Chapter VI

STANLEY TELLS ABOUT KING RUMANIKA.--THE KARAGWÉ GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY.--THE KING'S TREASURE-HOUSE.--GOOD-BYE TO HIS MAJESTY.--HOSTILITY BETWEEN ELEPHANT AND RHINOCEROS.--PLUNDERED IN USUI.--THE SOURCES OF THE ALEXANDRA NILE.--RETROSPECTION.--QUESTIONS OF TOPOGRAPHY.--INSOLENCE OF MANKORONGO.--DEATH OF "BULL."--TROUBLES WITH THE PETTY KINGS.--INTERVIEW WITH THE FAMOUS MIRAMBO.--GENERAL APPEARANCE OF THE RENOWNED AFRICAN.--AN IMPOSING CEREMONY.--BLOOD-BROTHERHOOD.--HOW GRANT'S CARAVAN WAS PLUNDERED.--MYONGA'S THREATS.--A COMPROMISE.--AMONG THE WATUTA.--IN SIGHT OF LAKE TANGANIKA.--ARRIVAL AT UJIJI.

During all the forenoon of the following day Frank was busy preparing his matter for the work of the afternoon. When the party of youths had assembled Mr. Stanley came among them and asked at what point in the story of the Dark Continent they stopped on the previous evening.

"We were in the country of King Rumanika, I believe it is called Karagwé," said one of the auditors; "and you had just returned from exploring Lake Windermere."

"Ah, yes," replied Mr. Stanley, "he was a charming old man, that Rumanika, and very fond of strangers. After I had explored the lake he sent for me, and wanted to have a talk on geographical subjects. Of course I went to meet him."

"Did he know anything about geography outside of his own country?" was the very natural inquiry of Fred.

"Not much," was the reply; "and what he did know was very hazy. But he pretended to know a great deal about Africa, and gave me some startling information, which I gravely put down in my note-book. The sight of that note-book always seemed to inspire him to tell the wildest stories about his country, and I presume he thought I would spread them before my countrymen as the most solemn truths.

"For example," continued Mr. Stanley, "he said at one of our meetings:

"'Mkinyaga is at the end of Ruanda, and its lake is Muta Nzege, on
which you can go to Unyoro. There is a race of dwarfs, somewhere
west of Mkinyaga, called the Mpundu, and another called the Batwa,
or Watwa, who are only two feet high. In Uriambwa is a race of
small people with tails.

"'Uitwa, or Batwa--Watwa--is at the extreme south end of Uzongora.

"'From Butwa, at the end of a point of land in Ruanda, you can see
Uitwa Usongora.

"'From Butwa, Mkinyaga is to the left of you about three days'
journey.

"'Some of the Waziwa saw a strange people in one of those far-off
lands who had long ears descending to their feet; one ear formed a
mat to sleep on, the other served to cover him from the cold, like
a dressed hide! They tried to coax one of them to come and see me,
but the journey was long, and he died on the way.'

"Another time he said:

"'Stamlee, how is it, will you tell me, that all white men have
long noses, and all their dogs have very short noses, while almost
all black men have short noses but their dogs have very long
noses?'

"He had observed the broad, short nose of my British bull-dog, and hastily arrived at the conclusion that all white men's dogs were pug-nosed.

"Rumanika propounded a great many other questions, which I answered to the best of my ability, and generally to his satisfaction. I was somewhat puzzled about his question regarding the noses, but finally explained that originally the white men and their dogs had noses of the same length. The men had lengthened theirs by constantly smelling the good things they had to eat, while the dogs had shortened their noses by using them to push open the doors of the houses.

"Another day," continued Mr. Stanley, quoting from his work:

"Rumanika requested Hamed Ibrahim to exhibit the treasures,
trophies, and curiosities in the king's museum or armory, which
Hamed was most anxious to do, as he had frequently extolled the
rare things there.

"The armory was a circular hut, resembling externally a dome,
thatched neatly with straw. It was about thirty feet in diameter.

"The weapons and articles of brass, and copper, and iron, were in
perfect order, and showed that Rumanika did not neglect his
treasures.

"There were about sixteen rude brass figures of ducks with copper
wings, ten curious things of the same metal, which were meant to
represent elands, and ten headless cows of copper. Bill-hooks of
iron, of really admirable make, double-bladed spears, several
gigantic blades of exceedingly keen edge, eight inches across and
eighteen inches in length; exquisite spears, some with blades and
staves of linked iron; others with chain-shaped staves, and several
with a cluster of small rigid rings massed at the bottom of the
blade and the end of the staff; others, copper-bladed, had curious
inter-twisted iron rods for the staff. There were also great
fly-flaps set in iron, the handles of which were admirable
specimens of native art; massive cleaver-looking knives, with
polished blades, and a kedge-anchor-shaped article with four hooked
iron prongs, projecting out of a brass body. Some exquisite native
cloths, manufactured of delicate grass, were indeed so fine as to
vie with cotton sheeting, and were colored black and red, in
patterns and stripes. The royal stool was a masterpiece of native
turnery, being carved out of a solid log of cottonwood. Besides
these specimens of native art were drinking-cups, goblets,
trenchers, and milk-dishes of wood, all beautifully clean. The
fireplace was a circular hearth in the centre of the building, very
tastefully constructed. Ranged round the wall along the floor were
other gifts from Arab friends, massive copper trays, with a few
tureen-lids of Britannia-ware, evidently from Birmingham. Nor must
the revolving rifle given to him by Captain Speke be forgotten, for
it had an honored place, and Rumanika loves to look at it, for it
recalls to his memory the figures of his genial white friends,
Speke and Grant.

