
CH APTER X X V
SECOND ATTEMPT TO REACH THE FOREST
Renewed start Inland— Niambwd Village— Camp in Bajoni Plantation—
Breaking the “ Charm” —Watiku Agriculture— The Wa-Boni Country—
Watiku Intrigues— Soldier Ants— Mohamed reappears— Forest at
last— Indiarubber Vines— Gleaning Information— Rain and Swamps—
The Dodori River— Disquieting News—An Armed Force— Untrustworthy
Guides-—Fumo Omari—A Retreat decided on— A Caravan
of Indiarubber Collectors#jA Satisfactory Bargain— Illness— Kind
Friends— My Faithful Dumgu— Loyalty of my Porters— Homeward
Bound.
On the morning of June 16 I set out once more on my
second attempt to find the forest.
On leaving'the town, the path plunged at once'into the
surrounding thick bush, our direction being almost due west,
past a small pond or swamp, where the Kionga people get
their water supply, as the well in the town is slightly brackish.
About three miles further on we came to the village of
Niambwe, the intervening country being thick dense bush, in
the undergrowth of which I noticed much guinea-grass.
Counting the one already mentioned, we had passed by four
swamps or pools, shallow circular depressions surrounded by
open grassy spaces, the soil everywhere being a light friable
grey loam with a light chocolate to reddish subsoil, very porous
and free.
Niambwe was a small and evidently a temporary village,
used for cultivation purposes, the walls of the housed being
made of metamah-stalks only, and surrounded by a large area of
cleared land ; apart from the usual bean and other cultivation,
I noticed that each house had a small plot of tobacco.
Leaving this, our way led for the next hour through some
of the thickest bush I had yet seen, the larger trees being also
finer and bigger. Emerging from this, the path lost itself in
what was once cultivation, but now completely covered with a
dense tangle of prickly scrub and creepers, through which it
was necessary to hack our way. From the middle of these
old shambas,- originally cleared and cultivated by the Kionga
people, I obtained a good view of the surrounding country by
climbing a tree ; it appeared to be thickly wooded, with a
KIONGA— PORTERS WAITING FOR THE ORDER TO START.
steep ridge showing up in the distance. Leaving these
shambas, we got into thick bush again, through which we
continued to make slow progress as there was no path.
About one o’clock in the afternoon we suddenly emerged
upon extensive metamah fields, where, on high platforms
placed here and there, slaves were already watching the grain
and protecting it from birds.- On inquiry, it turned out that
these were- the Homwd shambas, and belonged to Mohamed
bin.S’aif. Making our way through the high millet-stalks, we
camped by a. swampy pool-which lay in the middle of the