FIRST ASPECT OF UGOGO. 



221 



* after some pleasant months — oases in the grim deserts 

 of Anglo-Indian life — spent among the tree-clad heights, 

 the breezy lakes, and the turfy valleys of the Himalayas 

 and the Neilgherries, sight from their last vantage- 

 ground the jaundiced and fevered plains below, we 

 scrambled down an irregular incline of glaring red clay 

 and dazzling white chalk, plentifully besprinkled with 

 dark-olive silex in its cherty crust. Below the descent 

 was a level space upon a long ridge, where some small 

 villages of Wasagara had surrounded themselves with 

 dwarf fields of holcus, bajri, and maize. A little beyond 

 this spot, called the " Third Rubeho," we found a com- 

 fortless kraal on uneven ground, a sloping ledge sinking 

 towards a deep ravine. 



At the third Rubeho we were delayed for a day — as 

 is customary before a "Tirikeza" — by the necessity of 

 laying in supplies for a jungle march, and by the 

 quarrels of the men. The Baloch were cross as naughty 

 children, ever their case when cold and hungry : warm 

 and full, they become merry as crickets. The Kiran- 

 gozi in hot wrath brought his flag to Said bin 

 Salim, and threatened to resign, because he had been 

 preceded on the last stage by two of the Baloch : his 

 complaints of this highly irregular proceeding were 

 with difficulty silenced by force of beads. I remarked, 

 however, a few days afterwards, when travelling through 

 Ugogo, that the Kirangozi, considering himself in 

 danger, applied to me for a vanguard of matchlockmen. 

 The sons of Ramji combined with the porters in re- 

 fusing to carry my companion, and had Bombay and 

 Mabruki not shown good- will, we might have re- 

 mained a week in the acme of discomfort. The asses, 

 frightened by wild beasts, broke loose at night, and one 

 was lost. The atmosphere was ever in excesses of heat 