"The enormous drums, fifty-two in number, ranged outside, enabled
us, from their very appearance, to guess at the deafening sounds
which celebrate the new moon or deliver the signals for war.

"My parting with the genial old man was very affecting. He shook my
hands many times, saying each time that he was sorry that my visit
must be so short. He strictly charged his sons to pay me every
attention until I should arrive at Kibogora's, the king of western
Usui, who, he was satisfied, would be glad to see me as a friend of
Rumanika.

"On the 26th of March the expedition, after its month's rest at
Kafurro, the whole of which period I had spent in exploration of
western Karagwé, resumed its journey, and after a march of five
miles camped at Nakawanga, near the southern base of Kibonga
Mountain.

"On the 27th I had the good-fortune to shoot three rhinoceroses,
from the bodies of which we obtained ample supplies of meat for our
journey through the wilderness of Uhimba. One of these enormous
brutes possessed a horn two feet long, with a sharp, dagger-like
point below a stunted horn, nine inches in length. He appeared to
have had a tussle with some wild beast, for a hand's-breadth of
hide was torn from his rump.

"The Wangwana and Wanyambu informed me, with the utmost gravity,
that the elephant maltreats the rhinoceros frequently, because of a
jealousy that the former entertains of his fiery cousin.

"Should a rhinoceros meet an elephant he must observe the rule of
the road, and walk away, for the latter brooks no rivalry; but the
former is sometimes head-strong, and the elephant then despatches
him with his tusks by forcing him against a tree and goring him, or
by upsetting him, and leisurely crushing him.

"During the next two days we travelled twenty-seven miles south
through a depression, or a longitudinal valley, parallel to Uhimba
Lake and the course of the Alexandra, with only an intervening
ridge excluding the latter from our view. Tall, truncated
hill-cones rise every now and then, with a singular resemblance to
each other, to the same altitude as the grassy ridges which flank
them. Their summits are flat, but the iron-stone faithfully
indicates by its erosions the element which separated them from the
ridges, and first furrowed the valley.

"And now," said Mr. Stanley, "having told you about King Rumanika, and how I left him, I will lapse into silence and let you hear from Frank."

With this hint, Frank opened the volume before him and read:

"Uhimba, placed by Rumanika in the charge of his sons, Kakoko,
Kananga, and Ruhinda, is sixty-eight miles south of his capital,
and consists of a few settlements of herdsmen. I was courteously
received by Kakoko, and remained there two days. The next day we
entered western Usui, and camped at Kafurra's. In Usui there was a
famine, and it required thirty-two doti of cloth to purchase four
days' rations. Kibogora, King of Usui, demanded and obtained thirty
doti, one coil of wire, and forty necklaces of beads as tribute;
Kafurra, his principal chief, demanded ten doti and a quantity of
beads; another chief required five doti; the queen required a
supply of cloth to wear; the princes put in a claim; the guides
were loud for their reward. Thus in four days we were compelled to
disburse two bales out of twenty-two--all that were left of the
immense store we had departed with from Zanzibar. Under such
circumstances what prospect of exploration had we? Were we to
continue our journey through Uhha, that land which, in 1871, had
consumed at the rate of two bales of cloth per diem? Twenty days of
such experience in Uhha would reduce us to beggary. Its 'esurient'
Mutwarés and rapacious Mkamas and other extortionate people can
only be quieted with cloth and beads disbursed with a princely
hand. One hundred bales of cloth would only suffice to sustain a
hundred men in Uhha about six weeks. Beyond Uhha lay the
impenetrable countries of Urundi and Ruanda, the inhabitants of
which were hostile to strangers.

"Kibogora and Kafurra were sufficiently explicit and amiably
communicative, for my arrival in their country had been under the
very best auspices, viz., an introduction from the gentle and
beloved Rumanika.

"I turned away with a sigh from the interesting land, but with a
resolution gradually being intensified, that the third time I
sought a road west, nothing should deter me.

"On the 7th of April we reluctantly resumed our journey in a
southerly direction, and travelled five miles along a ravine, at
the bottom of which murmured the infant stream Lohugati. On coming
to its source, we ascended a steep slope until we stood upon the
summit of a grassy ridge at the height of five thousand six hundred
feet by aneroid.

"Not until we had descended about a mile to the valley of Uyagoma,
did I recognize the importance of this ridge as the water-parting
between one of the feeders of Lake Victoria and the source of the
Malagarazi, the principal affluent of Lake Tanganika.

"Though by striking across Uhha due west, or to the southwest, we
should again have reached the Alexandra Nile and the affluents of
the Alexandra Lake, our future course was destined never to cross
another stream or rivulet that supplied the great river which flows
through the land of Egypt into the Mediterranean Sea.

