Contorted Green Thorn-Trees,
"Elephant-Foot" Stumps, And Aloes, Seem To Thrive Best Here, By
Their Very Nature Indicating What The Country Is, A Poor Stony
Land.
Our camp was pitched by the river Rumuma, where, sheltered
from the winds, and enriched by alluvial soil, there ought to
have been no scarcity; but still the villagers had nothing to
sell.
On we went again to Marenga Mkhaili, the "Salt Water," to
breakfast, and camped in the crooked green thorns by night,
carrying water on for our supper. This kind of travelling -
forced marches - hard as it may appear, was what we liked best,
for we felt that we were shortening the journey, and in doing so,
shortening the risks of failure by disease, by war, by famine,
and by mutiny. We had here no grasping chiefs to detain us for
presents, nor had our men time to become irritable and truculent,
concoct devices for stopping the way, or fight amongst
themselves.
On again, and at last we arrived at the foot of the western
chain; but not all together. Some porters, overcome by heat and
thirst, lay scattered along the road, while the corporal of the
Hottentots allowed his mule to stray from him, never dreaming the
animal would travel far from his comrades, and, in following
after him, was led such a long way into the bush, that my men
became alarmed for his safety, knowing as they did that the
"savages" were out living like monkeys on the calabash fruit, and
looking out for any windfalls, such as stragglers worth
plundering, that might come in their way.
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