118 IN TREATY WITH MYONGA. dress could be obtained, because the offender was said to belong to a different village. But how were we to get away from these annoyances, which were exhausting to one's strength and patience? Our porters began to desert, saying, what was the use of staying therethere was nothing to eat? I was almost driven to giving up a gun or more, as I had seen the country traversed without them; but on reference to Speke, who lay prostrated with sickness twelve miles from me, I was told on no account to give guns, but to settle the tax, and join him at any sacrifice. Some Seedees under Baraka, who had a great deal of native bluster about him, arrived with a bound and dash, bringing Speke's message; and having armed himself and a dozen followers with ten rounds of ammunition each, Baraka went to the sultan, carrying an offer of forty fathoms of calico and ten wires of copper. The chief did not see why he should be treated so stingily! Other men of his rank get much handsomer presents; he merely asks for twenty coloured cloths, no guns, but he must have four barrels of powder, and don't forget the gentleman's blanket!' To settle the matter, as we had been delayed seven days, one case of gunpowder, double the quantity of cloth, the scarlet blanket, and a bundle of beads were sent sorrowfully, but in the full hope of success. No; we could not leave his country till one case of powder was given; so the case was rendered, and his men were requested to take it to him. They then got up a noise because a box of percussion-caps had been taken out, and before going to their sultan they requested each a cloth for their trouble. Baraka again went to appeal; the box of caps was not wanted; the men were rebuked; one goat was given by the sultan THE WATUTA OR ZULU KAFIRS. 119 to Baraka; and we marched that afternoon, the 23d September, having been detained seven days, with wounded feelings, and with every howl of the exulting natives sinking deeply into our hearts. Some remarks upon the Watuta race may not be out of place here. They had lately been assisting Bolæma, a chief of the district, to defeat my friend Myonga, and had succeeded in capturing thirty of his cattle, and striking terror into the country. Although we never saw one of the tribe, we came upon their deserted camps, and had two men amongst our followers who had once been taken prisoners by them. To these two I am chiefly indebted for the following information. Their M'foomoo, or sultan, M'Tookoolla, has his headquarters at Malavie, a province bordering on the north-west shore of Lake Nyassa. A brother of his, called M'Tumbareeka, has wandered north to Utambara, and there formed a royal residence. They seldom go themselves in search of cattle and slaves, but send their wuzeers or officers, with several thousand followers, roaming over the country, leaving nothing but waste behind them. If they find a village without cattle, they demand slaves instead, never giving up the siege till some tax has been extorted. Some cases are told of their besieging a place for months, with their superior numbers encircling the village to prevent escape; those who were so fortunate as to break through this Watuta cordon being looked upon by the country afterwards as having had a charmed life. The only race in the south that ever mastered them, and can pass through them, are the Wabeesa, living to their west. We had one of these people in camp, a young lad, so bold that he would 120 THE WATUTA OR ZULU KAFIRS. show fight against our strongest follower. Men from the coast are sometimes found to enter their camp fearlessly; but, as a rule, every race in the interior is in continual dread of their arrival. They have large boats, with which they navigate the Nyassa lake, landing and making raids on the people of Nyassa and Uhiao. The pure race adopt the costume of the Kafir in their extraordinary coverings; but as they are made up of many who love a life of freedom, or had been captured from villages in childhood, the race must be a very mixed one. Their arms are two or three very small short spears, which they never throw, but, with a leather shield in the left hand protecting their own bodies, they close upon their foe; and, if he resists being captured as a slave, stab him. We once were encamped in a village when, at night, the drums beat the alarm-tap, tap, slowly, increasing to a tremendous roll. This was to warn all that the Watuta were on the move in the vicinity, and might take this village on their way; however, they did not come to it till some days after we had left it, when the people got warning and escaped. We saw their camp in a circle of fence, completely surrounding a village, at a distance of 200 yards. Forked sticks were stuck in the ground to support the cow-skins which their women carry to shade them during the day from the sun. Most comfortable beddings of grass lay on the ground; or, when long in one place, their huts were a half-orange shape, very low, and surrounded by a fence made from the euphorbia, which is imagined to be poisonous, and only fit for the use of the Watuta. The chief Myonga, who plundered my caravan, and OUR SEEDEES STRIKE FOR DOUBLE PAY. 121 the eight or ten other petty chiefs whose country we had to pass through afterwards, were not a whit better than the Watuta, and the wonder is they did not take everything from us. It was only because they feared being shot or bewitched, or come down upon by their neighbouring chiefs, that they desisted. When one is known to possess wealth, obtained by tax or by plunder, jealousy and quarrels are the certain result. We no sooner heard the vile sound of the war-drum to collect the natives, and intimidate our party into the settlement of the tax, than our porters would desert; and when the drums beat a "receipt" for all demands, and we were free to move out of their clutches, our Wezee porters would get up a row with us, and demand more cloth, thus causing us to suffer as much annoyance from friend as from foe; and often they would run away in a body as soon as they got what they wanted. Nothing we could devise seemed to succeed, till their bows and arrows were seized, and they had got so far on the journey that going back through these boisterous races to their homes without arms would have been as bad as death to them. One trouble over, we had others: our Seedees, who had been engaged and paid at the British Consulate of Zanzibar to accompany us, struck for double pay and increased allowance for rations. Their complaints were calmly listened to; and when it was told that they might leave our service but lay down their arms, they surrendered them, but thought better of it the following morning, and only three of them deserted. These constant drains upon our resources had one good effect-they lightened our baggage; and after the enormous tax levied by the sultan and under chiefs of Usui, we were far in the interior at Karague, with certainly not enough of beads to last us six months. The first sixteen marches from Ukuni were through very pleasant undulations of tall soft grass and umbrageous forest-trees, spots here and there being cleared for cultivation, and capable of yielding grain for one or two thousand travellers throughout a season. On getting into Usui the watershed had changed; all ran to Victoria Nyanza. Our path crossed three or four escarped hills, tailing gently off to lower ground in the north. About Lohagattee there was picturesque scenery. Delightfully wild rocks and crags interspersed with trees overhung the valleys, reminding one of the echoing cliffs over the Lake of Killarney. A waterfall, too, added a rare charm to this part of the journey. The water fell upon hard, black, volcanic-like boulders of conglomerate, in a cascade of two cubic feet from the top of the escarpment seventy feet in height. Amongst the spray beautiful ferns and mosses grew in great luxuriance, recalling many a ramble at home for plants and objects of natural history; but though crabs were about the water, no land-shells were found. The natives came into camp asking why the fall had been visited by the white man. Did he mean to stop the water that supplied the whole valley, by turning its course or drinking up its waters? Their chief, we heard, when rain is required, goes through a propitiatory ceremony at this spot to bring it in abundance; but as this year rain had fallen at its usual season, their fears were easily calmed. The rain-doctor had put out his magic instruments under a tree by the 20th October, and expected it abundantly at new |