 Chapter 5 Part 1 of How I Found Livingstone This is the LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Lizzie Driver. How I Found Livingstone Travels, adventures and discoveries in Central Africa, including four months residence with Dr. Livingstone. by Sir Henry M. Stanley. Chapter 5 Part 1 Through Uqwer, Okami and Udo to Yusei-Gua. On the 21st of March, exactly seventy-three days after my arrival at Zanzibar, the fifth caravan, led by myself, left the town of Bagamoa for our first journey westward, with forward for its motogull. As the Kiraingosian rolled the American flag and put himself at the head of the caravan, and the Pagazines, animals, soldiers and idlers were lined for the march, we bade a long farewell to the Dulce Farniente of civilized life, to the Blue Ocean, and to its open road to home, to the hundreds of dusky spectators who were there to celebrate our departure with repeated salvos of musketry. Our caravan is composed of twenty-eight Pagazines, including the Kiraingosi, or guide. Twelve soldiers, under Captain Embaric Bombay, in charge of seventeen donkeys in their loads. Selim, my interpreter, in charge of the donkey and cart at its load. One cook and sub, who is also to be tailor and ready-hand for all, and leads the grey horse. Shaw, once mate of a ship, now transformed into rear-guard and overseer for the caravan, who is mounted on a good riding donkey, and wearing a canoe-like teepee and sea-boots. And lastly, on the splendid bay-horse presented to me by Mr. Gudhoo, myself, called Bhanamakuba, the big master by my people, the vanguard, the reporter, the thinker, and leader of the expedition. All together, the expedition numbers on the Day of Departure, three white men, twenty-three soldiers, four super-numeries, four chiefs, and one hundred and fifty-three Pagazines, twenty-seven donkeys, and one cart, conveying cloth, beads, and wire, boat-fixings, tents, cooking utensils, and dishes, medicine, powder, small-shot, musket-balls, and metallic cartridges. Instruments and small necessaries, such as soap, sugar, tea, coffee, libyx extractive meat, pomegran, candles, etc., which make a total of a hundred and fifty-three loads. The weapons of defence which the expedition possesses consist of one double-barrel breech-loading gun, smoothbore, one American Winchester rifle, or sixteen shooter, two Star's breech-loaders, one Jocelyn breech-loader, one Elephant rifle, carrying balls eight to the pound, six single-barreled pistols, one Battleaxe, two Swords, two Daggers, Persian Khmer's purchased at Shiraz by myself, one Boatspear, two American Axes, four pounds each, twenty-four Hatchets, and twenty-four Butcher knives. The expedition had been fitted with care. Whatever it needed was not stinted, everything was provided. Nothing was done too hurriedly, yet everything was purchased, manufactured, collected, and compounded with the utmost dispatch, consistent with efficiency and means. Should it fail of success in its air-end of rapid transit, to UGG and back, it must simply happen from an accident which could not be controlled. So much for the personnel of the expedition and its purpose. Until its point-de-mer be reached. We left Bagamo, the attraction of all the curious, with much ecla, and it fouled up a narrow lane shaded almost to twilight by the dense umbridge of two parallel hedges of mimosa. We were all in the highest spirits. The soldiers sang. The Kirangosi lifted his voice into a loud, bellowing note, and fluttered the American flag, which told all onlookers, Lo, a Masungu's caravan. And my heart, I thought, palpitated much too quickly for the sober face of a leader. But I could not check it. The enthusiasm of youth still clung to me, despite my travels. My pulse is bounded with the full glow of staple health. Behind me were the troubles which terraced me for over two months. With that dishonest son of a Hindi, Sawahaji Palu, I had said my last word. Of the blatant rabble of Arabs, Banyans and Baluchis, I had taken my last look. With the Jesuits of the French Mission, I had exchanged farewell. And before me beamed the Son of Promise, as he sped towards the Occident. Loveliness glowed around me. I saw fertile fields. Riot vegetation, strange trees. I heard the cry of cricket and pee-wit, and sibilant sound of many insects, all of which seemed to tell me, At least you are started. What could I do but live my faith? Towards the pure glowing sky and cry, God be thanked. The first camp, Shambhagon-era, we arrived at in one hour thirty minutes, equal to three and a quarter miles. This first, or little journey, was performed very well. Considering, as the Irishman says, the boy Salim upset the cart not more than three times. So I died the soldier, only once let his donkey, which carried one bag of my clothes and a box of ammunition, lie in a puddle of black water. The clothes have to be rewashed. The ammunition box, thanks to my provision, was waterproof. Kamna perhaps knew the art of donkey-driving. Overjoyful at the departure, had sung himself into oblivion of the difficulties with which an animal of the pure asinine breed has naturally to contend against, such as not knowing the right road, and an ability to resist the temptation of straying into the depths of a manioc field. And the donkey, ignorant of the custom in vogue amongst ass-drivers of flourishing sticks before an animal's nose, and misunderstanding the direction in which he was required to go, ran off at full speed along an opposite road, until his pack got unbalanced and he was feigned to come to the earth. But these incidents were trivial, of no importance, and natural to the first little journey in East Africa. The soldier's point of character leaked out just a little. Bombay turned out to be honest and trusty, but slightly disposed to be dilatory. Oledai did more talking than work, while the runaway Faraji, and the useless-handed Mabrukai Burton, turned out to be true men and staunch, carrying loads the sight of which would have caused the strong-limbed hammels of Stambol to sigh. The saddles were excellent, surpassing expectation. The strong hemp canvas bore its one hundred and fifty pounds burden with the strength of a bull-hide. And the loading and unloading of miscellaneous baggage was performed with systematic dispatch. In brief there was nothing to regret. The success of the journey proved a departure to be anything but premature. The next three days were employed in putting the finishing touches to our preparations for the long-land journey and our precautions against the massacre, which was now ominously near, and in settling accounts. Shamba gonra means gonras field. Gonra is a wealthy Indian widow, well-disposed towards the wasangu whites. She exports much cloth, beads and wire into the far interior and imports in return much ivory. Her house is after the model of the townhouses, with long sloping roof and projecting eaves, affording a cool shade, under which the Pagazis love to loiter. On its southern and eastern side stretch the cultivated fields, which supply Bagamo with the staple grain, Matama of East Africa. On the left grow Indian corn, and mahogo, a yam-like root of whitish colour, called by some manioc. When dry it is ground and compounded into cakes, similar to army slap-jacks. On the north, just behind the house, winds a black quagmire, a sinuous hollow, which in its deepest part always contains water. The muddy home of the break and rush-loving, kiboko, or hippopotamus. Its banks, crowded with dwarf fan-palm, tall water reeds, acacia and tiger-gross, afforded shelter to numerous aquatic birds, pelicans, etc. After following a course north-easterly, it conflows with the kingini, which, at a distance of four miles from Gonra's country-house, bends eastward into the sea, to the west, after a mile of cultivation, fall and recede in succession, the sea-beach of old, in lengthy parallel waves, overgrown densely with forest grass and marsh reeds. On the spines of these land-swells flourished ebony, kalabash, and mango. Sofari, Sofari, Leo! Paquia, Paquia! A journey, a journey to-day, set out, set out! rang the cheery voice of the kirangozi, echoed by that of my servant Salim, on the morning of the fourth day, which was fixed for our departure in earnest. As I hurried my men to their work, and lent a hand with energy to drop the tents, I mentally resolved that, if my caravan should give me clear space, Eonyan yambi should be our resting-place before three months expired. By six a.m. our early breakfast was dispatched, and the donkeys and bagazzies were defiling from Count Gonra. Even at this early hour, and in this country-place, there was quite a collection of curious natives, to whom I gave the parting, quarry, with sincerity. My bay-horse was found to be invaluable for the service of a quarter-master of a transport-train, for two such was I compelled to compare myself. I could stay behind until the last donkey had quitted the camp, and, by a few minutes gallop, I could put myself at their head, leaving shore to bring up the rear. The road was a mere footpath, and led over a