As all hopes of being able to get any more men were given up, I called on Bombay and Baraka to make arrangements for my going ahead with the best of my property as I had devised. They both shook their heads, and advised me to remain until the times improved, when the Arabs, being freed from the pressure of war, would come along and form with us a "sufari ku" or grand march, as Ukulima and every one else had said we should be torn to pieces in Usui if we tried to cross that district with so few men. I then told them again and again of the messages I had sent on to Rumanika in Karague, and to Suwarora in Usui, and begged them to listen to me, instancing as an example of what could be done by perseverance the success of Columbus, who, opposed by his sailors' misgivings, still when on and triumphed, creating for himself immortal renown.
They gave way at last; so, after selecting all the best of my property, I formed camp at Phunze, left Bombay with Grant behind, as I thought Bombay the best and most honest man I had got, from his having had so much experience, and then went ahead by myself, with the Pig as my guide and interpreter, and Baraka as my factotum. The Waguana then all mutinied for a cloth apiece, saying they would not lift a load unless I gave it. Of course a severe contest followed; I said, as I had given them so much before, they could not want it, and ought to be ashamed of themselves. They urged, however, they were doing double work, and would not consent to carry loads as they had done at Mgunda Mkhali again.
Arguments were useless, for, simply because they were tired of going on, they WOULD not see that as they were receiving pay every day, they therefore ought to work every day. However, as they yielded at last, by some few leaning to my side, I gave what they asked for, and went to the next village, still inefficient in men, as all the Pig's Watoto could not be collected together. This second move brought us into a small village, of which Ghiya, a young man, was chief.
He was very civil to me, and offered to sell me a most charming young woman, quite the belle of the country; but as he could not bring me to terms, he looked over my picture-books with the greatest delight, and afterwards went into a discourse on geography with considerable perspicacity; seeming fully to comprehend that if I got down the Nile it would afterwards result in making the shores of the N'yanza like that of the coast at Zanzibar, where the products of his country could be exchanged, without much difficulty, for cloths, beads, and brass wire. I gave him a present; then a letter was brought to me from Sheikh Said, announcing Musa's death, and the fact that Manua Sera was still holding out at Kigue; in answer to which I desired the sheikh to send me as many of Musa's slaves as would take service with me, for they ought now, by the laws of the Koran, to be all free.
On packing up to leave Ghiya's, all the men of the village shut the bars of the entrance, wishing to extract some cloths from me, as I had not given enough, they said, to their chief. They soon, however, saw that we, being inside their own fort, had the best of it, and they gave way. We then pushed on to Ungurue's, another chief of the same district. Here the men and women of the place came crowding to see me, the fair sex all playfully offering themselves for wives, and wishing to know which I admired most. They were so importunate, after a time, that I was not sorry to hear an attack was made on their cattle because a man of the village would not pay his dowry-money to his father-in-law, and this set everybody flying out to the scene of action.
After this, as Bombay brought up the last of my skulking men, I bade him good-bye again, and made an afternoon-march on to Takina, in the district of Msalala, which we no sooner approached than all the inhabitants turned out and fired their arrows at us. They did no harm, however, excepting to create a slight alarm, which some neighbouring villagers took advantage of to run of with two of my cows. To be returned to them, but called in vain, as the scoundrels said, "Findings are keepings, by the laws of our country; and as we found your cows, so we will keep them." For my part I was glad they were gone, as the Wanguana never yet kept anything I put under their charge; so, instead of allowing them to make a fuss the next morning, I marched straight on for M'ynoga's, the chief of the district, who was famed for his infamy and great extortions, having pushed his exactions so far as to close the road.
On nearing his palace, we heard war-drums beat in every surrounding village, and the kirangozi would go no farther until permission was obtained from M'yonga. This did not take long, as the chief said he was most desirous to see a white man, never having been to the coast, though his father-in-law had, and had told him that the Wazungu were even greater people than the sultan reigning there. On our drawing near the palace, a small, newly-constructed boma was shown for my residence; but as I did not wish to stop there, knowing how anxious Grant would be to have his relief, I would not enter it, but instead sent Baraka to pay the hongo as quickly as possible, that we might move on again; at the same time ordering him to describe the position both Grant and myself were in, and explain that what I paid now was to frank both of us, as the whole of the property was my own. Should he make any remarks about the two cows that were stolen, I said he must know that I could not wait for them, as my brother would die of suspense if we did not finish the journey and send back for him quickly. Off went Baraka with a party of men, stopping hours, of course, and firing volleys of ammunition away. He did not return again until the evening, when the palace-drums announced that the hongo had been settled for one barsati, one lugoi, and six yards merikani. Baraka approached me triumphantly, saying how well he had managed the business. M'yonga did not wish to see me, because he did not know the coast language. He was immensely pleased with the present I had given him, and said he was much and very unjustly abused by the Arabs, who never came this way, saying he was a bad man. He should be very glad to see Grant, and would take nothing from him; and, though he did not see me in person, he would feel much affronted if I did not stop the night there. In the meanwhile he would have the cows brought in, for he could not allow any one to leave his country abused in any way.
My men had greatly amused him by firing their guns off and showing him the use of their sword-bayonets. I knew, as a matter of course, that if I stopped any longer I should be teased for more cloths, and gave orders to my men to march the same instant, saying, if they did not—for I saw them hesitate—I would give the cows to the villagers, since I knew that was the thing that weighed on their minds. This raised a mutiny. No one would go forward with the two cows behind; besides which, the day was far spent, and there was nothing but jungle, they said, beyond. The kirangozi would not show the way, nor would any man lift a load. A great confusion ensued. I knew they were telling lies, and would not enter the village, but shot the cows when they arrived, for the villagers to eat, to show them I cared for nothing but making headway, and remained out in the open all night. Next morning, sure enough, before we could get under way, M'yonga sent his prime minister to say that the king's sisters and other members of his family had been crying and tormenting him all night for having let me off so cheaply—they had got nothing to cover their nakedness, and I must pay something more. This provoked fresh squabbles. The drums had beaten and the tax was settled; I could not pay more. The kirangozi, however, said he would not move a peg unless I gave something more, else he would be seized on his way back. His "children' all said the same; and as I thought Grant would only be worsted if I did not keep friends with the scoundrel, I gave four yards more merikani, and then went on my way.
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.