Obtain, were sent to him heavy with the deep maledictions of
Sheikh Hamed and the despairing sighs of sheikh Thani.
Altogether the sultanship of a district in Ugogo must be very
remunerative, besides being a delightful sinecure, so long as the
Sultan has to deal with timid Arab merchants who fear to exhibit
anything approaching to independence and self-reliance, lest they
might be mulcted in cloth. In one day from one camp the sultan
received forty-seven doti, consisting of Merikani, Kaniki, Barsati,
and Dabwani, equal to $35.25, besides seven doti of superior
cloths, consisting of Rehani, Sohari, and Daobwani Ulyah, and one
fundo of Bubu, equal to $14.00, making a total of $49.25 - a most
handsome revenue for a Mgogo chief.
On the 27th May we gladly shook the dust of Mvumi from our feet,
and continued on our route - ever westward. Five of my donkeys had
died the night before, from the effects of the water of Marenga
Mkali. Before leaving the camp of Mvumi, I went to look at their
carcases; but found them to have been clean picked by the
hyaenas, and the bones taken possession of by an army of
white-necked crows.
As we passed the numerous villages, and perceived the entire face
of the land to be one vast field of grain, and counted the people
halted by scores on the roadside to feast their eyes with a greedy
stare on the Musungu, I no longer wondered at the extortionate
demands of the Wagogo.