"From the 17th of January, 1875, up to the 7th of April, 1876, we
had been engaged in tracing the extreme southern sources of the
Nile, from the marshy plains and cultivated uplands where they are
born, down to the mighty reservoir called the Victoria Nyanza. We
had circumnavigated the entire expanse; penetrated to every bay,
inlet, and creek; become acquainted with almost every variety of
wild human nature--the mild and placable, the ferocious and
impracticably savage, the hospitable and the inhospitable, the
generous-souled as well as the ungenerous; we had viewed their
methods of war, and had witnessed them imbruing their hands in each
other's blood with savage triumph and glee; we had been five times
sufferers by their lust for war and murder, and had lost many men
through their lawlessness and ferocity; we had travelled hundreds
of miles to and fro on foot along the northern coast of the
Victorian Sea, and, finally, had explored with a large force the
strange countries lying between the two lakes Muta Nzege and the
Victoria, and had been permitted to gaze upon the arm of the lake
named by me 'Beatrice Gulf,' and to drink of its sweet waters. We
had then returned from further quest in that direction, unable to
find a peaceful resting-place on the lake shores, and had struck
south from the Katonga lagoon down to the Alexandra Nile, the
principal affluent of the Victoria Lake, which drains nearly all
the waters from the west and southwest. We had made a patient
survey of over one half of its course, and then, owing to want of
the means to feed the rapacity of the churlish tribes which dwell
in the vicinity of the Alexandra Nyanza, and to our reluctance to
force our way against the will of the natives, opposing
unnecessarily our rifles to their spears and arrows, we had been
compelled, on the 7th of April, to bid adieu to the lands which
supply the Nile, and to turn our faces towards the Tanganika.

"I have endeavored to give a faithful portrayal of nature, animate
and inanimate, in all its strange, peculiar phases, as they were
unfolded to us. I am conscious that I have not penetrated to the
depths; but then, I have not ventured beyond the limits assigned
me, viz., the Exploration of the Southern Sources of the Nile, and
the solution of the problem left unsolved by Speke and Grant--Is
the Victoria Nyanza one lake, or does it consist of five lakes, as
reported by Livingstone, Burton, and others? This problem has been
satisfactorily solved, and Speke has now the full glory of having
discovered the largest inland sea on the continent of Africa, also
its principal affluent, as well as the outlet. I must also give him
credit for having understood the geography of the countries he
travelled through better than any of those who so persistently
assailed his hypothesis, and I here record my admiration of the
geographical genius that, from mere native report, first sketched
with such a masterly hand the bold outlines of the Victoria Nyanza.
Speke's hypothetic sketch made this lake twenty-nine thousand
square miles in extent. My survey of it has reduced it to
twenty-one thousand five hundred square miles.

"Along the Valley of Uyagoma, in western Usui, stretches east and
west a grass-covered ridge, beautiful in places with rock-strewn
dingles, tapestried with ferns and moss, and bright with vivid
foliage. From two such fair nooks, half-way down either slope, the
northern and the southern, drip in great rich drops the sources of
two impetuous rivers--on the southern the Malagarazi, on the other
the Lohugati. Though nurtured in the same cradle, and issuing
within two thousand yards of one another, the twin streams are
strangers throughout their lives. Through the thick ferns and
foliage the rivulets trickle each down his appointed slope,
murmuring as they gather strength to run their destined course--the
Lohugati to the Victoria Lake, and the Malagarazi to distant
Tanganika.

"While the latter river is in its infancy, collecting its first
tribute of waters from the rills that meander down from the
mountain folds round the basin of Uyagoma, and is so shallow that
tiny children can paddle through it, the people of Usui call it the
Meruzi. When we begin our journey from Uyagoma, we follow its
broadening course for a couple of hours, through the basin, and by
that time it has become a river _nomine dignum_, and, plunging
across it, we begin to breast the mountains, which, rising in
diagonal lines of ridges from northeast to southwest across Usui,
run in broken series into northern Uhha, and there lose themselves
in a confusion of complicated masses and clumps.

"The Meruzi wanders round and through these mountain masses in mazy
curves, tumbles from height to height, from terrace to terrace,
receiving as it goes the alliance of myriads of petty rivulets and
threads of clear water, until, arriving at the grand forest lands
of Unyamwezi, it has assumed the name of Lukoke, and serves as a
boundary between Unyamwezi and Uhha.

"Meanwhile, we have to cross a series of mountain ridges clothed
with woods; and at a road leading from Kibogora's land to the
territory of the turbulent and vindictive Mankorongo, we meet an
embassy, which demands, in a most insolent tone, that we should
pass by his village. This means, of course, that we must permit
ourselves to be defrauded of two or three bales of cloth, half a
dozen guns, a sack or two of beads, and such other property as he
may choose to exact, for the privilege of lengthening our journey
some forty miles, and a delay of two or three weeks.

"The insolent demand is therefore not to be entertained, and we
return a decided refusal. They are not satisfied with the answer,
and resort to threats. Threats in the free, uninhabited forest
constitute a _casus belli_. So the chiefs are compelled to depart
without a yard of cloth on the instant, and after their departure
we urge our pace until night, and from dawn next morning to 3 P.M.
we continue the journey with unabated speed, until we find
ourselves in Nyambarri, Usambiro, rejoiced to find that we have
foiled the dangerous king.

"On the 13th of April we halted to refresh the people. Usambiro,
like all Unyamwezi, produces sufficient grain, sesamum, millet,
Indian corn, and vetches, besides beans and pease, to supply all
caravans and expeditions. I have observed that lands producing
grain are more easy of access than pastoral countries, or those
which only supply milk, bananas, and potatoes to their inhabitants.

"At Nyambarri we met two Arab caravans fresh from Mankorongo, of
whom they gave fearful accounts, from which I inferred that the
extortionate chief would be by no means pleased when he came to
understand how he had been baffled in his idea of spoliating our
expedition.

