264 



THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 



accident occurred to a few babies or calves, our return 

 through the country would have been difficult and dan- 

 gerous. All received the name of " Muzungu," and 

 thus there must now be a small colony of black " white 

 men " in this part of the African interior. 



At Kifukuru I was delayed a day whilst settling the • 

 blackmail of its Sultan Miyandozi. Said bin Salim, the 

 Jemadar, and Kidogo called upon him in the morning and 

 were received in the gateway of a neat " Tembe," the 

 great man disdaining to appear on so trivial an occasion. 

 This Sultan is the least powerful of the four; he is 

 plundered by the Warori tribes living to the south-west, 

 and by his western neighbour, Magomba ; his subjects 

 are poorly clad, and are little ornamented compared with 

 those occupying the central regions, where they have the 

 power to detain travellers and to charge them exorbi- 

 tantly for grain and water. Yet Miyandozi demanded 

 four white and six blue shukkahs; besides which I was 

 compelled to purchase for him from the sons of Ramji, 

 who of course charged treble its value, a " Sohari " or 

 handsome silk and cotton loin-cloth. In return he sent — 

 it appeared to be in irony — -one kayla, or four small mea- 

 sures of grain. The slaves of Salim bin Rashid obliged 

 me with a few pounds of rice, for which I gave them a 

 return in gunpowder, and they undertook to convey to 

 Zanzibar a package of reports, indents, and letters, 

 which was punctually delivered. An ugly accident had 

 nearly happened that night ; the Wanyamwezi porters 

 managed to fire the grass round a calabash tree, against 

 which they had stretched their loads, and a powder-maga- 

 zine — fortunately fire-proof — was blackened and charred 

 by the flames. A traveller cannot be too careful about his 

 ammunition in these lands. I have seen a slave smoking 

 a water pipe, tied for convenience of carriage to a leaky 

 keg of powder ; and another in the caravan of Salim bin 



