152 ACEOSS AFRICA. [Chap. 



January, US, had we beeii Arabs ; but, being English, we were allowed to 

 1874. 25ass, because they knew we had not come for slaves. I have 

 a strong suspicion that this was "buncombe," for Mirambo is 

 as much a slave-dealer as any Arab in the country. But I sup- 

 pose these men had heard something of the English from my 

 people, and, not being strong enough to rob us, considered it 

 advisable to appear friendly. 



The chief proved a curious sort of fellow, frequently with- 

 drawing permission for us to buy food, and then restoring it. 

 By taking advantage of the permission when granted, we pro- 

 cured enough in two days, and w^ent on our way. 



The rains were now exceedingly heavy, and at times came 

 down witli a roar that made sleep almost impossible. The fol- 

 lowing note in my journal was evidently entered on one of 

 these occasions : " Thunder and lightning ; lying awake listen- 

 ing to the rain. If the blessed old Tanganyika gets all this, it 

 must burst out somewhere." 



Our next halt was at the village of Liowa, chief of Western 

 Ugara. The country before this had been dead level, but now 

 began to get rather broken, and the road was across undulating 

 country. The valleys were swamps, with deep and stiff black 

 mud, that, in every thing but extent, put the stories of the 

 dreaded Makata altogether into the shade. 



Passing through the ruins of so many deserted villages, once 

 the homes of happy and contented people, was indescribably 

 saddening. Where now were those who built them and culti- 

 vated the surrounding fields? Where? Driven off as slaves, 

 massacred by villains engaged in a war in which these poor 

 wretches had no interest, or dead of starvation and disease in 

 the jungle. 



Africa is bleeding out her life-blood at every pore. A rich 

 country, requiring labor only to render it one of the greatest 

 producers in the world, is having its population — already far 

 too scanty for its needs — daily depleted by the slave-trade and 

 internecine war. 



Should the present state of affairs be allowed to continue, the 

 country will gradually relapse into jungles and wilds, and will 

 become more and more impenetrable to the merchant and trav- 

 eler. That this should be a possibility is a blot on the boasted 