soil-witch, though sandy, was a surprising fertility, producing grain and vegetables a hundredfold. The sowing and planting of which was done in the most unskillful manner. In their fields, at heedless labour, were men and women in the scantiest costumes, compared to which Adam and Eve, in their fig-tree apparel, must have been on Grand Tenu. We passed them with serious faces, while they laughed and giggled, and pointed their index-fingers at this and that, which to them seemed so strange and bizarre. In about half an hour we had left the Tormatama, and fields of watermelons, cucumbers, and manioc, and, crossing a reedy slough, were in an open forest of ebony and calabash. In its depths a deer in plentiful numbers, and at night it is visited by the hippopotamie of the Kingangi, for the sake of its grass. In another hour we had emerged from the woods, and were looking down upon the broad valley of the Kingangi, and a scene presented itself so utterly different from what my foolish imagination had drawn, that I felt quite relieved where the pleasing disappointment. Here was a valley stretching four miles east and west, and about eight miles north and south, left with the richest soil to its own wild growth of grass, which in civilisation would have been a most valuable meadow for the rearing of cattle, invested as it was by dense forests, darkening the horizon at all points of the compass, and folded in by tree-clad ridges. At the sound of our caravan the red antelope bounded away to our right and the left, and frogs hushed their croak. The sun shone hot, and while traversing the valley we experienced a little of its real African fervour. About halfway across we came to a sluice of stagnant water which, directly in the road of the caravan, had settled down into an oozy pond. The Pagazines crossed a hastily constructed bridge, thrown up a long time ago, by some Washenzie Samaritans. It was an extraordinary affair, and rugged tree-limbs resting on very unsteady forked piles, and it had evidently tested the patience of many a-loaded Manayamwezi, as it did those porters of our caravan. A weaker animals were unloaded, the puddle between Bagamo and Genera having taught us prudence, but this did not occasion much delay. The men worked smartly under sure supervision. The turbid Kangani, famous for its epipotomy, was reached in a short time, and we began to thread the jungle along its right bank, until we were halted point-blank, by a narrow sluice having an immeasurable depth of black mud. The difficulty presented by this was very grave, though its breadth was barely eight feet. The donkeys, and least of all the horses, could not be made to traverse two poles like our biped carriers. Neither could they be driven into the sluice where they would quickly founder. The only available way of crossing it in safety was by means of a bridge, to endure in this conservative land for generations, as the handiwork of the wasengu. So he set to work, there being no help for it with American axes, the first of their kind the strokes of whichever rang in this part of the world to build a bridge. Be sure it was made quickly. For where the civilised white is found, a difficulty must vanish. The bridge was composed of six stout trees thrown across. Over these were laid crosswise, fifteen pack-settles, covered again with a thick layer of grass. All the animals crossed it safely, and then, for a third time that morning, the process of wading was performed. The king and he flowed northerly here, and our course lay down its right bank. A half a mile in that direction through a jungle of giant reeds and extravagant climbers brought us to the ferry, where the animals had to be again unloaded. Fairly I wished when I saw its deep muddy waters that I possessed the power of Moses with his magic rod, or, what would have answered my purpose as well, a laden's ring, for then I could have found myself and party on the opposite side without further trouble. But, not having either of these gifts, I issued orders for an immediate crossing, for it was ill-wishing sublime things before this most mundane prospect. King Ware, the canoe paddler, aspiring us from his brake covert on the opposite side, civilly responded to our hallouse, and brought his huge hollowed tree skilfully over the whirling eddies of the river to where we stood waiting for him. While one party loaded the canoe with our goods, others got ready along rape to fasten around the animals' necks, wherewith to haul them through the river to the other bank. After seeing the work properly commenced, I sat down on a condemned canoe to amuse myself with the hippopotami by peppering their thick skulls with my number twelve smoothbore. The Winchester rifle, caliber forty-four, a present from the honourable Edward J. Morris, our minister at Constantinople, did no more than slightly tap them, coursing about as much injury as a boy's sling. It was perfect in its accuracy of fire. Ten times in succession I struck the tops of their heads between the ears. One old fellow, with the look of a sage, was tapped close to the right ear by one of these bullets. Instead of submerging himself as others had done, he coolly turned round his head as if to ask why this waste of valuable cartridges on us. The response to the mute inquiry of his sage-ship was an ounce and a quarter bullet from the smoothbore, which made him bellow with pain, and in a few moments he rose up again, tumbling in his death-agonies. As his groans were so piteous, I refrained from a useless sacrifice of life and left the amphibious horde in peace. A little knowledge concerning these uncouth inmates of the African waters was gained even during the few minutes we were delayed at the ferry. When understood by foreign sounds they congregate in shallow water on the sandbars with the fore half of their bodies exposed to the warm sunshine. When thus somnolently reposing very like a herd of enormous swine when started by the noise of an intruder they plunge hastily into the depths lashing the waters into a yellowish foam and scatter themselves below the surface when presently the heads of a few reappear snorting the water from their nostrils to take a fresh breath and a cautious scrutiny around them. When thus we see but their ears, forehead, eyes and nostrils and as they hastily submerge again it requires a steady wrist and a quick hand to shoot them. I have heard several comparisons made of their appearance while floating in this manner. Some Arabs told me before I had seen them that they looked like dead trees carried down the river. Others, who in some country had seen hogs thought that they resembled them. But to my mind they looked more like horses when swimming their curved necks and pointed ears their wide eyes and expanded nostrils favour greatly this comparison. At night they seek the shore and wander several miles over the country luxuriating among its rank grasses to within four miles of the town of Agamoyo. The Kingani is eight miles distance. Their wide tracks are seen. Frequently if not disturbed by the startling human voice they make a raid on the rich corn stalks of the native cultivators and a dozen of them will in a few minutes make a frightful havoc in a large field of this plant. Consequently you are not surprised while delayed at the ferry to hear the owners of the corn venting loud hallows like the rosy cheeked farmer boys in England when scaring the crows away from the young wheat. The caravan in the meanwhile had crossed safely veils, baggage, donkeys and men. I had thought to have camped on the bank so as to amuse myself with shooting antelope and also for the sake of procuring their meat in order to save my goats of which I had a number constituting my livestock or provisions. But thanks to the ore and dread which my men entertained of the hippopotamia I was hurried on to the outpost of the Beluche garrison at Bagamoyo a small village called Kikoka. Distant four miles from the river. The western side of the river was a considerable improvement upon the eastern. The plain slowly heaving upwards as smoothly as the beach of a watering place for the distance of a mile until it culminated in a gentle and round ridge presented none of those difficulties which troubled us on the other side. There were none of those cataclysms of mire and sloughs of black mud and over tall grasses none of that my asthmatic jungle with its noxious emissions. It was just such a scene as one may find before an English mansion a noble expanse of lawn and sword with Boscage sufficient to arguably diversify it. After traversing the open plain the road led through a grove of young ebony trees where guinea fowls and a hot beast were seen. It then wound with all the characteristic eccentric curves of a goat path up and down a succession of land waves crested by the dark green foliage of the mango and the scantier and light coloured leaves of the enormous Calabash. The depressions were filled with jungle of more or less density while here and there opened glades shadowed even during noon by thin groves of towering trees. A tower approach fled