216 



THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 



Mukondokwa and the Kingani, the latter through the 

 Rwaha and the Rufiji Rivers. 



A lively scene awaited my arrival at the " Little 

 Rubeho." From a struggling mass of black humanity, 

 which I presently determined to be our porters, pro- 

 ceeded a furious shouting and yelling. Spears and 

 daggers flashed in the sun, and cudgels played with a 

 threshing movement which promised many a broken 

 head. At the distance of a few yards, with fierce faces and 

 in motionless martial attitudes, the right hand upon the 

 axe-handle stuck in the waist-belt, and the left grasping 

 the bow and two or three polished assegais, stood a 

 few strong fellows, the forlorn hope of the fray. In 

 the midst of the crowd, like Norman Ramsay's troop 

 begirt by French cavalry — to compare small things with 

 great — rose and fell the chubby, thickset forms of Muinyi 

 Wazira and his four Wak'hutu, who, undaunted by num- 

 bers, were dealing death to nose and scalp. Charge ! 

 Mavi ya Gnombe ( " Bois de Vache " ) charge ! On ! 

 Mashuzi (" Fish Fry-soup") on ! Bite, Kuffan Kwema 

 (" To die is good") bite, Smite, Na daka Mali ("I want 

 wealth") smite ! At length, when 



" Blood (t'was from the nose) began to flow," 



a little active interference rescued the five " enfans 

 perdus." The porters had been fighting upon the 

 question whether the men with small-pox should, or 

 should not, be admitted into the kraal, and Muinyi 

 Wazira and his followers, under the influence of pota- 

 tions which prevented their distinguishing friend from 

 foe, had proved themselves, somewhat unnecessarily 

 heroes. It is usually better to let these quarrels work 

 themselves out ; if prematurely cut short, the serpent, 

 wrath, is scotched, not slain. A little "punishment" 



