How I Found Livingstone, Henry M. Stanley [best fantasy books to read txt] 📗

that he was guilty of a crime almost unknown among the

Wanyamwezi pagazis, and as it was likely to give 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 Khamisi’s crying sorrow.

 

On the 12th the caravan reached Mussoudi, on the Ungerengeri 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 packs and the anxiety about

arriving at camp before night. The packs 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 Kisemo. A beautiful prospect, glorious in

its wild nature, fragrant with its numerous flowers and variety of

sweetly-smelling shrubs, among which I recognised the wild sage,

the indigo plant, &c., terminated only at the foot of Kira Peak

and sister cones, which mark the boundaries between Udoe and Ukami,

yet distant twenty miles. Those distant mountains formed a not

unfit background to 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

poetize in this manner:

 

Morn dawns, and with it stern Udoe’s hills,

Dark Urrugum’s rocks, and Kira’s peak,

Robed half in mist, bedewed with various rills,

Arrayed in many a dun and purple streak.

 

When drawing near the valley of Ungerengeri, granite knobs and

protuberances 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

Ungerengeri, and in the midst of teeming fields of sugar-cane and

matama, Indian corn, muhogo, and gardens of curry, egg, and

cucumber plants. On the banks of the Ungerengeri flourished the

banana, and overtopping it by seventy feet and more, shot up the

stately mparamusi, the rival in beauty of the Persian chenar and

Abyssinian plane. Its trunk is straight and comely enough for the

mainmast of a first, class frigate, while its expanding crown of

leafage is distinguished from all others by its density and vivid

greenness. There were 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.

 

Mussoudi 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 Ungerengeri the territory of

the Wakami commences. We had to halt one day at Mussoudi because

the poverty of the people prevented us from procuring the needful

amount of grain. The cause of this scantiness in such a fertile

and populous valley was, that the numerous caravans which had

preceded us had drawn heavily for their stores for the upmarches.

 

On the 14th we crossed the Ungerengeri, which here flows southerly

to the southern extremity of the valley, where it bends easterly

as far as Kisemo. After crossing the river here, fordable at 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 mparamusi, 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 Kisemo,

which we had but lately left. A descent of a few hundred feet

terminated in a deep but dry mtoni 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 rear 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 lbs., could draw the cart with

a load of only 225 lbs. weight.

 

Early on the morning of the 15th we broke camp and started for

Mikeseh. By 8.30 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

Kiwrima, the first settlement we meet in Udoe, where there is

always an abundant supply of water. Two miles west of Kiwrima is

Mikiseh.

 

On the 16th we reached Ulagalla after a few hours’ march.

Ulagalla is the name of a district, or a portion of a district,

lying between the mountains of Uruguru, which bound it southerly,

and the mountains of Udoe, lying northerly and parallel with them,

and but ten miles apart. The principal part of the basin thus

formed is called Ulagalla.

 

Muhalleh is the next settlement, and here we found ourselves in

the territory of the Waseguhha. On this march we were hemmed in

by mountains—on our left by those of Uruguru, on our right by

those of Udoe and Useguhha—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’s

base, to note its strange trees, its plants and vari-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 clefts, 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 regarding

the donkeys’ packs, or the pace of the cautious-stepping pagazis,

it was gratifying to watch the vapours play about the mountain

summits—to see them fold into fleecy crowns and fantastic clusters,

dissolve, gather together into a pall that threatened rain, and sail

away again before the brightening sun.

 

At Muhalleh 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 of small arms greeted me, and

a present of rice and ears of Indian corn for roasting were awaiting

my acceptance; but, as I told Maganga, I would have preferred to

hear that his 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 new comer with a present of rice, gave me

news of Livingstone. 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

Livingstone intended to visit a country called Manyema by way of

Marungu.

 

The valley of the Ungerengeri with Muhalleh exhibits 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 loam very sloppy, in consequence of which several

accidents occurred before we reached the camp, such as wetting

cloth, mildewing 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 Waseguhha compared with the Wadoe, Wakami, and Wakwere

heretofore seen. There was none of that civility 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, impatient of opposition, they flew into

a passion, and were glib in threats. This strange conduct, so

opposite to that of the calm and gentle Wakwere, 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 Hymettus.

 

Following the latitudinal valley of the Ungerengeri, within two

hours on the following morning we passed close under the wall of

the capital of Useguhha—Simbamwenni. The first view of the

walled town at the western foot of the Uruguru mountains, with its

fine valley abundantly beautiful, watered by two rivers, and

several pellucid 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 Mazanderan, Persia, such a scene

would have answered our expectations, but here it was totally

unexpected. The town may contain a population of 3,000, having

about 1,000 houses; being so densely crowded, perhaps 5,000 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 Persic model—combining Arab neatness with Persian

plan. Through a ride of 950 miles in Persia I never met a town

outside of the great cities better fortified than Simbamwenni.

In Persia the fortifications were of mud, even those of Kasvin,

Teheran, Ispahan, and Shiraz; those of Simbamwenni 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 of stone guard each corner; four gates, one facing

each cardinal point, and set half way 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 Simbamwenni plank by plank;

yet as there is much communication between Bagamoyo and Simbamwenni,

it is just possible that native artisans are the authors of this

ornate workmanship, as several doors chiselled 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 Udoe, Ukami,

Ukwere, Kingaru, Ukwenni, and Kiranga-Wanna, 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 ascendency 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 Ukami, which extended at that time from Ukwere to

Usagara, and here he commenced a career of conquest, the result

of which was the