An African traveler's description of pre-colonial south-central Africa. (Patreon)

The 19th century was the era of state building in south-central Africa, as charismatic rulers appeared who created new hegemonies over the smaller, pre-existing polities.

Unlike the surrounding regions in the Great Lakes and west-central Africa where large, centralized states had long been a feature of social organization, the region of south-central Africa witnessed an unprecedented period of political consolidation in the 1800s as warrior-kings sought to monopolize military power, regulate trade routes, and expand their control over vast swathes of territory.

In the Nyamwezi region of west-central Tanzania, rulers such as Mirambo, Nyungu Ya Mawe and Isike established large kingdoms that controlled important trading towns like Tabora. In the Katanga region of south-eastern D.R.Congo, the powerful king Msiri who came from Nyamwezi region carved out a large empire connecting trade routes from east Africa to the Ovimbundu of west-central Africa. And in the Bemba region of north-eastern Zambia, paramount chiefs with the title of Chitimukulu created several large states that captured much of the incoming trade from the East African coast to the old Lunda kingdom of Kazembe.

This diverse political landscape of south-central Africa was described in great detail by a Swahili Ivory trader Selemani Mwenyi Chande who led a carravan into the region in 1891. Mwenyi Chande was an avid observer of the regions he visited and he recounted over a hundred and fifty toponyms ,ethnonyms and rulers of the places and peoples he met with meticulous detail that surpasses most of the contemporary travel accounts.

Incidentally, Mwenyi Chande journey occurred during the most decisive decade of the region's history, as many of the independent African societies he described would be colonized shortly after he had left, leaving his account as the last document written by an African describing south-central Africa.

This article provides the full account of Mwenyi Chande's description of south-central Africa on the eve of colonialism, a long document comprising over 17,000 words describing the hundreds of remarkable societies which the African visitor encountered.

Map showing the Carravan route of Mwenyi Chande in 1891, including a few of the kings he encountered. (this is only a very brief summary since Mnweyi Chande mentions atleast 80 different rulers)

Introduction and summary of Mwenyi Chande's travelogue.

In 1891, a Swahili merchant named Selemani bin Mwenyi Chande bin Mwenyi Hamisi al-Shirazi, led a caravan that undertook one of the longest documented journeys into the interior of south-central Africa. Starting at the port city of Bagamoyo, crossing Tanzania into D.R.Congo and returning via Zambia, Mwenyi Chande's caravan was beset by many difficulties. Their goods were confiscated twice, they were forced to labour for some powerful rulers, they lost many of their numbers to war and wild animals, and could barely eek out a profit in the end.

In 1893, Mwenyi Chande transcribed the account of his journey, titled Safari yangu ya Barra Afrika ( "My journey up-country in Africa"), which was included in the compilation of Swahili travelogues collected by Carl Velten, published in 1901 as 'Safari za Wasuaheli (Journeys of the Swahili). Mwenyi Chande was a member of the waUngwana (patrician) belonging to the old lineages of classical Swahili coast as indicated by his nisba of al-Shirazi. He worked his way up the coastal society from caravan look-out, to caravan guide, to caravan leader, building relationships with Nyamwezi porters, Indian creditors, and the interior rulers, and memorizing routes.

Mwenyi Chande's detailed account was firmly grounded in the cultural milieu of the region as related in similar contemporary accounts of the commodities trade in 19th century Eastern and Central Africa. I've previously described the economic dynamics of carravan trade in detail here, concerning their organization, acquisition of goods (mostly cloth) on credit, recruitment of porters, paying of hongo (taxes) in the interior, stop points like Tabora and the purchase of ivory.

Map of Carravan routes in the late 19th century

What Mwenyi's account provides is a very rich and detailed, first-hand description of these processes as witnessed by a caravan led by an African. Unlike contemporary European travelogues into the so-called "dark continent", Mwenyi's account doesn't contain introspection from a biased author, but focuses more on the people and places he encounters than himself. He therefore provides a relatively objective account of south-central Africa's political landscape and illustrates how the balance of power on the mainland largely favored the local rulers, and not the coastal traders --as colonial historians often claimed.

Mwenyi Chande mentions rulers who strong-armed the carravan into paying higher taxes, such as at Magembe whose ruler decline the offer of ten nguo (lengths of cloth) as tax, so he attacked the carravan, seized two loads of cargo and killed three carriers at the cost of two of his men. Similary, another ruler at Jiwe la Singa, called Wamba, sent brigards to loot the carravan after they'd given him one hundred nguo, which he considered small.