"During the march from Nyambarri to Gambawagao, the chief village
of Usambiro, ancient "Bull," the last of all the canine companions
which left England with me, borne down by weight of years and a
land journey of about fifteen hundred miles, succumbed. With
bull-dog tenacity he persisted in following the receding figures of
the gun-bearers, who were accustomed to precede him in the narrow
way. Though he often staggered and moaned, he made strenuous
efforts to keep up, but at last, lying down in the path, he
plaintively bemoaned the weakness of body that had conquered his
will, and soon after died--his eyes to the last looking _forward_
along the track he had so bravely tried to follow.

(_From a Photograph by Mr Stanley._)]

"Poor dog! Good and faithful service had he done me! Who more
rejoiced than he to hear the rifle-shot ringing through the deep
woods! Who more loudly applauded success than he with his deep,
mellow bark! What long forest-tracts of tawny plains, and series of
mountain ranges had he not traversed! How he plunged through jungle
and fen, morass and stream! In the sable blackness of the night his
voice warned off marauders and prowling beasts from the sleeping
camp. His growl responded to the hideous jabber of the greedy
hyena, and the snarling leopard did not dismay him. He amazed the
wondering savages with his bold eyes and bearing, and by his
courageous front caused them to retreat before him; and right
bravely did he help us to repel the Wanyaturu from our camp in
Ituru. Farewell, thou glory of thy race! Rest from thy labors in
the silent forest! Thy feet shall no more hurry up the hill or
cross mead and plain; thy form shall rustle no more through the
grasses, or be plunging to explore the brake; thou shalt no longer
dash after me across the savannahs, for thou art gone to the grave,
like the rest of thy companions!

"The king of Usambiro exchanged gifts with us, and appeared to be a
clever, agreeable young man. His people, though professing to be
Wanyamwezi, are a mixture of Wahha and Wazinja. He has constructed
a strong village, and surrounded it with a fosse four feet deep and
six feet wide, with a stockade and 'marksmen's nests' at intervals
round it. The population of the capital is about two thousand.

"Boma Kiengo, or Msera, lies five miles south-southeast from the
capital, and its chief, seeing that we had arrived at such a good
understanding with the king, also exerted himself to create a
favorable impression.

"Musonga lies twelve miles south-southeast of Boma Kiengo, and is
the most northerly village of the country of Urangwa. On the 18th
of April a march of fifteen miles enabled us to reach the capital,
Ndeverva, another large stockaded village, also provided with
'marksmen's nests,' and surrounded by a fosse.

"We were making capital marches. The petty kings, though they
exacted a small interchange of gifts, which compelled me to
disburse cloth a little more frequently than was absolutely
necessary, were not insolent, nor so extortionate as to prevent
our intercourse being of the most friendly character. But on the
day we arrived at Urangwa, lo! there came up in haste, while we
were sociably chatting together, a messenger to tell us that the
phantom, the bugbear, the terror whose name silences the children
of Unyamwezi and Usukuma, and makes women's hearts bound with fear,
that Mirambo himself was coming--that he was only two camps, or
about twenty miles, away--that he had an immense army of Ruga-Ruga
(bandits) with him!

"The consternation at this news, the dismay and excitement, the
discussion and rapid interchange of ideas suggested by terror
throughout the capital, may be conceived. Barricades were prepared,
sharp-shooters' platforms, with thick bulwarks of logs, were
erected. The women hastened to prepare their charms, the Waganda
consulted their spirits, each warrior and elder examined his guns
and loaded them, ramming the powder down the barrels of their
Brummagem muskets with desperately vengeful intentions, while the
king hastened backward and forward with streaming robes of cotton
behind him, animated by an hysterical energy.

"I had one hundred and seventy-five men under my command, and forty
of the Arabs' people were with me, and we had many boxes of
ammunition. The king recollected these facts, and said, 'You will
stop to fight Mirambo, will you not?'

"'Not I, my friend; I have no quarrel with Mirambo, and we cannot
join every native to fight his neighbor. If Mirambo attacks the
village while I am here, and will not go away when I ask him, we
will fight, but we cannot stop here to wait for him.'

"The poor king was very much distressed when we left the next
morning. We despatched our scouts ahead, as we usually did when
traversing troublous countries, and omitted no precaution to guard
against surprise.

"On the 19th we arrived at one of the largest villages or towns in
Unyamwezi, called Serombo or Sorombo. It was two miles and a half
in circumference, and probably contained over a thousand large
and small huts, and a population of about five thousand.

"The present king's name is Ndega, a boy of sixteen, the son of
Makaka, who died about two years ago. Too young himself to govern
the large settlement and the country round, two elders, or
Manyapara, act as regents during his minority.

"We were shown to a peculiar-shaped hut, extremely like an
Abyssinian dwelling. The height of the doorway was seven feet, and
from the floor to the top of the conical roof it was twenty feet.
The walls were of interwoven sticks, plastered over neatly with
brown clay. The king's house was thirty feet high from the ground
to the tip of the cone, and forty feet in diameter within; but the
total diameter, including the circular fence or palisade that
supported the broad eaves and enclosed a gallery which ran round
the house, was fifty-four feet.

"Owing to this peculiar construction a desperate body of one
hundred and fifty men might from the circular gallery sustain a
protracted attack from a vastly superior foe, and probably repel
it.

