Having travelled at least twenty miles in search of our party that
day, our rest on a mat in the best hut of the village was very sweet.
We had dined the evening before on a pigeon each, and had eaten only
a handful of kitedzi porridge this afternoon.
The good wife of the
village took a little corn which she had kept for seed, ground it
after dark, and made it into porridge. This, and a cup of wild
vegetables of a sweetish taste for a relish, a little boy brought in
and put down, with several vigorous claps of his hands, in the manner
which is esteemed polite, and which is strictly enjoined on all
children.
On the third day of separation, Akosanjere, the headman of this
village, conducted us forward to our party who had gone on to Nseze,
a district to the westward. This incident is mentioned, not for any
interest it possesses, apart from the idea of the people it conveys.
We were completely separated from our men for nearly three days, and
had nothing wherewith to purchase food. The people were sorely
pressed by famine and war, and their hospitality, poor as it was, did
them great credit, and was most grateful to us. Our own men had
become confused and wandered, but had done their utmost to find us;
on our rejoining them, the ox was slain, and all, having been on
short commons, rejoiced in this "day of slaughter." Akosanjere was,
of course, rewarded to his heart's content.
As we pursued our way, we came close up to a range of mountains, the
most prominent peak of which is called Mvai. This is a great, bare,
rounded block of granite shooting up from the rest of the chain. It
and several other masses of rock are of a light grey colour, with
white patches, as if of lichens; the sides and summits are generally
thinly covered with rather scraggy trees. There are several other
prominent peaks - one, for instance, still further north, called
Chirobve. Each has a name, but we could never ascertain that there
was an appellation which applied to the whole. This fact, and our
wish to commemorate the name of Dr. Kirk, induced us afterwards, when
we could not discover a particular peak mentioned to us formerly as
Molomo-ao-koku, or Cock's-bill, to call the whole chain from the west
of the Cataracts up to the north end of the Lake, "Kirk's Range."
The part we slept at opposite Mvai was named Paudio, and was
evidently a continuation of the district of one of our stations on
the Shire, at which observations for latitude were formerly taken.
Leaving Paudio, we had Kirk's Range close on our left and at least
3000 feet above us, and probably not less than 5000 feet above the
sea. Far to our right extended a long green wooded country rising
gradually up to a ridge, ornamented with several detached mountains,
which bounded the Shire Valley.
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