with sickly depressing rays, which make earth reek like a garment hung out to dry. Yet this is not considered the un- healthy period: the inundation is too deep, and eva- poration is yet unable to extract sufficient poison from decay.
As in India and the southern regions of Africa, the deadly season follows the wet monsoon from the middle of May to the end of June. The kosi or south-west
CLIMATE OF UNYAMWEZI. 11
wind gives place to the kaskazi, or north-east, about April, a little later than at Zanzibar. The cold gales and the fervid suns then affect the outspread waters ; the rivers, having swollen during the weeks of violent downfall that usher in the end of the rains, begin to shrink, and miry morasses and swamps of black vege- table mud line the low-lands whose central depths are still under water. The winds, cooled by excessive evaporation and set in motion by the heat, howl over the country by night and day, dispersing through the population colds and catarrhs, agues and rheumatisms, dysenteries and deadly fevers. It must, however, be remarked that many cases which in India and Sindh would be despaired of, survived in Eastern Africa.
The hot season, or summer, lasting from the end of June till nearly the middle of November, forms the complement of the year. The air now becomes healthy and temperate; the cold, raw winds rarely blow, and the people recover from their transition diseases. <At long intervals, during these months, but a few grateful and refreshing showers, accompanied by low thunder- ings, cool the air and give life to the earth. These phenomena are expected after the change of the moon, and not, as in Zanzibar, during her last quarter. The Arabs declare that here, as in the island, rain sometimes falls from a clear sky —a phenomenon not unknown to African travellers. ‘The drought affects the country severely, a curious exception to the rule in the zone of perpetual rain; and after August whirlwinds of dust become frequent. At this time the climate is most agreeable to the senses; even in the hottest nights a blanket is welcome, especially about dawn, and it is possible to dine at 8 or 4 p.m., when in India the exer- tion would be impracticable. During the day a ring-
12 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA.
cloud, or a screen of vapour, almost invariably tempers the solar rays; at night a halo, or a corona, generally encircles the moon. The clouds are chiefly cumulus, cumulo-stratus, and nimbus; the sky is often overcast with large white masses floating, apparently without motion, upon the milky haze, and in the serenest weather a few threads are seen pencilled upon the expanse above. Sunrise is seldom thoroughly clear, and, when so, the clouds, sublimed in other regions and brought up by the rising winds, begin to gather in the forenoon. They are melted, as it were, by the fervent heat of the sun between noon and 3 p.M., at which time also the breezes fall light. Thick mists collect about sunset, and by night the skies are seldom free from clouds. The want of heat to dilate the atmosphere at this season, and the light-absorbing vegetation which clothes the land, causes a peculiar dimness in the Galaxy and “ Magellan’s Clouds.” The twilight also is short, and the zodiacal light is not observed. The suffocating sensation of the tropics is unknown, and at noon in the month of September —the midsummer of this region —the thermometer, defended from the wind, in a single- fold Arab tent, never exceeded 113° Fahr. Except during the rains, the dews are not heavy, as in Zan- zibar, in the alluvial valleys, and in Usagara and Ujjiji: the people do not fear exposure to them, though, as in parts of France, they consider dew-wetted grass un- wholesome for cattle. The Arabs stand bathing in the occasional torrents of rain without the least appre- hension. The temperature varies too little for the European constitution, which requires a winter. - The people, however, scarcely care to clothe themselves. The flies and mosquitoes—those pests of most African countries—are here a minor annoyance.
EARTHQUAKES. 13
The principal cause of disease during the summer of Unyamwezi is the east wind, which, refrigerated by the damp alluvial valleys of the first region and the tree- clad peaks and swampy plains of Usagara, sweeps the country, like the tramontanas of Italy, with a freezing cold in the midst of an atmosphere properly tepid. These unnatural combinations of extremes, causing sudden chills when the skin perspires, bring on in- evitable disease ; strangers often suffer severely, and the influenza is as much feared in Unyamwezi as in England. The east. wind is even more dangerous in the hut than in the field: draughts from the four quarters play upon the patient, making one side of the body tremble with cold, whilst the other, defended by the wall or heated by the fire, burns with fever-glow. The gales are most violent immediately after the cessation of the rains ; about the beginning of August they become warmer and fall light. At this time frequent whirlwinds sweep from the sun-parched land clouds of a fine and pene- trating clay-dust; and slight shocks of earthquakes are by no means uncommon. ‘Three were observed by the Expedition—at noon on the 14th of June, 1858; on the morning of the 13th of June; and at 5 p.m. on the 22nd of November, 1858. The motion, though mild, was distinctly perceptible; unfortunately, means of ascer- taining the direction were wanted. The people of the country call this phenomenon ‘Tetemeka,” or the trembling; and the Arabs remember a shock of a serious nature which took place at Unyanyembe in the hot season of 1852. After September, though the land is parched with drought, the trees begin to put forth their leaves; it is the coupling season of beasts, and the period of nidification and incubation for birds. The gradual lowering of the temperature, caused by the
14 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA.
southern declination of the sun, acts like the genial warmth of an English spring. As all sudden changes from siccity to humidity are prejudicial to man, there is invariably severe disease at the end of the summer, when the rains set in.
Travellers from Unyamwezi homeward returned often represent that country to be the healthiest in East- ern and Central Africa: they quote, as a proof, the keenness of their appetites and the quantity of food which they consume. The older residents, however, modify their opinions: they declare that digestion does not wait upon appetite; and that, as in Egypt, Mazan- deran, Malabar, and other hot-damp countries, no man long retains rude health. The sequele of their ma- ladies are always severe; few care to use remedies, deeming them inefficacious against morbific influ- ences to them unknown; convalescence is protracted, painful, and uncertain, and at length they are compelled to lead the lives of confirmed invalids. The gifts of the climate, lassitude and indolence, according to them, predispose to corpulence; and the regular warmth induces baldness, and thins the beard, thus assimilating strangers in body as in mind to the aborigines. They are unanimous in quoting a curious effect of climate, which they attribute to a corruption of the “ humours and juices of the body.” Men who, after a lengthened: sojourn in these regions return to Oman, throw away the surplus provisions brought from the African coast, burn their clothes and bedding, and for the first two or three months eschew society ; a peculiar effluvium ren- dering them, it is said, offensive to the finer olfactories of their compatriots.
The Mukunguru of Unyamwezi is perhaps the se- verest seasoning fever in this part of Africa. It is a
THE FEVER IN UNYAMWEZI. 15
bilious remittent, which normally lasts three days; it wonderfully reduces the patient in that short period, and in severe cases the quotidian is followed by a long attack of a tertian type. The consequences are severe and lasting even in men of the strongest nervous dia- thesis; burning and painful eyes, hot palms and soles, a recurrence of shivering and flushing fits, with the extremities now icy cold, then painfully hot and swollen, indigestion, insomnolency, cutaneous eruptions and fever sores, languor, dejection, and all the incon- veniences resulting from torpidity of liver, or from an inordinate secretion of bile, betray the poison deep- lurking in the system. In some cases this fever works speedily ; some even, becoming at once delirious, die on the first or the second day, and there is invariably an exacerbation of symptoms before the bilious remittent, passes away.
The fauna of Unyamwezi are similar to those de- scribed in Usagara and Ugogo. In the jungles qua- drumana are numerous; lions and leopards, cynhyzenas and wild cats haunt the forests; the elephant and the rhinoceros, the giraffe and the Cape buffalo, the zebra, the quagga (?), and the koodoo wander over the plains; and the hippopotamus and crocodile are found in every large pool. The nyanyi or cynocephalus in the jungles of Usukuma attains the size of a greyhound ; according to the people, there are three varieties of colour — red, black, and yellow. They are the terror of the neigh- bouring districts: women never dare to approach their haunts ; they set the leopard at defiance, and, when ina large body, they do not, it is said, fear the lion. The Colobus guereza, or tippet monkey, the “ polume” of Dr. Livingstone (ch. xvi.), here called mbega, is ad- mired on account of its polished black skin and snowy-
16 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA.
white mane. It is a cleanly animal, ever occupied in polishing its beautiful garb, which, according to the Arabs, it tears to pieces when wounded, lest the hunter should profit by it. The mbega lives in trees, seldom descending, and feeds upon the fruit and the young leaves. The Arabs speak of wild dogs in the vicinity of Unyanyembe, describing them as being about eight- een inches in height, with rufous-black and shaggy coats, and long thick tails; they are gregarious, running in packs of from 20 to 200; they attack indiscrimi- nately man and the largest animals, and their only cry isa howl. About the time of our autumn the pools are visited by various kinds of aquatic birds, widgeon, plump little teal, fine snipe, curlew, and crane; the ardea, or white ‘‘ paddy-bird” of India, and the “lily- trotter” (Parra Africana), are scattered over the country; and sometimes, though rarely, the chenalopex or common [Egyptian-goose and the gorgeous-crowned crane (Balearica pavonina), the latter a favourite dish with the Arabs, appear. In several parts of Unyam- wezi, especially in the north, there is a large and well- flavoured species of black-backed goose (Sakidornis melanota): the common wild duck of England was not seen. Several specimens of the Buceros, the secretary- bird (Serpentarius reptilivorus), and large vultures, probably the condor of the Cape, were observed in Un- yamwezi; the people do not molest them, holding the flesh to be carrion. The Cuculus indicator, called in Kisawahili “‘tongoe,” is common; but, its honey being mostly hived, it does not attract attention. Grillivori, and aspecies of thrush, about the size of common larks, with sulphur-yellow patches under the eyes, and two naked black striee beneath the throat, are here migratory birds ; they do good service to the agriculturist against
THE FAUNA. \ 17
the locust. A variety of the Loxia or grossbill con- structs nests sometimes in bunches hanging from the lower branches of the trees. The mtiko, a kind of water-wagtail (Motacilla), ventures into the huts with the audacity of a London sparrow, and the Africans have a prejudice against killing it. Swallows and martins of various kinds, some peculiarly graceful and slender, may be seen migrating at the approach of winter in regular travelling order: of these, one variety resembles the English bird. The Africans declare that a single species of hirundo, probably the sand-martin, builds in the precipitous earth-banks of the nullahs: their nests were not seen, however, as in Southern Africa, under the eaves of houses. ‘There are a few ostriches, hawks, ravens, plovers, nightjars (Caprimul- cide), red and blue jays of brilliant plume, muscicape, blackecaps or mock nightingales (Motacilla atroca- pilla?), passerines of various kinds, hoopoes, bulbuls, wrens, larks, and bats. We saw but few poisonous animals. Besides the dendrophis, the only ophidia killed in the country were snakes, with slate-coloured backs, and silver bellies, resembling the harmless “‘ mas” or “hanash” of Somaliland, the Psammophis sibil- aris (L.); C. moniliger Lacépéde, — according to Mr. Blyth (“ Journal of the As. Soc. of Bengal,” vol. xxiv., p- 806), who declares it to be not venomous — they abound in the houses and destroy the rats. The people speak of a yellow and brown-coated snake, eight feet long by five or six inches in diameter ; it is probably a boa or rock-snake. Churda or frogs are numerous in the swamps, where the frog-concerts resemble those of the New World; and in the regions about the Tanga- nyika Lake a large variety makes night hideous with its croakings. Of the rane there are many species. VOL, It. C
18 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA.
The largest is probably the “matmalelo” of S. Africa; it is eaten by the Wagogo and other tribes. A smaller kind is of dark colour, and with long legs, which en- able it to hop great distances. A third is of a dirty yellow, with brownish speckles. There is also a little green tree-frog, which adheres to the broad and almost perpendicular leaves of the thicker grasses. The leech is found in the lakes and rivers of the interior, as well as in Zanzibar and on both coasts of Africa; according to the Arabs they are of two kinds, large and small. The people neither take precautions against them when drinking at the streams, as the Somal do, nor are they aware of any officinal use for the animals; moreover, it is impossible to persuade a Msawahili to collect them: they are of P’hepo or fiendish nature, and never fail to haunt and harm their captor. Jongo, or huge millepedes, some attaining a length of half a foot, with shiny black bodies and red feet, are found in the. fields and forests, especially during the rains: covered with epizoa, these animals present a disgusting appearance, and they seem, to judge from their spoils, to die off during the hot weather. At certain seasons there is a great variety of the papilionaceous family in the vicinity of waters where libellule or dragon-flies also abound. The country is visited at irregular times by flights of locusts, here called nzige. In spring the plants are covered in parts with the p’hanzi, a large pink and green variety, and the destructive species depicted and described by Salt: they rise from the earth like a glowing rose- coloured cloud, and die off about the beginning of the rains. The black leather-like variety, called by the Arabs “Satan’s ass,” is not uncommon: it is eaten by the Africans, as are many other edibles upon which strangers look with disgust. The Arabs describe a fly
THE WAKIMBU. 19
which infests the forest-patches of Unyamwezi: 1 1s about the size of a small wasp, and is so fatal that cattle attacked by it are at once killed and eaten before they become carrion from its venomous effects. In parts the country is dotted with ant-hills, which, when old, become hard as sandstone: they are generally built by the termite under some shady tree, which prevents too rapid drying, and apparently the people have not learned, like their brethren in South Africa, to use them as ovens.
From Tura westward to Unyanyembe, the central district of Unyamwezi, caravans usually number seven marches, making a total of 60 rectilinear geographical miles. As far as Kigwa there is but one line of route; from that point travelling parties diverge far and wide, like ships making their different courses.
The races requiring notice in this region are two, the Wakimbu and the Wanyamwezi.
The Wakimbu, who are emigrants into Unyamwezi, claim a noble origin, and derive themselvesfrom the broad lands running south of Unyanyembe as far westward as K’hokoro. About twenty masika, wet monsoons, or years ago, according to themselves, in company with their neighbours, the Wakonongo and the Wamia, they left Neuru, Usanga, and Usenga, in consequence of the repeated attacks of the Warori, and migrated to Kipiri, the district lying south of Tura; they have now ex- tended into Mgunda Mk’hali and Unyanyembe, where they hold the land by permission of the Wanyamwezi. In these regions there are few obstacles to immigrants. They visit the Sultan, make a small present, obtain per- mission to settle, and name the village after their own chief; but the original proprietors still maintain their rights to the soil. The Wakimbu build firmly stockaded villages,
c 2
20 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA.
tend cattle, and cultivate sorghum and maize, millet and pulse, cucumbers, and water-melons. Apparently they are poor, being generally clad in skins. They barter slaves and ivory in small quantities to the merchants, and some travel to the coast. They are considered treacherous by their neighbours, and Mapokera, the Sultan of Tura, is, according to the Arabs, prone to commit ‘‘ avanies.” They are known by a number of small lines formed by raising the skin with a needle, and opening it by points literally between the hair of the temples and the eyebrows. In appearance they are dark and uncomely; their arms are bows and arrows, spears and knives stuck in the leathern waistbelt ; some wear necklaces of curiously plaited straw, others a strip of white cowskin bound around the brow—a truly savage and African decoration. Their language differs han Kinyamwezi.
The Wanyamwezi tribe, the proprietors of the s6il, is the typical race in this portion of Central Africa: its comparative industry and commercial activity have se- cured to it a superiority over the other kindred races.
The aspect of the Wanyamwezi is alone sufficient to disprove the existence of very elevated lands in this part of the African interior. They are usually of a dark sepia-brown, rarely coloured like diluted Indian ink, as are the Wahiao and slave races to the south, with negroid features markedly less Semitic than the people of the eastern coast. The effluvium from their skins, especially after exercise or excitement, marks their connection with the negro. The hair curls crisply, but it grows to the length of four or five inches before it splits; it is usually twisted into many little ringlets or hanks; it hangs down like a fringe to the neck, and is combed off the forehead after the manner of the
THE WANYAMWEZI. 21
ancient Egyptians and the modern Hottentots. The beard is thin and short, there are no whiskers, and the moustachio—-when not plucked out —is scant and straggling. Most of the men and almost all the women remove the eyelashes, and pilar hair rarely appears to grow. The normal figure of the race is tall and stout, and the women are remarkable for the elongation of the mammary organs. Few have small waists, and the only lean men in the land are the youths, the sick, and the famished. This race is said to be long-lived, and it is not deficient in bodily strength and savage courage. The clan-mark is a double line of little cuts, like the marks of cupping, made by a friend with a knife or razor, along the temporal fosse from the external edges of the eyebrows to the middle of the cheeks or to the lower jaws. Sometimes a third line, or a band of three small lines, is drawn down the forehead to the bridge of the nose. The men prefer a black, charcoal being the substance generally used, the women a blue colour, and the latter sometimes ornament their faces with little perpendicular scars below the eyes. They do not file the teeth into a saw-shape as seen amongst the southern races, but they generally form an inner triangular or wedge-shaped aperture by chipping away the internal corners of the two front incisors like the Damaras, and the women extract the lower central teeth. Both sexes enlarge the lobes of the ears. In many parts of the country skins are more commonly worn than cloth, ex- cept by the Sultans and the wealthier classes. The women wear the long tobe of the coast, tightly wrapped round either above or more commonly below the breast ; the poorer classes veil the bosom with a square or softened skin; the remainder of the dress is a kilt or short petticoat of the same material extending from
c3
22 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA.
waist to knee. Maidens never cover the breast, and children are rarely clothed ; the infant, as usual in East Africa, is carried in a skin fastened by thongs behind the parent’s back. ‘The favourite ornaments are beads, of which the red coral, the pink, and the “ pigeon-eggs” made at Nuremberg are preferred. From the neck depend strings of beads with kiwangwa, disks of shell brought from the coast, and crescents of hippopotamus teeth country made, and when the beard is long it is strung with red and particoloured beads. Brass and copper bangles or massive rings are worn upon the wrists, the forearm bears the ponderous kitindi or coil bracelet, and the arm above the elbow is sometimes de- corated with circlets of ivory or with a razor in an ivory étui; the middle is girt with a coil of wire twisted round a rope of hair or fibre, and the ankles are covered with small iron bells and the rings of thin brass, copper, or iron wire, called sambo. When travelling, a goat’s horn, used as a bugle, is secured over the right shoulder by a lanyard and allowed to hang by the left side: in the house many wear a smaller article of the same kind, hollowed inside and containing various articles intended as charms, and consecrated by the Mganga or medicine- man. The armsare slender assegais with the shoulders of the blade rounded off: they are delivered, as by the Somal, with the thumb and forefinger after a preliminary of vibratory motion, but the people want the force and the dexterity of the Kafirs. Some have large spears for thrusting, and men rarely leave the hut without their’ bows and arrows, the latter unpoisoned, but curiously and cruelly barbed. They make also the long double-edged knives called sime, and different complications of rungu or knob-kerries, some of them armed with an iron lance-head upon the wooden bulge.
ONE OF TWINS KILLED. 23
Dwarf battle-axes are also seen, but not so frequently as amongst the western races on the Tanganyika Lake. The shield in Unyamwezi resembles that of Usagara ; it is however rarely used.
There are but few ceremonies amongst the Wanyam- wezi. A woman about to become a mother retires from the hut to the jungle, and after a few hours returns with a child wrapped in goatskin upon her back, and probably carrying a load of firewood on her head. The medical treatment of the Arabs with salt and various astringents for forty days is here unknown. Twins are not common as amongst the Kafir race, and one of the two is invariably put to death; the universal custom amongst these tribes is for the mother to wrap a gourd or calabash in skins, to place it to sleep with, and to feed it like, the survivor. If the wife die with- out issue, the widower claims from her parents the sum paid to them upon marriage; if she leave a child, the property is preserved for it. When the fatber can afford it, a birth is celebrated by copious libations of pombe. Children are suckled till the end of the second year. Their only education is in the use of the bow and arrow; after the fourth summer the boy begins to learn archery with diminutive weapons, which are gradually increased in strength. Names are given without cere- mony; and as in the countries to the eastward, many of the heathens have been called after their Arab visitors. Circumcision is not practised by this people. The children in Unyamwezi generally are the property not of the uncle but of the father, who can sell or slay them without blame ; in Usukuma or the northern lands, however, succession and inheritance are claimed by the nephews or sisters’ sons. The Wanyamwezi have adopted the curious practice of leaving property
c 4
24 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA.
to their illegitimate children by slave girls or concu- bines, to the exclusion of their issue by wives; they justify it by the fact of the former requiring their assistance more than the latter, who have friends and relatives to aid them. As soon as the boy can walk he tends the flocks; after the age of ten he drives the cattle to pasture, and, considering himself independent of his father, he plants a tobacco-plot and aspires to build a hut for himself. ‘There is not a boy “ which cannot earn his own meat.”
