208 



THE HUBBUB. 



wild mulberries, custard apples, and stately trees 

 whose lustrous green glittered against the red 

 ochreous earth. The sarsaparilla vine hung in 

 clusters and festoons from the high supporting 

 limbs of the tamarind ; the tall toddy-palm raised 

 its fantastic arms over the dwarf fan palm, and 

 bitter oranges mingled aroma with herbs not 

 unlike our mint and sage. Opposite and below, 

 half veiled with rank steam, the ' smokes ' of 

 Western Africa, lay the yellow Nyika and the 

 Wazegura lowlands : it was traversed by a serpen- 

 tine of trees marking the course of the Mkomafi, 

 an affluent of the lower Panga-ni river. Three 

 dwarf cones, the Mbara Hills, bearing 230'' and 

 distant about eight miles, crowned the desert, and 

 far beyond the well-wooded line of the E^ufu, a 

 uniform purple plain stretched to the rim of the 

 Southern and Western horizon, as far as * our 

 glasses could trace it. 



We were startled from our observations by a 

 prodigious hubbub. The three fresh porters posi- 

 tively refused to proceed unless a certain number 

 of cloths were sent forwards to propitiate the 

 magnates of Euga. This trick was again easily 

 traced to Wazira, who had been lecturing us all 

 the morning upon the serious nature of our under- 

 taking. Sultan Kimwere was a potent monarch, 



