Now Leaving The Open Parks Of Pretty Acacias, We Followed Up The
Mgazi Branch Of The Mgeta, Traversed Large Tree-Jungles, Where
The Tall Palm Is Conspicuous, And Drew Up Under The Lumpy
Mkambaku, To Find A Residence For The Day.
Here an Arab
merchant, Khamis, bound for Zanzibar, obliged us by agreeing for
a few dollars to convey our recent spoils in natural history to
the coast.
My plans for the present were to reach Zungomero as soon as
possible, as a few days' halt would be required there to fix the
longitude of the eastern flank of the East Coast Range by
astronomical observation; but on ordering the morning's march,
the porters - too well fed and lazy - thought our marching-rate
much too severe, and resolutely refused to move. They ought to
have made ten miles a-day, but preferred doing five. Argument
was useless, and I was reluctant to apply the stick, as the Arabs
would have done when they saw their porters trifling with their
pockets. Determining, however, not to be frustrated in this
puerile manner, I ordered the bugler to sound the march, and
started with the mules and coast-men, trusting to Sheikh and
Baraka to bring on the Wanyamuezi as soon as they could move
them. The same day we crossed the Mgazi where we found several
Wakhutu spearing fish in the muddy hovers of its banks.
We slept under a tree, and this morning found a comfortable
residence under the eaves of a capacious hut. The Wanyamuezi
porters next came in at their own time, and proved to us how
little worth are orders in a land where every man, in his own
opinion, is a lord, and no laws prevail. Zungomero, bisected by
the Mgeta, lies on flat ground, in a very pretty amphitheatre of
hills, S. lat. 7§ 26' 53", and E. long. 37§ 36' 45". It is
extremely fertile, and very populous, affording everything that
man can wish, even to the cocoa and papwa fruits; but the slave-
trade has almost depopulated it, and turned its once flourishing
gardens into jungles. As I have already said, the people who
possess these lands are cowardly by nature, and that is the
reason why they are so much oppressed. The Wasuahili, taking
advantage of their timidity, flock here in numbers to live upon
the fruits of their labours. The merchants on the coast, too,
though prohibited by their Sultan from interfering with the
natural course of trade, send their hungry slaves, as touters, to
entice all approaching caravans to trade with their particular
ports, authorising the touters to pay such premiums as may be
necessary for the purpose. Where they came from we could not
ascertain; but during our residence, a large party of the
Wasuahili marched past, bound for the coast, with one hundred
head of cattle, fifty slaves in chains, and as many goats. Halts
always end disastrously in Africa, giving men time for mischief;-
-and here was an example of it.
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