VO ACROSS AFRICA. [Chap. 



June, face is usually dotted with various kinds of water-fowl, while 

 1873. Q^ ^jjg neighboring hills guinea-fowl were abundant. 



Although I had been assured that all our donkeys were prop- 

 erly tethered in camp, I heard during the night the screams of 

 one evidently in great pain or fear, at some distance from us. 

 It was impossible to jDroceed to its assistance, owing to the dark- 

 ness; and, when day dawned, the poor animal was found to 

 have been so dreadfully torn and mangled, most probably by a 

 hyena, that we were obliged to shoot it. 



A distressing sight was witnessed on the day of our depart- 

 ure, when a mixed multitude of men, women, and children, driv- 

 ing cattle and goats, and hurrying along with a few of their 

 household belongings, passed by our camp. They proved to be 

 the homeless population of some villages near Mpwapwa which 

 had been plundered by the AVadirigo, a predatory highland 

 tribe, of whom more anon. 



From Ugombo to Mpwapwa, two long marches distant, the 

 country was reported to be waterless ; and for the first time we 

 underwent a ierekesa, or afternoon march — one of the most try- 

 ing experiences of African travel. 



A terekesa is so arranged that, by starting in the afternoon 

 from a place where water is found, and marching until some 

 time after dark, leaving again as early as possible on the follow- 

 ing morning for the watering-place in front, a caravan is only 

 about twenty hours without water, instead of over thirty, as 

 would be the case if the start were in the morning. And as 

 the men cook their food before moving from the first camp and 

 after arrival at the second, no water need be carried for that 

 purpose. 



The tents and loads were in this instance seized upon and 

 packed by the carriers at 11 a.m., leaving us exposed to the sun's 

 rays, without a particle of shelter, till we started at one o'clock. 



From that hour until after sunset we toiled along a i)arched 

 and dusty country, with outcroj^s of granite and quartz all 

 bleached and weathered by the scorching sun and pouring rains 

 of the torrid zone. The vegetation was sparse and dry, con- 

 sisting of a few baobab-trees and kolqualls, and some thin wirv 

 grass, much of which had been burned down by sparks from 

 the pipes of passing caravans. 