"Ndega is a relative of Mirambo by marriage, and he soon quieted
all uneasy minds by announcing that the famous man who was now
advancing upon Serombo had just concluded a peace with the Arabs,
and that therefore no trouble was to be apprehended from his visit,
it being solely a friendly visit to his young relative.

"Naturally we were all anxious to behold the 'Mars of Africa,' who
since 1871 has made his name feared by both native and foreigner
from Usui to Urori, and from Uvinza to Ugogo, a country embracing
ninety thousand square miles; who, from the village chieftainship
over Uyoweh, has made for himself a name as well known as that of
Mtesa throughout the eastern half of equatorial Africa, a household
word from Nyangwé to Zanzibar, and the theme of many a song of the
bards of Unyamwezi, Ukimbu, Ukonongo, Uzinja, and Uvinza.

"On the evening of our arrival at Serombo's we heard his Brown
Besses--called by the natives Gumeh-Gumeh--announcing to all that
the man with the dread name lay not far from our vicinity.

"At dusk the huge drums of Serombo signalled silence for the
town-criers, whose voices, preceded by the sound of iron bells,
were presently heard crying out:

"'Listen, O men of Serombo. Mirambo, the brother of Ndega, cometh
in the morning. Be ye prepared, therefore, for his young men are
hungry. Send your women to dig potatoes, dig potatoes. Mirambo
cometh. Dig potatoes, potatoes, dig potatoes, to-morrow!'

"At 10 A.M. the Brown Besses, heavily charged and fired off by
hundreds, loudly heralded Mirambo's approach, and nearly all my
Wangwana followed the inhabitants of Serombo outside to see the
famous chieftain. Great war-drums and the shouts of admiring
thousands proclaimed that he had entered the town, and soon little
Mabruki, the chief of the tent-boys, and Kachéché, the detective,
on whose intelligence I could rely, brought an interesting budget
to me.

"Mabruki said: 'We have seen Mirambo. He has arrived. We have
beheld the Ruga-Ruga, and there are many of them, and all are armed
with Gumeh-Gumeh. About a hundred are clothed in crimson cloth and
white shirts, like our Wangwana. Mirambo is not an old man.'

"Kachéché said: 'Mirambo is not old, he is young: I must be older
than he is. He is a very nice man, well dressed, quite like an
Arab. He wears the turban, fez, and cloth coat of an Arab, and
carries a scimitar. He also wears slippers, and his clothes under
his coat are very white. I should say he has about a thousand and a
half men with him, and they are all armed with muskets or
double-barrelled guns. Mirambo has three young men carrying his
guns for him. Truly, Mirambo is a great man!'

"The shrill Lu-lu-lu's, prolonged and loud, were still maintained
by the women, who entertained a great respect for the greatest king
in Unyamwezi.

"Presently Manwa Sera, the chief captain of the Wangwana, came to
my hut, to introduce three young men--Ruga-Ruga (bandits), as we
called them, but must do so no more, lest we give
offence--handsomely dressed in fine red and blue cloth coats, and
snowy white shirts, with ample turbans around their heads. They
were confidential captains of Mirambo's body-guard.

"'Mirambo sends his salaams to the white man,' said the principal
of them. 'He hopes the white man is friendly to him, and that he
does not share the prejudices of the Arabs, and believe Mirambo a
bad man. If it is agreeable to the white man, will he send words of
peace to Mirambo?'

"'Tell Mirambo,' I replied, 'that I am eager to see him, and would
be glad to shake hands with so great a man; and as I have made
strong friendship with Mtesa, Rumanika, and all the kings along the
road from Usoga to Unyamwezi, I shall be rejoiced to make strong
friendship with Mirambo also. Tell him I hope he will come and see
me as soon as he can.'

"The next day Mirambo, having despatched a Ruga-Ruga--no, a
patriot, I should have said--to announce his coming, appeared with
about twenty of his principal men.

"I shook hands with him with fervor, which drew a smile from him as
he said, 'The white man shakes hands like a strong friend.'

"His person quite captivated me, for he was a thorough African
_gentleman_ in appearance, very different from my conception of the
terrible bandit who had struck his telling blows at native chiefs
and Arabs with all the rapidity of a Frederick the Great environed
by foes.

"I entered the following notes in my journal on April 22, 1876:

"'This day will be memorable to me for the visit of the famous
Mirambo. He was the reverse of all my conceptions of the
redoubtable chieftain, and the man I had styled the "terrible
bandit."

"'He is a man about five feet eleven inches in height, and about
thirty-five years old, with not an ounce of superfluous flesh about
him. A handsome, regular-featured, mild-voiced, soft-spoken man,
with what one might call a "meek" demeanor, very generous and
open-handed. The character was so different from that which I had
attributed to him that for some time a suspicion clung to my mind
that I was being imposed upon, but Arabs came forward who testified
that this quiet-looking man was indeed Mirambo. I had expected to
see something of the Mtesa type, a man whose exterior would
proclaim his life and rank; but this unpresuming, mild-eyed man, of
inoffensive, meek exterior, whose action was so calm, without a
gesture, presented to the eye nothing of the Napoleonic genius
which he has for five years displayed in the heart of Unyamwezi, to
the injury of Arabs and commerce, and the doubling of the price of
ivory. I said there was _nothing_; but I must except the eyes,
which had the steady, calm gaze of a master.