in terror flocks of green pigeons, jays, ibis, turtle doves, golden pheasants, quails and mohens with crows and hawks while now and then a solitary pelican winged its way to the distance. Nor was this enlivening prospect without its pairs of antelope and monkeys which hopped away like Australian kangaroos. These latter were of good size with round bullet heads, white breasts and long tails tufted at the end. We arrived Icocca by 5pm having loaded and unloaded our pack animals four times crossing one deep puddle, a sluice and a river and performed a journey of 11 miles. The settlement of Icocca is a collection of straw huts not built after any architectural style but after a bastard form invented by indolent settlers from the Marimra and Zanzibar for the purpose of excluding as much sunshine as possible from the eaves and interior. A sluice and some wells provide them with water though sweet is not particularly wholesome or appetizing owing to the large quantities of decayed matter which is washed into it by the rains and is then left to corrupt in it. A weak effort has been made to clear the neighbourhood for providing a place for cultivation but to the dire task of wood chopping and jungle clearing the settlers prefer occupying an open glade which they clear of grass so as to be able to get two or three inches of soil into which they cast their seed confident of return. The next day was a halt at Icocca the fourth caravan consisting solely of Wamyamwezi proving a sore obstacle to a rapid advance. Maganga, its chief devised several methods of exhorting more cloth and presents from me he having cost already more than any three chiefs together but his efforts were of no avail further than obtaining promises of reward if he would hurry on to Arne and Embi so that I might find my road clear. On the twenty-seven the Wanyamwezi having started we broke camps soon after at seven a.m. The country was of the same nature as that line between the King Arne and Icocca parkland attractive and beautiful in every feature. I rode in advance to secure meet should a chance present itself but not the shadow avert or venison did I see. Ever in our front westerly rolled the land waves now rising now subsiding parallel one with the other like a plowed field many times magnified. Each ridge had its knot of jungle or its thin combing heavily foliageed trees until we arrived close to Rosarco our next halting place when the monotonous waiver of the land underwent a change breaking into independent hammocks clad to a dense jungle. On one of these veiled by an impenetrable jungle of thorny acacia rested Rosarco girt round by its natural fortification neighbouring another village to the north of it similarly protected between them sank a valley extremely fertile and bountiful in its productions bisected by a small stream which serves as a drain to the valley or low hills surrounding it. Rosarco is the frontier village of Icqua while Icarro is the north westerly extremity of Yuzaramo we entered this village and occupied its central portion with our tents and animals a kitanda or square light bedstead without valance fringe or any superfluity whatever but nevertheless quite as comfortable as with them was brought to my tent for my use by the village chief the animals were immediately after being unloaded driven out to feed and the soldiers to a man set to work to pile the baggage up lest the rain which during the Maseca season appears imminent might cause irreparable damage among other experiments which I was about to try in Africa was that of a good watchdog on an unmanly people who would insist upon coming into my tent at untimely hours and endangering valuables especially did I wish to try the effect of its bark on the mighty Wagogo who I was told by certain Arabs would lift the door of the tent and enter whether you wished them or not who would chuckle at the fear they inspired and say to you hi hi white man I never saw the like of you before are them any more like you where do you come from also would they take hold of your watch and ask you with a cheerful curiosity what is this for white man to which of course you would reply that it was to tell you the hour and the minute but the Magogo and more unmanly than a brute would answer you with a snort of insult I thought of a watchdog and procured a good one at Bombay not only as a faithful companion but to threaten the heels of just such gentry but soon after our arrival at Rossoco it was found that the dog whose name was Omar given him from his Turkish origin was missing he had strayed away from the soldiers during a rain school and had got lost I dispatched Mabruk High Burton back to Kokoka to search for him on the following morning just as we were about to leave Rossoco the faithful fellow returned with the lost dog having found him at Kokoka End of Chapter 5 Part 1 Chapter 5 Part 2 of How I Found a Livingston This is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Lizzie Driver How I Found a Livingston travels, adventures and discoveries in Central Africa including four months residence with Dr. Livingston by Sir Henry M. Stanley Chapter 5 Part 2 Through Uquair, Uqami and Udoi I found a livingston Uqami and Udoi to Yuskua Previous to our departure on the morning after this Maganga, Chief of the Fourth Caravan brought me the unhappy report that three of his Pagasis were sick and he would like to have some doa medicine though not a doctor or in any way connected with the profession I had a well supplied medicine chest without which no traveller could live for just such a contingency as was now present On visiting Maganga's sick men I found one suffering from inflammation of the lungs another from the mcungaroo African intermittent they all imagined themselves about to die and called loudly for mama mama though they were all grown men It was evident that the fourth caravan could not stir that day so leaving word of Maganga to hurry after me as soon as possible I issued orders from the march of my own accepting in the neighbourhood of the villages which we have passed there were no traces of cultivation the country extending between the several stations is as much a wilderness as the desert of Sahara though it possesses a far more pleasing aspect Indeed had the first man at the time of the creation gazed at his world and perceived of the beauty which belongs to this part of Africa he would have had no cause of complaint In the deep thickets set like islets amid the sea of grassy verdure he would have found shelter from the noonday heat and a safe retirement for himself and spouse during the awesome darkness In the morning he could have walked forth on the sloping swad enjoyed its freshness and performed his appulations in one of the many small streams flowing at its foot his garden of fruit trees is all that is required the noble forests deep and cool are round about him they did their shade walk as many animals as one could desire the days and days let a man walk in any direction north, south, east and west and he will behold the same scenes earnestly as I wish to hurry on to Yunnan Embi still a heartfelt anxiety about the rival of my goods carried by the fourth caravan served as a drag upon me and before my caravan had marched nine miles my anxiety had risen to the highest pitch and caused me to order a camp there and then the place selected for it was near a long struggling sluice having an abundance of water during the rainy season training as it does, two extensive slopes no sooner had we pitched our camp built a boomer of thorny acacia and other tree branches by stacking them round our camp and driven our animals to grass then we were made aware of the formidable number and variety of the insect tribe which for a time was another source of anxiety until a diligent examination of the several species dispelled it as it was the most interesting hunt which I instituted for the several specimens of the insects I here append the record of it for what it is worth my object in obtaining these specimens was to determine whether the genus Glossina morcitans of the naturalist or the tetsi sometimes called tetsi of looming stone far-den and gumming said to be deadly to horses amongst them up to this date I had been nearly two months in East Africa and had yet to see no tetsi and my horses instead of becoming emaciated for such as one of the symptoms of the tetsi bite had considerably improved in condition there were three different species of flies which sought shelter in my tent which, unitedly kept up a continual chorus of sounds one performed the basso profondo another a tenor and the third a weak contralto the first emanated from a ferocious and fierce fly an inch long having a ventral capacity for blood quite astonishing this larger fly was the one chosen for the first inspection which was of the intensist I permitted one to alight on my flannel pyjamas which I wore in Dasha Beale in camp no sooner had he alighted than his posterior was raised his head lowered and his weapons, consisting of four hairlike styles unsheathed from the probiscous like bag which