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Updated: May 5, 2025
No helmet is supposed to be complete without a row of cowrie-shells stitched around the rim so as to form a solid edge.
All the cowrie-shells used in Latooka and the neighboring countries were supplied by these vessels, but none had arrived for the last two years. I concluded the lake was no other than the N'yanza, which, if the position of Mangungo were correct, extended much farther north than Speke had supposed. I determined to take the first opportunity to push for Magungo.
The cattle that had panted for water, and whose food was withered straw, were filled with juicy fodder. The camels that had subsisted upon the dried and leafless twigs and branches, now feasted upon the succulent tops of the mimosas. Throngs of women and children mounted upon camels, protected by the peculiar gaudy saddle-hood, ornamented with cowrie-shells, accompanied the march.
According to his description, Magungo is situated on a lake so large that no one knows its limits. Its breadth is such that, if you journey two days east and the same distance west, there is no land visible on either quarter, while to the south its direction is utterly unknown. Large vessels arrive at Magungo from distant and unknown parts, bringing cowrie-shells and beads in exchange for ivory.
A man of Ruanda now informed us that the cowrie-shells, so plentiful in that country, come there from the other or western side, but he could not tell whence they were originally obtained.
In an examination of Wani I discovered that the cowrie-shells were brought from a place called "Magungo." This name I had previously heard mentioned by the natives, but I could obtain no clue to its position. It was most important that I should discover the exact route by which the cowries arrived from the south, as it would be my guide to that direction.
Throngs of women and children mounted upon camels, protected by the peculiar gaudy saddle hood, ornamented with cowrie-shells, accompanied the march; thousands of sheep and goats, driven by Arab boys, were straggling in all directions; baggage-camels, heavily laden with the quaint household goods, blocked up the way; the fine bronzed figures of Arabs, with sword and shield, and white topes, or plaids, guided their milk-white dromedaries through the confused throng with the usual placid dignity of their race, simply passing by with the usual greeting, "Salaam aleikum," "Peace be with you."
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