"'During the conversation I had with him, he said he preferred boys
or young men to accompany him to war; he never took middle-aged or
old men, as they were sure to be troubled with wives or children,
and did not fight half so well as young fellows who listened to his
words. Said he, "They have sharper eyes, and their young limbs
enable them to move with the ease of serpents or the rapidity of
zebras, and a few words will give them the hearts of lions. In all
my wars with the Arabs, it was an army of youths that gave me
victory, boys without beards. Fifteen of my young men died one day
because I said I must have a certain red cloth that was thrown down
as a challenge. No, no; give me youths for war in the open field,
and men for the stockaded village."

"'"What was the cause of your war, Mirambo, with the Arabs?" I
asked.

"'"There was a good deal of cause. The Arabs got the big head"
(proud), "and there was no talking with them. Mkasiwa of Unyanyembé
lost his head too, and thought I was his vassal, whereas I was not.
My father was king of Uyoweh, and I was his son. What right had
Mkasiwa or the Arabs to say what I ought to do? But the war is now
over--the Arabs know what I can do, and Mkasiwa knows it. We will
not fight any more, but we will see who can do the best trade, and
who is the smartest man. Any Arab or white man who would like to
pass through my country is welcome. I will give him meat and drink,
and a house, and no man shall hurt him."'

"Mirambo retired, and in the evening I returned his visit with ten
of the principal Wangwana. I found him in a bell-tent twenty feet
high, and twenty-five feet in diameter, with his chiefs around him.

"Manwa Sera was requested to seal our friendship by performing the
ceremony of blood brotherhood between Mirambo and myself. Having
caused us to sit fronting each other on a straw carpet, he made an
incision in each of our right legs, from which he extracted blood,
and, interchanging it, he exclaimed aloud:

"'If either of you break this brotherhood now established between
you, may the lion devour him, the serpent poison him, bitterness be
in his food, his friends desert him, his gun burst in his hands and
wound him, and everything that is bad do wrong to him until death.'

"My new brother then gave me fifteen cloths to be distributed among
my chiefs, while he would accept only three from me. But, not
desirous of appearing illiberal, I presented him with a revolver
and two hundred rounds of ammunition, and some small curiosities
from England. Still ambitious to excel me in liberality, he charged
five of his young men to proceed to Urambo, and to select three
milch-cows with their calves, and three bullocks, to be driven to
Ubagwé to meet me. He also gave me three guides to take me along
the frontier of the predatory Watuta.

"On the morning of the 23d he accompanied me outside Serombo, where
we parted on the very best terms with each other. An Arab in his
company, named Sayid bin Mohammed, also presented me with a bar of
Castile soap, a bag of pepper, and some saffron. A fine riding-ass,
purchased from Sayid, was named Mirambo by me, because the
Wangwana, who were also captivated by Mirambo's agreeable manners,
insisted on it.

"We halted on the 23d at Mayangira, seven miles and a half from
Serombo, and on the 24th, after a protracted march of eleven miles
south-southeast over flooded plains, arrived at Ukombeh.

"Through similar flooded plains, with the water hip-deep in most
places, and after crossing an important stream flowing
west-southwest towards the Malagarazi, we arrived at Myonga's
village, the capital of southern Masumbwa.

"This Myonga is the same valorous chief who robbed Colonel Grant as
he was hurrying with an undisciplined caravan after Speke. (See
Speke's Journal, page 159, for the following graphic letter:

"'IN THE JUNGLES, NEAR MYONGA'S, _16th September, 1861_.

"'MY DEAR SPEKE,--The caravan was attacked, plundered, and the men
driven to the winds, while marching this morning into Myonga's
country.

"'Awaking at cock-crow, I roused the camp, all anxious to rejoin
you; and while the loads were being packed, my attention was drawn
to an angry discussion between the head men and seven or eight
armed fellows sent by Sultan Myonga to insist on my putting up for
the day in his village. They were summarily told that as _you_ had
already made him a present, he need not expect a visit from _me_.
Adhering, I doubt not, to their master's instructions, they
officiously constituted themselves our guides till we chose to
strike off their path, when, quickly heading our party, they
stopped the way, planted their spears, and _dared_ our advance!

"'This menace made us firmer in our determination, and we swept
past the spears. After we had marched unmolested for some seven
miles, a loud yelping from the woods excited our attention, and a
sudden rush was made upon us by, say, two hundred men, who came
down _seemingly_ in great glee. In an instant, at the caravan's
centre, they fastened upon the poor porters. The struggle was
short; and with the threat of an arrow or spear at their breasts,
men were robbed of their cloths and ornaments, loads were yielded
and run away with before resistance could be organized; only three
men of a hundred stood by me; the others, whose only _thought_ was
their lives, fled into the woods, where I went shouting for them.
One man, little Rahan, stood with cocked gun, defending his load
against five savages with uplifted spears. No one else could be
seen. Two or three were reported killed, some were wounded. Beads,
boxes, cloths, etc., lay strewed about the woods. In fact, I felt
wrecked. My attempt to go and demand redress from the sultan was
resisted, and, in utter despair, I seated myself among a mass of
rascals jeering round me, and insolent after the success of the
day. Several were dressed in the very cloths, etc., they had stolen
from my men.

"'In the afternoon about fifteen men and loads were brought me,
with a message from the sultan, that the attack had been a
_mistake_ of his subjects--that one man had had a hand cut off for
it, and that all the property would be restored!

