T H E JO U R N E Y F R O M T H E IN D IA N O c j
D a te . Name o f Country. Name o f Station , V illa g e , o r Camj
■ THE VICTORIA NYANZA— continued.
rItance
Tveen.
1874.
December 11
R e m a r k s .
Across a saline plain, to the Tubugwe basin. Water scarce.
/Across several mountain-ridges to Mpwapwa, a settlement
\ near the edge of the Desert of Bitter Water.
'The natives call the water of Chunyu, Marenga Mikali, or
the bitter water, which they have also applied to the
[_ horrible wilderness between Ugogo and Usagara.
fUgogo is an unpleasant land to nearly all travellers. At
each halting-place he niust pay tribute or fight; his weakness
is taken advantage of at each occasion, and many
occasions for mulcting are the creations of unwhipped
insolence. The natives form a powerful and compact
nation, governed by several chiefs. The soil is a sandy
loam in the plains, sterile and ungrateful as a desert.
The land Is a series of plains separated from each other
by rocky hills and thorny jungles. Water is scarce and
bad, mostly to be found in muddy pools, or excavations
during the dry season; in the Masika, water is overabundant.
Cattle are numerous, and milk may be obtained
at exorbitant prices. The cold winds, chilly atmosphere,
feverish feeling, the extortions of the natives,
and their insolence, all combine to render the land of
Ugogo hateful to the eye and bitter to the mind.
fThis wilderness is a trackless wild, untravelled by caravans.
Our guides proving faithless, caused us to lose many
men. Water was. scarce, and lying in pools at considerable
distance apart. During the dry . season this jungly
wilderness i^ almost impenetrable.
(Urimi and Ituru are peopled by immigrants from savagy
Masai. The natives regard all travellers suspiciously,
m and Push the slightest occasions f6r a quarrel to the ex-
Suna • ■ ■ • | ...................... | | treme. Arab traders never visit these countries. Herds
Chiwyu .. .*...................... | 5 0f cattie are numerous, food and water abundant, and
Matongo .............................H 11 IJ cheap. The traveller requires to use his utmost patience,
Mangura ............................. | 7 i anc[ ap precautions, night and day. An unwarranted
Izanjeh................ ................■ 10 I attack on us by the Wanyaturu caused us to lose twenty-one
Vinyata, or Niranga . . | 7 J men in Dne day. The land is a high rolling w o o d ed plateau,
intersected by forest-clad ridges, drained by the tributaries
of the Shimeeyu, the extreme southern source of the Nile.