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For the first few miles there were villagers, but after that a long tract of jungle, inhabited chiefly by antelopes and rhinoceros. It was wilder in appearance than most parts of Unyamuezi. In this jungle a tributary nullah to the Gombe, called Nurhungure, is the boundary-line between the great Country of the Moon and the kingdom of Uzinza.
We then began to talk in a general way about Suwarora and Rumanika, as well as the road through Unyamuezi, which we hoped would soon cease to exist, and be superseded by one through Unyoro.
The expense was admitted, for I had now been obliged to purchase from the Arabs upwards of L400 worth of beads, to keep such a store in reserve for my return from Uganda as would enable me to push on to Gondokoro. I thought this necessary, as every report that arrived from Unyamuezi only told us of further disasters with the merchants in that country.
Pomba is a sort of spirituous liquor, produced from a kind of grain grown in the country, which is cultivated by women, who nearly entirely superintend the preparation of the drink. They received a visit from Sultan Ukulima, of Unyamuezi, a fine hale old man, who was especially fond of this beverage, drinking it all day long.
I saw now we had too many mouths to feed; and as Ramji's men had been hired more for show than work, their term of service had just expired, and I did not think we should require their guns any more, I begged Captain Burton to give them a present each, with leave to go to their homes for it must be remembered they possess homes in Unyamuezi as well as at Zanzibar.
Now from this southern point, round by the west, to where the great Nile stream issues, there is only one feeder of any importance, and that is the Kitangule river; whilst from the southernmost point, round by the east, to the strait, there are no rivers at all of any importance; for the travelled Arabs one and all aver, that from the west of the snow-clad Kilimandjaro to the lake where it is cut by the second degree, and also the first degree of south latitude, there are salt lakes and salt plains, and the country is hilly, not unlike Unyamuezi; but they said there were no great rivers, and the country was so scantily watered, having only occasional runnels and rivulets, that they always had to make long marches in order to find water when they went on their trading journeys: and further, those Arabs who crossed the strait when they reached Usoga, as mentioned before, during the late interregnum, crossed no river either.
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.
The temperature is greater at this than at any other time of the year, in consequence of its being the end of the dry season; still, as will be seen by the annexed register of one week, the Unyamuezi plateau is not unbearably hot. Thermometer hung in a passage of our house showed Morning, Noon, and Afternoon respectively
As K'yengo was supposed to know all about me, and spoke fluently both in Kiganda and Kisuahili, he had to speak first; but K'yengo, to everybody's surprise, said, "One white man wishes to go to Kamrasi's, whilst the other wishes to return through Unyamuezi."
P.S. Donkeys are very scarce; only found in a few places in the Unyamuezi country. Vegetable. Rice, jowari, bagri, maize, manioc, sweet potatoes, yams, pumpkins, melons, cucumbers, tobacco, cotton, pulse in great varieties, chilis, benghans, plantains, tomatoes, sesamum. The Quantity of Kit taken for this Journey consisted of
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