"'Yours sincerely,
"'J. A. GRANT.')

"Age had not lessened the conceit of Myonga, increased his modesty,
or moderated his cupidity. He asserted the rights and privileges of
his royalty with a presumptuous voice and a stern brow. He demanded
tribute! Twenty-five cloths. A gun and five fundo of beads! The
Arabs, my friends, were requested to do the same!

"'Impossible, Myonga!' I replied, yet struck with admiration at the
unparalleled audacity of the man.

"'People have been obliged to pay what I ask,' the old man said,
with a cunning twinkle in his eyes.

"'Perhaps,' I answered; 'but whether they have or not, I cannot pay
you so much, and, what is more, I will not. As a sign that we pass
through your country, I give you one cloth, and the Arabs shall
only give you one cloth.'

"Myonga blustered and stormed, begged and threatened, and some of
his young men appeared to be getting vicious, when, rising, I
informed him that to talk loudly was to act like a scolding woman,
and that, when his elder should arrive at our camp, he would
receive two cloths, one from me and one from the Arabs, as
acknowledgment of his right to the country.

"The drum of Myonga's village at once beat to arms, but the affair
went no further, and the elder received the reasonable and just
tribute of two cloths, with a gentle hint that it would be
dangerous to intercept the expedition on the road when on the
march, as the guns were loaded.

"Phunze, chief of Mkumbiro, a village ten miles south by east from
Myonga, and the chief of Ureweh, fourteen miles and a half from
Phunze's, were equally bold in their demands, but they did not
receive an inch of cloth; but neither of these three chiefs were
half so extortionate as Ungomirwa, king of Ubagwé, a large town of
three thousand people.

"We met at Ubagwé an Arab trader _en route_ to Uganda, and he gave
us a dismal tale of robbery and extortion practised on him by
Ungomirwa. He had been compelled to pay one hundred and fifty
cloths, five kegs, or fifty pounds, of gunpowder, five guns
double-barrelled, and thirty-five pounds of beads, the whole being
of the value of $625, or £125, for the privilege of passing
unmolested through the district of Ubagwé.

"When the chief came to see me, I said to him,

"'Why is it, my friend, that your name goes about the country as
being that of a bad man? How is it that this poor Arab has had to
pay so much for going through Ubagwé? Is Ubagwé Unyamwezi, that
Ungomirwa demands so much from the Arabs? The Arab brings cloths,
powder, guns into Unyamwezi. If you rob him of his property, I must
send letters to stop people coming here, then Ungomirwa will become
poor, and have neither powder, guns, nor cloths to wear. What has
Ungomirwa to say to his friend?'

"'Ungomirwa,' replied he, 'does no more than Ureweh, Phunze,
Myonga, Ndega, Urangwa, and Mankorongo--he takes what he can. If
the white man thinks it is wrong, and will be my friend, I will
return it all to the Arab.'

"'Ungomirwa is good. Nay, do not return it all; retain one gun,
five cloths, two fundo of beads, and one keg of powder; that will
be plenty, and nothing but right. I have many Wanyamwezi with me,
whom I have made good men. I have two from Ubagwé, and one man who
was born at Phunze's. Let Ungomirwa call the Wanyamwezi, and ask
them how the white man treats Wanyamwezi, and let him try to make
them run away, and see what they will say. They will tell him that
all white men are very good to those who are good.'

"Ungomirwa called the Wanyamwezi to him, and asked them why they
followed the white man to wander about the world, leaving their
brothers and sisters. The question elicited the following reply:

"'The white people know everything. They are better than the black
people in heart. We have abundance to eat, plenty to wear, and
silver for ourselves. All we give to the white man is our strength.
We carry his goods for him, and he bestows a father's care on his
black children. Let Ungomirwa make friends with the white man, and
do as he says, and it will be good for the land of Unyamwezi.'

"To whatever cause it was owing, Ungomirwa returned the Arab nearly
all his property, and presented me with three bullocks; and during
all the time that I was his guest at Ubagwé, he exhibited great
friendship for me, and boasted of me to several Watuta visitors who
came to see him during that time; indeed, I can hardly remember a
more agreeable stay at any village in Africa than that which I made
in Ubagwé.

"Unyamwezi is troubled with a vast number of petty kings, whose
paltriness and poverty have so augmented their pride that each of
them employs more threats, and makes more demands, than Mtesa,
emperor of Uganda.

"The adage that 'Small things make base men proud' holds true in
Africa as in other parts of the world. Sayid bin Sayf, one of the
Arabs at Kafurro, begged me, as I valued my property and peace of
mind, not to march through Unyamwezi to Ujiji, but to travel
through Uhha. I attribute these words of Sayid's to a desire on his
part to hear of my being mulcted by kings Khanza, Iwanda, and Kiti
in the same proportion that he was. He confessed that he had paid
to Kiti sixty cloths, to Iwanda sixty cloths, and to king Khanza
one hundred and thirty-eight, which amounted in value to $516, and
this grieved the gentle merchant's soul greatly.

"On my former journey in search of Livingstone, I tested
sufficiently the capacity of the chiefs of Uhha to absorb property,
and I vowed then to give them a wide berth for all future time.
Sayid's relation of his experiences, confirmed by Hamed Ibrahim,
and my own reverses, indicated but too well the custom in vogue
among the Wahha. So far, between Kibogora's capital and Ubagwé, I
had only disbursed thirty cloths as gifts to nine kings of
Unyamwezi, without greater annoyance than the trouble of having to
reduce their demands by negotiation.