Another peculiarity of the Wanyamwezi is the posi- tion of the Wahara or unmarried girls. Until puberty they live in the father’s house; after that period the spinsters of the village, who usually number from seven to a dozen, assemble together and build for themselves at a distance from their homes a hut where they can receive their friends without parental interference. There is but one limit to community in single life: if the Mhara or “maiden” be likely to become a mother, her “young man” must marry her under pain of mulet; and if she die in childbirth, her father demands from her lover a large fine for having taken away his daughter’s life. Marriage takes place when the youth can afford to pay the price for a wife: it varies accord- ing to circumstances from one to ten cows. The wife is so far the property of the husband that he can claim damages from the adulterer; he may not, however, sell her, except when in difficulties. The marriage is cele- brated with the usual carouse, and the bridegroom takes up his quarters in his wife’s home, not under her father’s roof. Polygamy is the rule with the wealthy. There is little community of interests and apparently a lack of family affection in these tribes. The husband, when returning from the coast laden with cloth, will
DEATH AND BURIAL. 25
refuse a single shukkah to his wife, and the wife suc- ceeding to an inheritance will abandon her husband to starvation. The man takes charge of the cattle, goats, sheep, and poultry; the woman has power over the grain and the vegetables; and each must grow tobacco, having little hope of borrowing from the other. Widows left with houses, cattle, and fields, usually spend their substance in supporting lovers, who are expected occa- sionally to make presents in return. Hence no coast slave in Wanyamwezi is ever known to keep a shukkah of cloth.
The usual way of disposing of a corpse in former times was, to carry it out on the head and to throw it into some jungle strip where the fisi or cynhyzena abounds, — a custom which accounts for the absence of graveyards. The Wanyamwezi at first objected to the Arabs pub- licly burying their dead in their fields, for fear of pol- lution; they would assemble in crowds to close the way against a funeral party. The merchants, however, persevered till they succeeded in establishing a right. When a Mnyamwezi dies in a strange country, and his comrades take the trouble to inter him, they turn the face of the corpse towards the mother’s village, a pro- ceeding which shows more sentiment than might be expected from them. The body is buried standing, or tightly bound in a heap, or placed in a sitting position with the arms clasping the knees: if the deceased be a great man, a sheep and a bullock are slaughtered for a funeral feast, the skin is placed over his face, and the hide is bound to his back. When a sultan dies in a foreign land his body is buried upon the spot, and his head, or what remains of it, is carried back for sepul- ture to his own country. The chiefs of Unyamwezi generally are interred by a large assemblage of their
26 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA.
subjects with cruel rites. A deep pit is sunk, with a kind of vault or recess projecting fforn it: in this the corpse, clothed with skin and hide, and holding a bow in the right hand, is placed sitting, with a pot of pombe, upon a dwarf stool, whilst sometimes one, but more generally three female slaves, one on each side and the third in front, are buried alive to preserve their lord from the horrors of solitude. A copious libation of pombe upon the heaped-up earth concludes the cere- mony. According to the Arabs, the Wasukuma inter all their sultans in a jungle north of Unyanyembe, and the neighbouring peasants deposit before seed-time small offerings of grain at the Mzimo or Fetiss-house which marks the spot.
The habitations of the eastern Wanyamwezi are the Tembe, which in the west give way to the circular African hut ; among the poorer sub-tribes the dwelling is a mere stack of straw. The best Tembe have large projecting eaves supported by uprights: cleanliness, however, can never be expected in them. Having no limestone, the people ornament the inner and outer walls with long lines of ovals formed by pressing the finger tips, after dipping them into ashes and water for whitewash, and into red clay or black mud for variety of colour. With this primitive material they sometimes attempt rude imitations of nature — human beings and serpents. In some parts the cross appears, but the people apparently ignore it as a symbol. Rude carving is also attempted upon the massive posts at the en- trances of villages, but the figures, though to appear- ance idolatrous, are never worshipped. ‘The household furniture of the Tembe differs little from that described in the villages generally. The large sloping Kitanda, or bedstead of peeled tree-branch, supported by forked
THE VILLAGE “ PUBLIC.” 27
sticks, and provided with a bedding of mat and cow- hide, occupies the greater part of the outer room. ‘The triangle of clay cones forming the hearth are generally placed for light near the wall-side opposite the front door; and the rest of the supellex consists of large stationary bark cornbins, of gourds and bandboxes slung from the roof, earthen-pots of black clay, huge ladles, pipes, grass-mats, grinding-stones, and arms hung to a trimmed and branchy tree trunk planted upright in a corner. The rooms are divided by party walls, which, except when separating families, seldom reach to the ceiling. The fireplace acts as lamp by night, and the door is the only chimney.
The characteristic of the Mnyamwezi village is the “ Twanzd4”—a convenience resulting probably from the instinct of the sexes, who prefer not to mingle, and for the greater freedom of life and manners. Of these buildings there are two in every settlement, generally built at opposite sides, fronting the normal Mrimba-tree, which sheds its filmy shade over the public court-yard. That of the women, being a species of harem, was not visited ; as travellers and strangers are always admitted into the male Iwanza, it is more readily described. This public-house is a large hut, somewhat more substantial than those adjoining, often smeared with smooth clay, and decorated here and there with broad columns of the ovals before described, and the prints of palms dipped in ashes and placed flat like the hands in ancient Egyp- tian buildings. The roof is generally a flying thatch raised a foot above the walls—an excellent plan for ventilation in these regions. Outside, the Iwdnza is defended against the incursions of cattle by roughly- barked trunks of trees resting upon stout uprights: in this space men sit, converse, and smoke. ‘The two
28 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA.
doorways are protected by rude charms suspended from the lintel, hares’ tails, zebras’ manes, goats’ horns, and other articles of prophylactic virtue. Inside, half the depth is appropriated to the Ubiri, a huge standing bedframe, formed, like the plank-benches of a civilised guard-room, by sleepers lying upon horizontal cross- bars: these are supported by forked trunks about two feet long planted firmly in the ground. The floor is of tamped earth. The furniture of the Iwaénza consists of a hearth and grinding-stone; spears, sticks, arrows, and shillelaghs are stuck to smoke in the dingy rafter ceiling, or are laid upon hooks of crooked wood de- pending from the sooty cross-beams: the corners are occupied by bellows, elephant-spears, and similar arti- cles. In this “ public” the villagers spend their days, and often, even though married, their nights, gambling, eating, drinking pombe, smoking bhang and tobacco, chatting, and sleeping like a litter of puppies destitute of clothing, and using one another’s backs, breasts, and stomachs as pillows. The Iwanza appears almost pe- culiar to Unyamwezi.
In Unyamwezi the sexes do not eat together: even the boys would disdain to be seen sitting at meat with their mothers. The men feed either in their cottages or more generally in the Iwdnzd: they make, when they can, two meals during the day —in the morning, a frenkfaet which is often omitted for economy, and a dinner about 38 p.m. During the interim they chew to- bacco, and, that failing, induJge ina quid of clay. It pro- bably contains some animal matter, but the chief reason for using it is apparently the necessity to barbarians of whiling away the time when not sleeping by exercising their jaws. They prefer the “sweet earth,” that is to say, the clay of ant-hills: the Arabs have tried it with-
FOOD PREJUDICES. 29
out other effects but nausea. The custom, however, is not uncommon upon both coasts of Africa: it takes, in fact, the place of the mastic of Chios, the kat of Yemen, the betel and toasted grains of India and the farther East, and the ashes of the Somali country. The Wanyamwezi, and indeed the Kast-African tribes gene- rally, have some curious food prejudices. Before their closer intercourse with the Arabs they used to keep poultry, but, like the Gallas and the Somal, who look upon the fowl as a kind of vulture, they would not eat it: even in the present day they avoid eggs. Some will devour animals that have died of disease, and carrion,—the flesh of lions and leopards, elephants and rhinoceroses, asses, wild cats and rats, beetles and white ants ;—others refuse to touch mutton or clean water- fowl, declaring that it is not their custom. ‘The pre- judice has not, however, been reduced toa system, as amongst the tribes of southern Africa. They rarely taste meat except upon the march, where the prospect of gain excites them to an unusual indulgence: when a bullock is killed, they either jerk the meat, or dry it upon a dwarf platform of sticks raised above a slow and smoky fire, after which it will keep for some days. The usual food is the ugali or porridge of boiled flour: they find, however, a variety of edible herbs in the jungle, and during the season they luxuriate upon honey and sour milk. No Mnyamwezi, however, will own to repletion unless he has “sat upon pombe,”— in other words, has drunk to intoxication; and the chiefs pride themselves upon living entirely upon beef and stimulants.
The Wanyamwezi have won for themselves a repu- tation by their commercial industry. Encouraged by the merchants, they are the only professional porters of
30 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA.
East Africa ; and even amongst them, the Wakalaganza, Wasumbwa, and Wasukuma are the only tribes who regularly visit the coast in this capacity. They are now no longer “honest and civil to strangers” —semi-civi- lisation has hitherto tended to degradation. They seem to have learned but little by their intercourse with the Arabs. Commerce with them is still in its infancy. They have no idea of credit, although in Karagwah and the northern kingdoms payment may be delayed for a period of two years. ‘They cannot, like some of their neighbours, bargain: a man names the article which he requires, and if it be not forthcoming he will take no other. ‘The porters, who linger upon the coast or in the island of Zanzibar, either cut grass for asses, carry stones and mortar to the town, for which they receive a daily hire of from two to eight pice, or they obtain from the larger landholders permission to reclaim and cultivate a. plot of ground for vegetables and manioc. ‘They have little of the literature, songs and tales, common amongst barbarians; and though they occasionally indulge in speeches, they do not, like many kindred tribes, cultivate eloquence. On the march they beguile themselves with chanting for hours together half a dozen words eternally repeated. Their language is copious but confused, and they are immoderately fond of simple and meaningless syllables used as interjec- tions. ‘Their industry is confined to weaving coarse cloths of unbleached cotton, neatly-woven baskets, wooden milk-bowls, saddle-bags for their asses, and arms. They rear asses and load them lightly when travelling to the coast, but they have not yet learned to ride them. Though they carefully fence and ditch their fields, they have never invented a plough, con- fining themselves to ridging the land with the laborious
FUNDIKIRA, CHIEF OF UNYAMWEZI. 31
hoe. They rarely sell one another, nor do they much encourage the desertion of slaves. The wild bondsman, when running away, is sometimes appropriated by his captor, but a Muwallid or domestic slave is always re- stored after a month or two. The Arabs prefer to purchase men sold under suspicion of magic; they rarely flee, fearing lest their countrymen should put them to death.
As has been said, the government of Unyamwezi is conducted by a multitude of petty chiefs. The ruling classes are thus called: Mtemi or Mwame is the chief or sultan, Mgawe (in the plural Wagawe) the principal councillor, and Manacharo, or Mnyapara (plural Wa- nyapara) the elder. The ryots or subjects on the other hand are collectively styled Wasengi. The most powerful chiefs are Fundikira of Unyanyembe, Masanga of Msene, and Kafrira of Kirtra. The dignity of Mtemi is hereditary. He has power of life and death over his subjects, and he seldom condescends to any but mortal punishment. His revenue is composed of additions to his private property by presents from travellers, confis- cation of effects in cases of felony or magic, by the sale of subjects, and by treasure trove. Even if a man kill his own slave, the slave’s effects lapse to the ruler. The villagers must give up all ivory found in the jungles, although the hunters are allowed to retain the tusks of the slaughtered animals.
A few brief remarks concerning Fundikira, the chief of Unyamwezi in 1858, may serve to illustrate the con- dition of the ruling classin Unyamwezi. This chief was travelling towards the coast as a porter in a caravan, when he heard of his father’s death: he at once stacked his load and prepared to return home and rule. The rest of the gang, before allowing him to depart, taunted
32 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA.
him severely, exclaiming, partly in jest, partly in earnest, “Ah! now thou art still our comrade, but presently thou wilt torture and slay, fine and flog us.” Fundikira proceeding to his native country inherited, as is the custom, all his father’s property and widows; he fixed himself at Ititenya, presently numbered ten wives, who have borne him only three children, built 800 houses for his slaves and dependants, and owned 2000 head of cattle. He lived in some state, declining to call upon strangers, and, though not de- manding still obtaining large presents. Becoming obese by age and good living, he fell ill in the autumn of 1858, and, as usual, his relations were suspected of compassing his end by Uchawi, or black magic. In these regions the death of one mancauses many. The Mganga was summoned to apply the usual ordeal. After administering a mystic drug, he broke the neck of a fowl, and splitting it into two lengths inspected the interior. If blackness or blemish appear about the wings, it denotes the treachery of children, relations and kinsmen ; the backbone convicts the mother and grand- mother; the tail shows that the criminal is the wife, the thighs the concubines, and the injured shanks or feet the other slaves. Having fixed upon the class of the criminals, they are collected together by the Meganga, who, after similarly dosing a second hen, throws her up into the air above the heads of the crowd and singles out the person upon whom she alights. Confession is extorted by tying the thumb backwards till it touches the wrist or by some equally barbarous mode of question. The consequence of condemnation is certain and immediate death; the mode is chosen by the Mganga. Some are speared, others are beheaded or ‘‘ammazati,”—clubbed :—a common way is to bind the
MAGICIANS TORTURED. 33
cranium between two stiff pieces of wood which are gradually tightened by cords till the brain bursts out from the sutures. For women they practise a pecu- liarly horrible kind of impalement. These atrocities continue until the chief recovers or dies: at the com- mencement of his attack, in one household eighteen souls, male and female, had been destroyed; should his illness be protracted, scores will precede him to the grave, for the Mchawi or magician must surely die.
The Wanyamwezi will generally sell their criminals and captives; when want drives, they part with their wives, their children, and even their parents. For economy, they import their serviles from Ujiji and the adjoining regions; from the people lying towards the south-east angle of the Tanganyika Lake, as the Wafipa, the Wapoka, and the Wagara; and from the Nyanza races, and the northern kingdoms of Karagwah, Uganda, and Unyoro.
VOL. II. D
aa
My Tembe near the Tanganyika.
CHAP, 2.
AT LENGTH WE SIGHT THE LAKE TANGANYIKA, THE “SEA OF UIT. @
TueE route before us lay through a howling wilderness, once populous and fertile, but now laid waste by the fierce Watuta. Snay bin Amir had warned me that it would be our greatest trial of patience. The march began badly : Mpete, the district on the right bank of the Malagarazi River, is highly malarious, and the mosquitoes feasted right royally upon our life, even during the day-time. We bivouacked under a shady tree, within sight of the ferry, not knowing that upon the woody eminences above the valley there are usually fine kraals of dry grass and of mkora or myombo-bark. During the rainy monsoon the best encampments in
BARK-BOOTHIES. , 35
these regions are made of tree-sheets: two parallel rings are cut in the bole, at a distance of six to seven feet; a perpendicular slit then connects them, the bark is easily stripped off, and the trunk, after having been left for a time to season, is filled for use.
On the 5th of February we set out betimes, across a route traversing for a short distance swampy ground along the river-side. It then stretched over jungly and wooded hill-spires, with steep rough ascents and descents, divided from neighbouring elevations by slip- pery mire-runs. Exposed to the full break of the rainy monsoon, and the frequent outbursts of fiery sun, I could not but admire the marvellous fertility of the soil; an impervious luxuriance of vegetation veils the lowlands, clothes the hill-sides, and caps their rounded summits. After marching five hours and twenty minutes, we found a large kraal in the district of Kinawani: the encamping ground,—partially cleared of the thick, fetid, and putrescent vegetation around, —hugs the right bank of the Malagarazi, and faces the village of Sultan Mzogera on the southern or opposite side. A small store of provisions — grain and sweet-potatoes — was purchased from the vil- lagers of Kinawani, who flocked across the stream to trade. They were, however, fanciful in their requirements: beads, especially the coral porcelain, iron-wire, salt, and meat. The heaviness of this march caused two of the Hammals engaged at Usagozi to levant, and the remaining four to strike work. It was therefore again necessary to mount ass—ten days after an attack of “ paraplegia !”
We left Kinawani on the next morning, and striking away from the river we crossed rugged and rolling ‘ground, divided by deep swamps of mire and grass.
pn 2
36 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA.
To the southward ran the stream, rushing violently down a rocky bed, with tall trees lining its banks. Nailing before the morning east-wind, a huge mass of nimbus occupied the sky, and presently discharged itself in an unusually heavy downfall: during the afternoon the breeze veered as usual to the west, and the hot sunshine was for once enjoyable. After a weary trudge of five hours and twenty minutes, we entered a large and comfortable kraal, situated near a reach where the swift and turbid river foamed over a discontinuous ledge of rock, between avenues of dense and tangled jungle. No provisions were procurable at this place ; man appeared to have become extinct.
The 7th of February led us over broken ground, encumbered by forest, and cut by swamps, with higher levels on the right hand, till we again fell into the marshes and fields of the river-valley. The district on -the other side of the river, called Jambeho, is one of the most flourishing in Uvinza; its villages of small bird-nest huts, and its carefully hoed fields of grain and sweet-potato, affected the eye, after the dreary monotony of a jungle-march, like the glimmer of a light at the end of a night-march, or the discovery of land at the conclusion of a long sea-voyage. ‘The village ferry was instantly put into requisition, and the chief, Ruwere, after receiving as his “dash” eight cloths, allowed us to purchase provisions. At that season, however, the harvest of grain and sweet-potatoes had not been got in, and for their single old hen the people demanded an exorbitant price. We hastened, despite all difficulties, to escape from this place of pestilence, which clouds of mosquitoes rendered as uncomfortable as it was
dangerous. The next day ushered in our departure with deacons
THE SALT TRADE. 37
rain, which drenched the slippery paths of red clay; the asses, wild with wind and weather, exposed us to acci- dents in a country of deep ravines and rugged boulders. Presently diverging from the Malagarazi, we passed over the brow of a low tree-clad hill above the junction of the Rusugi River, and followed the left bank of this tributary as far as its nearer ford. The Rusugi which drains the northern highlands into the Malagarazi, was then about 100 yards in width: the bottom is a red ochreish soil, the strong stream, divided in the centre by a long low strip of sand and gravel, flowed at that time breast-deep, and its banks,—as usual with rivers in these lands,—deeply cut by narrow watercourses, rendered travelling unusually toilsome. At the Rusugi Ford the road separates into a northern and a southern branch, a hill-spur forming the line of demarcation. The northern strikes off to the district of Parugerero on the left bank, where a shallower ford is found: the place in question is a settlement of Wavinza, containing from forty to fifty bee-hive huts, tenanted by salt-diggers. The principal pan is sunk in the vicinity of the river, the saline produce, after being boiled down in the huts, is piled up, and handmade into little cones. The pan affords tripartite revenue to three sultans, and it con- stitutes the principal wealth of the Wavinza: the salt here sold for one shukkah per masuta, or half-load, and far superior to the bitter, nitrous produce of Ugogo, finds its way throughout the heart of Africa, supplying the lands adjoining both the Tanganyika and the Nyanza Lakes.
