CHAPTER XV.
THE MARCH TO TETTE.
Manaman, the interpreter—Poor villages—The Bake river—Maranga
Baboons—Incidents of the chase—Sulks—Curing the toothache—
“ Better halves ” and bargains—Daingi—Frightening the water-carriers
A sociable old lady—A piebald Bafflr—Masecha -Occupations of
the people—A remarkable exodus—Unsettled tribes—Can goats live in
the “ fly country ” ?—My condition after eight months’ travel—A useless
shot—Nothing to eat—The Pema mountains—“ Zambesi ! Zambesi
1 Senhor 1 ”—View of the big river—Tette at last—Received by
the governor.
I w il l not attempt to detail to my readers the daily
occurrences of the somewhat tedious march to the river,
although it was not wanting in vicissitudes and trials of
temper.
The interpreter was a young man named Manaman, who
had been brought up in Chibinga, and was constantly with
Senhor Rubero’s children, some of whom could talk a little
Portuguese, consequently he could say a few words, sufficient
to allow a little conversation.
We had lovely weather for the first few days. Game was
sufficiently abundant to enable me to keep the provision
department well stocked. The spoor of a great variety of
wild beasts could be seen in the sandy river beds which
were crossed.
Tsetse fly varied in numbers. Sometimes they were
swarming, at other times few were to be seen.
Leaving the Kafua mountains, which we had viewed from
the Makomwe summit before descending into the wide
valley* to the north, we continued our journey through
lands of forest varying in density. The trees became
larger as we travelled eastward. Numerous small towns
were passed, the inhabitants of which seemed very poor.
Their houses were badly constructed. Nothing seemed to
be abundant save the tsetse and the clouds of blinding
sand. Occasionally herds of antelope and zebra were seen.
Maranga was reached in due time. I t is one of a number
of towns dotted along the banks of the Dake river (altitude
825 feet), which has its source among the Yunga mountains,
and flows to the Zambesi through a deep alluvial soil over-
lying stratified rocks jutting out here and there in the river
bed, and grown over by thorns and stretches of low forest.
When we passed, in the dry season, there was no running
water here.
A short halt was made at Maranga so that I might hunt a
little. With a native of the district as my companion I
wandered through glades of high grass, and down to the
banks of the river among the thorns. Large troupes of
baboons (cynocephalus labuini) were seen disporting themselves
among the high grass and climbing the forest trees.
On the march previously I had shot some of the animals
for the sake of their skins—all unfortunately lost.
As we were in search of game I had no intention of
firing at these beasts, for there is no pleasure in shooting a
baboon or a monkey; but seeing a very large number of
them running beside us within sixty yards, some being very
large, I raised my rifle and took aim at one of the biggest.
At this, my guide seemed beside himself with fright, and
frantically signed to me to desist, f
* The mountain lias a peculiar shape. I t forms a low tableland,
having a gentle slope of about ten miles running down towards the east.
t The man’s anxiety made me think of a little incident which happened