62 



FROM THE COAST TO KILIMANJARO 



some twenty-five or thirty such viUages on the Pangani, the 

 people of which are agricnhiirists and cattle-breeders. 



Our march to Mafi, which took three days, was in a north- 

 north-westerly direction as far as Maiitui. Here the Usambara 

 mountains approach quite close to the river ; but they soon 

 seem to draw back into the distance, again rising up some nine 

 to eleven miles off as a massive wall unrelieved by any peaks. 

 Three isolated mountains, known as Ukunga, Mafi, and Ngai, 

 however, varying in height from 1,150 to 1,500 feet, rise up from 

 the plains between the Usambara range and the river. 



On the second day we camped near the village of Mualeni, 

 the road there leading us across the Mkomasi stream, which we 

 crossed close to its mouth in the Pangani. A frail bridge 

 made of the strong midribs of the water palm was the only 

 connection between the banks, but it would not bear the weight 

 of heavily-laden men. Some had to wade through the water — 

 a difficult matter, on account of the dense overhanging foliage 

 and the uneven bed, full of hidden holes and pitfalls. It was 

 some hours before we could leave Mualeni, where for the first 

 time I got a good shot, such as I had eagerly desired for so long, 

 at some big African game. 



;r A native lad, who was minding some goats hard b}', told 

 me that there were nearly always a lot of hippopotami amongst 

 the islands and rapids of the Pangani, and I eagerly acted on 

 his hint, as I had so far seen next to nothing of the wild animals 

 of the country. Tlie place the boy led me to bore unmistak- 

 able traces of being a favourite landing-place of the thick- 

 skinned river-horses, and though there were none in sight at 

 the moment, there was every chance of patient waiting being- 

 rewarded with success. And very soon, some ten paces 

 from where I stood, the huge bulk of a hippopotamus rose 

 almost completely out of the water. My charge from my 

 Express rifle hit him in the iniddle of the forehead, there was a 



