III.] A BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY. 41 



CHAPTER III. 



Leaving Kikoka. — Form of Camp. — Mode of Hut-building. — Foraging for Provis- 

 ions. — A "Short Cut." — Bombay as a Guide. — A Luckless Cruise. — A Xeedless 

 Scare. — Levy of Mhongo. — Msuwah. — Fortified Villages. — An Artful Dodger. — An 

 Arab Caravan. — Offerings to Spirits. — Baobab-trees. — Kisemo. — The Lugerengeri. 

 — The Kungwa Hills. — Simbaweni. — Its Queen. — Rumored Terrors of the Makata 

 Swamp. — Lazy Porters. — Honor among Deserters. 



Tired of the innumerable delays, we decided to start from March, 

 Kikoka on tlie 28tli of Marcli with whatever men we might ^^^^• 

 have m camp, leaving such loads as we were unable to get car- 

 ried in charge of the Belooch guard, to be afterward sent for by 

 Murphy. 



I turned the hands up at 5.30 a.m., and found that seven 

 more pagazi had deserted during the night. This raised the 

 total number of absentees to twenty-five, and so many more 

 were skulking about the village and in the grass and jungle 

 that it was ten o'clock before we made a move. 



It was altogether impossible to make the askari load the don- 

 keys properly. In fact, to tell the truth, we were obliged to do 

 the work ourselves while our men looked on in idleness. If 

 left to themselves, they tried to tie the crupper round the don- • 

 key's neck, and placed the pad so that it afforded no protection 

 whatever to the animal's back. 



For two hours and a half we marched across a lovely country 

 of rolling grass-land interspersed with belts of timber, and ev- 

 ery here and there small knolls crowned with clumps of trees 

 and shrubs. Away on our right lay the chain of small hills 

 where Rosako and its neighboring robber villages were situated, 

 along the route which Stanley followed on his journey for the 

 relief of Dr. Livingstone. 



We camped on the top of a small knoll, the huts of the men 

 being so arranged as to form a fence, while in the centre the 



