A Man Of Considerable Age, He Did
Everything The State Or His Great Establishment Required Himself.
All the men of his district clapped their hands together as a
courteous salutation to him, and the women curtsied as well as
they do at our court - a proof that they respected him as a great
potentate - a homage rarely bestowed on the chiefs of other small
states.
Ukulima was also hospitable; for on one occasion, when
another chief came to visit him, he received his guest and
retainers with considerable ceremony, making all the men of the
village get up a dance; which they did, beating the drums and
firing off guns, like a lot of black devils let loose.
We were not the only travellers in misfortune here, for Masudi,
with several other Arabs, all formed in one large caravan, had
arrived at Mchimeka's, and could not advance for want of men.
They told me it was the first time they had come on this line,
and they deeply regretted it, for they had lost 5000 dollar's
worth of beads by their porters running away with their loads,
and now they did not know how to proceed. Indeed, they left the
coast and arrived at Kaze immediately in rear of us, and had,
like ourselves, found it as much as they could do even to reach
this, and now they were at a standstill for want of porters.
As all hopes of being able to get any more men were given up, I
called on Bombay and Baraka to make arrangements for my going
ahead with the best of my property as I had devised. They both
shook their heads, and advised me to remain until the times
improved, when the Arabs, being freed from the pressure of war,
would come along and form with us a "sufari ku" or grand march,
as Ukulima and every one else had said we should be torn to
pieces in Usui if we tried to cross that district with so few
men. I then told them again and again of the messages I had sent
on to Rumanika in Karague, and to Suwarora in Usui, and begged
them to listen to me, instancing as an example of what could be
done by perseverance the success of Columbus, who, opposed by his
sailors' misgivings, still when on and triumphed, creating for
himself immortal renown.
They gave way at last; so, after selecting all the best of my
property, I formed camp at Phunze, left Bombay with Grant behind,
as I thought Bombay the best and most honest man I had got, from
his having had so much experience, and then went ahead by myself,
with the Pig as my guide and interpreter, and Baraka as my
factotum. The Waguana then all mutinied for a cloth apiece,
saying they would not lift a load unless I gave it. Of course a
severe contest followed; I said, as I had given them so much
before, they could not want it, and ought to be ashamed of
themselves. They urged, however, they were doing double work,
and would not consent to carry loads as they had done at Mgunda
Mkhali again.
Arguments were useless, for, simply because they were tired of
going on, they WOULD not see that as they were receiving pay
every day, they therefore ought to work every day. However, as
they yielded at last, by some few leaning to my side, I gave what
they asked for, and went to the next village, still inefficient
in men, as all the Pig's Watoto could not be collected together.
This second move brought us into a small village, of which Ghiya,
a young man, was chief.
He was very civil to me, and offered to sell me a most charming
young woman, quite the belle of the country; but as he could not
bring me to terms, he looked over my picture-books with the
greatest delight, and afterwards went into a discourse on
geography with considerable perspicacity; seeming fully to
comprehend that if I got down the Nile it would afterwards result
in making the shores of the N'yanza like that of the coast at
Zanzibar, where the products of his country could be exchanged,
without much difficulty, for cloths, beads, and brass wire. I
gave him a present; then a letter was brought to me from Sheikh
Said, announcing Musa's death, and the fact that Manua Sera was
still holding out at Kigue; in answer to which I desired the
sheikh to send me as many of Musa's slaves as would take service
with me, for they ought now, by the laws of the Koran, to be all
free.
On packing up to leave Ghiya's, all the men of the village shut
the bars of the entrance, wishing to extract some cloths from me,
as I had not given enough, they said, to their chief. They soon,
however, saw that we, being inside their own fort, had the best
of it, and they gave way. We then pushed on to Ungurue's,
another chief of the same district. Here the men and women of
the place came crowding to see me, the fair sex all playfully
offering themselves for wives, and wishing to know which I
admired most. They were so importunate, after a time, that I was
not sorry to hear an attack was made on their cattle because a
man of the village would not pay his dowry-money to his father-
in-law, and this set everybody flying out to the scene of action.
After this, as Bombay brought up the last of my skulking men, I
bade him good-bye again, and made an afternoon-march on to
Takina, in the district of Msalala, which we no sooner approached
than all the inhabitants turned out and fired their arrows at us.
They did no harm, however, excepting to create a slight alarm,
which some neighbouring villagers took advantage of to run of
with two of my cows.
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