concealed them and immediately I felt pain like that caused by his dexterous lancet cut or the probe of a fine needle I permitted him to gorge himself though my patience and naturalistic interest was sorely tried I saw his abdominal parts distend with the plentitude of the repast until it had swollen to three times its former shrunken girth when he flew away of his own accord laden with blood unrolling up my flannel pyjamas to see the fountain once the fly had drawn the fluid I discovered it to be little above the left knee by a crimson bead resting over the insertion after wiping the blood the wound was similar to that caused by a deep thrust of a fine needle but all pain vanished with the departure of the fly having caught a specimen of this fly I next proceeded to institute a comparison between it and the tetsi as described by Dr. Livingston on page 56 to 57 Missionary travels and researches in South Africa Murray's edition of 1868 The points of disagreement are many and such is to make it entirely improbable that this fly is a true tetsi though my men unanimously stated that its bite was fatal to horses as well as to donkeys a descriptive abstract of the tetsi would read thus not much larger than a common housefly nearly of the same brown color as the honeybee after part of the body has yellowed the tetsi after part of the body has yellowed bars across it it has a peculiar buzz and its bite is death to the horse, ox and dog on man the bite has no effect neither has it on wild animals when allowed to feed on the hand it inserts the middle prong of three portions into which the probiscous divides it then draws the prong out a little way and it assumes a crimson color as the mandibles come into brisk operation a slight itching irritation follows the bite the fly which I had under inspection is called mabunga by the natives it is much larger than the common housefly bully a third larger than the common honeybee and its color more distinctly marked its head is black with a greenish gloss to it the outer part of the body is marked by a white line running lengthwise from its junction with the trunk and on each side of this white line are two other lines one of a crimson color the other of a light brown as for its buzz there is no peculiarity in it it might be mistaken for that of a honeybee when caught it made desperate efforts to get away but never attempted to bite this fly along with a score of others attacked my grey horse and bit it so sorely in the legs that they appeared as if bathed in blood hence I might have been a little vengeful if with more than the zeal of an entomologist I caused it to disclose whatever peculiarities its biting parts possessed in order to bring this fly as lifelike as possible before my readers I may compare its head to most tiny miniature of an elephants because it had a black probiscous and a pair of horny antenna which in color and curve resembled tusks the black probiscous however there simply a hollow sheath which encloses when not in the act of biting four reddish and sharp lancets under the microscope these four lancets differ in thickness two are very thick the third is slender but the fourth of an opal color and almost transparent is exceedingly fine this last must be the sucker when the fly is about to wound the two horny antenna are made to embrace the part the lancets are unsheathed and in an instant the incision is performed this I consider to be the African horse fly the second fly which sang the tenor notes more nearly resembled in size and description the tetsy it was exceedingly nimble and it occupied three soldiers nearly an hour to capture a specimen and when it was finally caught it stung most ravenously the hand and never ceased its efforts to attack until it was pinned through it had three or four white marks across the after part of its body but the biting parts of this fly consisted of two black antenna and an opal colored style which folded away under the neck when about to bite this style was shot out straight and the antenna embraced it closely after death the fly lost its distinctive white marks only one of this species did we see at the camp the third fly called chafwa pitched a weak alto crescendo note was a third larger than the house fly and had long wings if this insect sang the feeblest note it certainly did the most work and inflicted the most injury horses and donkeys streamed with blood and reared and kicked through the pain so determined was it not to be driven before it obtained its fill that it was easily dispatched but this dreadful enemy to cattle constantly increased in numbers the three species above named are according to natives fatal to cattle and this may perhaps be the reason why such a vast expanse of first class pasture not domestic cattle of any kind a few goats only being kept by the villagers this fly have subsequently found to be the tetsi on the second morning instead of proceeding I deemed it more prudent to await the fourth caravan Burton experimented sufficiently for me on the promised word of the banyans of Kaoli and Zanzibar and waited eleven months before he received the articles as I did not expect me much over that time on my errand altogether it would be ruin absolute and irredeemable should I be detained at Linyun Yenbi so long a time by my caravan pending its arrival I sought the pleasures of the chase I was but a tire in hunting I confess though I had shot a little on the plains of America and Persia yet I considered myself a fair shot and on game ground and within a reasonable proximity to game I doubted not but I could bring some to camp after a march of a mile through the tall grass of the open we gained the glades between the jungles unsuccessful here after ever so much replying into fine hiding places and lurking corners I struck a trail well traversed by small antelope and herd beast which we followed it led me into a jungle and down a water course by secting it but after following it for an hour I lost it and in endeavouring to retrace it lost my way however my pocket compass stood me in good stead and by it I steered for the open plain in the centre of which stood the camp but it was terribly hard work this a plunging through an African jungle ruinous to clothes and trying to the cuticle in order to travel quickly I had donned a pair of flannel pyjamas and my feet were encased in canvas shoes as might be expected before I had gone a few paces a branch of the acacia horida only one of a hundred such annoyances caught the right leg of my pyjamas at the knee and ripped it almost clean off succeeding which a stumpy coal quail caught me by the shoulder and another rip was the inevitable consequence and a few yards further on a prickly aloetic plant disfigured by a wide tear the other leg of my pyjamas and almost immediately I tripped against a convolvulus strong as rattling and was made to measure my length on a bed of thorns it was an all fours like a hound on a scent that I was compelled to travel my solar topi getting the worst for wear every minute my skin getting more and more wounded my clothes at each stage becoming more and more tattered besides these discomforts there was a pungent acrid plant which apart from its strong odorous emissions, struck me smartly on the face leaving a burning effect similar to cayenne and the atmosphere pent in by the density of the jungle was hot and stifling and the perspiration transuded through every pore making my flannel tatters feel as if I had been through a shower when I had finally regained the plane and could breathe free I mentally vowed that the penetralia of an African jungle should not be visited by me again save and a most urgent necessity the second and third day passed without any news of my ganger accordingly sure and bombay was sent to hurry him up by all means on the fourth morning sure and bombay returned followed by the procrastinating maganga and his laggard people questions only elicited an excuse that his men had been too sick and he had feared to tax their strength before they were quite equal to stand the fatigue moreover he suggested that as they would be compelled to stay one more day at the camp I might push onto kingaroo there until his arrival acting upon which suggestion I broke camp and started for kingaroo distant five miles on this march the land was more broken and the caravan first encountered jungle which gave considerable trouble to our cart pistolitic limestone cropped out in boulders and sheets and we began to imagine ourselves approaching healthy highlands it was safe to give confirmation to the thought to the north and northwest loomed the purple cones of yudoi and topmost of all dilemma peak about 1500 feet in height above the sea level but soon after sinking into a bowl like valley green with tall corn the road slightly deviated from northwest to west the country still rolling before us in wavy undulations in one of the depressions between these lengthy landswells stood the village of kingaroo with surroundings sufficient in their aspect of agieu and fever perhaps the clouds surcharged with rain and the overhanging