It - of people who were
intellectual enough to comprehend that their interest lay in
permitting the caravans to pass on without attempting any outrage.
Between Mvumi and the nest Sultan's district, that of Matamburu,
I counted no less than twenty-five villages, scattered over the
clayey, coloured plain. Despite the inhospitable nature of
the plain, it was better cultivated than any part of any other
country we had seen since leaving Bagamoyo.
When we had at last arrived at our boma of Matamburu, the same
groups of curious people, the same eager looks, the same
exclamations of surprise, the same, peals of laughter, at something
they deemed ludicrous in the Musungu's dress or manner, awaited
us, as at Mvumi. The Arabs being "Wakonongo" travellers, whom
they saw every day, enjoyed a complete immunity from the
vexations which we had to endure.
The Sultan of Matamburu, a man of herculean form, and massive
head well set on shoulders that might vie with those of Milo,
proved to be a very reasonable person. Not quite so powerful as
the Sultan of Mvumi, he yet owned a fair share of Ugogo and about
forty villages, and could, if he chose, have oppressed the
mercantile souls of my Arab companions, in the same way as he of
Mvumi.