We followed the southern line which crosses the Rusugi River at the branch islet. fords are always picturesque. The men seemed to enjoy the washing; their numbers protected them from the crocodiles,
D3
38 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA.
which fled from their shouting and splashing; and they even ventured into deep water, where swimming was necessary. We crossed as usual on a “ unicorn” of negroids, the upper part of the body supported by two men, and the feet resting upon the shoulders of a third, —a posture somewhat similar to that affected by gentlemen who find themselves unable to pull off their own boots. Then remounting, we ascended the grassy rise on the right of the stream, struggled, slipped, and slided over a muddy swamp, climbed up a rocky and bushy ridge, and found ourselves ensconced in‘a ragged and comfortless kraal upon the western slopes, within sight of some deserted salt-pans below. As evening drew in, it became apparent that the Goanese Gaetano, the five Wak’hutu porters, and Sarmalla, a donkey-driving son of Ramji, had remained behind, in company with several loads, the tent, two bags of clothes, my com- panion’s elephant-gun, my bedding, and that of my servant. It was certain that with this provision in the vicinity of Parugerero they would not starve, and the porters positively refused to halt an hour more than necessary. I found it therefore compulsory to advance. On the 11th February three “children” of Said bin Salim consented, as usual, for a consideration, to return and to bring up the laggers, and about a week after- wards they entered Ujiji without accident. The five Walk’hutu porters, probably from the persuasions of Muinyi Wazira, had, although sworn to fidelity with the strongest oaths, carried into execution a long-organised plan of desertion. Gaetano refused to march on the day of our separation, because he was feverish, and he expected a riding-ass to be sent back for him. He brought up our goods safely, but blankets, towels, and many articles of clothing belonging to his companion,
FRESH DESERTIONS. 39
had disappeared. This difficulty was, of course, attri- buted to the Wak’hutu porters; probably the missing things had been sold for food by the Goanese and the son of Ramji: I could not therefore complain of the excuse.
From the Msawahili Fundi,—fattore, manciple or stew- ard—of a small caravan belonging to an Arab merchant, Hamid bin Sulayyam, I purchased for thirty-five cloths, about thrice its value, a little single-fold tent of thin American domestics, through which sun and rain pene- trated with equal facility. Like the cloth-houses of the Arab travellers generally, it was gable-shaped, six or seven feet high, about eight feet long by four broad, and so light that with its bamboo-poles and its pegs it scarcely formed aloadforaman. On the 9th February, we descended from the ridge upon which the kraal was placed, and traversed a deep swamp of black mud, dotted in the more elevated parts with old salt-pans and pits, where broken pottery and blackened lumps of clay still showed traces of human handiwork. Beyond this low- land, the track, striking off from the river-valley and turning to the right, entered toilsome ground. We crossed deep and rocky ravines, with luxuriant vege- tation above, and with rivulets at the bottom trickling towards the Malagarazi, by scrambling down and swarm- ing up the roughest steps of rock, boulder, and knotted tree-root. Beyond these difficulties lay woody and stony hills, whose steep and slippery inclines were divided by half a dozen waters, all more or less trouble- some to cross. The porters, who were in a place of famine, insisted upon pushing on to the utmost of their strength: after six hours’ march, I persuaded them te halt in the bush upon a rocky hill, where the neigh- bouring descent supplied water. The Fundi visited
D4
40 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA.
the valley of the Rusugi River, and finding a herd of the Mbogo or Bos Caffer, brought home a welcome addi- tion to our well-nigh exhausted rations. |
The 10th February saw us crossing the normal sequence of jungly and stony “ neat’s-tongues,” divided by deep and grassy swamps, which, stagnant in the dry weather, drain after rains the northern country to the Malagarazi River. We passed over by a felled tree- trunk an unfordable rivulet, hemmed in by a dense and fetid thicket; and the asses summarily pitched down the muddy bank into the water, swam across and wriggled up the slimy off-side like cats. Thence a foul swamp of black mire led to the Ruguvu or Luguvu River, the western boundary of Uvinza and the eastern frontier of Ukaranga.. This stream, which can be forded during the dry season, had spread out after the rains over its borders of grassy plain; we were de- Jayed till the next morning in a miserable camping ground, a mud-bank thinly veiled with vegetation, in order to bridge it with branching trees. An unusual downfall during the night might have caused serious consequences ;—provisions had now disappeared, more- over the porters considered the place dangerous.
The 10th February began with the passage of the Ruguvu River, where again our goods and chattels were fated to be thoroughly sopped. I obtained a few corn- cobs from a passing caravan of Wanyamwezi, and charged them with meat and messages for the party left behind. A desert march, similar to the stage last travelled, led us to the Unguwwe or Uvungwe River, a shallow, muddy stream, girt in as usual by dense vegetation; and we found a fine large kraal on its left bank. After a cold and rainy night, we resumed our march by fording the Unguwwe. Then came the weary toil of fighting through
THE WEARY MARCH. 41
tiger and spear-grass, with reeds, rushes, a variety of ferns, before unseen, and other lush and lusty growths, clothing a succession of rolling hills, monotonous swell- ings, where the descent was ever a reflection of the ascent. ‘The paths were broken, slippery, and pitted with deep holes; along their sides, where the ground lay exposed to view, a conglomerate of ferruginous red clay —suggesting a resemblance to the superficies of Londa, as described by Dr. Livingstone—took the place of the granites and sandstones of the eastern countries, and the sinking of the land towards the Lake became palpable. In the jungle were extensive clumps of bamboo and rattan; the former small, the latter of poor quality; the bauhinia, or black-wood, and the salsa- parilla vine abounded; wild grapes of diminutive size, and of the austerest flavour, appeared for the first time upon the sunny hill-sides which Bacchus ever loves, and in the lower swamps plantains grew almost wild. In parts the surface was broken into small deep hollows, from which sprang pyramidal masses of the hugest trees. Though no sign of man here met the eye, scattered fields and plantations showed that villages must be somewhere near. Sweet water was found in narrow courses of black mud, which sorely tried the sinews of laden man and beast. Long after noon, we saw the caravan halted by fatigue upon a slope beyond a weary swamp: a violent storm was brewing, and whilst half the sky was purple black with nimbus, the sun shone stingingly through the clear portion of the empyrean. But these small troubles were lightly borne ; already in the far distance appeared walls of sky-blue cliff with gilded summits, which were as a beacon to the distressed mariner.
On the 13th February we resumed our travel through
42 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA.
screens of lofty grass, which thinned out into a strag- gling forest. After about an hour’s march, as we entered a small savannah, I saw the Fundi before al- luded to running forward and changing the direction of the caravan. Without supposing that he had taken upon himself this responsibility, | followed him. Pre- sently he breasted a steep and stony hill, sparsely clad with thorny trees: it was the death of my companion’s riding-ass. Arrived with toil,—for our fagged beasts now refused to proceed,—we halted for a few minutes upon the summit. ‘What is that streak of light which lies below?” I inquired of Seedy Bombay. “I am of opinion,” quoth Bombay, “that that is the water.” I gazed in dismay; the remains of my blindness, the veil of trees, and a broad ray of sunshine illuminating but one reach of the Lake, had shrunk its fair pro- portions. Somewhat prematurely I began to lament my folly in having risked life and lost health for so poor a prize, to curse Arab exaggeration, and to propose an immediate return, with the view of exploring the Nyanza, or Northern Lake. Advancing, however, a few yards, the whole scene suddenly burst upon my view, filling me with admiration, wonder, and delight. It gave local habitation to the poet’s fancy :—
“‘Tremolavano i rai del Sol nascente Sovra I’ onde del mar purpuree e d’ oro, E in veste di zafliro il ciel ridente Specchiar parea le sue bellezze in loro. D’ Africa i venti fieri e d’ Oriente, Sovra il letto del mar, prendean ristoro, E co’ sospiri suoi soavi e lieti Col Zeffiro increspava il lembo a Teti.”
Nothing, in sooth, could be more picturesque than this first view of the Tanganyika Lake, as it lay in the lap
FIRST VIEW OF THE TANGANYIKA LAKE. 43
of the mountains, basking in the gorgeous tropical sun- shine. Below and beyond a short foreground of rugged and precipitous hill-fold, down which the foot-path zigzags painfully, a narrow strip of emerald green, never sere and marvellously fertile, shelves towards a ribbon of glistening yellow sand, here bordered by sedgy rushes, there cleanly and clearly cut by the breaking wavelets. Further in front stretch the waters, an expanse of the lightest and softest blue, in breadth varying from thirty to thirty-five miles, and sprinkled by the crisp east- wind with tiny crescents of snowy foam. The back- ground in front is a high and broken wall of steel- coloured mountain, here flecked and capped with pearly mist, there standing sharply pencilled against the azure air; its yawning chasms, marked by a deeper plum- colour, fall towards dwarf hills of mound-like propor- tions, which apparently dip their feet in the wave. To the south, and opposite the long low point, behind which the Malagarazi River discharges the red loam suspended in its violent stream, lie the bluff headlands and capes of Uguhha, and, as the eye dilates, it falls upon a cluster of outlying islets, speckling a sea-horizon. Villages, cultivated lands, the frequent canoes of the fishermen on the waters, and on a nearer approach the murmurs of the waves breaking upon the shore, give a something of variety, of movement, of life to the land- scape, which, like all the fairest prospects in these re- gions, wants but a little of the neatness and finish of Art, —mosques and kiosks, palaces and villas, gardens and orchards — contrasting with the profuse lavishness and magnificence of nature, and diversifying the un- broken coup d’eil of excessive vegetation, to rival, if not to excel, the most admired scenery of the classic regions. The riant shores of this vast crevasse ap-
44 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL. AFRICA.
peared doubly beautiful to me after the silent and spectral mangrove-creeks on the East-African sea- board, and the melancholy, monotonous experience of desert and jungle scenery, tawny rock and sun-parched plain or rank herbage and flats of black mire. Truly it was a revel for soul and sight! Forgetting toils, dangers, and the doubtfulness of return, I felt willing to endure double what I had endured; and all the party seemed to join with me in joy. My purblind companion found nothing to grumble at except the “mist and glare before his eyes.” Said bin Salim looked exulting,—he had procured for me this pleasure, —the monoculous Jemadar grinned his congratulations, and even the surly Baloch made civil salams.
Arrived at. Ukaranga I was disappointed to find there a few miserable grass-huts—used as a temporary shelter by caravans passing to and from the islets fringing the opposite coast—that clustered round a single Tembe, then occupied by its proprietor, Hamid bin Sulayyam, an Arab trader. Presently the motive of the rascally Fundi, in misleading the caravan, which, by the advice of Snay bin Amir, I had directed to march upon the Kawele district in Ujiji, leaked out. The roadstead of Ukaranga is separated from part of Kawele by the line of the Ruche ~ River, which empties itself into a deep hollow bay, whose chord, extending from N.W. to 8.E., is five or six miles inlength. The strip of shelving plain between the trough-like hills and the lake is raised but a few feet above water-level. Converted by the passage of a hundred drains from the highlands, into a sheet of sloppy and slippery mire, breast deep in select places, it supports with difficulty a few hundred inhabitants: drenched with violent rain-storms and clammy dews, it is rife in fevers, and it is feared by travellers on ac- count of its hippopotami and crocodiles. In the driest
EXTORTION AT UKARANGA. 45
season the land-road is barely practicable; during and after the wet monsoon the lake affords the only means of passage, and the port of Ukaranga contains not a single native canoe. The Fundi, therefore, wisely de- termined that I should spend beads for rations and lodgings amongst his companions, and be _ heavily mulcted for a boat by them. Moreover, he instantly sent word to Mnya Mtaza, the principal headman of Ukaranga, who, as usual with the Lakist chiefs, lives in the hills at some distance from the water, to come instanter for his Honga or blackmail, as, no fresh fish being procurable, the Wazungu were about to depart. The latter mancuvre, however, was frustrated by my securing a conveyance for the morrow. It was an open solid-built Arab craft, capable of containing thirty to thirty-five men; it belonged to an absent merchant, Said bin Usman; it was in point of size the second on the Tanganyika, and being too large for paddling, its crew rowed instead of scooping up the water like the natives. The slaves, who had named four khete of coral beads as the price of a bit of sun-dried ‘“baccala,” and five as the hire of a foul hovel for one night, demanded four cloths—at least the price of the boat—for conveying the party to Kawele, a three hours’ trip. I gave them ten cloths and two coil-bracelets, or somewhat more than the market value of the whole equipage,—a fact which I effectually used as an argumentum ad verecundiam.
At eight A.M., on the 14th February, we began coasting along the eastern shore of the lake in a north-westerly direction, towards the Kawele district, in the land of Ujiji. The view was exceedingly beautiful:
“« , . . the flat sea shone like yellow gold Fused in the sun,”
46 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA.
and the picturesque and varied forms of the mountains; rising above and dipping into the lake, were clad in purplish blue, set off by the rosy tints of morning. Yet, more and more, as we approached our destination, I wondered at the absence of all those features which prelude a popular settlement. Passing the low, muddy, and grass-grown mouth of the Ruche River, I could descry on the banks nothing but a few scattered hovels of miserable construction, surrounded by fields of sor- ghum and sugar-cane, and shaded by dense groves of the dwarf, bright-green plantain, and the tall, sombre eleis or Guinea-palm. By the Arabs I had, been taught to expect a town, a ghaut, a port, and a bazar, excelling in size that of Zanzibar, and I had old, pre- conceived ideas concerning “die Stadt Ujiji,” whose sire was the ‘‘ Mombas Mission Map.” Presently Mam- moth and Behemoth shrank timidly from exposure, and a few hollowed logs, the monoxyles of the fishermen, the wood-cutters, and the market-people, either cut the water singly, or stood in crowds drawn up on the patches of yellow sand. About 11 a.m. the craft was poled through a hole in a thick welting of coarse reedy grass and flagey aquatic plants to a level landing-place of flat shingle, where the water shoaled off rapidly. Such was the ghaut or disembarkation quay of the great Ujiji.
Around the ghaut a few scattered huts, in the humblest bee-hive shape, represented the port-town. Advancing some hundred yards through a din of shouts and screams, tom-toms and trumpets, which defies de- scription, and mobbed by a swarm of black beings, whose eyes seemed about to start from their heads with sur- prise, I passed a relic of Arab civilisation, the “ Bazar.” It is a plot of higher ground, cleared of grass, and
WE ENTER UJIJI. 47
flanked by a crooked tree; there, between 10 a.m. and 3 p.M. — weather permitting —a mass of standing and squatting negroes buy and sell, barter and ex- change, offer and chaffer with a hubbub heard for miles, and there a spear or dagger-thrust brings on, by no means unfrequently, a skirmishing faction-fight. The articles exposed for sale are sometimes goats, sheep, and poultry, generally fish, vegetables, and a few fruits, plantains, and melons ; palm-wine is a staple commodity, and occasionally an ivory or a slave is hawked about: those industriously disposed employ themselves during the intervals of bargaining in spinning a coarse yarn with the rudest spindle, or in picking the cotton, which is placed in little baskets on the ground. Iwas led toa ruinous Tembe, built by an Arab merchant, Hamid bin Salim, who had allowed it to be tenanted by ticks and slaves. Situated, however, half a mile from, and backed by, the little village of Kawele, whose mushroom- huts barely protruded their summits above the dense vegetation, and placed at a similar distance from the water in front, it had the double advantage of proxi- mity to provisions, and of a view which at first was highly enjoyable. The Tanganyika is ever seen to ad- vantage from its shores: upon its surface the sight wearies with the unvarying tintage — all shining greens ‘and hazy blues— whilst continuous parallels of lofty hills, like the sides of a huge trough, close the prospect and suggest the idea of Goahte rent. |
And now, lodged with comparative comfort, in the cool iTemibe: i an indulge in a few geographical and ethnological reminiscences of the country lately tra- versed.
The fifth region includes the alluvial valley of the Malagarazi River, which subtends the lowest spires of the
48 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA.
Highlands of Karagwah and Urundi, the western pro- longation of the eka which has obtained, probably fom African tradition, the name of “ Lunar Maumenats In length, it extends rare the Malagarazi Ferry in E. Lat. 81°10’ to the Tanganyika Lake, in E. Long. 30° 1’. Its breadth, from 8. Lat. 3° 14’, the supposed northern limit of Urundi, to 8. Lat. 5° 2’; the parallel of Ukaranga is a distance of 108 rectilinear geographical miles. Native caravans pass from the _Malagarazi to
within a stone’s throw of their destinies To a region of such various elevations it would be difficult to assign an average of altitude; the heights observed by ther- moimeter never exceeded 1850 feet.
This country contains in due order, from east to west, the lands of Uvinza, Ubuha, and Ujiji: on the northern edge is Uhha, and on the south-western extremity Ukaranga. The general features are those of the alluvial valleys of the Kingani and the Mgeta Rivers. The soil in the vicinity of the Malagarazi is a rich brown or black loam, rank with vegetable decay. This strip along the stream varies in breadth from one to five miles; on the right bank it is mostly desert, but not sterile, on the left it is an expanse of luxuriant cultiva- tion. The northern boundary is a jagged line of hill- spurs of primitive formation, rough with stones and yawning with ravines: in many places the projections assume the form of green “‘dogs’ tails,” or ‘“neat’s tongues,” projecting like lumpy ridges into the card- table-like level of the river-land southwards. Hach mound or spur is crowned with a tufty clump, prin- cipally of bauhinias and mimosas, and often a lone, spreading and towering tree, a Borassus or a Calabash, ornamenting the extreme point, forms a landmark for
GEOGRAPHY OF UVINZA. 49
the caravan. The sides of these hills, composed of hornblende and gneissic rock, quartzite, quartz-grit, and ferruginous gritstone, are steep, rugged, and thick- ly wooded, and one slope generally reflects the other,— if muddy, muddy; and if stony, stony. Each “ hanger,” or wave of ground, is divided from its neighbour by a soft sedgy valley, bisected by a network of stag- nant pools. Here and there are nullahs, with high stiff earthbanks for the passage of rain torrents. The grass stands in lofty screens, and the path leads over a matted mass of laid stalks which cover so closely the thick mud that loaded asses do not sink; this vegetation is burned down during the hot season, and a few showers bring up an emerald crop of young blades, sprouting pheenix-like from the ashes of the dead. The southern boundary of the valley is more regular; in the eastern parts is an almost tabular wall of rock, covered even to the crest with shrub and tree.
As is proved by the regular course of the Malagarazi River, the westward decline of the country is gentle: along the road, however, the two marches nearest to the Tanganyika Lake appear to sink more rapidly than those preceding them. The main drain receives from the north- ern hill-spurs a multitude of tributaries, which convey their surplus moisture into the great central reservoir.