ridges and their dense forests doled by the gloom made the place more than usually disagreeable but my first impressions of the sodden hollow pent in by those dull woods with the deep gully close by containing pools of stagnant water were by no means agreeable before we could arrange our camp and set the tents up downpour to the furious harbinger of the masaki season in torrents sufficient to damp the agieu and new-born love for East Africa I had lately manifested however despite rain we worked on until our camp was finished and the property was safely stored from weather and thieves and we could regard with resignation the raindrops beating the soil into mud of a very tenacious kind and forming latelets and rivers of our camping-ground towards night the scene herring reached is acme of unpleasantness the rain ceased and the natives poured into camp from the villages in the woods with their vendables formersed amongst these as if in juju-bound came the village sultan lord, chief or head thereing three measures of matema and half a measure of rice of which he begged with paternal smiles my acceptance but under his smiling mask, bleary eyes and wrinkled front was the visible soul of trickery which was of the cunningest kind responding under the same mask adopted in this navish elder I said the chief of kingaroo has called me a rich sultan if I am a rich sultan why comes not the chief with a rich present to me that you might get a rich return said he with another layer of his wrinkled visage kingaroo is poor there is no matema in the village to which I replied that since there was no matema in the village I would pay him half a shacker or a yard of cloth which would be exactly equivalent to his present that if he preferred to call his small basket full of present I should be content to call my yard of cloth the present with which logic he was feigned to be satisfied April 1st today the expedition suffered a loss in the death of the grey Arab horse presented by Syed Bergasha sultan of Zanzibar the night previous I had noticed that the horse was suffering bearing in mind what has been so frequently asserted namely that no horses could live in the interior of Africa because of the tetsi I had him opened and the stomach which I believed to be diseased examined besides much undigested matema and grass there were found 25 short thick white worms sticking like leeches into the coating of the stomach while the intestines were almost alive with the number of long white worms I was satisfied that neither man nor beast could long exist with such a mass of corrupting life within him in order that the dead carcass might not taint the valley I had it buried deep in the ground about a score of yards from the encampment from such a slight cause ensued a tremendous uproar from Kingeru chief of the village who, with his brother chiefs of the neighbouring villages numbering in the aggregate two dozen wattle-tuts had taken council upon the best means of marketing the misungu of a full dottai or two of Merakani and finally had arrived at the conviction that the act of burying a dead horse in their soil without bio-leafsir was a grievous and finable fault affecting great indignation at the unpardonable omission he, Kingeru, concluded to send the misungu four of his young men to say to him that since you have buried your horse in my ground it is well, let you remain there but you must pay me two dottai or Merakani for reply the messengers were told to say to the chief that I would prefer talking the matter over with himself face to face if he would condescend to visit me in my tent once again the village was but a stone's throw from our encampment before many minutes had elapsed the wrinkled elder made his appearance at the door of my tent with about half the village behind him the following dialogue which took place will serve to illustrate the tempers of the people with whom I was about to have a years trading intercourse white man, are you the great chief of the Kingeru? Kingeru aha, yes white man, how many soldiers have you? Kingeru why? white man, how many fighting men have you? Kingeru none white man oh, I thought you might have a thousand men with you but you're going to find a strong white man who has plenty of guns and soldiers two dottai for burying your horse and you're going to find a strong white man who has plenty of guns and soldiers two dottai for burying a dead horse Kingeru, rather perplexed no, I have no soldiers, I have only a few young men white man why do you come and make trouble then? Kingeru it was not I, it was my brothers who said to me come here, come here Kingeru, see what the white man has done he has not taken possession of your soil put his horse into your ground without your permission come, go to him and see by what right therefore have I come to ask you who gave you permission to use my soil for a burying ground white man I want no man's permission to do what is right my horse died had I left him to fester and stink in your valley sickness would visit your village your water would become unwholesome and caravans would not stop here for trade for they would say, this is an unlucky spot, let us go away but enough said I understand you to say that you do not want him buried in your ground the error I have fallen into is easily put right this minute my soldiers shall dig him out again and cover up the soil as it was before and the horse shall be left where he died then shouting to Bombay oh Bombay, take soldiers with jambas to dig my horse out of the ground drag him to where he died and make everything ready for a march tomorrow morning Kingaroo, his voice considerably higher and his head moving to and fro with emotion, cries out Aquana, Aquana, Bana no, no master let not the white man get angry the horse is dead and now lies buried let him remain so since he is already there and let us be friends again the wake of Kingaroo being thus brought to his senses we bid each other the friendly quarry and I was left alone to ruminate over my loss barely half an hour had elapsed, it was 9pm the camp was in a semi-dose when I heard deep groans issuing from one of the animals upon inquiries to what animal suffering I was surprised to hear that it was my bay horse with the bull's eye lantern I visited him and perceived that the pain was located in the stomach but whether it was from some poisonous plant he had eaten while out grazing or from some equine disease I did not know he discharged copious quantities of loose matter but there was nothing peculiar in its colour the pain was evidently very great for his struggles were very violent I was up all night hoping that it was but a temporary effect on some strange and noxious plant but at 6 o'clock the next morning after a short period of great agony he also died exactly 15 hours after his companion when the stomach was opened it was found that death was caused by the internal rupture of a large cancer which had affected the larger half of the coating of his stomach and had extended an inch or two up the larynx the contents of the stomach and intestines were deluged with the yellow viscous efflux from the cancer I was thus deprived of both my horses and that within the short space of 15 hours with my limited knowledge of veterinary science however strengthened by the actual and positive proofs obtained by the dissection of the two stomachs I can scarcely state that horses can live to reach Unern yambi or that they can travel with ease through this part of East Africa but should I have occasion at some future day I should not hesitate to take four horses with me though I should certainly endeavour to ascertain previous to purchase whether they were perfectly sound and healthy and to those travellers who cherish a good horse I would say try one and be not discouraged by my unfortunate experiences End of Chapter 5 Part 2 Chapter 5 Part 3 of How I Found Livingston This is the LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Lizzie Driver How I Found Livingston travels, adventures and discoveries in Central Africa including four months residence with Dr. Livingston by Sir Henry M. Stanley Chapter 5 Part 3 Through Uquare, Uqami and Udoi to Yusugoa The first, second and third of April passed and nothing had we heard or seen of the ever-lagging fourth caravan In the meanwhile the list of casualties was being augmented Besides the loss of this precious time through the perverseness of the chief of the other caravan and the loss of my two horses a baghazi carrying boat fixtures improved the opportunity and deserted Selim was struck down with a severe attack of agieu and fever and was soon after followed by the cook then by the assistant cook Ann Taylor Abdul Qaeda Finally before the third day was over Bombay head rheumatism Oledi, grand sold valet had a swollen throat Zaidi had the flux had the makanguru Kamezi, a baghazi, suffered from a weakness of the loins Fajala had a billious fever and before night closed Makaviga was very ill Out of a force of twenty-five men one had deserted and ten were on the sick list and the presentment that the