UNYANYEMBE. 



327 



This part of Unyanyembe was first colonised about 

 1852, when the Arabs who had been settled nearly ten 

 years at Kigandu of P'huge, a district of Usukuma, 

 one long day's march north of Kazeh, were induced by 

 Mpagamo, to aid them against Msimbira, a rival chief, 

 who defeated and drove them from their former seats. 

 The details of this event were supplied by an actor in 

 the scenes ; they well illustrate the futility of the 

 people. The Arabs, after five or six days of skirmish- 

 ing, were upon the point of carrying the bom a or 

 palisade of Msimbira, their enemy, when suddenly at 

 night their slaves, tired of eating beef and raw ground- 

 nuts, secretly deserted to a man. The masters awaking 

 in the morning found themselves alone, and made up 

 their minds for annihilation. Fortunately for them, 

 the enemy, suspecting an ambuscade, remained behind 

 their walls, and allowed the merchants to retire without 

 an attempt to cut them off. Their employer, Mpagamo, 

 then professed himself unable to defend them ; when, 

 deeming themselves insecure, they abandoned his terri- 

 tory. Snay bin Amir and Musa Mzuri, the Indian, 

 settled at Kazeh, then a desert, built houses, sunk wells, 

 and converted it into a populous place. 



It is difficult to average the present number of Arab 

 merchants at Unyanyembe who, like the British in 

 India, visit but do not colonise ; they rarely, however, 

 exceed twenty-five in number ; and during the tra- 

 velling season, or when a campaign is necessary, they 

 are sometimes reduced to three or four ; they are too 

 strong to yield without fighting, and are not strong 

 enough to fight with success. Whenever the people 

 have mustered courage to try a fall with the strangers, 

 they have been encouraged to try again. Hitherto 

 the merchants have been on friendly terms with Fun- 



Y 4 