Under the influence of the two great productive powers in nature — heat and moisture — the wondrous fertility of the soil, which puts forth where uncleared a rank jungle of nauseous odour, renders the climate dan- gerous. The rains divide the year into two unequal portions of eight and four months, namely, the wet monsoon, which commences with violence in September and ends in May, and the dry hot weather which rounds off the year. The showers fall, as in Zanzibar, uncon-
VO. i. E
50 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA.
tinuously, with breaks varying from a few hours to several days; unlike those of Zanzibar, they are gene- rally accompanied by violent discharges of electricity. Lightning from the north, especially at night, is con- sidered a sign of approaching foul weather. It would be vain to seek in these regions of Central Africa the kaskazi and kosi, or regular north-east and south-west monsoons, those local modifications of the trade-winds which may be traced in regular progress from the centre of Equatorial Africa to the Himalayas. The atmo- spheric currents deflected from the Atlantic Ocean by the coast-radiation and the arid and barren regions of Southern Africa are changed in hydrometric condition, and are compelled by the chilly and tree-clad heights of the Tanganyika Lake, and the low, cold, and river-bearing plains lying to the westward, to part with the moisture which they have collected in the broad belt of extreme humidity lying between the Ngami Lake and the equa- tor. When the land has become super-saturated, the cold, wet, wind, driving cold masses, surcharged with electricity, sets continually eastward, to restore the equilibrium in lands still reeking with the torrid blaze, and where the atmosphere has been rarified by from four to six months of burning suns. At Msene, in Western Unyamwezi, the rains break about October; thence the wet monsoon, resuming its eastward course, crosses the Land of the Moon, and, travelling by slow stages, arrives at the coast in early April. Following the northing sun, and deflected to the north-east by the rarified atmosphere from the hot, dry surface of the Eastern Horn of Africa, the rains reach Western India in June, and exhaust themselves in frequent and copious down- falls upon the southern versant of the Himalayas. The gradual refrigeration of the ground, with the southing of
THE ORIGIN OF THE 8S. W. MONSOON-RAIN. 51
the sun, produces in turn the inverse process, namely, the north-east monsoon. About the Tanganyika, how- ever, all is variable. The large body of water in the central reservoir preserves its equability of tempe- rature, while the alternations of chilly cold and potent heat, in the high and broken lands around it, cause extreme irregularity in the direction of the currents. During the rains of 1858 the prevalent winds were constantly changing: in the mornings there was almost regularly a cool north breeze drawn by the water from the heights of Urundi; in the course of the day it varied round towards the south. The most violent storms came up from the south-east and the south-west, and as often against as with the gale. The long and rigorous wet monsoon, broken only by a few scattered days of heat, renders the climate exceedingly damp, and it is succeeded by a burst of sunshine which dries the grass to stubble in a few days. Despite these extremes, the climate of Ujiji has the reputation of being com- paratively healthy; it owes this probably to the refreshing coolness of the nights and mornings. The mukunguru, or seasoning-fever of this region, is not feared by strangers so much as that of Unyanyembe, yet no one expects to escape it. It is a low bilious and aguish type, lasting from three to four days : during the attack perspiration is induced with difficulty, and it often recurs at regular times once a month.
From the Malagarazi Ferry many lines traverse the desert on the right or northern bank of the river, which is preferred to the southern, whence the Wavinza exclude travellers. Before entering this region caravans generally combine, so as to present a formidable front to possible foes. The trunk road, called Jambeho, the
E 2
52 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA,
most southerly of the northern routes, has been described in detail.
The district of Ukaranga extends from the Ruguvu or the Unguwwe River to the waters of the lake: on the south it is bounded by the region of Ut’hongwe, and on the north by the Ruche River. This small and sluggish stream, when near the mouth, is about forty yards in breadth, and, being unfordable at all seasons, two or three ferry-boats always ply upon its waters. The rauque bellow of the hippopotamus is heard on its banks, and the adjacent lowlands are infested by mos- quitoes in clouds. The villages of Ukaranga are scattered in clumps over the plain—wretched hamlets, where a few households live surrounded by rare cul- tivation in the drier parts of the swamps. The “port of Ukaranga” is an open roadstead, which seldom shows even a single canoe. Merchants who possess boats and can send for provisions to the islands across the lake sometimes prefer, for economy, Ukaranga to Kawele; it is also made a halting-place by those en route to Uguhha, who would lose time by visiting Ujiji. The land, however, affords no supplies; a bazar is un- known; and the apathetic tribe, who cultivate scarcely sufficient grain for themselves, will not even take the trouble to cast a net. Ukaranga sends bamboos, rafters for building, and fire-wood, cut in the back- eround of highlands, to Kawele and other parts of Ujiji, at which places, however, workmen must be hired.
Ukaranga signifies, etymologically, the ‘‘ Land of Groundnuts.” ‘This little district may, in earlier ages, have given name to the Mocarangas, Mucarongas, or Mucarangas, a nation which, according to the Portuguese historians, from Joao dos Sanctos (1586-97) to Don Sebastian Xavier Botelho (1835), occupied the country
THE ‘** MOCARANGAS.” 53
within the Mozambique, from S. lat. 5° to 8. lat. 25°, under subjection to the sovereign and the people of ‘‘Monomotapa.” In the absence of history, analogy is the only guide. LHither, then, the confusion of the Tanganyika and the Nyassa Lakes by the old geo- eraphers, caused them to extend the ‘ Mocarangas” up to the northern water — and the grammatical error in the word “ Mucaranga ” justifies some sus- picion as to their accuracy—or in the space of three centuries the tribe has declined from its former power and consequence, or the Wakaranga of the Tanganyika are a remnant of the mighty southern nation, which, like the Watuta tribe, has of late years been pressed by adverse circumstances to the north. Though Senhor Botelho, in his ‘Memoria Estatisca,’ denominates the “Monomoezi country” ‘ Western Mucaranga,” it is certain that no Mnyamwezi in the present day owns to connection with a race speaking a different dialect, and distant about 200 miles from his frontier.
heights of Urundi, and on the south by the Ukaranga country: eastward it extends to Ubuha, and westward it is washed by the waves of the Tanganyika Lake. On its north-east lies the land of Uhha, now reduced by the predatory Watuta to a luxuriant desert.
The head-quarter village of Ujiji was in 1858 Kawele. To the westward of this settlement was the district of Gungu, facing the islet rock Bangwe. This place was deserted by travellers on account of the plundering propensities of its former chief. His son “ Lurinda,” however, labours to recover lost ground by courtesy and attention to strangers. South-eastwards of Kawele is the district of Ugoyye, frequented by the Arabs, who find the Sultans Habeyya and Marabu somewhat
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54 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA.
less extortionate than their neighbours. It is a sandy spot, clear of white ants, but shut out by villages and cultivation from the lovely view of the lake. To one standing at Kawele all these districts and villages are within two or three miles, and a distant glance discloses the possessions of half-a-dozen independent tribes. Caravans entering Ujiji from the land side usually encamp in the outlying villages on the right or left bank of the Ruche, at considerable inconvenience, for some days. The origin of this custom appears to date from olden time. In East Africa, as a rule, every stranger is held to be hostile before he has proved friendly in- tentions, and many tribes do not admit him into their villages without a special invitation. Thus, even in the present day, the visitor in the countries of the Somal and Galla, the Wamasai and the Wakwafi, must sit under some tree outside the settlement till a depu- tation of elders, after formally ascertaining his purpose, escort him to their homes. The modern reason for the custom, which prevails upon the coast, as well as on the banks of the Tanganyika, is rather commercial than . political. The caravan halts upon neutral ground, and the sultans or chiefs of the different villages send select messengers carrying various presents: in the interior ivory and slaves, and in the maritime regions cloth and provisions, technically called “ Magubiko,” and intended as an earnest of their desire to open trade. Sweet words and fair promises win the day; the Mtongi, or head of the caravan, after a week of earnest deliberation with all his followers, chooses his host, temporary lodgings are provided for the guests, and the value of the retaining fees is afterwards recovered in Hongda and Kiremba—blackmail and customs. This custom was khown in Southern Africa by the name of “ marts;”
DISTANCE OF COAST JOURNEY. 55
that is, a “‘connection with a person belonging to another nation, so that they reside at each other’s houses when visiting the place, and make mutual presents.” The compulsory guest amongst the Arabs of Zanzibar and the Somal is called “ Nezil.”
At Ujiji terminates, after twelve stages, which native caravans generally finish in a fortnight, all halts in- cluded, the transit of the fifth region. The traveller has now accomplished a total number of 85 long, or 100 short stages, which, with necessary rests, but excluding detentions and long halts, occupy 150 days. The direct longitudinal distance from the coast is 540 geo. miles, which the sinuosities of the road prolong to 955, orin round numbers 950 statute miles. The number of days expended by the Expedition in actual marching was 100, of hours 420, which gives a rate of 2:27 miles per hour. The total time was seven and a-half months, from the 27th June, 1857, to the 18th February, 1858; thus the number of the halts exceeded by one-third the number of the marches. In practice Arab caravans seldom arrive at the Tanganyika, for reasons before alluded to, under a total period of six months. Those lightly laden may make Unyanyembe in between two and a-half and three months, and from Unyanyembe journey to four months.
Dapper (‘Beschryving van Afrika,’ Amst. 1671) asserts that the “ blacks of Pombo, 2. e. the Pombeiros, or native travellers of W. Africa, when asked re- specting the distance of the lake, say that it is at least a sixty days’ journey, going constantly east- wards.” But the total breadth of the continent between Mbuamaji and Loanda being, in round num- bers, 1560 geographical miles, this estimate would give
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56 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA.
a marching rate of twenty-six geographical and rectili- near miles (or, allowing for deviation, thirty-six statute miles) per diem. When Da Couto (1565), quoting the information procured by Francisco Barreto, during his expedition in 1570, from some Moors (Arabs or Wasawahili) at Patta and elsewhere, says that “from Kilwa or Atondo (that is to say, the country of the Watondwe) the other sea of Angola might be reached with a journey of fifteen or twenty (150 or 200?) leagues,” he probably alludes to the Nyassa Lake, lying south-westwards of Kilwa, not to the Tanganyika. Mr. Cooley gives one itinerary, by Mohammed bin Nasur, an old Arab merchant, enumerating seventy-one marches from Buromaji (Mbuamaji) to Oha (Uhha), and a total of eighty-three from the coast to the lake ; and a second by a native of Monomoezi, Lief bin Said (a misprint for Khalaf bin Said?) sixty-two to Ogara (Ugala), which is placed four or five days from Oha. In another page he remarks that “‘ from Buromaji, near Point Puna, to Oha in Monomoezi is a journey of seventy-nine, or, in round numbers, eighty days, the shores of the lake being still six or eight days distant.” This is the closest estimate yet made. Mr. Macqueen, from the itinerary of Lief bin Said, estimates the lake, from the mouth of the river Pangani, at 604 miles, and seventy- one days of total march. It is evident, from the pre- ceding pages, that African authorities have hitherto confounded the Nyanza, the Tanganyika, and the Nyassa Lakes. Still, in the estimate of the distance between the coast and Ujiji there is a remarkable and a most deceptive coherence.
Ujiji—also called Manyofo, which appears, however, peculiar to a certain sultanat or district —is the name of a province, not, as has been represented, of a single
FERTILITY OF UJLTI. 57
town. It was first visited by the Arabs about 1840; ten years after that they had penetrated to Unyamwezi; they found it conveniently situated as a mart upon the Tanganyika Lake, and a central point where their depots might be established, and whence their factors and slaves could navigate the waters, and collect slaves and ivory from the tribes upon its banks. But the climate proved unhealthy, the people dangerous, and the coasting- voyages frequently ended in disaster; Ujiji, therefore, never rose to the rank of Unyanyembe or Msene. At present it is visited during the fair season, from May to September, by flying caravans, who return to Unyan- yembe as soon as they have loaded their porters. Abundant humidity and a fertile soil, evidenced by - the large forest trees and the abundance of ferns, render Uji the most productive province in this section of Africa: vegetables, which must elsewhere be cultivated, here seem to flourish almost spontaneously. Rice of excellent quality was formerly raised by the Arabs upon the shores of the Tanganyika; it grew luxuriantly, attaining, it is said, the height of eight or nine feet. The inhabitants, however, preferring sorghum, and wearied out by the depredations of the monkey, the elephant, and the hippopotamus, have allowed the more civilised cereal to degenerate. The principal grains are the holcus and the Indian nagli or nanchni (Eleusine ‘coracano); there is no bajri (panicum or millet) in these regions; the pulses are phaseoli and the voandzeia, groundnuts, beans, and haricots of several different species. he manioc, egg-plant, and sweet-potato, the yam, the cucumber, an edible white fungus growing subterraneously, and the Indian variety of the Jeru- salem artichoke, represent the vegetables: the people, however, unlike the Hindus, despise, and consequently
58 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA.
will not be at the pains to cultivate them. Sugar-cane, tobacco, and cotton are always purchasable in the bazar. The fruits are the plantain and the Guinea-palm. The mdizi or plantain-tree is apparently an aborigen of these latitudes: in certain parts, as in Usumbara, Karagwah, and Uganda, it is the staff of life: in the hilly countries there are, it is said, about a dozen varieties, and a single bunch forms a load for a man. It is found in the island and on the coast of Zanzibar, at K’hutu in the head of the alluvial valley, and, though rarely, in the mountains of Usagara. The best fruit is that grown by the Arabs at Unyanyembe: it is still a poor spe- cimen, coarse and insipid, stringy and full of seeds, and strangers rarely indulge in it, fearing flatulence. Upon the Tanganyika Lake there is a variety called mikono thembu, or elephant’s-hands, which is considerably larger than the Indian “ horse-plantain.” The skin is of a brickdust red, in places inclining to rusty-brown ; the pulp is a dull yellow, with black seeds, and the flavour is harsh, strong, and drug-like. The Eleis Guiniensis, locally called mchikichi, which is known by the Arabs to grow in the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba, and more rarely in the mountains of Usagara, springs apparently uncultivated in large dark groves on the shores of the Tanganyika, where it hugs the margin, rarely growing at any distance inland. The bright- yellow drupe, with shiny purple-black point, though nauseous to the taste, is eaten by the people. The mawezi or palm-oil, of the consistency of honey, rudely extracted, forms an article of considerable traffic in the regions about the Lake. This is the celebrated extract, whose various officinal uses in Europe have already begun to work a social reformation in W.
Africa. The people of Ujiji separate, by pounding,
PALM OIL IN CENTRAL AFRICA. 59
the oily sarcocarpium from the one seed of the drupe, boil it for some hours, allow the floating substance to coagulate, and collect it in large earthen pots. The price is usually about one doti of white cotton for thirty- five pounds, and the people generally demand salt in exchange for it from caravans. This is the “oil of a red colour” which, according to Mr. Cooley, is bought by the Wanyamwezi “ from the opposite or south-western side of the lake.” Despite its sickly flavour, it is uni- versally used in cooking, and it forms the only unguent and lamp-oil in the country. This fine Guinea-palm is also tapped, as the date in Western India, for toddy; and the cheapness of this tembo—the sura of West Africa — accounts for the prevalence of intoxication, and the consequent demoralisation of the Lakist tribes. various kinds is always procurable except during the violence of the rains: the people, however, invariably cut it up and clean it out before bringing it to market. Good honey abounds after the wet monsoon. By the favour of the chief, milk and butter may be purchased every day. Long-tailed sheep and well-bred goats, poultry and eggs—the two latter are never eaten by the people—are brought in from the adjoining coun- tries: the Arabs breed a few Manilla ducks, and the people rear but will not sell pigeons. The few herds at Ujiji which have escaped the beef-eating propensities of the Watuta are a fine breed, originally, it is said, derived by the Wabha from the mountains of Karag- wah. Their horns in these lands appear unusually large; their stature combines with the smallness of the hump to render them rather like English than Indian or African cattle. They are rarely sold of later days, except for enormous prices, an adult slave being the
60 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA.
lowest valuation of a cow. ‘The cattle is never stalled or grain-fed, and the udder is little distended; the pro- duce is about one quarter that of a civilised cow, and the animals give milk only during the few first months after calving. The “tulchan” of Tibet is apparently unknown in Central Africa; but the people are not wanting in barbarous contrivances to persuade a stub- born animal to yield her produce.
The fauna appear rare upon the borders of the Tanganyika: all men are hunters ; every human being loves animal food, from white ants to elephants; the tzetze was found there, and probably the luxuriance of the vegetation, in conjunction with the extreme humi- dity, tends to diminish species and individuals. Herds of elephants exist in the bamboo-jungles which surround the sea, but the heaps of ivory sold in the markets of Ujyji are collected from an area containing thousands of square miles. Hippopotami and crocodiles are common in the waters, wild buffaloes in the plains. ‘The hyenas are bold thieves, and the half-wild “ Pariah-dogs” that slink about the villages are little inferior as depredators. The people sometimes make pets of them, leading them about with cords; but they do not object to see them shot after a raid upon the Arab’s meat, butter, or milk. These animals are rarely heard to bark; they leave noise to the village cocks. The huts areas usual haunted by the grey and the musk-rat. Of birds there is a fine fish-eagle, about the size of a domestic cock, with snowy head and shoulders relieving a sombre chocolate plume: he sits majestically watching his prey upon the tall trees overhanging the waves of the Tanganyika. A larus, or sea-gull, with reddish legs, lives in small colonies upon this lake. At the end of the monsoon in 1858 these birds were seen to collect in troops upon the sands, as they
4a
GULLS ON THE TANGANYIKA. 61
are accustomed to do at Aden when preparing to migrate. The common kingfisher is a large bird with a white and grey plume, a large and strong black bill, and a crest which somewhat resembles that of the Indian bulbul: it perches upon the branches over the waters, and in flight and habits resembles other halcyons. A long and lank black plotus, or diver, is often seen skimming the waters, and sandpipers run along the yellow sands. The other birds are the white-breasted “ parson-crow,” partridges, and quails seen in Urundi; swallows in pas- sage, curlews, motacille, muscicapz, and various pas- serines. Rane, some of them noisy in the extreme, inhabit the sedges close to the lake. The termite does great damage in the sweet red soils about Kawele: it is less feared when the ground is dry and sandy.. The huts are full of animal life—snakes, scorpions, ants of various kinds, whose armies sometimes turn the occu- pants out of doors; the rafters are hollowed out by xylophagous insects; the walls are riddled by mason- bees, hideous spiders veil the corners with thick webs, the chirp of the cricket is heard both within and out of doors, cockroaches destroy the provisions, and large brown mosquitoes and flies, ticks and bugs, assault the inhabitants.
The rise in the price of slaves and ivory has compelled Arab merchants, as will be seen in another chapter, to push their explorations beyond the Tanganyika Lake. gions, the article being collected from all the adjoining tribes of Urundi, Uhha, Uvira, and Marungu. The native dealers, however, are so acute, that they are rapidly ruining this their most lucrative traffic. They sell cheaply, and think to remunerate themselves by aiding and abetting desertion. Merchants, therefore, who do
62 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA.
not chain or cord together their gangs till they have reached the east bank of the Malagarazi River, often lose 20 per cent. The prevalence of the practice has already given Ujiji a bad name, and, if continued, will remove the market to another place, where the people are somewhat less clever and more sensible. It is im- possible to give any idea of the average price of the human commodity, which varies, under the modifica- tions of demand and supply, from two to ten doti or tobes of American domestics. Yet as these purchases sell in Zanzibar for fourteen or fifteen dollars per head, the trade realises nearly 500 per cent., and will, therefore, with difficulty be put down.
The principal tribes in this region are the Wajiji, the Wavinza, the Wakaranga, the Watuta, the Wabuha, and the Wahha.
The Wajiji are a burly race of barbarians, far stronger than the tribes hitherto traversed, with dark skins, plain features, and straight, sturdy limbs: they are larger and heavier men than the Wanyamwezi, and the type, as it approaches Central Africa, becomes rather negro than negroid.* Their feet and hands are large and flat, their voices are harsh and strident, and their looks as well as their manners are independent even to insolence. ‘The women, who are held in high repute, resemble, and often excel, their masters in rudeness and
* My companion observes (in Blackwood, Nov. 1859), “It may be worthy of remark that I have always found the lighter coloured savages more bois- terous and warlike than those of the dingier hue. The ruddy black, fleshy- looking Wazaramos and Wagogos are much lighter in colour (!) than any of the other tribes, and certainly have a far superior, more manly and war- like independent spirit and bearing than any of the others.” ‘The “dingiest” peoples are usually the most degraded, and therefore sometimes the least powerful; but the fiercest races in the land are the Wazaramo, the Wajiji and the Wataturu, who are at the same time the darkest.
THE WAJIJI TRIBE. 63
violence; they think little in their cups of entering a stranger’s hut, and of snatching up and carrying away ‘an article which excites their admiration. Many of both sexes, and all ages, are disfigured by the small-pox — the Arabs have vainly taught them inoculation — and there are few who are not afflicted by boils and various eruptions; there is also an inveterate pandemic itch, which, according to their Arab visitors, results from a diet of putrid fish.