These taxes were often paid in exchange for provisions (like food and water), as well as land to set up camp since the carravan had over a hundred members. However, the rulers were not obligated to give anything to their guests. For example, a ruler at Msanga took as much as 420 nguo without providing the water and food which the carravan demanded, and another ruler at Igonda named queen Ndisha, took 140 nguo but only gave then a chicken.

Occasionally, they'd meet less powerful figures whom they didn’t give any taxes, and when they thought they were running low on cloth to give as taxes eg at Ukala, they simply ran away after a brief stay. In other cases, their goods were stolen, eg by the succesor of a famous warlord named Nyugu ya Mawe, the latter had fled from Tabora due to dynastic conflicts but recruited armies of brigands who attacked the carravan in a 3-day long battle and seized six loads of cloth, gunpowder. Other rulers such as at Unyangwira and Ikunsi detained the carravan and forced all of its members to build him a boma (fortified settlement), even after receiving taxes.

Since most of the regions they passed through were still independent, Mwenyi Chande provides brief accounts of the prevailing political relationships and the occasional conflicts between the various African polities and groups. Eg powerful rulers like Queen Ndisha, King Msiri, King Mlilo, and the Bemba king Chitmukulu who guaranteed safe passage in the territories of their subordinates. He also describes campaigns by the fearsome Hehe and Maasai against rival groups, often in the form of raids meant to seize goods and livestock. And militant rulers in the region of Luemba who wanted to fight the carravan thinking it was an advance party sent by European colonialists.

Mwenyi Chande's description of south-eastern Congo's Katanga region for example shows that the region was still outside colonial control. The ultimate authority there was King Msiri, a famous ruler who left Unyamwezi (the land of the Nyamwezi in west-central Tanzania) around 1850 with many armed men and established himself in Katanga where he built up an impressively large empire called Yeke, with many subordinate kings. The Yeke empire would last until the Belgians attacked Msiri's capital in December 1891, several months after the carravan had left. When the carravan's goods were confiscated by one of Msiri's vassals named chief Mkalikali, Mwenyi Chande's messengers reported this to Msiri who promptly sent soldiers and ordered the former to restore the goods.

Mwenyi Chande's account also describes how power was negotiated in this transitional period to colonialism. Eg on north-eastern shore of lake Tanganyika's where the Belgians had established a military station at Karema, but had mostly left local authorities to manage their own affairs. They neverthless came to the caravan's help, after the latter's goods were seized by a local ruler in Kafissa, named Chata, who promptly relinquished the merchandise.

Despite this incident, Chata and his peers remained fiercely independent for as long as they could, as the Belgians and Germans conflicted over control of the region. For example, Mwenyi Chande provides an account on the history of Tabora from its foundation in the early 19th century upto the expulsion of its last king Issike by the Germans in 1891-2. He combines contemporary information such the quarters established by the Arabs (Cahnde's fellow Swahili had moved to a separate town), the wars between Nyungu Ya Mawe and Issike, the failed attempt of Emin Pasha to pacify Issike in late 1890, and Issike's defeat by Tom Von prince in 1892.

Given how Mwenyi Chande's carravan preceeded the advance of the colonial armies in some regions, its no surprise that some of the rulers in the interior were suspicious of coastal trader's ties with the Mzungu (European). But its important to note that most of the colonial armies eg the Belgians in Congo and Emin Pasha in Tanzania had already been operating in the region for about a decade prior the carravan's arrival, and in only one instance did the carravans' leaders rely on a colonial station to recover its goods. In virtually all other cases, it was independent African rulers who determined the carravan's fortunes. The only region mentioned to be fully under german control was the upper Rufiji river area near the coast of Tanzania, where local rulers couldn’t ask for taxes on the carravan's return journey, and this region is thus given the shortest description.

For the most part, Mwenyi describes the people he meets without prejudice. For example, the pejorative swahili term waShenzi (barbarians) is only used twice for two rulers who had seized their goods and porters. In all the other cases of the dozens of rulers and people he met, both good and bad, the term was never employed, he infact gives most of the rulers the title of Sultan, whether they were emperors like Msiri or minor chiefs like Chata, making them equivalent to his own suzerain, the Sultan Barghash of Zanzibar (some of the local rulers were also quick to make this comparison inorder to use the caravn as forced labour ). Additionally, the payment of two nguo as compensation to locals of Tubugwe after a carravan's porter was caught stealing by the locals, shows the carravan's respect for local law.

An interesting account of the carravan's recruitment of local canoemen to sail cross lake Tanganyika also illustrates how respectful and dependent they were to their hosts. When a violent storm on the lake threatened to drown them, they agreed to provide sacrificial goods for a ritual intended to appease the spirit of the lake. Despite being staunch Muslims who rejected offers of beer from the rulers they met, Mwenyi Chande and his waungwana participated in this "pagan" ceremony, which he describes without ridicule, and leaves no doubt that the ritual was indeed sucessful.

