THE FIERY FIELD. 



281 



opening their burdens, which they afterwards abandon 

 upon the road. The Coast-Arabs, in return for some 

 small shot, which is here highly prized, assisted me by 

 carrying some surplus luggage. Amongst other articles, 

 two kegs of gunpowder were committed to them : both 

 were punctually returned at Unyanyembe, where gun- 

 powder sells at two cloths, or half a Frasilah (17*5 lbs.) 

 of ivory per lb; but the bungs had been stove in, and a 

 quarter of the contents had evaporated. The evening 

 of the second day's halt closed on us before the 

 rations for the caravan were collected, and seventeen 

 shukkah, with about a hundred strings of beads, barely 

 produced a sufficiency of grain. 



From the Ked Vale of Mdaburu three main lines tra- 

 verse the desert between Ugogo and Unyamwezi. 

 The northernmost, called Njia T'humbi, leads in a west- 

 north- westerly direction to Usukuma. Upon this track 

 are two sultans and several villages. The central " Ka- 

 rangasa," or "Mdaburu," is that which will be described 

 in the following pages. The southernmost, termed 

 Uyanzi, sets out from K'hok'ho, and passes through the 

 settlements known by the name of Jiwe la Singa\ It 

 is avoided by the porters, dreading to incur the wrath 

 of Sultan Kibuya, who would resent their omitting 

 to visit his settlement, M'daburu. 



These three routes pass through the heart of the 

 great desert and elephant-ground " Mgunda Mk'hali"— 

 explained by the Arabs to mean in Kinyamwezi, the Fiery 

 " Shamba " or Field. Like Marenga Mk'hali, it is a desert, 

 because it contains no running water nor wells, except 

 after rain. The name is still infamous, but its ill-fame 

 rests rather upon tradition than actuality ; in fact, its 

 dimensions are rapidly shrinking before the torch and 

 axe. About fifteen years ago it contained twelve long 