This tribe is extensively tattooed, probably as a pro- tection against the humid atmosphere, and the chills of the Lake Region. Some of the chiefs have ghastly scars raised by fire, in addition to large patterns marked upon their persons — lines, circles, and rays of little cupping- cuts drawn down the back, the stomach, and the arms, like the tattoo of the Wangindo tribe near Kilwa. Both sexes love to appear dripping with oil; and they mani- festly do not hold cleanliness to be a virtue. The head
‘is sometimes shaved; rarely the hair is allowed to grow; the most fashionable coiffure is a mixture of the two; patches and beauty-spots in the most eccentric shapes— buttons, crescents, crests, and galeated lines — being allowed to sprout either on the front, the sides, or the back of the head, from a carefully-scraped scalp. Women as well as men are fond of binding a wisp of white tree-fibre round their heads, like the ribbon which confines the European old person’s wig. There is not a trace of mustachio or whisker in the country; they are removed by the tweezers, and the climate, accord- ing to the Arabs, is, like that of Unyamwezi, unfavourable to beards. For cosmetics both sexes apply, when they ean procure such luxuries, red earth to the face, and over the head a thick-coating of chalk or mountain-meal, which makes their blackness stand out hideously grotesque.
64 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA.
The chiefs wear expensive stuffs, checks, and cottons, which they extract from passing caravans. Women of wealth affect the tobe or coast-dress, and some were seen wearing red and blue broadcloths. The male costume of the lower orders is confined to softened goat, sheep, - deer, leopard, or monkey skins, tied at two corners over either shoulder, with the flaps open at one side, and with tail and legs dangling in the wind. Women who cannot afford cloth use as a_succe- daneum a narrow kilt of fibre or skin, and some con- tent themselves with a tassel of fibre or a leafy twig depending from a string bound round the waist, and displaying the nearest approach to the original fig-leaf. At Ujiji, however, the people are observed, for the first time, to make extensive use of the macerated tree-bark, which supplies the place of cotton in Urundi, Karagwah, and the northern kingdoms. This article, technically termed “mbugu,” is made from the inner bark of various trees, especially the mrimba and the mwale, or huge ’ Raphia-palm. The trunk of the full-grown tree is stripped of its integument twice or thrice, and is bound with plantain-leaves till a finer growth is judged fit for manipulation. This bark is carefully removed, steeped in water, macerated, kneaded, and pounded with clubs and battens to the consistency of a coarse cotton. Palm- oil is then spirted upon it from the mouth, and it acquires the colour of chamois-leather. The Wajiji ob- tain the mbugu mostly from Urundi and Uvira. They are fond of striping it with a black vegetable mud, so as to resemble the spoils of leopards and wild cats, and they favour the delusion by cutting the edge into long strips, like the tails and other extremities of wild beasts. The price of the mbugu varies according to size, from six to twelve khete or strings of beads,
ORNAMENTS OF THE LAKISTS. 65
Though durable, it is never washed: after many months’ wear the superabundance of dirt 1s removed by butter or ghee.
Besides the common brass-wire girdles and bracelets, armlets and anklets, masses of white-porcelain, blue- glass, and large pigeon-egg beads, and hundreds of the iron-wire circlets called sambo, which, worn with ponde- rous brass or copper rings round the lower leg, above the foot, suggest at a distance the idea of disease, the Wajiji are distinguished from tribes not on the lake by necklaces of shells — small pink bivalves strung upon a stout fibre. They have learned to make brass from the Arabs, by melting down one-third of zinc imported from the coast with two parts of the fine soft and red copper brought from the country ot the Kazeembe. Like their Lakist neighbours, they ornament the throat with disks, crescents, and strings of six or seven cones, fastened by the apex, and depending to the breast. Made of the whitest ivory or of the teeth, not the tusks, of the hippopotamus, these dazzling ornaments effec- tively set off the dark and negro-like skin. Another peculiarity amongst these people is a pair of iron pincers or a piece of split wood ever hanging round the neck; nor is its use less remarkable than its presence. The Lakists rarely chew, smoke, or take snuff according to the fashion of the rest of mankind. very man carries a little half-gourd or diminutive pot of black earthen- ware, nearly full of tobacco ; when inclined to indulge, he fills it with water, expresses the juice, and from the palm of his hand sniffs it up into his nostrils. The pincers serve to close the exit, otherwise the nose must be temporarily corked by the application of finger and thumb. Without much practice it is difficult to arti- culate during the retention of the dose, which lasts a
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66 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA.
few minutes, and when an attempt is made the words are scarcely intelligible. The arms of the Wajiji are small battle-axes and daggers, spears, and large bows, which carry unusually heavy arrows. They fear the gun and the sabre, yet they show no unwillingness to fight. The Arabs avoid granting their demands for muskets and gunpowder, consequently a great chief never possesses more than two or three fire-locks.
The Lakists are an almost amphibious race, excellent divers, strong swimmers and fishermen, and vigorous ichthyophagists all. At times, when excited by the morning coolness and by the prospect of a good haul, they indulge in a manner of merriment which re- sembles the gambols of sportive water-fowls: standing upright and balancing themselves in their hollow logs, which appear but little larger than themselves, they strike the water furiously with their paddles, skimming over the surface, dashing to and fro, splashing one another, urging forward, backing, and wheeling their craft, now capsizing, then regaining their position with wonderful dexterity. They make coarse hooks, and have many varieties of nets and creels. Conspicuous on the waters and in the villages is the Dewa, or “ otter” of Oman, a triangle of stout reeds, which shows the position of the net. A stronger kind, and used for the larger ground-fish, is a cage of open basket-work, provided, like the former, with a bait and two entrances. The fish once entangled cannot escape, and a log of wood, used as a trimmer, attached to a float-rope of rushy plants, directs the fisherman. The heaviest ani- mals are caught by a rope-net — the likh of Oman — weighted and thrown out between two boats. They have circular lath frames, meshed in with a knot some- what different from that generally used in Europe; the
FISH IN THE TANGANYIKA. 67
smaller variety is thrown from the boat by a single man, who follows it into the water,— the larger, which reaches six feet in diameter, is lowered from the bow by cords, and collects the fish attracted by the glaring torch-fire. The Wajiji also make large and small drag- nets, some let down in a circle by one or more canoes, the others managed by two fishermen, who, swimming at each end, draw them in when ready. They have little purse-nets to catch small fry, hoops thrust into a long stick-handle through the reed walls that line the shore ; and by this simple contrivance the fish are caught in considerable quantities. The wigo or crates alluded to as peculiar in the ‘Periplus,’ and still common upon the Zanzibar coast, are found at the Tanganyika. The common creel resembles the khun of Western India, and is well-known even to the Bushmen of the South: it is a cone of open bamboo-strips or supple twigs, placed lengthways, and bound in and out by strings of grass or tree-fibre. It is closed at the top, and at the bottom there is a narrow aperture, with a diagonally- disposed entrance like that of a wire rat-trap, which prevents the fish escaping. It is placed upon its side with a bait, embanked with mud, reeds, or sand, and seems to answer the purpose for which it is intended. In Uzaramo and near the coast the people narcotise fish with the juice of certain plants, asclepias and euphorbias : about the Tanganyika the art appears unknown.
There are many varieties of fish in the waters of this Lake. The Mvoro is a long and bony variety, in shape like a large mackerel ; the Sangale resembles it, but the head and body are thicker. ‘The Mgege, which suggests the Pomfret of Western India, is well flavoured, but full of bones. The Meguhe is said to attain the length of five or six feet: it is not unlike the kheri of the Indian
F 2
68 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA.
rivers, and to a European palate it is the best fish that swims in these waters. The largest is the Singa, a scaleless variety, with black back, silvery belly, small fins, and long fleshy cirri: it crawls along the bottom, and is unfit for leaping or for rapid progress. This sluggish and misshapen ground-fish is much prized by the people on account of its rich and luscious fat. Like the Pallu of Sindh, it soon palls upon the European palate. Want of flavour is the general complaint made by the Arabs and coast people against the produce of the Tanganyika : they attempt to diminish the wateriness of the fish by exposing it spitted to a slow fire, and by subsequently stowing it for the night in well-closed earthen pots. Besides the five varieties above alluded to, there are dwarf ecls of good flavour, resembling the Indian Bam; Daga’a, small fish called by the Arabs Kashu’a, minnows of many varieties, which, simply sundried, or muriated if salt can be afforded, find their way far east ; a dwarf shrimp, about one-quarter the size of the com- mon English species; and a large bivalve called Sinani, and identified as belonging to the genus Iridina. The meat is fat and yellow, like that of a well-fed oyster, but it is so insipid that none but a Mjiji can eat it. The shells collected upon the shores of the Tanganyika and on the land journey have been described by Mr. Samuel P. Woodward, who courteously named the species after the European members of the Expedition. To his memoir—quoted in pages 102, 103 of this volume—the reader is referred. _
The Wajiji are considered by the Arabs to be the most troublesome race in these black regions. They are taught, by the example of their aie to be rude, insolent, and extortionate ; they demand beads even for pointing out the road ; they will deride and imitate a
CHARACTER OF THE WAJIJI. 69
stranger’s speech and manner before his face; they can do nothing without a long preliminary of the fiercest scolding ; they are as ready with a blow as with a word ; and they may often be seen playing at “rough and tumble,” fighting, pushing, and tearing hair, in their boats. A Myjiji uses his dagger or his spear upon a guest with little hesitation; he thinks twice, however, before drawing blood, if it will cause a feud. Their roughness of manner is dashed with a curious ceremo- niousness. When the sultan appears amongst his people, he stands in a circle and claps his hands, to which all respond in the same way. Women curtsy to one an- other, bending the right knee almost to the ground. When two men meet they clasp each other’s arms with both hands, rubbing them up and down, and ejaculating for some minutes, “ Nama sanga? nama sanga ?—art thou well?” They then pass the hands down to the forearm, exclaiming “ Wakhe? wakhe ?-——how art thou ?” and finally they clap palms at each other, a token of respect which appears common to these tribes of Central Africa. The children have all the frowning and un- prepossessing look of their parents; they reject little civilities, and seem to spend life in disputes, biting and clawing like wild cats. There appears to be little family affection in this undemonstrative race. ‘The only endearment between father and son is a habit of scratching and picking each other, caused probably by the prevalence of a complaint before alluded to; as amongst the Simiads, the intervals between pugnacity are always spent in exercising the nails. Sometimes, also, at sea, when danger is near, the Mjiji breaks the mourn- ful silence of his fellows, who are all thinking of home, with the exclamation, ‘“ Y4 metiri wanje!—O my wife!” They are never sober when they can be drunk ; perhaps F 3
70 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA.
in no part of the world will the traveller more often see men and women staggering about the village with thick speech and violent gestures. ‘The favourite inebrient is tembo or palm-toddy ; almost every one, however, even when on board the canoe, smokes bhang, and the whoop- ing and screaming which follow the indulgence resemble the noise of wild beasts rather than the sounds of human beings. Their food consists principally of holcus, manioc, and fish, which is rarely eaten before it becomes offen- sive to European organs.
Rusimba. Under him were several mutware (mutwale) or minor chiefs, one to each settlement, as Kannena in Kawele and Lurinda in Gungu. On the arrival of a caravan, Rusimba forwards, through his relations, a tusk or two of ivory, thus mutely intimating that he requires his blackmail, which he prefers to receive in beads and kitindi or coil-bracelets, proportioning, however, his de- mand to the trader’s means. When this point has been settled, the mutware sends his present, and expects a proportionate return. He is, moreover, entitled to a fee for every canoe hired; on each slave the kiremba or excise is about half the price; from one to two cloths are demanded upon every tusk of ivory; and he will snatch a few beads from a man purchasing provisions for his master. The minor headmen are fond of making “sare” or brotherhood with strangers, in order to secure them in case of return. They depend for influence over their unruly subjects wholly upon personal qualifica- tions, bodily strength, and violence of temper. A chief, though originally a slave, may “ win golden opinions” by his conduct when in liquor: he assumes the most ferocious aspect, draws his dagger, brandishes his spear, and, with loud screams, rushes at his subjects as intent
QUALIFICATIONS OF A LAKIST CHIEF. 71
upon annihilating them. The affairs of the nation are settled by the mwami, the chief, in a general council of the lheges, the wateko (in the singular mteko) or elders presiding. Their intellects, never of the brightest, are invariably fuddled with toddy, and, after bawling for hours together and coming apparently to the most satis- factory conclusion, the word of a boy or of an old woman will necessitate another lengthy palaver. The sultans, like their subjects, brook no delay in their own affairs ; they impatiently dun a stranger half-a-dozen times a day for a few beads, while they patiently keep him waiting for weeks on occasions to him of the highest importance, whilst they are drinking pombe or taking leave of their wives. Besides the magubiko or preliminary presents, the chiefs are bound, before the departure of a caravan which has given them satisfaction, to supply it with half-a-dozen masuta or matted packages of grain, and to present the leader with a slave, who generally man- ages to abscond. The parting gifts are technically called “‘ urangozi,” or guidance.
Under the influence of slavery the Wajiji have made no progress in the art of commerce. They know no- thing of bargaining or of credit: they will not barter unless the particular medium upon which they have set their hearts is forthcoming; and they fix a price according to their wants, not to the value of the article. The market varies with the number of caravans present at the depot, the season, the extent of supply, and a variety of similar considerations. Besides the trade in ivory, slaves, bark, cloth, and palm-oil, they manufac- ture and hawk about iron sickles shaped like the EKu- ropean, kengere, kiugi, or small bells, and sambo, locally called tambi, or wire circlets, worn as ornaments round the ankles; long double-edged knives in wooden sheaths,
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72 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA.
neatly whipped with strips of rattan; and jembe or hoes. Of bells a dozen were purchased in March and April of 1858 for two fundo of white beads. Jembe and large sime averaged also two fundo. Of good sambo 100, and of the inferior quality 200, were pro- curable for a fundo. ‘The iron is imported in a rough state from Uvira. The value of a goat was one shuk- kah, which here represents, as in Unyamwezi, twelve feet, or double the length of the shukkah in other re- gions, the single cloth being called lupande, or upande. Sheep, all of a very inferior quality, cost somewhat more than goats. <A hen, or from five to six eggs, fetched one khete of samesame, or red-coral beads, which are here worth three times the quantity of white porcelain. Large fish, or those above two pounds in weight, were sold for three khete; the small fry—the white bait of this region—one khete per two pounds ; and diminutive shrimps one khete per three pounds. Of plantains, a small bunch of fifteen, and of sweet potatoes and yams from ten to fifteen roots, were purchased for a khete ; of artichokes, ege-plants, and cucumbers, from fifty to one hundred. The wild vegetables generically called mboga are the cheapest of these esculents. Beans, phaseoli, ground-nuts, and the voandzeia, were expen- sive, averaging about two pounds per khete. Rice is not generally grown in Ujiji; a few measures of fine white grain were purchased at a fancy price from one Sayfu bin Hasani, a pauper Msawahili, from the isle of Chole, settled in the country. The sugar-cane is poor and watery, it was sold in lengths of four or five feet for the khete: one cloth and two khete purchased three pounds of fine white honey. Tobacco was compara- tively expensive. Of the former a shukkah procured a bag weighing perhaps ten pounds. Milk was sold at
PRICES AT UJIJI IN 1858. 73
arbitrary prices, averaging about three teacups for the khete. A shukkah would procure three pounds of butter, and ghee was not made for the market. It was impossible to find sweet toddy, as the people never smoke nor clean the pots into which it is drawn; of the from five to six teacups were to be bought with a khete. Firewood, being imported,.was expensive, a khete being the price of a little faggot containing from fifty to one hundred sticks. About one pound of unclean cot- ton was to be purchased for three khete of samesame. It must be observed, that this list of prices, which represents the market at Kawele, gives a high average, many of the articles being brought in canoes from con- siderable distances, and even from the opposite coast. The traveller in the Lake Regions loses by cloth ; the people, contented with softened skins and tree-bark, pre- fer beads, ornaments, and more durable articles: on the other hand, he gains upon salt, which is purchased at half-price at the Parugerero Pan, and upon large wires brought from the coast. Beads are a necessary evil to those engaged in purchasing ivory and slaves. In 1858 called ububu. At first they would not receive the khanyera, or white-porcelains; and afterwards, when the Expedition had exchanged, at a considerable loss, their large stock for langiyo, or small blues, they demanded the former. The bead most in fashion was the mzizima, or large blue-glass, three khete of which were equivalent to a small cloth; the same- same, or red-corals, required to be exchanged for mzizima, of which one khete was an equivalent to three of samesame. The maguru nzige, or pink porcelains, were at par. The tobacco-stem bead, called sofi, and
74 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA.
current at Msene, was in demand. The reader will excuse the prolixity of these wearisome details, they are necessary parts of a picture of manners and customs in Central Africa. Moreover, a foreknowledge of the requirements of the people is a vital condition of suc- cessful exploration. There is nothing to arrest the traveller’s progress in this section of the African inte- rior except the failure of his stores.
A. serious inconvenience awaits the inexperienced, who find a long halt at, and a return from, Ujiji neces- sary. The Wanyamwezi pagazi, or porters, hired at Unyanyembe, bring with them the cloth and beads which they have received as hire for going to and coming from the lake, and lose no time in bartering the outfit for ivory or slaves. Those who prefer the former article will delay for some time with extreme impatience and daily complaints, fearing to cross Uvinza in small bodies when loaded with valuables. | The purchasers of slaves, however, knowing that they will inevitably lose them after a few days at Ujiji, desert at once. In all cases, the report that a caravan is marching eastwards causes a general disappearance of the porters. As the Wajiji will not carry, the cara- van is reduced to a halt, which may be protracted for months, in fact, till another body of men coming from the east will engage themselves as return porters. Moreover, the departure homewards almost always partakes of the nature of a flight, so fearful are the strangers lest their slaves should seize the opportunity to desert. The Omani Arabs obviate these incon- veniences by always travelling with large bodies of domestics, whose interest it is not to abandon the master.
South of the Wajiji lie the Wakaranga, a people pre-
THE WAKARANGA AND WAVINZA. 75
viously described as almost identical in development and condition, but somewhat inferior in energy and civilisation. Little need be said of the Wavinza, who appear to unite the bad qualities of both the Wanyam- wezi and the Ujiji. They are a dark, meagre, and ill- looking tribe; poorly clad in skin aprons and kilts. They keep off insects by inserting the chauri, or fly-flap, into the waistband of their kilts: and at a distance they present, like the Hottentots, the appearance of a race with tails. Their arms are spears, bows, and arrows; and they use, unlike their neighbours, wicker-work shields six feet long by two in breadth. Their chiefs are of the Watosi race, hence every stranger who mects with their approbation is called, in compliment, Mtosi. They will admit strangers into their villages, dirty clumps of beehive huts; but they refuse to provide them with lodging. Merchants with valuable outfits prefer the jungle, and wait patiently for provisions brought in baskets from the settlements. ‘The Wavinza seldom muster courage to attack a caravan, but strag- glers are in imminent danger of being cut off by them. Their country is rich in cattle and poultry, grain and vegetables. Bhang grows everywhere near the settlements, and they indulge themselves in it immo- derately.
The Watuta—a word of fear in these recions—are a tribe of robbers originally settled upon the southern extremity of the Tanganyika Lake. After plundering the lands of Marungu and Ufipa, where they almost annihilated the cattle, the Watuta, rounding the eastern side of the Lake, migrated northwards. Some years ago they were called in by Ironga, the late Sultan of U’ungu, to assist him against Mui’ Gumbi, the powerful chief of the Warori. The latter were defeated, after obstinate
76 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA.
fighting for many months. After conquering the Warori, the Watuta settled in Sultan Ironga’s lands, rather by might than right, and they were expelled by his son with the greatest difficulty. From U’ungu their next step was to the southern bank of the Malagarazi River. About three years ago this restless tribe was summoned by Mzogera, the present Sultan of Uvinza, to assist him in seizing Uhha, which had just lost T’hare, its chief. The Watuta crossed the Malagarazi, laid Avaste the lands of Uhha and Ubuha, and desolated the northern region between the river and the lake. Shortly afterwards they attacked Msene, and were only repulsed by the matchlocks of the Arabs, after a week of hard skirmishing. In the early part of 1858 they slew Ruhembe, the Sultan of Usui, a district north of Unyanyembe, upon the road to Karagwah, In the latter half of the same year they marched upon Ujijl, plundered Gungu, and proceeded to attack Kawele. The Arab merchants, however, who were then absent on a commercial visit to Uviva, returned precipitately to defend their depéts, and with large bodies of slave musketeers beat off the invader. The lands of the Watuta are now bounded on the north by Utumbara, on the south by Msene; eastwards by the meridian of Wilyankuru, and westwards by the highlands of Urundi.
