MPWAPWA AS A TRADING STATION. 947 



Europeans. The district seems to be productive enough of everything that 

 can afford to wait for the rain, which I am told never fails to come in the 

 proper time. Native food is abundant. 



" There is a considerable population at Mpwapwa, but it is of a very 

 mixed and nondescript character. The most numerously represented peo- 

 ple are, I think, the Wasagara. Then come the Wakaguru. There are also 

 villages of the Wagogo. The all-pervading Wauyamwezi are there too in 

 considerable numbers. There are also numbers of coast Arabs there, or peo- 

 ple who call themselves Arabs, but whose pedigree is probably as uncertain 

 as well can be. 



" Like Shoshong in South Africa, Mpwapwa is not just the place one 

 would choose to live at. But like Shoshong, Mpwapwa is a kind of gate- 

 way to vast regions beyond. At Mpwapwa meet all the roads from the coast 

 to the lake regions, from Dare Salaam, from Bagarnoyo, from Whinde, and 

 from Saadani ; and it forms a fresh starting-point for caravans after all their 

 trouble and hard labour in the maritime and mountainous regions. Like 

 Shoshong, again, it is a most important position to occupy, both as a mission 

 and trading station. The population of Mpwapwa itself is sufficiently large 

 to justify the establishment of a mission there. Then there is Tubugwe, with 

 a considerable population. It, too, might be visited from Mpwapwa. But 

 the occupation of Mpwapwa is all important in view of the establishment of 

 missions in the far interior, and should not be deferred. 



"As a trading station, the importance of Mpwapwa cannot be overrated. 

 All the produce of Tanganyika, and a great deal from the direction of Nyanza, 

 and, of course, of all the countries this side, comes through Mpwapwa ; from 

 there it branches off to the different ports on the coast. A few men, or a 

 company, with a moderate amount of capital, and who would not be afraid 

 to lay it out in the first instance upon the establishment of a thorough com- 

 munication, by bullock wagon, or any better mode, between the coast and 

 Mpwapwa, could not fail in a short time to intercept a great proportion of the 

 produce of the interior, which now goes to the coast." 



On the return journey to the coast, and when about to enter upon the 

 uninhabited prairie, the travellers were on the move at a very early hour. 

 While breakfasting at Brack River Port they were visited by a number of 

 Wakamba — a nomadic, flesh-eating people, inhabiting the northern parts of 

 the Kaguiu mountains. They are a portion of the ubiquitous Masai, who 

 are the dread of the whole country — a feeling which the following incident 

 serves to illustrate. Mr. Price writes : — 



" We had been joined in our morning's march by two natives from 

 Tubugwe. They wanted to go to Kitange, and joined us for protection in 

 crossing the prairie. I hired the one to carry water for me, and the other to 

 carry my Zulu cook's bundle, as I feared he would knock up on the long 