On the last note, the carravan fortunes weren't determined by the rulers alone, but also non-elites such as the abovementioned canoemen, as well as local guides. For example, when the carravan run out of trade items to exchange for ivory but found out the ivory they had was too low to cover the loan they'd obtain from the creditors, they decided to go further into the interior for cheaper ivory. They were thus compelled to recruit a new guide who knew the region between the Lunda and Kazembe (S.E DR.Congo and Eastern Zambia). Like everyone whom the carravan recruited such as porters and canoemen, this guide was a wage laborer, who exchanged his services for a price, and sucessfully aided them in negotiating tributes along the way.

There are a number of excellent recent publications of the region's history, especially concerning the Nyamwezi region, Msiri's kingdom and the Bemba region. But that will be the subject of a future article. What is relevant for this travelogue is that Mwenyi Chande travelled through a region that was still undergoing the process of political consolidation, so the kings, chiefs, and village headmen he met were largely independent, and save for a few exceptions, he had to deal with each of them directly.

route taken by Mwenyi Chande's carravan, map by by Carl Velten.

<<ill be adding to this map a few places and rulers he mentions under each section>>

SAFARI YANGU YA BARRA AFRIKA (MY JOURNEY UP-COUNTRY IN AFRICA).

BEFORE leaving for the Interior, I went to borrow goods from an Indian, who said to me: “Very well, you will have what you need, go and get porters". I went to camp for this purpose and recruited one hundred men and five wanyampara (leader of the Nyamwezi porters). I went back to the Indian and said, “That's it, I've got my men, so get the goods ready now. And one thousand two hundred bundles of merchandise were prepared, the loads distributed among the carriers: to each six jora and five lengths of colored stuffs. They asked me, “How far should we carry? I told them that they were recruited to go as far as Tabora.

On the day of departure, I said to my kirongozi (caravan guide): "Come on, kirongozi, let's get moving, let's leave the city, let's go!" And we left for the countryside where we spent the night. On the morning of the second day, we reached Ruvu; we sent for the canoeman and we said to him: "Good, bring us canoes so that we can store our loads in them!" ". We thus passed the goods and then crossed ourselves: porters, wanyampara and boss.

Leaving Ruvu, we went to the camp of Bigiro, there, I told the carriers, the waNyamwezi, to deposit their load in the same place and I ordered them: "Pitch the tents now, and you, wanyampara , take some fabrics to fetch supplies. Meanwhile, some of you fence the camp because the place is infested with thieves."

The next day we reached Viranzi, and the day after Kengeni, near a large lake. This was our third camp. The fourth was in Mbuyuni, among the Wakwere, whose chief is called Mwene Mtaimbo. When we arrived, I gave him three measures of cloth, a present according to his rank. For his part, he provided us with flour, chickens and kitoweo for the caravan leader. But this man, Mwene Mtaimbo, is a bad person, he talks a lot but his words have no meaning, they are like those of a madman.

We left Mtaimbo and reached Mbiki, where there is a wide river, and whose chief is called Sadi. He's a good person. We gave him two nguos ( a length of cloth), he gave us flour, rice and chickens. Then we left for Sagati, in the bush. There, there is neither man nor habitation. We spent the night there. We continued to Msua, whose chief is Msua Chamulungu, he is a Mkwere. Another man named Tongo governs Msua, they are the two chiefs of the place. We gave them two nguo as hongo (tax/tribute).

We left Msua for Kisemu, there is a village whose chief is called Kibarrabarra. We paid three nguo as right of way, in return for which we got flour and chickens. From Kisemu we went to Rungerengere, whose chief is Masudi. We set up a fortified camp because of the many lions, deemed dangerous in this place. Besides, two came while we were sleeping and seized two carriers. Their cries awoke the whole camp; we pursued the beasts and fired at them, in vain however.

HONGO-RELATED CONFLICTS AND OTHER INCONVENIENCES OF THE ROAD

The next day, we arrived in Yangeyange at Magembe As we approached, he greeted us with these words: "Give me the hongo, because if you don't give me the hongo, I will launch my men against you to rob you of all your possessions." We gave him ten nguo but that was not enough for him, he refused them. Since we weren't willing to give him more, we fought. They killed two of our men and seized two loads of cargo while we killed three of theirs.

