- Now Our Journey Will Be Sure To Be Prosperous."
After Fording The Stream, We Sat Down To Rest, And Were Visited
By All The Inhabitants, Who Were More Naked Than Any People We
Had Yet Seen.
All the maidens, even at the age of puberty, did
not hesitate to stand boldly in front of us - for evil thoughts
were not in their minds.
From this we rose over a stony hill to
the settlement of Vihembe, which, being the last on the Usui
frontier, induced me to give our guides three wires each, and
four yards of bindera, which Nasib said was their proper fee.
Here Bombay's would-be, but disappointed, father-in-law sent
after us to say that he required a hongo; Suwarora had never
given his sanction to our quitting his country; his hongo even
was not settled. He wished, moreover, particularly to see us;
and if we did not return in a friendly manner, an army would
arrest our march immediately.
Chapter VIII
Karague
Relief from Protectors and Pillagers - The Scenery and Geology -
Meeting with the Friendly King Rumanika - His Hospitalities and
Attention - His Services to the Expedition - Philosophical and
Theological Inquiries - The Royal Family of Karague - The M-Fumbiro
Mountain - Navigation of "The Little Windermere" - The New-Moon
Levee - Rhinoceros and Hippopotamus Hunting - Measurement of a
Fattened Queen - Political Polygamy - Christmas - Rumours of
Petherick's Expedition - Arrangements to meet it - March to Uganda.
This was a day of relief and happiness. A load was removed from
us in seeing the Wasui "protectors" depart, with the truly
cheering information that we now had nothing but wild animals to
contend with before reaching Karague. This land is "neutral," by
which is meant that it is untenanted by human beings; and we
might now hope to bid adieu for a time to the scourging system of
taxation to which we had been subjected.
Gradually descending from the spur which separates the Lohugati
valley from the bed of the Lueru lo Urigi, or Lake of Urigi, the
track led us first through a meadow of much pleasing beauty, and
then through a passage between the "saddle-back" domes we had
seen from the heights above Lohugati, where a new geological
formation especially attracted my notice. From the green slopes
of the hills, set up at a slant, as if the central line of
pressure on the dome top had weighed on the inside plates,
protruded soft slabs of argillaceous sandstone, whose laminae
presented a beef-sandwich appearance, puce or purple alternating
with creamy-white. Quartz and other igneous rocks were also
scattered about, lying like superficial accumulations in the dips
at the foot of the hills, and red sandstone conglomerates clearly
indicated the presence of iron. The soil itself looked rich and
red, not unlike our own fine country of Devon.
On arriving in camp we pitched under some trees, and at once were
greeted by an officer sent by Rumanika to help us out of Usui.
This was Kachuchu, an old friend of Nasib's, who no sooner saw
him than, beaming with delight, he said to us, "Now, was I not
right when I told you the birds flying about on Lohugati hill
were a good omen? Look here what this man says: Rumanika has
ordered him to bring you on to his palace at once, and wherever
you stop a day, the village officers are instructed to supply you
with food at the king's expenses, for there are no taxes gathered
from strangers in the kingdom of Karague. Presents may be
exchanged, but the name of tax is ignored." Grant here shot a
rhinoceros, which came well into play to mix with the day's flour
we had carried on from Vihembe.
Deluded yesterday by the sight of the broad waters of the Lueru
lo Urigi, espied in the distance from the top of a hill, into the
belief that we were in view of the N'yanza itself, we walked
triumphantly along, thinking how well the Arabs at Kaze had
described this to be a creek of the great lake; but on arrival in
camp we heard from the village officer that we had been
misinformed, and that it was a detached lake, but connected with
the Victoria N'yanza by a passage in the hills and the Kitangule
river. Formerly, he said, the Urigi valley was covered with
water, extending up to Uhha, when all the low lands we had
crossed from Usui had to be ferried, and the saddle-back hills
were a mere chain of islands in the water. But the country had
dried up, and the lake of Urigi became a small swamp. He further
informed us, that even in the late king Dagara's time it was a
large sheet of water; but the instant he ceased to exist, the
lake shrank to what we now saw.
Our day's march had been novel and very amusing. The hilly
country surrounding us, together with the valley, brought back to
recollection many happy days I had once spent with the Tartars in
the Thibetian valley of the Indus - only this was more
picturesque; for though both countries are wild, and very thinly
inhabited, this was greened over with grass, and dotted here and
there on the higher slopes with thick bush of acacias, the haunts
of rhinoceros, both white and black; whilst in the flat of the
valley, herds of hartebeests and fine cattle roamed about like
the kiyang and tame yak of Thibet. Then, to enhance all these
pleasure, so different from our former experiences, we were
treated like guests by the chief of the place, who, obeying the
orders of his king, Rumanika, brought me presents, as soon as we
arrived, of sheep, fowls, and sweet potatoes, and was very
thankful for a few yards of red blanketing as a return, without
begging for more.
The farther we went in this country the better we liked it, as
the people were all kept in good order; and the village chiefs
were so civil, that we could do as we liked.
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