An excuse, that feeling fatigued he
had fallen asleep in some bushes a few feet from the roadside.
Having been the cause of our detention in the hungry wilderness of
Ugombo, I was not in a frame of mind to forgive him; so, to
prevent any future truant tricks on his part, I was under the
necessity of including him with the chained gangs of runaways.
Two more of our donkeys died, and to prevent any of the valuable
baggage being left behind, I was obliged to send Farquhar off on my
own riding-ass to the village of Mpwapwa, thirty miles off, under
charge of Mabruki Burton.
To save the Expedition from ruin, I was reluctantly compelled to
come to the conclusion that it were better for me, for him, and
concerned, that he be left with some kind chief of a village,
with a six months' supply of cloth and beads, until he got well,
than that he make his own recovery impossible.
The 16th of May saw us journeying over the plain which lies
between Ugombo and Mpwapwa, skirting close, at intervals, a low
range of trap-rock, out of which had become displaced by some
violent agency several immense boulders. On its slopes grew the
kolquall to a size which I had not seen in Abyssinia. In the plain
grew baobab, and immense tamarind, and a variety of thorn.
Within five hours from Ugombo the mountain range deflected towards
the north-east, while we continued on a north-westerly course,
heading for the lofty mountain-line of the Mpwapwa. To our left
towered to the blue clouds the gigantic Rubeho. The adoption of
this new road to Unyanyembe by which we were travelling was now
explained - we were enabled to avoid the passes and stiff steeps of
Rubeho, and had nothing worse to encounter than a broad smooth
plain, which sloped gently to Ugogo.
After a march of fifteen miles we camped at a dry mtoni, called
Matamombo, celebrated for its pools of bitter. water of the colour
of ochre. Monkeys and rhinoceroses, besides kudus, steinboks, and
antelopes, were numerous in the vicinity. At this camp my little
dog "Omar" died of inflammation of the bowels, almost on the
threshold of the country - Ugogo - where his faithful watchfulness
would have been invaluable to me.
The next day's march was also fifteen miles in length, through one
interminable jungle of thorn-bushes. Within two miles of the camp,
the road led up a small river bed, broad as an avenue, clear to the
khambi of Mpwapwa; which was situated close to a number of streams
of the purest water.
The following morning found us much fatigued after the long marches
from Ugombo, and generally disposed to take advantage of the
precious luxuries Mpwapwa offered to caravans fresh from the
fly-plagued lands of the Waseguhha and Wadoe. Sheikh Thani - clever
but innocently-speaking old Arab - was encamped under the grateful
umbrage of a huge Mtamba sycamore, and had been regaling himself
with fresh milk, luscious mutton, and rich bullock humps, ever
since his arrival here, two days before; and, as he informed me,
it did not suit his views to quit such a happy abundance so soon
for the saline nitrous water of Marenga Mkali, with its several
terekezas, and manifold disagreeables. "No!" said he to me,
emphatically, "better stop here two or three days, give your tired
animals some rest; collect all the pagazis you can, fill your inside
with fresh milk, sweet potatoes, beef, mutton, ghee, honey, beans,
matama, maweri, and nuts; - then, Inshallah! we shall go together
through Ugogo without stopping anywhere." As the advice tallied
accurately with my own desired and keen appetite for the good
things he named, he had not long to wait for my assent to his
counsel. "Ugogo," continued he, "is rich with milk and honey -
rich in flour, beans and almost every eatable thing; and,
Inshallah! before another week is gone we shall be in Ugogo!"
I had heard from passing caravans so many extremely favourable
reports respecting Ugogo and its productions that it appeared
to me a very Land of Promise, and I was most anxious to refresh
my jaded stomach with some of the precious esculents raised in
Ugogo; but when I heard that Mpwapwa also furnished some of
those delicate eatables, and good things, most of the morning
hours were spent in inducing the slow-witted people to part
with them; and when, finally, eggs, milk, honey, mutton, ghee,
ground matama and beans had been collected in sufficient
quantities to produce a respectable meal, my keenest attention
and best culinary talents were occupied for a couple of hours
in converting this crude supply into a breakfast which could be
accepted by and befit a stomach at once fastidious and famished,
such as mine was. The subsequent healthy digestion of it proved
my endeavours to have been eminently successful. At the
termination of this eventful day, the following remark was jotted
down in my diary: "Thank God! After fifty-seven days of living
upon matama porridge and tough goat, I have enjoyed with unctuous
satisfaction a real breakfast and dinner."
It was in one of the many small villages which are situated upon
the slopes of the Mpwapwa that a refuge and a home for Farquhar
was found until he should be enabled by restored health to start
to join us at Unyanyembe.
Food was plentiful and of sufficient variety to suit the most
fastidious - cheap also, much cheaper than we had experienced for
many a day. Leucole, the chief of the village, with whom
arrangements for Farquhar's protection and comfort were made, was
a little old man of mild eye and very pleasing face, and on being
informed that it was intended to leave the Musungu entirely under
his charge, suggested that some man should be left to wait on him,
and interpret his wishes to his people.