ill-looking neighbourhood of Kinguuru would prove calamitous to me was verified On the fourth of April Maganga and his people appeared after being heralded by musketry shots and horn-blowing the usual signs of an approaching caravan in this land His six men were considerably improved but they required one more day of rest at Kinguuru In the afternoon he came to lay siege to my generosity by giving details of sore haji palu's heartless cheats upon him but I informed him that since I had left Bagamoyo I could no longer be generous We were now in a land where cloth was at a high premium that I had no more cloth than I should need to furnish food for myself and men that he and his caravan had cost me more money and trouble than any three caravans I had as indeed was the case With this counter-statement he was obliged to be content but I again solved his pecuniary doubts by promising that if he hurried his caravan on to Unyan Yenbi he should have no more cause of complaint The fifth of April saw the fourth caravan vanish for once in our front with a fair promise that, however fast we should follow we should not see them on the hither side of Sinbamweni The following morning in order to rouse my people from the sickened torpitude they had lapsed into I beat an exhilarating alarm on a tin pan with an iron ladle intimating that a safari was about to be undertaken This had a very good effect judging from the extraordinary alacrity with which it was responded to Before the sun rose we started The kingaroo villages were out with the velocity of hawks for any rags or refuse left behind us The long march to Imbaki, fifteen miles proved that our protracted state kingaroo had completely demoralized my soldiers and pagazes Only a few of them had strength enough to reach Imbaki before night The others, attending the laden donkeys put in an appearance next morning in a lamentable state of mind and body Kamezi, the pagazi with the weak loins had deserted, taking with him two goats the property tent and the whole of Uledai's personal wealth consisting of his visiting dish dache a long shirt of the Arabic pattern ten pounds of beads and a few fine cloths which Uledai in a generous fit had entrusted to him while he carried the pagazi's load seventy pounds of booboo beads This defalcation was not to be overlooked nor should Kamezi be permitted to return without an effort to apprehend him Accordingly Uledai and Faraji were dispatched in pursuit while we rested at Imbaki in order to give the dilapidated soldiers and animals time to recruit On the eighth we continued our journey and arrived at Masua This march will be remembered by our caravan as the most fatiguing of all though the distance was but ten miles It was one continuous jungle except three interjacent glades of narrow limits which gave us three breathing pauses in the dire task of jungle travelling The odour emitted from its fell plants was so rank so punditly acrid and the miasma from its decayed vegetation so dense that I expected every moment to see myself and men drop down in paroxysms of acute fever Happily this evil was not added to that of loading and unloading the frequently falling packs Seven soldiers to attend seventeen laden donkeys was entirely too small a number while passing through a jungle For while the path is but a foot wide with a wall of thorny plants and creepers bristling on each side and projecting branches darting across it with knots of spiky twigs stiff as spike nails ready to catch and hold anything above four feet in height It is but reasonable to suppose that donkey standing four feet high with loads measuring across from bale to bale four feet would come to grief This grief was a frequency occurrence here causing us to pause every few minutes for rearrangements So often had this task to be performed that the men got perfectly discouraged and had to be spoken too sharply before they set to work By the time I reached Musua there was nobody with me and the ten donkeys I drove but Mabruk the little Who, though generally stolid, stood to his work like a man Bombay and Uledai were far behind with the most jaded donkeys Shaw was in charge of the cart and his experiences were most bitter As he informed me he had expanded a whole vocabulary of stormy abuse known to sailors and a new one which he had invented ex tempore He did not arrive until two o'clock next morning and was completely worn out Another halt was fixed at Musawa that we and our animals might recuperate The chief of the village, a white man in everything but colour sent me in mind the fattest broad-tailed sheep of his flock with five measures of Matatma grain The mutton was excellent, unapproachable For his timely and needful present I gave him two Dottai and amused him with an exhibition of the wonderful mechanism of the Winchester rifle and my breech-loading revolvers He and his people were intelligent enough to comprehend the utility of these weapons at an emergency and illustrated in expressive pantomime the powers they possessed against numbers of people armed only with spears and bows by extending their arms with an imaginary gun and describing a clear circle Verily, said they, there was Tsungu a far wiser than the Wushenzi What heads they have, what wonderful things they make Look at their tents, their guns, their timepieces, their clothes and that sizzle-rolling thing, the cart, which carries more than five men Key On the tenth, recovered from the excesses strain of the last march the caravan marched out of the Musua accompanied by the hospitable villages as far as their stake defence Receiving the unanimous Quaharis Outside the village the march promised to be less arduous than between Imbaki and Musawa After crossing a beautiful little plain interceded by a dry gully or mutton eye the route led by a few cultivated fields where the tillers greeted us with one grand unwinking stare as if fascinated Soon after we met one of those sites common in part of the world to wit a chain slave-gang bound east The slaves did not appear to be in any way down-hearted On the contrary, they seemed imbued with the philosophic jolility of the jolly servant of Martin Chuzzlewit Were it not for their chains it would have been difficult to discover master from slave The physiognomic traits were alike the mild benignity with which we regarded was equally visible on all faces The chains were ponderous they might have held elephants captive but as the slaves carried nothing but themselves their weight could not have been insupportable The jungle was scant on this march and though in some places the packs met with accidents they were not such as seriously to retard the progress By ten a.m. we were in camp in the midst of an imposing view of green sword and forest domed by a cloudless sky We had again pitched our camp in the wilderness and, as is the custom of caravans fired two shots to warn any Wachenzie having grain to sell that we were willing to trade Our next halting-place was Kizamo distant but eleven miles from Osawa a village situated in a populous district having in its vicinity no less than five other villages each fortified by stakes and thornier bettis with as much fierce independence as if their petty lords were so many persees and douglases each topped a ridge or a low hummock with an assumption of its own defiance of the cock on its own dung-hill type Between these humble eminences and low ridges of land wind-narrow veils which are favoured with the cultivation of matema and indian corn Behind the village flows the Ungarengari River an impetuous stream during the Maseka season capable of overflowing its steep banks but in the dry season it subsides into its proper status which is that of a small stream of very clear, sweet water its course from Kizamo is south-west then easterly it is the main feeder of the Kingani River The burls of Kizamo are noted for their vanity and brass wire which is wound in spiral rings round their wrists and ankles and the varieties of style which their hispid heads exhibit while their poor lords, obliged to be contented with dingy torn clouds and split ears shows what wide sway Asmodeus holds over this terrestrial sphere for it must have been an unhappy time when the harsh besieged husbands finally give way before their spouses besides these brassy ornaments on their extremities and the various hairdressing styles the women of Kizamo frequently wear lengthy necklaces which run in rivers of colours down their bodies A more comical picture is seldom presented than that of one of these highly dressed females engaged in the homely and necessary task of grinding corn for herself and family The grinding apparatus consists of two portions one a thick pole of hardwood about six feet long answering for a pestle the other a capacious wooden mortar three feet in height While engaged in setting his tent Shaw was obliged to move a small flat stone to drive a peg into the ground The village chief who saw him do it rushed up in a breathless fashion and replaced the stone instantly then stood on it in an impressive manner Indicative of the great importance