The Watuta, according to the Arabs, are a pastoral tribe, despising, like the Wamasai and the Somal, such luxuries as houses and fields; they wander from place to place, camping under trees, over which they throw their mats, and driving their herds and plundered cattle to the most fertile pasture-grounds. The dress is some- times a mbugu or bark-cloth ; more generally it 1s con- fined to the humblest tribute paid to decency by the
THE WATUTA ROBBERS. (he
Kafirs of the Cape, and they have a similar objection to removing it. On their forays they move in large bodies, women as well as men, with the children and baggage placed upon bullocks, and their wealth in brass wire twisted round the horns. Their wives carry their weapons, and join, it is said,in the fight. The arms are two short spears, one in the right hand, the other in the left, concealed by a large shield, so that they can thrust upwards unawares: disdaining bows and arrows, they show their superior bravery by fighting at close quarters, and they never use the spear as an assegal. In describing their tactics, the Arabs call them “manceuvrers like the Franks.” Their thousands march in four or five extended lines, and attack by attempting to envelop the enemy. There is no shout- ing nor war-cry to distract the attention of the com- batants: iron whistles are used for the necessary sionals. During the battle the sultan, or chief, whose ensign is a brass stool, sits attended by his forty or fifty elders in the rear; his authority is little more than nominal, the tribe priding itself upon autonomy. The Watuta rarely run away, and take no thought of their killed and wounded. They do not, like the ancient Jews, and the Gallas and Abyssinians of the present day, carry off a relic of the slain foe; in fact, the custom seems to be ignored south of the equator. The Watuta have still however a wholesome fear of fire- arms, and the red flag of a caravan causes them to decamp without delay. According to the Arabs they are not inhospitable, and though rough in manner they have always received guests with honour. A fanciful trait is related concerning them: their first question to a stranger will be, ‘ Didst thou see me from afar ?” -— - which, being interpreted, means, Did you hear of my
78 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA.
greatness before coming here ?— and they hold an answer in the negative to be a casus belli.
Remain for consideration the people of Ubuha and Ubha. The Wabuha is a small and insignificant tribe bounded on the north by Uhha, and on the south by the Malagarazi River: the total breadth is about three marches; the length, from the Rusugi stream of the Wavinza to the frontiers of Ujiji and Ukaranga, is in all a distance of four days. Their principal settlement is Uyonwa, the district of Sultan Mariki: it is a mere clearing in the jungle, with a few pauper huts dotting fields of sweet potatoes. This harmless and oppressed people will sell provisions, but though poor they are particular upon the subject of beads, preferring coral and blue to the exclusion of black and white. They are a dark, curly-headed, and hard-favoured race: they wear the shushah or top-knot on the poll, dress in skins and tree-barks, ornament themselves with brass and copper armlets, ivory disks, and beads, and are never without their weapons, spears and assegais, sime or daggers, and small battle-axes. Honourable women wear tobes of red broadcloth and fillets of grass or fibre confining the hair.
Uhha, written by Mr. Cooley Oha, was formerly a large tract of land bounded on the north by the mountains of Urundi, southwards and eastwards by the Malagarazi River, and on the west by the northern parts of Ujiji. As has been recounted, the Wahha dispersed by the Watuta have dispersed them- selves over the broad lands between Unyanyembe and the Tanganyika, and their own fertile country, well stocked with the finest cattle, has become a waste of jungle. A remnant of the tribe, under Kanoni, their present Sultan, son of the late T’hare, took refuge in
THE WAHHA SERVILES. 79
the highlands of Urundi, not far from the principal settlement of the mountain king Mwezi: here they find water and pasture for their herds, and the strength of the country enables them to beat off their enemies. The Wahha are a comparatively fair and a not un- comely race; they are however universally held to be a vile and servile people; according to the Arabs they came originally from the southern regions, the most ancient seat of slavery in E. Africa. Their Sultans or chiefs are of Wahinda or princely origin, probably descendants from the regal race of Unyam- wezl. Wahha slaves sell dearly at Msene; an adult male costs from five to six doti merkani, and a full- grown girl one gorah merkani or kaniki.
Head Dresses of Wanyamwez1.
CHAP. XIV. WE EXPLORE THE TANGANYIKA LAKE.
My first care after settling in Hamid’s Tembe, was to purify the floor by pastiles of assafcetida, and fumiga- tions of gunpowder; my second was to prepare the roof for the rainy season. Improvement, however, progressed slowly; the “children” of Said bin Salim were too lazy to work; and the Wanyamwezi porters, having expended their hire in slaves, and fearing loss by delay, took the earliest opportunity of deserting. By the aid of a Msawahili artisan, I provided a pair of cartels, with substitutes for chairs and _ tables. Benches of clay were built round the rooms, but they
THE SULTAN KANNENA 81
proved useless, being found regularly every morning occupied in force by a swarming, struggling colony, of the largest white ants. The roof, long overgrown with tall grass, was fortified with an extra coat of mud; it never ceased, however, leaking like a colander ; presently the floor was covered with deep puddles, then masses of earth dropped from the sopped cop- ings and sides of the solid walls, and, at last, during the violent showers, half the building fell in. The conse- quence of the extreme humidity was, that every book which had English paste in it was rendered useless by decay ; writing was rendered illegible by stains and black mildew ; moreover, during my absence, whilst exploring the Lake, Said bin Salim having neglected to keep a fire, as was ordered, constantly burning in the house, a large botanical collection was irretrievably lost. This was the more regretable as our return to the coast took place during the dry season, when the woods were bare of leaf, flower, and fruit.
On the second day after my arrival I was called upon by “‘Kannena,” the headman of Kawele, under Rusimba, the Mwami, or principal chief of Ujijji. I had heard a bad account of the former. His predecessor, Kabeza, a great favourite with the Arabs, had died about two months before we entered Kawele, leaving a single son, hardly ten years old, and Kannena, a slave, having the art to please the widows of the deceased, and, through them, the tribe, caused himself to be elected temporary headman during the heir’s minority. He was intro- duced habited in silk turban and broadcloth coat, which I afterwards heard he had borrowed from the Baloch, in order-to put in a prepossessing first appear- ance. The effort, however, failed; his aspect was truly ignoble ; ashort, squat, and broad-backed figure, with
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82 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA.
natural “ plumpers,” a black skin cut and carved in various patterns, thick straight, stumpy, legs, and huge splay feet; his low narrow brow was ever knotted into a peevish frown, his apology for a nose much resembled the pug with which the ancients provided Silenus, and a villanous expression lurked about the depressed corners of his thick-lipped, sensual, liquorish mouth. On this occasion he behaved with remarkable civility, and he introduced, as the envoys commissioned by the great Rus- imba to receive his blackmail, two gentlemen a quarter- clad in the greasiest and scantiest bark-aprons, and armed with dwarfish battle-axes. The present was finally settled at ten coil-bracelets and two fundi of coral-beads. I had no salt—the first article in demand—to spare, or much valuable merchandise might have been saved. The return was six small bundles of grain, worth, probably, one-tenth of what had been received. Then Kannena opened trade by sending us a nominal gift, a fine ivory, weighing at least seventy pounds, and worth, perhaps, one hundred pounds, or nearly two mens’ loads of the white or blue-porcelain beads used in this traffic. After keep- . ing it for a day or two, I returned it, excusing myself by saying that, having visited the Tanganyika as a “ Sarkal,” I could have no dealings in ivory and slaves.
This was right and proper in the character of a “Sarkal.” But future adventurers are strongly advised always to assume the character of traders. In the first place, it explains the traveller’s motives to the people, who otherwise lose themselves in a waste of wild conjecture. Secondly, under this plea, the explorer can push forward into unknown countries; he will be civilly received, and lightly fined, because the hosts expect to see him or his semblables again; whereas, appearing without ostensible motive amongst them, Ire
THE COMMERCIAL TASTES OF THE WAJIJI. 83
would be stripped of his last cloth by recurring con- fiscations, fines, and every annoyance which greed of gain can suggest. Thus, as the sequel will prove, he loses more by overcharges than by the trifling outlay necessary to support the character of a trader. He travelsrespectably asa“Mundewa’ or “Tajir” a merchant, which is ever the highest title given by the people to strangers; and he can avoid exciting the jealousy of the Arabs by exchanging his tusks with them at a trifling loss when comforts or provisions are required for the road.
So strange an announcement on my part aroused, as may be supposed, in the minds of the Wajiji marvel, doubt, disbelief, ill-will. ‘These are men who live by doing nothing!” exclaimed the race commercial as the sons of Hamburg; and they lost no time in requesting me to quit their territory sooner than con- venient. To this I objected, offering, however, as com- pensation for the loss of their octrois and perquisites to pay for not trading what others paid for trading. Kannena roughly informed me that he had a claim for Kiremba, or duties upon all purchases and sales ; two cloths, for instance, per head of slave, or per elephant’s tusk; and that, as he expected to gain nothing by brokerage from me, he must receive as compensa- tion, four coil-bracelets and six cotton cloths. These were at once forwarded to him. He then evidenced his ill-willin various ways, and his people were not slow in showing the dark side of their character. They threatened to flog Sayfu, the old Msawahili of Chole, for giving me hints concerning prices. The two sur- viving riding asses were repeatedly wounded with spears. Thieves broke into the outhouses by night, and stole all the clothes belonging to the Jemadar and
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84 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA.
to the bull-headed slave Mabruki. At first the widows of the late Kabeza, to whom the only cows in the dis- trict belonged, supplied us plentifully with milk; grad- ually the quantity shrank, whenever an opportunity offered it was ‘cut off; and, at last, we could no longer afford the exorbitant price demanded. My com- panion having refused a cheese to Kannena, the dowager ladies, who owned the cows, when applied to for milk, threw away the vessel, and swore that by boiling what ought to be drunk unboiled, we were manifestly bewitch- ing and killing their cattle. On one occasion, a young person related to Rusimba went to the huts of the © Baloch, and, snatching up a fine cloth which she clasped to her bosom, defied them to recover it by force, and departed, declaring that it was a fine for bringing “whites” into the country. At first our heroes spoke of much slaughter likely to arise from such procedure, and with theatrical gesture, made “ rapiére au vent ;” presently second-thoughts suggested how beautiful is peace, and thirdly, they begged so hard, that I was com- pelled to ransom for them the article purloined. I had unwittingly incurred the animosity of Kennena. On the day after his appearance in rich clothing he had entered unannounced with bare head, a spear or two in hand, and a bundle of wild-cats’ skins by way of placket ; not being recognised, he was turned out, and the eject- ment mortally offended his dignity. Still other travel- lers fared even worse than we did. Said bin Majid, who afterwards arrived at Ujiji to trade for ivory and slaves, had two followers wounded by the Wajiji, one openly speared in the bazaar, and the other at night by a thief who was detected digging through the wall of the store-hut.
After trade was disposed of, ensued a general Bakh-
THE PROPRIETY OF REWARDING BAD CONDUCT. 85
shish. Nothing of the kind had been contemplated or prepared for at Zanzibar, but before leaving Unya- nyembe, I had found it necessary to offer an induce- ment, and now the promise was to be fulfilled. More- over, most of the party had behaved badly, and in these exceptional lands, bad behaviour always expects areward. In the first place, says the Oriental, no man misconducts himself unless he has power to offend you and you are powerless to punish him. Secondly, by “petting” the offender, he may be bribed to conduct himself decently. On the other hand, the LHastern declares, by rewarding, praising, or promoting a man who has already satisfied you, you do him no good, and you may do him great harm. The boy Faraj, who had shamelessly deserted his master, Said bin Salim, was afterwards found at Unyanyembe, in Snay bin Amir’s house, handsomely dressed and treated like a guest ; and his patron, forgetting all his stern resolves of condign punishment, met him with a peculiar kind- ness. I gave to the Baloch forty-five cloths, and to each slave, male and female, a pair. The gratification, however, proved somewhat like that man’s liberality who, according to the old satirist, presented fine apparel to those whom he wished to ruin. Our people reck- lessly spent all their Bakhshish in buying slaves, who generally deserted after a week, leaving the unhappy ex- proprietor tantalised by all the torments of ungratified acquisitiveness.
At first the cold damp climate of the Lake Regions did not agree with us; perhaps, too, the fish diet was over-rich and fat, and the abundance of vegetables led to little excesses. All energy seemed to have abandoned us. I lay for a fortnight upon the earth, too blind to read or write, except with long intervals, too weak to
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86 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA.
ride, and too ill to converse. My companion, who, when arriving at the Tanganyika Lake was almost as “groggy” upon his legs as I was, suffered from a painful ophth- almia, and from a curious distortion of face, which made him chew sideways, like a ruminant. Valentine was nearly blind; and he also had a wry mouth, by no means the properest for the process of mastication. Gaetano, who arrived at Ujiji on the 17th February, was half-starved, and his anxiety to make up for lost time brought on a severe attack of fever. The Baloch complained of in- fluenzas and catarrhs: too lazy to build huts after occu- pying Kannena’s “ ‘Traveller’s Bungalow ” for the usual week, they had been turned out in favour of fresh visitors, and their tempers were as sore as their lungs and throats. But work remained undone; it was necessary to awake from this lethargy. Being determined to explore the northern extremity of the Tanganyika Lake, whence, according to several informants, issued a large river, flowing northwards, and seeing scanty chance of suc- cess, and every prospect of an accident, if compelled to voyage in the wretched canoes of the people, I at first resolved to despatch Said bin Salim across the water, and, by his intervention, to hire from an Arab merchant, Hamid bin Sulayyam, the only dow, or sail- ing-craft then in existence. But the little Arab evidently shirked the mission, and he shirked so artisti- cally, that, after a few days, I released him, and directed my companion to do his best about hiring the dow, and stocking it with provisions for a month’s cruise. Then arose the preliminary difficulties of the trip. Kannena and all his people, suspecting that my only object was economy in purchasing provisions, opposed the project ; they demanded exorbitant sums, and often when bargained down and apparently satis-
DAY AT UJIJI. 87
fied, they started up and rushed away, declaring that they washed their hands of the business. At length, Lurinda, the neighbouring headman, was persuaded to supply a Nakhoda and a crew of twenty men. An Arab pays on these occasions, besides rations, ten per cent. upon merchandise; the white men were compelled to give four coil-bracelets and eight cloths for the canoe; besides which, the crew received, as hire, six coil-bracelets, and to each individual provisions for eight days, and twenty khete of large blue-glass beads, and small blue-porcelains were issued. After many delays, my companion set out on the 2nd of March, in the vilest weather, and spent the first stormy day near the embouchure of the Ruche River, within cannon shot of Kawele. This halt gave our persecutors time to change their minds once more, and again to forbid the journey. I was compelled to purchase their permission by send- ing to Kannena an equivalent of what had been paid for the canoe to Lurinda, viz. four coil-bracelets and eight cloths. Two days afterwards my companion, supplied with an ample outfit, and accompanied by two Baloch and his men— Gaetano and Bombay —crossed the bay of Ukaranga, and made his final departure for the islands.
During my twenty-seven days of solitude the time sped quickly; it was chiefly spent in eating and drink- ing, smoking and dozing. Awaking at 2 or3 am, I lay anxiously expecting the grey light creeping through the door-chinks and making darkness visible; the glad tidings of its approach were announced by the cawing of the crows and the crowing of the village cocks. When the golden rays began to stream over the red earth, the torpid Valentine was called up; he brought with him a mess of Suji, or rice-flour boiled in water,
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88 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA.
with a little cold milk as arelish. Then entered Muha- banya, the “slavey” of the establishment, armed with a leafy branch to sweep the floor, and to slay the huge wasps that riddled the walls of the tenement. This done he lit the fire—the excessive damp rendered this precaution necessary—and sitting over it he bathed his face and hands—luxurious dog !—in the pungent smoke. Ensued visits of ceremony from Said bin Salim and the Jemadar, who sat, stared, and, somewhat disappointed . at seeing no fresh symptoms of approaching dissolu- tion, told me so with their faces, and went away. From 7 am. till 9 a.m., the breakfast hour, Valentine was applied to tailoring, gun-cleaning, and similar light work, over which he groaned and grumbled, whilst I settled down to diaries and vocabularies, a process inter- rupted by sundry pipes. Breakfast was again a mess of Suji and milk, — such civilised articles as tea, coffee, and sugar, had been unknown to me for months. Again the servants resumed their labour, and they worked, with the interval of two hours for sleep at noon, till 4 p.m. During this time the owner lay like a log upon his cot, smoking almost uninterruptedly, dreaming of things past, and visioning things present, and sometimes indulging himself in a few lines of reading and writing.
Dinner was an alternation of fish and fowl, game and butchers’ meat being rarely procurable at Ujiji. The fish were in two extremes, either insipid and soft, or so fat and coarse that a few mouthfuls sufficed; most of them resembled the species seen in the seas of Western India, and the eels and small shrimps recalled memories of Europe. The poultry, though inferior to that of Un- yanyembe, was incomparably better than the lean stringy Indian chicken. The vegetables were various and plentiful, tomatoes, Jerusalem artichokes, sweet pota-
DAY AT UJIJI. 89
toes, yams, and several kinds of beans, especially a white harricot, which afforded many a purée; the only fruit procurable was the plantain, and the only drink—the toddy being a bad imitation of vinegar—was water.
As evening approached I made an attempt to sit under the broad eaves of the Tembe, and to enjoy the de- licious spectacle of this virgin Nature, and the reveries to which it gave birth.
“A pleasing land of drowsihed it was, Of dreams that wave before the half-shut eye,
And of gay castles in the clouds that pass, For ever flushing round a summer sky.”
It reminded me of the loveliest glimpses of the Medi- terranean ; there were the same “ laughing tides,” pel- lucid sheets of dark blue water, borrowing their tints from the vinous shores beyond; the same purple light of youth upon the cheek of the earlier evening, the same bright sunsets, with their radiant vistas of crimson and gold opening like the portals of a world beyond the skies ; the same short-lived grace and loveliness of the twilight ; and, as night closed over the earth, the same cool flood of transparent moonbeam, pouring on the tufty heights and bathing their sides with the whiteness of virgin snow.
At '7 p.m., as the last flush faded from the occident, the lamp —a wick in a broken pot full of palm oil— was brought in; Said bin Salim appeared to give the news of the day, —how A. had abused B., and how C. had nearly been beaten by D., and a brief conversation led to the hour of sleep. A dreary, dismal day, you will ex- claim, gentle reader; a day that
“lasts out a night in Russia, When nights are longest there.”
90 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA.
