THE KIRANGAWANA ROUTE. 



249 



Mukondokwa road which we had previously traversed. 

 At the same time they warned us that we should find 

 the great chief, who has given a name to the Kiringa- 

 wana route, an accomplished extortioner, and one 

 likely to insist upon our calling upon him in person. 

 Having given their ultimatum, they would not recede 

 from it : for us, therefore, nothing remained but to make 

 a virtue of necessity. We loaded on the 7 th of De- 

 cember, and commenced the passage of the Usagara 

 mountains by the Kiringawana line. 



I must indent upon the patience of the reader by a 

 somewhat detailed description of this southern route, 

 which is separated from the northern by a maximum 

 interval of forty-three miles. The former being the 

 more ancient, contains some settlements like Maroro 

 and Kisanga, not unknown by report to European geo- 

 graphers. It is preferred by down-caravans, who have 

 no store of cloth to be demanded by the rapacious 

 chiefs : the up-country travellers, who have asses, must 

 frequent the Mukondokwa, on account of the severity 

 of the passes on the Kiringawana. 



The Kiringawana numbers nineteen short stages, 

 which may be accomplished without hardship in twelve 

 days, at the rate of about five hours per diem. Pro- 

 visions are procurable in almost every part, except when 

 the Warori are "out;" and water is plentiful, if not 

 good. Travel is rendered pleasant by long stretches 

 of forest land without bush or fetid grass. The prin- 

 cipal annoyances are the thievish propensities of the 

 natives and the extortionate demands of the chief. A 

 minor plague is that of mosquitoes, that haunt the rushy 

 banks of the hill rivulets, some of which are crossed 

 nine or ten times in the same day ; moreover, the steep 

 and slippery ascents and descents of black earth and 