"On the 4th of May, having received the milch-cows, calves, and
bullocks from my new brother Mirambo, we marched in a
south-southwest direction, skirting the territory of the Watuta, to
Ruwinga, a village occupying a patch of cleared land, and ruled by
a small chief who is a tributary to his dreaded neighbors.

"The next day, in good order, we marched across a portion of the
territory of the Watuta. No precaution was omitted to insure our
being warned in time of the presence of the enemy, nor did we make
any delay on the road, as a knowledge of their tactics of attack
assured us that this was our only chance of avoiding a conflict
with them. Msené, after a journey of twenty miles, was reached
about 2 P.M., and the king, Mulagwa, received us with open arms.

"The population of the three villages under Mulagwa probably
numbers about thirty-five hundred. The king of the Watuta
frequently visits Mulagwa's district; but his strongly-fenced
villages and large number of muskets have been sufficient to check
the intentions of the robbers, though atrocious acts are often
committed upon the unwary.

"Ten miles southwest of Msené is Kawangira, a district about ten
miles square, governed by the chief Nyambu, a rival of Mulagwa.
Relics of the ruthlessness and devastating attacks of the Watuta
are visible between the two districts, and the once populous land
is rapidly resuming its original appearance of a tenantless waste.

"The next village, Nganda, ten miles southwest from Kawangira, was
reached on the 9th of May. From this place, as far as Usenda
(distant fourteen miles south-southwest), extended a plain,
inundated with from two to five feet of water from the flooded
Gombé, which rises about forty miles southeast of Unyanyembé. Where
the Gombé meets with the Malagarazi, there is a spacious plain,
which during each rainy season is converted into a lake.

"We journeyed to the important village of Usagusi on the 12th, in a
south-southwest direction. Like Serombo, Myonga's, Urangwa, Ubagwé,
and Msené, it is strongly stockaded, and the chief, conscious that
the safety of his principal village depends upon the care he
bestows upon its defences, exacts heavy fines upon those of his
people who manifest any reluctance to repair the stockade; and this
vigilant prudence has hitherto baffled the wolflike marauders of
Ugomba.

"Twenty-five miles in a westerly direction through a depopulated
land brought us to Zegi, in Uvinza, where we found a large caravan,
under an Arab in the employ of Sayid bin Habib. Among these natives
of Zanzibar was a man who had accompanied Cameron and Tippu-Tib to
Utatera. Like other Munchausens of his race, he informed me upon
oath that he had seen a ship upon a lake west of Utatera, manned by
black Wazungu, or black Europeans!

"Before reaching Zegi, we saw Sivué Lake, a body of water fed by
the Sagala River; it is about seven miles wide by fourteen miles
long. Through a broad bed, choked by reeds and grass and tropical
plants, it empties into the Malagarazi River near Kiala.

"Zegi swarmed with a reckless number of lawless men, and was not a
comfortable place to dwell in. The conduct of these men was another
curious illustration of how 'small things make base men proud.'
Here were a number of youths suffering under that strange disease
peculiar to vain youth in all lands, which Mirambo had called 'big
head.' The manner in which they strutted about, their big looks and
bold staring, their enormous feathered head-dresses and martial
stride, were most offensive. Having adopted, from bravado, the name
of Ruga-Ruga, they were compelled in honor to imitate the bandits'
custom of smoking banghi (wild hemp), and my memory fails to remind
me of any similar experience to the wild screaming and stormy
sneezing, accompanied day and night by the monotonous droning of
the one-string guitar (another accomplishment with the complete
bandit) and the hiccoughing, snorting, and vocal extravagances
which we had to bear in the village of Zegi.

"For the next few days there were no incidents of importance, our
march being pressed with as little delay as possible. At noon of
the 27th of May the bright waters of the Tanganika broke upon the
view, and compelled me to linger admiringly for a while, as I did
on the day I first beheld them. By 3 P.M. we were in Ujiji. Muini
Kheri, Mohammed bin Gharib, Sultan bin Kassim, and Khamis the
Baluch greeted me kindly. Mohammed bin Sali was dead. Nothing was
changed much, except the ever-changing mud tembés of the Arabs. The
square or plaza where I met David Livingstone in November, 1871, is
now occupied by large tembés. The house where he and I lived has
long ago been burned down, and in its place there remain only a few
embers and a hideous void. The lake expands with the same grand
beauty before the eyes as we stand in the market-place. The
opposite mountains of Goma have the same blue-black color, for they
are everlasting, and the Liuché River continues its course as brown
as ever just east and south of Ujiji. The surf is still as
restless, and the sun as bright; the sky retains its glorious
azure, and the palms all their beauty; but the grand old hero,
whose presence once filled Ujiji with such absorbing interest for
me, was gone!"

"And here at Ujiji," said Frank, "we will pause for the present. We have read the first volume of Mr. Stanley's very interesting work, and this evening we'll begin reading the second. The story it contains is even more exciting than that which you have just heard; it carries us among new people and into new lands, and introduces us to a part of the continent unknown to Europeans until Mr. Stanley made his remarkable journey through it."

A motion to adjourn was carried unanimously, and very soon the party was dispersed over the steamer's deck. Some of them looked around for Mr. Stanley, and were disappointed to hear that he had not been visible about the deck or saloon for several hours.