Next Day We Pushed On A Double March Through The Forest, And
Reached A Nullah.
As it crosses the track in a southerly
direction, this might either be the head of the Kululu mongo
Or
river, which, passing through the district of Kiwele, drains
westward into the Malagarazi river, and thence into the
Tanganyika, or else the most westerly tributary to the Ruaha
river, draining eastward into the sea. The plateau, however, is
apparently so flat here, that nothing b a minute survey, or
rather following the watercourse, could determine the matter.
Then emerging from the wilderness, we came into the open
cultivated district of Tura, or "put down" - called so by the
natives because it was, only a few years ago, the first cleared
space in the wilderness, and served as a good halting-station,
after the normal ten day's march in the jungles, where we had now
been struggling more than a month.
The whole place, once so fertile, was now almost depopulated and
in a sad state of ruin, showing plainly the savage ravages of
war; for the Arabs and their slaves, when they take the field,
think more of plunder and slavery than the object they started
on - each man of the force looking out for himself. The
incentives, too, are so great; - a young woman might be caught
(the greatest treasure of earth), or a boy or a girl, a cow or a
goat - all of the fortunes, of themselves too irresistible to be
overlooked when the future is doubtful. Here Sheikh Said broke
down in health of a complaint which he formerly had suffered
from, and from which I at once saw he would never recover
sufficiently well to be ever effective again. It was a sad
misfortune, as the men had great confidence in him, being the
representative of their Zanzibar government: still it could not
be helped; for, as a sick man is, after all, the greatest
possible impediment to a march, it was better to be rid of him
than have the trouble of dragging him; so I made up my mind, as
soon as we reached Kaze, I would drop him there with the Arabs.
He could not be moved on the 16th, so I marched across the plain
and put up in some villages on its western side. Whilst waiting
for the sheikh's arrival, some villagers at night stole several
loads of beads, and ran off with them; but my men, finding the
theft out in time, hunted them down, and recovered all but one
load - for the thieves had thrown their loads down as soon as they
found they were hotly pursued.
Early this morning I called all the head men of the village
together, and demanded the beads to be restored to me; for, as I
was living with them, they were responsible, according to the
laws of the country. They acknowledged the truth and force of my
demand, and said they would each give me a cow as an earnest,
until their chief, who was absent, arrived.
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