CHAPTER XXXI. 



UNYANYEMBE. 



Traditions of Unyamwezi — The Appearance of the Country — The Soil — " Fairy 

 Mounts" — Villages — The Wanyamwezi — Sons of Ham — Lovers of Music 

 — Maiden Fondness for Display — Tea -Parties — Matronly Gossip — The 

 Club-Rooms — Masculine Vanity — Home Life in Unyamwezi— The Houses — 

 The Furniture — Dining Hall — "Sweet Earth" — Popular Prejudices — Food 

 of Wanyamwezi — Family Affection — Woman's Rights — Love and Law — 

 Wanyamwezi, their Prominence — Great Travellers — The " Carriers" of East 

 Africa — Varying Character — Unyanyembe Central Province — Arab Settlement 

 ■ — Mr. Stanley's Reception — Sayd bin Salim — Stanley's House — Munificent 

 Hospitality — Visitors from Tabora — Tabora Village — Arab Luxury — Promi- 

 nent Arabs of Tabora — Mr. Stanley Visits Tabora— The Council of War — 

 Mirambo — An Unhappy Alliance — Sickness— Climate of Unyanyembe — The 

 Battle Array — Disaster and Retreat — Glad to Quit— Tables Turned — The 

 " Flying Caravan " — A Weeping Lover — On the March Again — Mangara — 

 Grand Reception of Chiefs — A Jolly Time — The Ammonia Bottle Uncorked — 

 An Impression Made — Splendid Game-Park — Two Days' Hunting — Trouble in 

 Camp — A Revolt — A Dreadful Plot — The Pledge — Mrera. 



It may interest the curious to examine the evidences 01 the 

 grandeur of Unyamwezi in the days that traditions tell of, 

 when the various provinces were united under one great chief- 

 tain. But the modern traveller, intent on mysteries concealed 

 in remoter regions, or reaching eagerly forward under the 

 urgent pressure of some special mission, has hardly time for 

 patient investigation of the thousand hints from which all con- 

 clusions concerning early African history must be drawn. It 

 seems more important that the country be known as it is, before 

 we become absorbed in inquiry about what it has been. The 

 Unyamwezi of our time comprises a number of petty provinces, 

 each acknowledging its own tyrant, whose authority is confined 

 within a circumference of a few miles. The country is described 

 as lying between the barren, red, glaring regions of Ugogo and 

 the dark, monotonous verdure of the more western provinces, 

 like a garden. 



Lines of low conical and tabular hills wind about irregularly 

 660 



