"It is good. Was the Makata bad?"
"Very bad."
"What news from Zanzibar?"
"Good; Syed Toorkee has possession of Muscat, and Azim bin Ghis
was slain in the streets."
"Is this true, Wallahi?" (by God.)
"It is true."
"Heh-heh-h! This is news!" - stroking his beard.
"Have you heard, master, of Suleiman bin Ali?"
"Yes, the Bombay governor sent him to Zanzibar, in a
man-of-war, and Suleiman bin Ali now lies in the gurayza (fort)."
"Heh, that is very good."
"Did you have to pay much tribute to the Wagogo?"
"Eight times; Hamed Kimiani wished me to go by Kiwyeh, but I
declined, and struck through the forest to Munieka. Hamed and
Thani thought it better to follow me, than brave Kiwyeh by
themselves."
"Where is that Hajji Abdullah (Captain Burton) that came here,
and Spiki?" (Speke.)
"Hajji Abdullah! What Hajji Abdullah? Ah! Sheikh Burton we call
him. Oh, he is a great man now; a balyuz (a consul) at El Scham"
(Damascus.)
"Heh-heh; balyuz! Heh, at El Scham! Is not that near Betlem
el Kuds?" (Jerusalem.)
"Yes, about four days. Spiki is dead. He shot himself by
accident."
"Ah, ah, Wallah (by God), but this is bad news. Spiki dead?
Mash-Allah! Ough, he was a good man - a good man! Dead!"
"But where is this Kazeh, Sheikh Sayd?"
Kazeh? Kazeh? I never heard the name before."
"But you were with Burton, and Speke, at Kazeh; you lived
there several months, when you were all stopping in Unyanyembe;
it must be close here; somewhere. Where did Hajji Abdullah and
Spiki live when they were in Unyanyembe? Was it not in Musa
Mzuri's house?"
"That was in Tabora."
"Well, then, where is Kazeh? I have never seen the man yet who
could tell me where that place is, and yet the three white men
have that word down, as the name of the place they lived at when
you were with them. You must know where it is."
"Wallahi, bana, I never heard the name; but stop, Kazeh, in
Kinyamwezi, means 'kingdom.' Perhaps they gave that name to the
place they stopped at. But then, I used to call the first house
Sny bin Amer's house, and Speke lived at Musa Mzuri's house, but
both houses, as well as all the rest, are in Tabora."
"Thank you, sheikh. I should like to go and look after my
people; they must all be wanting food."
"I shall go with you to show you your house. The tembe is in
Kwihara, only an hour's walk from Tabora."
On leaving Kwikuru we crossed a low ridge, and soon saw Kwihara
lying between two low ranges of hills, the northernmost of which
was terminated westward by the round fortress-like hill of Zimbili.
There was a cold glare of intense sunshine over the valley,
probably the effect of an universal bleakness or an autumnal
ripeness of the grass, unrelieved by any depth of colour to vary
the universal sameness.
