The mimosa; and now, having ascended the greater decline
of the Kingani river, instead of being confined by a bank, we
found ourselves on flat open-park land, where antelopes roam at
large, buffalo and zebra are sometimes met with, and guinea-fowl
are numerous. The water for the camp is found in the river, but
supplies of grain come from the village of Kipora farther on.
A march through the park took us to a camp by a pond, from which,
by crossing the Kingani, rice and provisions for the men were
obtained on the opposite bank. One can seldom afford to follow
wild animals on the line of march, otherwise we might have bagged
some antelopes to-day, which, scared by the interminable singing,
shouting, bell-jingling, horn-blowing, and other such merry
noises of the moving caravan, could be seen disappearing in the
distance.
Leaving the park, we now entered the riches part of Uzaramo,
affording crops as fine as any part of India. Here it was, in
the district of Dege la Mhora, that the first expedition to this
country, guided by a Frenchman, M. Maizan, came to a fatal
termination, that gentleman having been barbarously murdered by
the sub-chief Hembe. The cause of the affair was distinctly
explained to me by Hembe himself, who, with his cousin Darunga,
came to call upon me, presuming, as he was not maltreated by the
last expedition, that the matter would now be forgotten.
