negro chiefs. From the top of the bank bordering on the
valley, a good view was obtainable of the Uraguru bills
and the top of a very distant cone to its northward ; but
I could see no signs of any river joining the TTinga.ni on
its left, though on the former expedition I heard that the
Mtikondokua river, which was met with in Usagara,
joined the Kingani close to Sagdsdra, and actually formed
its largest head branch. Neither could Mr Pit inform me
what became of the Miikondokua, as the Wazaramo are
not given to travelling. He had heard of it from the
traders, but only knew himself of one river beside the
Kingani. It was called Wami in Uzegura, and mouths
at Utondue, between the ports of Whindi and Saadani.
To try and check the desertions of Sultan Majid’s men, I
advised—ordering was of no use—that their camp should
be broken up, and they should be amalgamated with the
Wanguana; but it was found that the two would not mix.
In fact, the whole native camp consisted of so many clubs
of two, four, six, or ten men, who originally belonged to
one village or one master, or were united by some other
family tie which they preferred keeping intact ; so they
cooked together, ate together, slept together, and sometimes
mutinied together. The amalgamation having
failed, I wrote some emancipation tickets, called the Sultan’s
men all up together, selected the best, gave them
these tickets, announced that their pay and all rewards
would be placed for the future on the same conditions
as those of the Wanguana, and as soon as I saw any
signs of improvement in the rest, they would all be
treated in the same manner; but should they desert, they
would find my arm long enough to arrest them on the
coast and put them into prison.
During this march we crossed three deep nullahs which
To Maktitaniro, drain the Uzaramo plateau, and arrived at
the Makutaniro, or junction of this line with
those of Mboamaji and Konduchi, which traverse central
Uzaramo, and which, on my former return journey, I went
down. The gum-copal diggings here cease. The Durn
palm is left behind; the large rich green-leaved trees of
the low plateau give place to the mimosa; and now, having
ascended the greater decline of the Kingani river,
instead of being confined by a bank, we found ourselves on
flat open park-land, where antelopes roam at large, buffalo
and zebra are sometimes met with, and guinea-fowl are
numerous. The water for the camp is found in the river,
but supplies of grain come from the village of Kipora
farther on.
A march through the park took us to a camp by a pond,
ToMatamombo, from which, by crossing the Kingani, rice and
12iA‘ provisions for the men were obtained on the
opposite bank. One can seldom afford to follow wild
animals on the line of march, otherwise we might have
bagged some antelopes to-day, which, scared by the interminable
singing, shouting, bell-jingling, horn-blowing,
and other such merry noises of the moving caravan, could
be seen disappearing in the distance.
Leaving the park, we now entered the richest part of
To Dégs ia Mhora, Uzaramo, affording crops as fine as any part
of India. Here it was, in the district of Dégé
la Mhora, that the first expedition to this country, guided
by a Frenchman, M. Maizan, came to a fatal termination,
that gentleman having been barbarously murdered by
the sub-chief Hembé. The cause of the affair was distinctly
explained to me by Hembé himself, who, with his
cousin Darünga, came to call upon me, presuming, as he
. was not maltreated by the last expedition, that the matter
¡Would now he forgotten. The two men were very great
Ipiends of the little Sheikh, and as a present was expected,
which I should have to pay, we all talked cheerfully and
¡confidentially, bringing in the fate of Maizan for no other
reason than to satisfy curiosity. Hembé, who lives in the
centre of an almost impenetrable thicket, confessed that.