e march, the sheikh riding in a hammock slung on a pole, we
now made Kuale, or "Partridge" nullah, which, crossing the road to the
northward, drains these lands to the Malagarazi river, and thence into
the Tanganyika lake. Thence, having spent the night in the jungle, we
next morning pushed into the cultivated district of Rubuga, and put up
in some half-deserted tembes, where the ravages of war were even more
disgusting to witness than at Tura. The chief, as I have said, was a
slave, placed there by the Arabs on the condition that he would allow
all traders and travellers to help themselves without payment as long as
they chose to reside there. In consequence of this wicked arrangement,
I found it impossible to keep my men from picking and stealing. They
looked upon plunder as their fortune and right, and my interference as
unjustifiable.

By making another morning and evening march, we then reached the western
extremity of this cultivated opening; where, after sleeping the night,
we threaded through another forest to the little clearance of Kigue,
and in one more march through forest arrived in the large and fertile
district of Unyanyembe, the centre of Unyamuezi--the Land of the
Moon--within five miles of Kaze which is the name of a well in the
village of Tbora, now constituted the great central slave and ivory
merchants' depot. My losses up to this date (23d) were as follows:--One
Hottentot dead and five returned; one freeman sent back with the
Hottentots, and one flogged and turned off; twenty-five of Sultan
Majid's gardeners deserted; ninety-eight of the original Wanyamuezi
porters deserted; twelve mules and three donkeys dead. Besides which,
more than half of my property had been stolen; whilst the travelling
expenses had been unprecedented, in consequence of the severity of the
famine throughout the whole length of the march.

Chapter V. Unyamuezi

The Country and People of U-n-ya-muezi--Kaze, the Capital--Old Musa--The
Naked Wakidi--The N'yanza, and the Question of the River Running in or
out--The Contest between Mohinna and "Short-legs"--Famine--The Arabs and
Local Wars--The Sultana of Unyambewa--Ungurue "The Pig"--Pillage.

U-n-ya-muezi--Country of Moon--must have been one of the largest
kingdoms in Africa. It is little inferior in size to England, and of
much the same shape, though now, instead of being united, it is cut
up into petty states. In its northern extremities it is known by
the appellatio