attached to that stone in location Bombay, seeing Shaw standing in silent wonder at the act volunteered to ask the chief what was the matter This shake solemnly answered with a finger pointing downwards a ganger whereupon I implored him to let me see what was under the stone with the graciousness quite affecting he complied My curiosity was gratified with the sight of a small whittled stick which pinned fast to the ground an insect the cause of a miscarriage to a young female of the village During the afternoon a lead-eye and ferragi who had been dispatched after the truant Kameezy returned with him and all the missing articles Kameezy soon after leaving the road and plunging into the jungle where he was mentally trumping in his booty was met by some of the plundering Wachenzie who were always on the quivive for stragglers and unceremoniously taken to their village in the woods and bound to a tree preparatory to being killed Kameezy said that he had asked them why they tied him up to which they answered that they were about to kill him because he was a Magwana whom they were accustomed to kill as soon as they were caught but a lead-eye and ferragi, shortly after coming upon the scene both well armed put an end to the debates upon Kameezy's fate by claiming him as an absconding Pagasi from the Musongu's camp as well as all the articles he possessed at the time of capture The robbers did not dispute the claim for the Pagasi, goats, tent or any other valuable found with him but intimated that they deserved a reward for apprehending him the demand being considered just a reward to the extent of two dotai and a fundo or ten necklaces of beads was given Kameezy, for his desertion and attempted robbery could not be pardoned without first suffering punishment He had asked at Bagamoio before enlisting in my service an advance of five dollars in money and had received it a load of boo-boo beads no heavier than a Pagasi's load had been given him to carry He had therefore no excuse for desertion lest I should overstep prudence, however, in punishing him I convened a court of eight Pagasi's and four soldiers to sit in judgment and asked them to give me their decision as to what should be done Their unanimous verdict was that he was guilty of a crime almost unknown among the Wanyamwezi Pagasi's and as it was likely to give a bad repute to the Wanyamwezi carriers they therefore sentenced him to be flogged with the great master's donkey-whip which was accordingly carried out to poor Kameezy's crying sorrow on the twelfth the caravan reached Masawadi on the Ungarengari River Happily for our patient donkeys this march was free from all the annoying troubles of the jungle Happily for ourselves also for we had no more the care of the Pax and the anxiety about arriving at camp before night The Pax, once put firmly on the backs of our good donkeys they marched into camp, the road being excellent without a single displacement or cause for one impatient word soon after leaving Kizamo a beautiful prospect, glorious in its wild nature fragrant with its numerous flowers and variety of sweetly smelling shrubs among which I recognized the wild sage, the endigoplant, etc terminated only at the foot of Kira Peak and Sister Cones which marked the boundaries between Odoi and Akamee yet distant twenty miles those distant mountains formed a not unfit background this magnificent picture of open plain, forest patches and sloping lawns there was enough of picturesqueness and sublimity in the blue mountains to render it one complete whole suppose a Byron saw some of these scenes he would be inclined to poeticize in this manner Morn dorms and with its stern Odoi's hills dark Uragum's rocks and Kira's peak robed in half a mist redoed with various rills arrayed in many a dune and purple streak when drawing near the valley of the Ungarangiri granite knobs and protubances of dazzling quartz showed their heads above the reddish soil descending the ridge where these rocks were prominent we found ourselves in the sable loam deposit of the Ungarangiri and in the midst of teeming fields of sugarcane and matema indian corn mahogie and gardens of curry, egg and cucumber plants on the banks of the Ungarangiri flourished the banana and overtopping it by seventy feet or more shot up the stately Marupramusai the rival in beauty of the Persian Shana and Abyssian plain its trunk is straight and calmly enough for the main mast of a first-class frigate while its expanding crown of leafage is distinguished from all others by its density and vivid greenness there was a score of varieties of the larger kind of trees whose far-extending branches embraced across the narrow but swift river the depressions of the valley and the immediate neighbourhood of the river were choked with young forests of tiger-grass and stiff reeds Masoodai is situated on a higher elevation than the average level of the village and consequently looks down upon its neighbours which number a hundred and more it is the western extremity of Ukwere on the western bank of the Ungarangiri the territory of the Wakami commences we had to halt one day at Masoodai because the poverty of the people prevented us from procuring the needful amount of grain the cause of this cantiness in such a fertile and populous valley was that the number of caravans which had preceded us had drawn heavily from their stores for the up-marches on the fourteenth we cross the Ungarangiri which here flows southerly to the southern extremity of the valley where it bends easterly as far as Kisimo after crossing the river here ford-bullet all times and only twenty yards in breadth we had another mile of the valley with its excessively moist soil and rank growth of grass it then ascended into a higher elevation and led through a forest of maparamusi tamarind, tamarisk, acacia and the blooming mimosa this ascent was continued for two hours when we stood upon the spine of the largest ridge where we could obtain free views of the wooded plain below and the distant ridges of Kisimo which we had but lately left a descent of a few hundred feet terminated in a deep but dry matonai with a sandy bed on the other side of which we had to regain the elevation we had lost and a similar country opened into view until we found a newly made Boma with well-built huts of grass near a pool of water which we at once occupied as a halting-place for the night the cart gave us considerable trouble not even our strongest donkey though it carried with ease on its back 196 pounds could draw the cart with a load of only 225 pounds weight early on the morning of the fifteenth we broke camp and started for Mikesh by eight thirty a.m. we were ascending the southern face of the Kira peak when we had gained the height of two hundred feet above the level of the surrounding country we were gratified with a magnificent view of a land whose soil knows no Sabbath after travelling the spine of a ridge abutting against the southern slope of Kira we again descended into the little valley of Kewima the first settlement we meet in Udoi where there is always an abundant supply of water two miles west of Kirema is Mikesh on the sixteenth we reached Ulegala after a few hours march Ulegala is the name of a district or a portion of a district lying between the mountains of Uragura which bound it southerly and the mountains of Udoi lying northerly in parallel with them and but ten miles apart the principal part of the basin thus formed is called Ulegala Mahale is the next settlement and here we found ourselves in the territory of Wasegua on this march we were hemmed in by mountains on our left by those of the Uragura on our right by those of Udoa and Usegua a most agreeable and welcome change to us after the long miles of monotonous level we had hitherto seen when tired of looking into the depths of the forest that still ran on either side of the road we had but to look up to the mountain space to note its strange trees its plants and very coloured flowers we had but to raise our heads to vary this pleasant occupation by observing the lengthy and sinuous spine of the mountains and mentally report upon their outline their spurs their projections and ravines their bulging rocks and deep cliffs and above all the dark green woods clothing them from summit to base and when our attention was not required for the mundane task of regard in the donkeys packs or the pace of the cautious stepping Pagazes it was grateful to watch the vapours play about the mountain summits to see them fold into fleecy crowns and fantastic clusters dissolve, gather together into a pool that threatened rain and sail away again before the brightening sun at Mahale was the fourth caravan under Maganga with three more sick men who turned with eager eyes to myself the dispenser of medicine as I approached salvos as small arms greeted me and a present of rice and ears of Indian corn and roasting were awaiting my acceptance but as I told Maganga I would have preferred to hear the tis party were eight or ten marches ahead at this camp also we met Salim bin Rashid bound eastward with a huge caravan