Yet it had its enjoyments. There were no post- offices, and this African Eden had other advan- tages, which, probably, I might vainly attempt to describe. : On the 29th of March the rattling of matchlocks an- nounced my companion’s return. The Masika had done its worst upon him. JI never saw a man so thoroughly moist and mildewed; he justified even the French phrase “wet to the bone.” His para- phernalia were in a similar state; his guns were grained with rust, and his fire-proof powder-magazine had ad- mitted the monsoon-rain. I was sorely disappointed : he had done literally nothing. About ten days before his return I had been visited by Khamis bin Jumah, an Arab merchant, who, on the part of the proprietor of the dow, gave the gratifying message that we could have it when we pleased. I cannot explain where the mis- management lay ; it appears, however, that the wily “son _ of Sulayyam” detained the traveller simply for the pur- pose of obtaining from him gratis a little gunpowder. My companion had rested content with the promise that after three months the dow should be let to us for a sum of 500 dollars! and he had returned without boat or pro- visions to report ill success. The faces of Said bin Salim and the Jemadar, when they heard the period mentioned, were indeed a study. I consoled him and myself as I best could, and applied myself to supplying certain defi- ciencies as regards orthography and syntax in a diary which appeared in Blackwood, of September 1859, under the title “ Journal of a Cruise in the Tanganyika Lake, Central Africa.” I must confess, however, my sur- prise at, amongst many other things, the vast horseshoe of lofty mountain placed by my companion inthe map attached to that paper, near the very heart of Sir Rh.
THUS MEN DO GEOGRAPHY ! 91
Murchison’s Depression. As this wholly hypothetical, or rather inventive feature,—I had seen the mountains growing upon paper under my companion’s hand, from a thin ridge of hill fringing the Tanganyika to the por- tentous dimensions given in Blackwood (Sept. 1859), and Dr. Petermann’s Mittheilungen, (No. 9, of 1859, )— wore a crescent form, my companion gravely published, with all the pomp of discovery, in the largest capitals, This mountain range I consider to be THE TRUE MOUN- TAINS OF THE Moon.” * ™ * ‘Thus men do geography! and thus discovery is stultified.
When my companion had somewhat recovered from ine wetness, and from the effects of punching-in with a pen- knife a beetle which had visited his tympanum”, I began
* My companion gives in Blackwood, Sept. 1859, the following descrip- tion of his untoward accident :—‘ This day (that of his arrival at the isle of Kivira) passed in rest and idleness, recruiting from our late exertions. At night a violent storm of rain and wind beat on my tent with such fury that its nether parts were torn away from the pegs, and the tent itself was only kept upright by sheer force. On the wind’s abating, a candle was lighted to rearrange the kit, and ina moment, as though by magic, the whole interior became covered with a host of small black beetles, evidently attracted by the glimmer of the candle. They were so annoyingly determined in their choice of place for peregrinating, that it seemed hopeless my trying to brush them off the clothes or bedding, for as one was knocked aside another came on, and then another, till at last, worn out, I extinguished the candle, and with difficulty —trying to overcome the tickling annoyance occasioned by these intruders crawling up my sleeves and into my hair, or down my back and legs—fell off to sleep. Repose that night was not destined to be my lot. One of these horrid little insects awoke me in his struggles to penetrate my ear, but just too late: for in my endeavour to extract him, I aided his im- mersion. He went his course, struggling up the narrow channel, until he got arrested by want of passage-room. This impediment evidently enraged him, for he began with exceeding vigour, like a rabbit at a hole, to dig violently away at my tympanum. The queer sensation this amusing meusure excited in me is past description. I felt inclined to act as our donkeys once did, when beset by a swarm of bees, who buzzed about their ears and stung their heads and eyes until they were so irritated and confused that they galloped about in the most distracted order, trying to knock them off by treading on
92 ; THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA.
seriously to seek some means of exploring the northern head of the Tanganyika. Hamid bin Sulayyam had informed his late guest that he had visited the place, where, although attacked by an armada of thirty or forty hostile canoes, he had felt the influence of a large river, which drains the water northwards: in fact, he told the “lie with circumstance.” By a curious coincidence, Sayfu, the Mswahili of Chole, declared that he also had sighted a stream issuing from the northern extre- mity of the lake—this was the “ lie direct ”—and he offered to accompany me as guide and interpreter. When we compared statements, we saw what was before us,—a prize for which wealth, health, and life, were to be risked.
It now became apparent that the Masika or rains, which the Arabs, whose barbarous lunar year renders untrust- worthy in measurements of time, had erroneously repre- sented as synchronous with the wet monsoon of Zanzibar, was drawing to a close, and that the season for navigation was beginning.* After some preliminaries with Said bin
their heads, or by rushing under bushes, into houses, or through any jungle they could find. Indeed, I do not know which was worst off. The bees killed some of them and this beetle nearly did for me. What to do I knew not. Neither tobacco, oil, nor salt could be found: I therefore tried melted butter; that failing, I applied the point of a pen-knife to his back, which did more harm than good ; for though a few thrusts kept him quiet, the point also wounded my ear so badly, that inflammation set in, severe suppuration took place, and all the facial glands extending from that point down to the point of the shoulder became contorted and drawn aside, and a string of bubos de- corated the whole length of that region. It was the most painful thing I ever remember to have endured; but, more annoying still, I could not open my mouth for several days, and had to feed on broth alone. For many months the tumour made me almost deaf, and ate a hole between that orifice and the nose, so that when I blew it, my ear whistled so audibly that those who heard it laughed. Six or seven months after this accident happened, bits of the beetle, a leg, a wing, or parts of its body, came away in the wax.”
* Not unmindful of the instructions of the Bombay Geographical Society, which called especial attention to the amount of rain-fall and evaporation in
PREPARATIONS FOR A CRUISE. 93
Salim, Kannena, who had been preparing fora cruise north- wards, was summoned before me. He agreed to convey me; but when I asked him the conditions on which he would show me the Mtoni, or river, he jumped up, dis- charged a volley of oaths, and sprang from the house like an enraged baboon. I was prepared for this difficulty, having had several warnings that the tribes on thenorthern shores of the Tanganyika allow no trade. But fears like Kannena’s may generally be bought over. I trusted, therefore, to Fate, and resolved that at all costs, even if reduced to actual want, we should visit this mysterious stream. At length the headman yielded every point. He received, it is true, an exorbitant sum. Arabs visit- ing Uvira, the “ultima thule” of lake navigation, pay one cloth to each of the crew; and the fare of a single passenger is a brace of coil-bracelets. For two canoes, the larger sixty feet by four, and the lesser about two- thirds that size, I paid thirty-three coil-bracelets, here equal to sixty dollars, twenty cloths, thirty-six khete of blue glass beads, and 770 ditto of white-porcelains and green-glass. I also promised to Kannena a rich reward if he acted up to his word; and as an earnest I threw over his shoulders a six-foot length of scarlet broad- cloth, which caused his lips to tremble with joy, despite his struggles to conceal it. The Nakhoda (captain) and the crew in turn received, besides rations, eighty cloths,
a region, which abounding in lakes and rivers yet sends no supplies to the sea, I had prepared, at Zanzibar, a dish and a guage for the purpose of com- paring the hygrometry of the African with that of the Indian rainy monsoon. The instruments, however, were fated to dono work. The first portion of the Masika was spent ina journey; ensued severe sickness, and the end of the rains happened during a voyage to the north of the Tanganyika. A few scattered observations might have been registered, but it was judged better to bring home no results, rather than imperfections which could only mislead the meteorologist.
94 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA.
170 khete of blue glass-beads, and forty of coral-porce- lains, locally three times more valuable than whites or greens. Sayfu, the interpreter, was as extravagantly paid in eight cloths and twenty-seven pounds of white and blue-porcelains. After abundance of dispute it was settled that the crews should consist of fifty-five men, thirty-three to the larger and twenty-two to the smaller canoe. It was an excess of at least one-half, who went for their own profit, not for our pleasure. When this point was conceded, we were kindly permitted to take with us the two Goanese, the two black gun-carriers, and three Baloch as an escort. The latter were the valiant Khudabakhsh, whom I feared to leave behind; Jelai, the mestico-Mekrani; and, thirdly, Riza, the least mutinous and uncivil of the party.
Before departure it will be necessary to lay before the reader a sketch of our conveyance. The first aspect of these canoes made me lament the loss of Mr. Francis’ iron boat: regrets, however, were of no avail. Quo- cumque modo—rem ! was the word.
The Baumrinden are unknown upon the Tanganyika Lake, where the smaller craft are monoxyles, generally damaged in the bow by the fishermen’s fire. The larger are long, narrow “ matumbi,” or canoes, rudely hollowed with the axe — the application of fire being still to be invented, —in fact, a mere log of mvule, or some other large tree which abound in the land of the Wa- goma, opposite Ujyi. The trunks are felled, scooped out in loco, dragged and pushed by man-power dowr the slopes, and finally launched and paddled over to their destination. The most considerable are composed of three parts—clumsy, misshapen planks, forming, when placed side by side, a keel and two gunwales,
LAKE NAVIGATION. 95
the latter fastened to the centre-piece by cords of palm-fibre passing through lines of holes. The want of caulking causes excessive leakage: the crew take duty as balesmen in turns. The cry Senga!—bale out !— rarely ceases, and the irregular hollowing of the tree- trunks makes them lie lopsided in the water. These vessels have neither masts nor sails; artifices which now do not extend to this part of the African world. Aniron ring, fixed in the stern, is intended for a rudder, which, however, seldom appears except in the canoes of the Arabs, steering is managed by the paddle, and a flag-staff ora fishing-rod projects jib-like from the bow. Layers of palm-ribs, which serve for fuel, are strewed over the interior to raise the damageable cargo —it is often of salt — above the bilge-water. The crew sit upon narrow benches, extending across the canoe and fastened with cords to holes in the two side-pieces; upon each bench, despite the narrowness of the craft, two men place themselves side by side. The “ Karagwah,” stout stiff mats used for hutting and bedding, are spread for comfort upon the seats; and for convenience of pad- dling, the sailors, when at work, incline their bodies over the sides. The space under the seats is used for stowage. In the centre there is a square place, about six feet long, left clear of benches; here also cargo is stored, passengers, cattle, and slaves litter down, the paddles, gourds, and other furniture of the crew are thrown, and the baling is carried on by means of an old gourd. The hold is often ankle-deep in water, and affords no convenience for leaning or lying down; the most comfortable place, therefore, is near the stern or the bow of the boat. ‘The spears are planted upright amid- ships, at one or two corners of the central space so as
96 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA.
to be ready at a moment’s notice; each man usually has his dagger stuck in his belt, and on long trips all are provided with bows and arrows. These Africans cannot row ; indeed they will not use oars.. The paddle on the Tanganyika isa stout staff, about six feet long, and cut out at the top to admit a trefoil-shaped block the size of a man’s hand:—it was described in South Africa by Cap- tain Owen. The block, adorned with black paint in triangular patches, is lashed to the staff by a bit of whip- cord, and it seldom lasts through the day without break- ing away from its frail tackling. The paddler, placing one hand on the top and the other about the middle of the staff, scoops up as it were, the water in front of him, steadying his paddle by drawing it along the side of the canoe. The eternal splashing keeps the boat wet. It is a laborious occupation, and an excessive waste of power.
The Lake People derive their modern practice of navi- gation, doubtless, from days of old; the earliest accounts of the Portuguese mention the traffic of this inland sea. They have three principal beats from Ujiji: the northern abuts at the ivory and slave marts of Uvira; the western conducts to the opposite shores of the Lake and the island depdts on the south-west; and the southern leads to the land of Marunga. Their canoes creep along the shores like the hollowed elders of thirty bygone centuries, and, waiting till the weather augurs fairly, they make a des- perate push for the other side. Nothing but their ex- treme timidity, except when emboldened by the prospect of aspeedy return home, preserves their cranky craft from constant accidents. The Arabs, warned by the past, rarely trust themselves to this Lake of Storms, preferring the certain peculation incurred by deputing for trading purposes agents and slaves to personal risk. Those who
THE ‘*SON OF NOISE.” 97
must voyage on the lake build, by means of their menials aud artisans, dows, or sailing-vessels, and teach their newly-bought gangs to use oars instead of paddles. This is rather an economy of money than of time: they ex- pend six months upon making the dow, whereas they can buy the largest canoe for a few farasilah of ivory.
As my outfit was already running low, I persuaded, before departure, two of the Baloch to return with a down-caravan westwards, and arrived at Unyanyembe, to communicate personally with my agent, Snay bin Amir. They agreed so to do, but the Mtongi, or head of the African kafilah, with true African futi- lity, promised to take them on the next day, and set out that night on his journey. As Said bin Majid was about despatching a large armed party to the north of the Lake, I then hurried on my preparations for the voyage. Provisions and tobacco were laid in, the tent was repaired, and our outfit, four half loads of salt—of these two were melted in the canoe, six Gorah,—or one load of domestics, nine coil-bracelets, the remainder of our store, one load of blue porcelain beads, and a small bag of the valuable red coral intended for private ex- penses, and “ EK] Akibah” (the reserve), was properly packed for concealment. Meanwhile some trifling dis- putes occurred with Kannena, who was in the habit of coming to our Tembe, drunk and surly, with eyes like two gouts of blood, knitted front, and lips viciously shot out: when contradicted or opposed, he screamed and gesticulated asif haunted by his P’hepo,—his fiend;—and when very evilly disposed, he would proceed to the ex- treme measure of cutting downatent. This slave-sultan was a ‘‘son of noise:” he affected brusquerie of manner and violence of demeanour the better to impressionise his unruly subjects; and he frightened the timid souls
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98 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA.
around us, till at last the Jemadar’s phrase was, “strength is useless here.” Had I led, however, three hundred instead of thirty matchlocks, he would have crouched and cowered like a whipped cur.
At 4 p.m., on the 9th April, appeared before the Kannena in a tattered red turban donned for the oc- casion. He was accompanied by his ward, who was to perform the voyage as a training to act sultan, and he was followed by his sailors bearing salt, in company with their loud-voiced wives and daughters performing upon the wildest musical instruments. Of these the most noisy was a kind of shaum, a straight, long and narrow tube of wood, bound with palm-fibre and pro- vided with an opening mouth like a clarionet; a dis- tressing bray is kept up by blowing through a hole pierced in the side. The most monotonous was a pair of foolscap-shaped plates of thin iron, joined at theapices and connected at the bases by a solid cross-bar of the same metal; this rude tomtom is performed upon by a muffled stick with painful perseverance ; the sound—how harshly it intruded upon the stilly beauty of the scenes around! —still lingers and long shall linger in my tympanum. The canoe had been moved from its usual position opposite our Tembe, to a place of known departure — otherwise not a soul could have been persuaded to embark — and ignoring the distance, | condemned myself to a hobble of three miles over rough and wet ground. The night was comfortless; the crew, who were all “ half-seas over,” made the noise of bedlamites; and two heavy falls of rain drenching the flimsy tent, at once spoiled the tobacco and flour, the grain and the vegetables pre- pared for the voyage.
Early on the next morning we embarked on board the canoes: the crews had been collected, paid, and rationed, but as long as they were near home it was
THE VOYAGE-START. 99
impossible to keep them together. Hach man thinking | solely of his own affairs, and disdaining the slightest regard for the wishes, the comfort, or the advantage of his employers, they objected systematically to every article which I had embarked. Kannena had filled the canoes with his and his people’s salt, consequently he would not carry even a cartel. Various points settled we hove anchor or rather hauled up the block of granite doing anchoral duty, and withthe usual hubbub and strife, the orders which every man gives and the advice which no man takes, we paddled in half an hour to a shingly and grassy creek, defended by a sandpit and backed by a few tall massive trees. Opposite and but a few yards distant, rose the desert islet of Bangwe, a quoin-shaped mass of sandstone and red earth, bluff to the north and gradually shelving towards the water at the other extremity: the prolific moisture above and around had covered its upper ledge with a coat of rich thick vege- tation. Landward the country rises above the creek, and upon its earth-waves, which cultivation shares with wild growth, appear a few scattered hamlets.
Boats generally waste some days at Bangwe Bay, the stage being short enough for the usual scene being en- cored. They load and reload, trim cargo, complete rations, collect crews, and take leave of friends and relatives, women, and palm-wine. We pitched a tent and halted in a tornado of wind and rain. Kannena would not move without the present of one of our three goats. At 4 p.m., on the llth April, the canoes were laden and paddled out to and back from Bangwe islet, when those knowing in such matters pronounced them so heavily weighted as to be unsafe: whereupon, the youth Riza, sorely against my will, was sent back to the Kawele. On that night a furious gale carried away my
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100 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA.
tent, whilst the Goanese were, or pretended to be, out of hearing. I slept, however, comfortably enough upon the crest of a sand-wave higher than the puddles around it, and — blessings on the name of Mackintosh! — escaped the pitiless pelting of the rain.
The next morning showed a calm sea, levelled by the showers, and no pretext or desire for longer detention lingered in the hearts of the crew. At 7:20 a.m., on the 12th April, 1858, my canoe—bearing for the first time on those dark waters—
“The flag that braved a thousand years The battle and the breeze,”
stood out of Bangwe Bay, and followed by my com- panion’sturned the landspit separating the bight from the main, and made directly for the cloudy and storm-vexed north. The eastern shore of the lake, along which we coasted, was a bluff of red earth pudding’d with separate blocks of sandstone. Beyond this headland the coast dips, showing lines of shingle or golden-coloured quartzose sand, and on the shelving plain appear the little fishing-villages. They are usually built at the mouths of the gaps, combes, and gullies, whose deep gorges winding through the background of hill-curtain, become, after rains, the beds of mountain-torrents. The wretched settlements are placed between the tree clad declivities and the shore on which the waves break. The sites are far from comfortable: the ground is here veiled with thick and fetid grass; there it is a puddle of black mud, and there a rivulet trickles through the villages. The hamlet consists of half a dozen beehive-huts, foul, flimsy, and leaky; their only furniture is a hearth of three clods or stones, with a few mats and fishing im- plements. The settlements are distinguished from a
BOATING ON THE TANGANYIKA. 101
distance by their plantations of palm and plantain, and by large spreading trees, from whose branches are sus- pended the hoops and the drag-nets not in actual use, and under whose shade the people sit propped against their monoxyles, which are drawn high up out of fee: of the surf. There was no trade, and few provisions were procurable at Kigari. We halted there to rest, and pitch- ing a tent in the thick grass we spent a night loud with wind and rain.
Rising at black dawn on the 13th April, the crews rowed hard for six hours between Kigari and another dirty little fishing-village called Nyasanga. The set- tlement supplied fish-fry, but neither grain nor vegeta- bles were offered for sale. At this place, the frontier district between Ujiji and Urundi, our Wajiji took leave of their fellow-clansmen and prepared with serious countenances for all the perils of expatriation.
This is the place for a few words concerning boating and voyaging upon the Tanganyika Lakes. The Wajiji, and indeed all these races, never work silently or re- gularly. The paddling is accompanied by a long mono- tonous melancholy howl, answered by the yells and shouts of the chorus, and broken occasionally by a shrill scream of delight from the boys which seems violently to excite the adults. The bray and clang of the horns, shaums, and tomtoms, blown and banged incessantly by one or more men in the bow of each canoe, made worse by brazen-lunged imitations of these intruments in the squeaking trebles of the younger paddlers, lasts throughout the livelong day, except when terror induces a general silence. These “Wana Maji” — sons of water — work in “spirts,” applying lustily to the task till the perspiration pours down their sooty persons. Despite my remonstrances, they insisted upon
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102 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA.
splashing the water in shovelsful over the canoe. They make terribly long faces, however, they tremble like dogs in a storm of sleet, and they are ready to whimper when compelled by sickness or accident to sit with me under the endless cold wave-bath in the hold. After a few minutes of exertion, fatigued and worn, they stop to quarrel, or they progress languidly till recruited for another effort. When two boats are together they race continually till a bump —the signal for a general grin— and the difficulty of using the entangled paddles afford an excuse for a little loitering, and for the loud chatter, and violent abuse, without which ap- parently this people cannot hold converse. At times they halt to eat, drink, and smoke: the bhang-pipe is produced after every hour, and the paddles are taken in whilst they indulge in the usual screaming convul- sive whooping-cough. They halt for their own purposes but not for ours; all powers of persuasion fail when they are requested to put into a likely place for col- lecting shells or stones.* Jor some superstitious reason
* THE FOLLOWING Paper By S. P. Woopwarp, F.G.S., comMMUNICATED BY Pror. OWEN, APPEARED IN THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE ZOOLOGICAL So- cIETY oF Lonnon, JUNE 28, 1859.
