Now and again, as we crested low eminences we caught
sight of the blue Usagara mountains, bounding the horizon westerly
and northerly, and looked down upon a vast expanse of plain which
lay between.
At the foot of the lengthy slope, well-watered by bubbling
springs and mountain rills, we found a comfortable khambi with
well-made huts, which the natives call Simbo. It lies just two
hours or five miles north-west of the Ungerengeri crossing. The
ground is rocky, composed principally of quartzose detritus swept
down by the constant streams. In the neighbourhood of these grow
bamboo, the thickest of which was about two and a half inches in
diameter; the "myombo," a very shapely tree, with a clean trunk
like an ash, the "imbite," with large, fleshy leaves like the
"mtamba," sycamore, plum-tree, the "ugaza," ortamarisk, and the
"mgungu," a tree containing several wide branches with small
leaves clustered together in a clump, and the silk-cotton tree.
Though there are no villages or settlements in view of Simbo
Khambi, there are several clustered within the mountain folds,
inhabited by Waseguhha somewhat prone to dishonest acts and
murder.
The long broad plain visible from the eminences crossed between
the Ungerengeri and Simbo was now before us, and became known to
sorrowful memory subsequently, as the Makata Valley.
