And Later Still, Mr Leon, Another Missionary,
Heard Of The N'yanza And The Country Amara, Near Which He Heard
The Nile Made Its Escape.
Going on with the march we next came to Ndongo, a perfect garden
of plantains.
The whole country was rich - most surprisingly so.
The same streaky argillaceous sandstones prevailed as in Karague.
There was nothing, in fact, that would not have grown here, if it
liked moisture and a temperate heat. It was a perfect paradise
for negroes: as fast as they sowed they were sure of a crop
without much trouble; though, I must say, they kept their huts
and their gardens in excellent order.
As Maula would stop here, I had to halt also. The whole country
along the banks of the river, and near some impenetrable forests,
was alive with antelopes, principally hartebeests, but I would
not fire at them until it was time to return, as the villagers
led me to expect buffaloes. The consequence was, as no buffaloes
were to be found, I got no sport, though I wounded a hartebeest,
and followed him almost into camp, when I gave up the chase to
some negroes, and amused myself by writing to Rumanika, to say if
Grant did not reach me by a certain date, I would try to navigate
the N'yanza, and return to him in boats up the Kitangule river.
We crossed over a low spur of hill extending from the mountainous
kingdom of Nkole, on our left, towards the N'yanza. Here I was
shown by Nasib a village called Ngandu, which was the farthest
trading depot of the Zanzibar ivory-merchants. It was
established by Musa Mzuri, by the permission of Rumanika; for, as
I shall have presently to mention, Sunna, after annexing this
part of Uddu to Uganda, gave Rumanika certain bands of territory
in it as a means of security against the possibility of its being
wrested out of his hands again by the future kings of Unyoro.
Following on Musa's wake, many Arabs also came here to trade; but
they were so oppressive to the Waganda that they were recalled by
Rumanika, and obliged to locate themselves at Kufro. To the
right, at the end of the spur, stretching as far as the eye could
reach towards the N'yanza, was a rich, well-wooded, swampy plain,
containing large open patches of water, which not many years
since, I was assured, were navigable for miles, but now, like the
Urigi lake, were gradually drying up. indeed, it appeared to me
as if the N'yanza must have once washed the foot of these hills,
but had since shrunk away from its original margin.
On arrival at Ngambezi, I was immensely struck with the neatness
and good arrangement of the place, as well as its excessive
beauty and richness. No part of Bengal or Zanzibar could excel
it in either respect; and my men, with one voice, exclaimed, "Ah,
what people these Waganda are!" and passed other remarks, which
may be abridged as follows:
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