The four shells which form the subject of the present note were collected by Captain Speke in the great freshwater lake Tanganyika in Central Africa.
The large bivalve belongs to the genus Jridina, Lamarck,—a group of river mussels, of which there are nine reputed species, all belonging to the African continent. This little group has been divided into several sub-genera. That to which the new shell belongs is distinguished by its broad and deeply- wrinkled hinge-line, and is called Pletodon by Conrad. ‘The posterior slope of this shell is encrusted with tufa, as if there were limestone rocks in the vicinity of its habitat.
The small bivalve is a normal Unio, with finely sculptured valve&.
The smaller univalve is concave beneath, and so much resembles a Nerita or Calyptrea that it would be taken for a sea-shell if its history were not well authenticated. It agrees essentially with Lithoglyphus, — a genus peculiar
SAILORS’ SUPERSTITIONS. | 103
they allow no questions to be asked, they will not dip a pot for water into the lake, fearing to be followed
to the Danube ; for the American shells referred to it are probably, or, I may say, certainly distinct. It agrees with the Danubian shells in the extreme obliquity of the aperture, and differs in the width of the umbilicus, which in the European species is nearly concealed by the callous columellar lip.
In the Upper Eocene Tertiaries of the Isle of Wight there are several estuary shells, forming the genus Globulus, Sow., whose affinities are uncer- tain, but which resemble Lithoglyphus.
The lake Tanganyika (situated in lat. 3° to 8° S. and long. 30° E.), which is several hundred miles in length and 30 to 40 in breadth, seems entirely disconnected with the region of the Danube: but the separation may not al- ways have been so complete, for there is another great lake, Nyanza, to the northward of Tanganyika, which is believed by Speke to be the principal source of the Nile.
The other univalve is a Melania, of the sub-genus Melanella (Swainson), similar in shape to M. hollandi of 8. Europe, and similar to several Eocene species of the Isle of Wight. Its colour, solidity, and tuberculated ribs give it much the appearance of a small marine whelk (Nassa) ; and it is found in more boisterous waters, on the shores of this great inland sea, than most of its congeners inhabit.
1. Intp1na (PLEIopoN) SPEKII, n. sp. (Pl. XLVIL. fig. 2.)
Shell oblong, ventricose, somewhat attenuated at each end: base slightly concave ; epidermis chestnut brown, deepening to black at the margin; an- terior slope obscurely radiated ; hinge-line compressed in front and tubercu- lated, wider behind and deeply wrinkled.
Length 43, breadth 2, thickness 12 inches.
Testa oblonga, tumida, extremitatibus fere attenuata, basi subarcuata; epi-
dermide castaneo-fusca, marginem versus nigricante ; linea cardinali antice compressa tuberculata, postice latiore, paucis rugis arata.
2. Unto Burront, n. sp. (Pl. XLUVIL. fig. 1.)
Shell small, oval, rather thin, somewhat pointed behind; umbones small, not eroded ; pale olive, concentrically furrowed, and sculptured more or less with fine divaricating lines ; anterior teeth narrow, not prominent; posterior teeth laminar ; pedal scar confluent with anterior adductor.
Length 12, breadth 83, thickness 54 lines.
Testa parva, ovalis, tenuiuscula, postice subattenuata; umbonibus parvis, acuminatis ; epidermide pallide olivacea ; valvis lineolis divaricatis, decuss- atum exaratis ; dentibus cardinalibus angustis, haud prominentibus.
3. LITHOGLYPHUS ZONATUS, n. sp. (Pl. XLVII. fig. 3.)
Shell orbicular, hemispherical ; spire very small; aperture large, very ob-
lique ; umbilicus wide and shallow, with an open fissure in the young shell ; lip continuous in front with the umbilical ridge ; columella callous, ultimately
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104 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA.
and perhaps boarded by crocodiles, which are hated and dreaded by these black navigators, much as is the
covering the fissure ; body-whirl flattened, pale olivaceous, with two brown bands, darker at the apex; lines of growth crossed by numerous oblique, interrupted striz.
Diameter 5-6, height 3 lines.
Testa orbicularis, hemispherica, late umbilicata (apud juniores rimata), spira minuta ; apertura magna, valde obliqua ; labio calloso (in testa adulta rimam tegente) ; pallide olivacea, fasciis duabus fuscis zonata; lineis incrementi striolis interruptis oblique decussatis.
4. Mevanza (MELANELLA) Nassa,n. sp. (PI. XLVIL. fig. 4.)
Shell ovate, strong, pale brown, with (sometimes) two dark bands; spire shorter than the aperture ; whirls flattened, ornamented with six brown spiral ridges crossed with a variable number of white, tuberculated, transverse ribs; base of body-whirl eight with tuberculated spiral ridges variegated with white and brown; aperture sinuated in front ; outer lip simple; inner lip callous.
Length 83, breadth 53 lines.
Testa ovata, solida, pallide fusca, zonis 2 nigricantibus aliquando notata ; spira apertura breviore ; anfractibus planulatis, lineis 6 fuscis sptralibus et costis tuberculaiis ornatis ; apertura antice sinuata; labro simplici ; labio calloso.
P.S. July 27th.—In addition to the foregoing shells, several others were collected by Capt. Speke, when employed, under the command of Capt. Burton, inexploring Central Africa in the years 1856-9 ; these were deposited in the first instance with the Geographical Society, and are now transferred to the British Museum.
A specimen of Ampullaria (Lanistes) sinistrorsa, Lea, and odd valves of two species of Unio, both smooth and olive-coloured, were picked up in the Ugogo district, an elevated plateau in lat. 6° to 7° S., long. 34° to 35° E.
A large Achatina, most nearly related to A. glutinosa, Pfr., is the “‘com- mon snail” of the region between lake Tanganyika and the east coast. Fossil specimens were obtained in the Usagara district, at a place called Marora, 3000 feet above the sea, overlooking the Lufiji River, where it in- tersects the coast range (lat. 7° to 8° S., long. 36° to 36° E.).
Another common land snail of the same district is the well known “ Buli- mus caillaudi, Pfr.,” a shell more nearly related to Achatina than Bulimus.
Captain Speke also found a solitary example of Bulimus ovoideus, Brug., in a musjid on the island of Kiloa (lat. 9° S., long. 39° to 40° E.). This species is identical with B. grandis, Desh., from the island of Nosse Bé, Madagascar, and very closely allied to B. liberianus, Lea, from Guinea.
CAPTAIN BALFOUR. 105
shark by our seamen, and for the same cause not a scrap of food must be thrown overboard—even the offal must be cast into the hold. ‘ Whittling” is here a mortal sin: to chip or break off the smallest bit of . even a condemned old tub drawn up on the beach causes a serious disturbance. By the advice of a kind and amiable friend*, I had supplied myself with the de- siderata for sounding and ascertaining the bottom of the Lake: the crew would have seen me under water rather than halt for a moment when it did not suit their purpose. The wild men lose half an hour, when time is most precious, to secure a dead fish as it floats past the canoe entangled in its net. They never pass a village without a dispute; some wishing to land, others objecting be- cause some wish it. The captain, who occupies some comfortable place in the bow, stern, or waist, has little authority ; and if the canoe be allowed to touch the
* Captain Balfour, H.M.I.N., who kindly supplied me with a list of ne- cessaries for sail-making and other such operations on the Lake. I had in- dented upon the Engineers’ Stores, Bombay, for a Massey’s patent or self- registering log, which would have been most useful had the people allowed it to be used. Prevented by stress of business from testing it in India, I found it at sea so thoroughly defective, that it was returned from whence it came by the good aid of Captain Frushard, then commanding the H.E.LC.’s sloop of war Elphinstone. I then prepared at Zanzibar, a line and a lead, properly hollowed to admit of its being armed, and this safely reached the Tangan- yika Lake. It was not useless but unused: the crew objected to its being hove, and moreover—lead and metal are never safe in Central A frica—the line, which was originally short, was curtailed of one half during the first night after our departure from Kawele. It is by no means easy to estimate the rate of progress in these barbarous canoes barbarously worked. During the “spirts”” when the paddler bends his back manfully to his task, a fully- manned craft may attain a maximum of 7 to 8 miles per hour: this exertion, however, rarely exceeds a quarter of an hour, and is always followed by delay. The usual pace, when all are fresh and cool, is about 4 to 5 miles, which de- clines through 4 and 3 to 23, when the men are fatigued, or when the sun is high. The medium, therefore, may be assumed at 4 miles for short, and a little more than 2 miles an hour for long trips, halts deducted.
106 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA.
shore, its men will spring out without an idea of con- sulting aught beyond their own inclinations. Arrived at the halting-place they pour on shore; some proceed _ to gather firewood, others go in search of rations, and others raise the boothies. A dozen barked sticks of various lengths are planted firmly in the ground; the ends are bent and lashed together in the shape of half an orange, by strips of tree-fibre; they are then covered with the karagwah—the stiff-reed mats used as cushions when paddling—these are tightly bound on, and thus a hut is made capable of defending from rain the bodies of four or five men whose legs which project beyond the shelter are apparently not supposed to re- quire covering. Obeying only impulse, and wholly deficient in order and purpose, they make the voyage as uncomfortable as possible ; they have no regular stages and no fixed halting-places; they waste a fine cool morning, and pull through the heat of the day, or after dozing throughout the evening, at the loud cry of “Pakira Baba!” — pack up, hearties ! —they scramble into their canoes about midnight. Outward-bound they seek opportunities for delay; when it is once “up anchor for home,” they hurry with dangerous haste.
On the 14th April, a cruise of four hours conducted us to Wafanya, a settlement of Wajiji mixed with Warundi. Leaving this wretched mass of hovels on the next day, which began with a solemn warning from Sayfu — aman of melancholic temperament — we made in four hours Wafanya, the southern limit of Urundi, and the only port in that inhospitable land still open to travellers. Drawing up our canoes upon a clear narrow sandstrip beyond the reach of the surf, we ascended a dwarf earth-cliff, and pitching our tents under a spread- ing tree upon the summit, we made ourselves as com-
THE INHOSPITABLE WARUNDI. 107
fortable as the noisy, intrusive, and insolent crowd, as- sembled to stare and to laugh at the strangers, would permit. The crew raised their boothies within a stone- throw of the water, flight being here the thought ever uppermost in their minds.
The people of this country are a noisy insolent race, addicted, like all their Lakist brethren, to drunkenness, and, when drunk, quarrelsome and violent. At Wafanya, however, they are kept in order by Kanoni, their mut- ware or minor chief, subject to ‘“‘ Mwezi,” the mwami or sultan of Urundi. The old man appeared, when we reached his settlement, in some state, preceded by an ancient carrying his standard, a long wisp of white fibre attached to a spear, like the Turkish “ horse-tail,” and followed by a guard of forty or fifty stalwart young war- riors armed with stout lance-like spears for stabbing and throwing, straight double-edged daggers, stiff bows, and heavy, grinded arrows. Kanoni began by receiving his black-mail—four cloths, two coil-bracelets, and three fundo of coral beads: the return was the inevitable goat. The climate of Wafanya is alternately a damp- cold and a “muggy” heat; the crews, however, if numerous and well armed, will delay here to feed when northward bound, and to lay in provisions when return- ing to their homes. Sheep and fine fat goats vary in value from one to two cloths ; a fowl, or five to six eggs, costs a khete of beads; sweet potatoes are somewhat dearer than at Ujiii; there is no rice, but holcus and manioc are cheap and abundant, about 5 lbs. of the latter being sold for a single khete. Even milk is at times procurable. - A sharp business is carried on in chikichi or palm-oil, of which a large earthen pot is bought for acloth; the best paddles used by the crews are made at Wafanya; and the mbugu, or bark-cloth,
108 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA.
is bought for four to ten khete, about one third of the market-price at Ujiji. Salt, being imported from Uvinza, is dear and scarce: it forms the first demand for barter, and beads the second. Large fish is offered for sale, but the small fry is the only article of the kind which is to be purchased fresh. The country owes its plenty, according to the guides, to almost perennial showers.
The inhospitality of the Warundi and their northern neighbours, who would piunder a canoe or insist upon a black-mail equivalent to plunder, allows neither traffic nor transit to the north of Wafanya. Here, therefore, the crews prepare to cross the Tanganyika, which is divided into two stages by the island of Ubwari.
In Ubwari I had indeed discovered “an island far away.” It is probably the place alluded to by the Portuguese historian, De Barros, in this important passage concerning the great lake in the centre of Africa: “It isa sea of such magnitude as to be capable of being navigated by many sail; and among the islands in it there is one capable of sending forth an army of 30,000 men.” Ubwari appears from a distance of two days bearing north-west ; it is then somewhat hazy, owing to the extreme humidity of the atmosphere. From Wa- fanya it shows a clear profile about eighteen to twenty miles westward, and the breadth of the western channel between it and the mainland averages from six to seven miles. Its north point lies in south lat. 4° 7’, and the lay is N. 17° E. (corrected). From the northern point of Ubwari the eastern prolongation of the lake bears N. 3° W. and the western N. 10° W. It is the only island near the centre of the Tanganyika—a long, narrow lump of rock, twenty to twenty-five geo- graphical miles long, by four or five of extreme breadth, with a high longitudinal spine, like a hog’s
THE ‘“‘ISLAND FAR AWAY.” 109
back, falling towards the water— here shelving, there steep, on the sea-side—where it ends in abrupt cliffs, here and there broken by broad or narrow gorges. Green from head to foot, in richness and profuse- ness of vegetation it equals, and perhaps excels, the shores of the Tanganyika, and in parts it appears care- fully cultivated. Mariners dare not disembark on Ubwari, except at the principal places; and upon the wooded hill-sides wild men are, or are supposed to be, ever lurking in wait for human prey.
We halted two miserable days at Wafanya. The country is peculiarly rich, dotted with numerous hamlets, which supply provisions, and even milk, and divided into dense thickets, palm-groves, and large clear- ings of manioc, holcus, and sweet potatoes, which mantle like a garment the earth’s brown body. Here we found Kannena snugly ensconced in our sepoy’s pal, or ridge-tent. He had privily obtained it from Said bin Salim, with a view to add to his and his ward’s comfort and dignity. When asked to give it up—we were lodging, I under a lug-sail, brought from the coast and converted into an awning, and my companion in the wretched flimsy article purchased from the Fundi— he naively refused. Presently having seen a fat sheep, he came to me declaring that it was his perquisite: more- over, he insisted upon receiving the goat offered to us by the Sultan Kanoni. [at first demurred. His satis- factory rejoinder was: ‘“‘ Ngema, ndugu yango!— Well, my brother,—here we remain!” I consulted Bombay about the necessity of humouring him in every whim. ‘ What these jungle-niggers want,” quoth my counsel, “that they will have, or they will see the next month’s new moon!”
The morning of the 18th April was dark and mena- cing. Huge purpling clouds deformed the face of the
110 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA.
northern sky. Having loaded the canoes, however, we embarked to cross the channel which separated us from the Ubwari island. As the paddles were in hand, the crew, starting up from their benches, landed to bring on board some forgotten manioc. My companion re- mained in his boat, I in mine. Presently, hearing an unusual uproar, I turned round and saw the sailors arming themselves, whilst the “ curtain-lion,” Khuda- bakhsh, was being hustled with blows, and pushed up the little cliff by a host of black spearmen; a naked savage the while capering about, waving the Baloch’s bare blade in one hand and its scabbard in the other. Kannena joined majestically in the “row,’ but the peals of laughter from the mob showed no signs of anger. <A Myjiji slave, belonging to Khuda- bakhsh had, it appears, taken flight, after landing unobserved with the crowd. The brave had redemanded him of Kannena, whom he charged, moreover, with aid- ing and abetting the desertion. The slave Sultan offered to refer the point to me, but the valiant man, losing patience, out with his sword, and was instantly dis- armed, assaulted, and battered, as above described, by forty or fifty sailors. When quiet was restored, I called to him from the boat. He replied by refusing to “budge an inch,” and by summoning his “ brother” Jelai to join him with bag and baggage. Kannena also used soft words, till at last, weary of waiting, he gave orders to put off, throwing two cloths to Khuda- bakhsh, that the fellow might not return home hungry. I admired his generosity till compelled to pay for it. The two Baloch were like mules; they disliked the voyage, and as it was the Ramazan, they added to their discomforts by pretending to fast. Their desertion was in- excusable ; they left us wholly in the power of the Wajiji,
THE BALOCH AGAIN DESERT. 111
to dangers and difficulties which they themselvescould not endure. Prudent Orientals, I may again observe, never commit themselves to the sole custody of Africans, even of the ‘“ Muwallid,” namely those born and bred in their houses. In Persia the traveller is careful to mix the black blood with that of the higher race; formerly, whenever the member of a family was found murdered, the serviles were all tortured as a preliminary to inves- tigation, and many stories, like the following, are re- counted. The slaves had left their master in complete security, and were sitting, in early night, merrily chat- ting round the camp fire. Presently one began to relate the list of their grievances; another proposed to end them by desertion; and a third seconded the motion, opining, however, that they might as well begin by murdering the patroon. No sooner said than done. These children of passion and instinct, in the shortest interim, act out the “‘ dreadful thing,” and as readily repent when reflection returns. The Arab, therefore, in African lands, seldom travels with Africans only ; he prefers collecting as many companions, and bringing as many hangers on as he can afford. The best escort to a EKuropean capable of communicating with and com- manding them, would be a small party of Arabs fresh from Hazramaut and untaught in the ways and tongues of Africa. ‘They would by forming a kind of balance of power, prevent that daring pilfering for which slaves are infamous; in the long run they would save money to the explorer, and perhaps save his life.
Khudabakhsh and his comrade-deserter returned safely by land to Kawele; and when derided by the other men, he repeated, as might be expected, notable griefs. Both had performed prodogies of valour; they had however been mastered by millions. Then they had
112 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA.
called upon ‘“ Haji Abdullah” for assistance, to which he had replied ‘‘ My power does not extend here!” Thus heartlessly refused aid by the only person who could and should have afforded it, they were reduced, sorely against their will, to take leave of him. Their tale was of course believed by their comrades, till the crews brought back the other version of the affair, the ‘‘ camel- hearts” then once more became the laugh and jibe of © man and woman.
After a short consultation amongst the men concern- ing the threatening aspect of the heavens, it was agreed by them to defer crossing the Lake till the next day. We therefore passed on to the northern side of the point which limits the bay of Wafanya, and anchoring the craft in a rushy bayou, we pitched tents in time to protect us against a violent thunderstorm with its wind and rain.
On the 19th April we stretched westward, towards Ubwari, which appeared a long strip of green directly opposite Urundi, and distant from eighteen to twenty miles. A little wind caused a heavy chopping swell; we were wet to the skin, and as noon drew nigh, the sun shone stingingly, reflected by a mirrory sea. At 10 A.M. the party drew in their paddles and halted to eat and smoke. About 2 p.m. the wind and waves again arose, — once more we were drenched, and the frail craft was constantly baled out to prevent water-logging. A long row of nine hours placed the canoes at a road- stead, with the usual narrow line of yellow sand, on the western coast of Ubwari Island. The men landed to dry themselves, and to cook some putrid fish which they had caught as it floated past the canoe, with the reed triangle that buoyed up the net. It was “strong meat” to us, but to them its staleness was as the “ taste in his butter,” to the Londoner, the pleasing toughness
THE WABWARI ISLANDERS. 113
of the old cock to the Arab, and the savoury “ fumet” of the aged he-goat to the Baloch. After a short halt, we moved a little northwards to Mzimu, a strip of low land dividing the waters from their background of grassy rise, through which a swampy line winds from the hills above. Here we found canoes drawn up, and the islanders flocked from their hamlets to change their ivory and slaves, goats and provisions, for salt and beads, wire and cloth. The Wabwari are a peculiar, and by