carrying three hundred ivory tusks this good Arab besides welcoming the newcomer with a present of rice gave me news of Livingston he had met the old traveller at Ujiji had lived in the next but to him for two weeks described him as looking old with long grey moustaches and beard just recovered from severe illness looking very wan when fully recovered Livingston intended to visit a country called Manyama by word Marungu the valley of the Ungarangiri with Mahale exibits wonderful fertility its crops of Matama were of the tallest and its Indian corn would rival the best crops ever seen in the Arkansas bottoms the numerous mountain-fed streams rendered the great depth of Lone very sloppy in consequence of which several accidents occurred before we reached the camp such as wetting cloth, melduring tea, watering sugar and rusting tools but prompt attention to these necessary things saved us from considerable loss there was a slight difference noticed in the demeanour and bearing of the wasa-gua compared with the Wadoi, Wakami and Wukwere here to foreseen there was none of that civility which we had been until now pleased to note their express desire to barter was accompanied with insolent hints that we ought to take their produce at their own prices if we remonstrated they became angry retorting fiercely in patient of opposition they flew into passion and were glib in threats this strange conduct so opposite to that of the calm and gentle Wukwere may be excellently illustrated by comparing the manner of the hot-headed Greek with that of the cool and collected German necessity compelled us to purchase eatables of them and to the credit of the country and its productions be it said their honey had the peculiar flavour of that of famed Himetis following the latitudinal valley of the Ungarengere within two hours on the following morning we passed close under the wall of the capital of Yusiga Simbamweni the first view of the walled town at the western foot of the Urgaroo Mountains with its fine valley abundantly beautiful watered by two rivers and several pollucid streams of water distilled by the dew and cloud-enriched heights around was one that we did not anticipate to meet in eastern Africa in Missandarin, Persia such a scene would have answered our expectations but here it was totally unexpected the town may contain a population of three thousand having about one thousand houses being so densely crowded perhaps five thousand would more closely approximate the houses in the town are eminently African but of the best type of construction the fortifications are on an Arabic-Persian model combining Arab neatness with Persian plan through a ride of nine hundred fifty miles in Persia I never met a town outside of the great cities better fortified than Simbamweni in Persia the fortifications were of mud even those of Kasfin, Teherain, Isfahan and Shiraz those of Simbamweni are of stone pierced with two rows of loopholes for musketry the area of the town is about half a square mile its plan being quadrangular well-built towers are stone-guard each corner four gates, one facing each cardinal point and set halfway between the several towers permit ingress and egress for its inhabitants the gates are closed with solid square doors made of African teak and carved with the infinitesimally fine and complicated devices of the Arabs from which I suspect that the doors were made either at Zanzibar or on the coast and conveyed to Simbamweni plank by plank yet as there is much communication between Bagamoyo and Simbamweni it is just possible that native artisans are the authors of this ornate worksmanship as several doors chiseled and carved in the same manner though not quite so elaborately were visible in the largest houses the palace of the Sultan is after the style of those on the coast with long sloping roof, wide eaves and veranda in front the Sultana is the eldest daughter of the famous Kisabengo a name infamous throughout the neighbouring countries of Udo'i, Uqami, Uqwer, Kinguuru, Uqwenai and Kinguuruwana for his kidnapping propensities Kisabengo was another Theodore on a small scale sprung from humble ancestry he acquired distinction for his personal strength his powers of harangue and his amusing and versatile address by which he gained great ascendancy over fugitive slaves and was chosen a leader among them fleeing from justice which awaited him at the hands of the Zanzibar Sultan he arrived in Uqami which extended at that time from Uqwer to Yusugara and here he commenced a career of conquest the result of which was a session by the Uqami of an immense tract of fertile country in the valley of the Ungorenguri on its most desirable site with the river flowing close under the walls he built his capital and called it Simbamwenai which means the lion or the strongest city in old age the successful robber and kidnapper changed his name of Kisabengo which gained such notoriety to Simbamwenai after his town and when dying after desiring that his eldest daughter should succeed him he bestowed the name of the town upon her also which name of Simbamwenai the sultana now retains and is known by while crossing a rapid stream which as I said before flowed close to the walls the inhabitants of Simbamwenai had a fine chance of gratifying their curiosity of seeing the great Musungo whose several caravans had preceded him and who unpardonably because unlicensed had spread a report of his great wealth and power I was thus the object of a universal stare at one time on the banks there were considerably over a thousand natives going through the several tenses and moods of the verb to stare or exhibiting every phrase of the substantive viz the stare peremptory insolent, sly, cunning, modest and casual the warriors of the sultana holding in one hand the spear, the bow and sheaf or musket embraced with the other their respective friends like so many models of Nesus and Uralus, Thesius and Pyrethus Daemon and Pythaeus or Achilles and Petroclus to whom they confidently related their diverse opinions upon my dress and colour the words Musungo Kuba had as much charm for these people as the music of the Pied Piper had for the rats of Hamlin since they served to draw from within the walls across their stream so large a portion of the population and when I continued the journey to the Angarengari distant four miles I feared that the Hamlin catastrophe might have to be repeated before I could rid myself of them but fortunately for my peace of mind they finally proved visible under the hot sun and the distance we had to go to the camp as we were obliged to overhaul the luggage and repair saddles as well as to doctor a few of the animals whose backs had by this time become very sore I determined to halt here two days provisions were very plentiful also at Simbamweni though comparatively dear on the second day I was for the first time made aware that my acclimatisation of the agieu brooding swamps of Arkansas was powerless against the mcungaroo of East Africa the premonitory symptoms of the African type were felt in my system at 10 a.m. first general lassitude prevailed with a disposition to drowsiness secondly came the spinal ache which commenced from the loins ascended the vertebrae and extended around the ribs until it reached the shoulders where it settled into a weary pain thirdly came a chilliness over the whole body which was quickly followed by a heavy head swimming eyes and throbbing temples with vague vision which distorted and transformed all objects of sight this lasted until 10 p.m. and the mcungaroo left me much prostrated in strength the remedy applied for three mornings in succession after the attack was such as my experience in Arkansas that the doctor taught me was the most powerful corrective viz. a quantum of 15 grains of quinine taken in three doses of five grains each every other hour from dawn till meridian the first dose to be taken immediately after the first effect of the purging medicine taken at bedtime the night previous I may add that this treatment was perfectly successful in my case and in all others which occurred in my camp the mcungaroo had declared itself there was no fear was such a treatment of it of a second attack until at least some days afterwards on the third day the camp was visited by the ambassadors of her highness the sultana of Simba Mweny who came as her representatives to receive the tribute which she regards herself as powerful enough to enforce but they as well as madame Simba Mweny were informed that as we knew it was their custom to charge owners of caravans but one tribute and as they remembered the mcungoo Farka had paid already it was not fair that I should have to pay again the ambassadors replied with a negemi very well and promised to carry my answer back to their mistress though it was by no means very well in fact as it will be seen in a subsequent chapter how the female Simba Mweny took advantages of an adverse fortune which befell me to pay herself with this I close the chapter of incidence experienced during our transit across the maritime region end of chapter 5 part 3