Large Prairies Of
Grass Also Are Exposed In Many Places, And The Villagers Have
Laid Much Ground Bare For Agricultural Purposes.
Altogether, Ugogo has a very wild aspect, well in keeping with
the natives who occupy it, who, more like the Wazaramo than the
Wasagara, carry arms, intended for use rather than show.
The
men, indeed, are never seen without their usual arms - the spear,
the shield, and the assage. They live in flat-topped, square,
tembe villages, wherever springs of water are found, keep cattle
in plenty, and farm enough generally to supply not only their own
wants, but those of the thousands who annually pass in caravans.
They are extremely fond of ornaments, the most common of which is
an ugly tube of the gourd thrust through the lower lobe of the
ear. Their colour is a soft ruddy brown, with a slight infusion
of black, not unlike that of a rich plum. Impulsive by nature,
and exceedingly avaricious, they pester travellers beyond all
conception, by thronging the road, jeering, quizzing, and
pointing at them; and in camp, by intrusively forcing their way
into the midst of the kit, and even into the stranger's tent.
Caravans, in consequence, never enter their villages, but camp
outside, generally under the big "gouty-limbed" trees - encircling
their entire camp sometimes with a ring-fence of thorns to
prevent any sudden attack.
To resume the thread of the journey: we found, on arrival in
Ugogo, very little more food than in Usagara for the Wagogo were
mixing their small stores of grain with the monkey-bread seeds of
the gouty-limbed tree.
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