[CHAPTER XXXIII.]
INCIDENTS OF THE JOURNEY TO THE COAST.—CONCLUSION.
The journey from Unyamyembe to Bagamoya formerly consumed five or six months, but is now usually accomplished in eight or ten weeks. Our friends recorded in their note-books forty-nine marching days and twenty-one days of delay, making exactly ten weeks in all. Delays are inevitable in African travel, and they arise from various causes. Porters fall sick or desert, or are disinclined to go through as fast as possible; provisions are not always obtainable; donkeys stray from camp, and require a considerable expenditure of time for hunting them up; the leaders of the caravan are often detained by fever; rivers and swamps overflow in wet seasons, and there is a scarcity of water at other times; and the petty chiefs along the route interpose many obstacles to one's rapid progress. On the whole, Doctor Bronson considered his party fortunate to be delayed no more than three weeks on this part of their route, and their Arab friend said there was rarely an expedition which went through as quickly as they had done.
The payment of mhongo as tribute for passing through the country is an established custom of this great route of trade, and many are the disputes that arise from it. Of course the caravans want to give the least possible amount, while the chiefs demand exorbitant figures for the privilege. In some districts the tariff is regulated and understood, while in others there is no settled rate, and the two contending parties make the best bargain they can. Frank and Fred were greatly amused at the disputes over the mhongo question until they lost their novelty. One of these disputes lasted a couple of days, and at one time there was a good prospect of a fight for the right of passage. The chief demanded two hundred cloths and fifty strings of beads as his tribute, and he refused permission for the party to proceed until the whole amount was paid. He sent his warriors to cut down trees and blockade the road; and as the country was admirably suited to an ambuscade our friends were decidedly at a disadvantage.
The bargaining went on with a great deal of vehemence, the chief declaring he would not lower his terms a single point, and a little while later offering to take something less. He finally let them go on in consideration of forty cloths and five strings of beads. Just as they were starting he sent several baskets of sweet-potatoes, as an expression of good-will, and received an old hatchet in return. Fred suggested that with this implement he might set up as an African George Washington—not for his inability to tell a lie, but for his zeal in cutting down trees.