The next day, we left for Mikesse whose chief is Mikesse Matitu who let us know that he wanted a large hongo . We took out twenty-five nguo for him. He is a bad man, with wicked words. We left Mtaimbo and reached Mbiki, where there is a wide river, and whose chief is called Sadi. He's a good person. We gave him two nguos, he gave us flour, rice and chickens. Then we left for Sagati, in the bush. There, there is neither man nor habitation. We spent the night there. We continued to Msua, whose chief is Msua Chamulungu, he is a Mkwere. Another man named Tongo governs Msua, they are the two chiefs of the place. We gave them two nguo as hongo.

We slept until morning then took the road back to Morogoro, to Simba Mwene's who told us: "If you want to be able to resupply, give me the hongo ”. We gave him forty nguo and thus obtained the right to supply ourselves. The next morning, we left for Viranzi, at Viranzi's house Libega to which we paid six nguo as hongo. During the night, a hyena came, grabbed a Nyamwezi and ripped off its nose.

The next day, we reached Mkata, a wide river where there were hippos and crocodiles. The chief of the place is called Kigongo, we paid him a tribute of three nguo. The evening of our arrival, a woman who had gone to draw water was caught by a crocodile, we are rushed to try to save her but we were unable to free her from the mouth that had seized her.

We then left for Mgomberenga, whose chief name Waziri, the water there was very far away, and you had to walk more than two hours to get it. That day, one of our porters fell sick. The wanyampara said: “Let us set up our camp here.” I didn't agree with them, because there was no water nearby. We reached Mkondoa, whose leader is Sefu bin Slemani bin Juma Reami. When we arrived with him, he received us with all honors, as if we were on the Coast. Then we left to Mwinyi Msagara, we gave him fifteen nguo as hongo in exchange for which we received a very beautiful cow.

In the morning of our second day at his place, the waHehe arrived to loot a nearby village and left again for home, with the goods drawn along the way!

The next day we reached Kilossa. There, no need for hongo. We slept there and in the morning we left. The rise of a impressive mountain awaited us, and it took us six hours before reaching the summit. Then we reached Kidete, right in bush. There, not a house, not even a man in sight. In the morning, we left for Tubugwe, where a large river flows. We stopped and set up tents, a porter was caught stealing corn and vegetables. The peasants caught him and brought him to the camp. We gave them two nguo as compensation for his crime and the matter remained there.

The next day we arrived at Mpwapwa. While we wanted to pitch our tents, the sultan told us: “It is forbidden, it is prohibited from establishing your camp.” We asked him why and he replied: “When you have paid me the hongo, then I will authorize you to settle down." We took out sixty nguo which we handed over to the sultan who tells us: “Very good, you can set up your camp". That same night, a thief entered a tent and stole a cooking pot. We woke up when some of our men grabbed him while others shot at him. The man died and the next day the news reached the ears of the Sultan. He rendered justice thus: “The one who went to steal from the waungwana this night was killed by them. This is so, and it does not lead to prosecution." There you go, he said to his men.

The next morning, we left for Kambi. The place is very hilly and at the foot of the mountain there is a salt water lake. Next, we entered the huge deserted land of Chunyu. We are We stayed three days without the slightest habitation in sight. On the fourth day, we reached Kinyazungu, whose chief is called Kinyazungu Nyagaru. This is where Gogo country begins.

HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT IN UGOGO COUNTRY

This chief – Nyagaru – sent us his wanyampara (courtiers) to the camp who asked: “How are you, waungwana?” » To which we replied: “And yourselves? What are you doing here ? – We are coming to get the hongo of the mtemi, our sultan” and they added: “Give him some fabrics, he wants 300 pieces". We told them it was too much and they told us then asked how many we wanted to give – “one hundred” – but they did not agree: “Friends, this is not enough”. We ended up give one hundred and fifty pieces, which they accepted, saying: “Our business is finished". They then brought us millet.

The following morning, we left for Msanga, where the sultan is called Mabokera. He sent a mnyampara to our camp for us claim the hongo. We gave him one hundred and twenty nguo so that he could take it to the sultan and that he, in return, provides us with water and food. But the sultan found our tribute insufficient and demanded that others similar fabrics be added. We left a total of four hundred and twenty nguo, which we handed over to his men, announcing that we wanted water and food. He refused us this, claiming that there were none.

The next day, we left for Madako, whose chief name Chayaya. We offered him one hundred and five fabrics like hongo, to which we had to add twenty other pieces to obtain portable water, because there was no water point there. We were also informed in this place of the presence of a lion which, every day, caught men. Thus, the day before our arrival, a hunt had was organized to kill him. Once in the forest, the villagers found themselves nose to nose with the beast who had not gone very far after catching a wife the day before. Men were divided; a man attacked the lion, without having much ammunition: the lion suddenly pounced on him on him and grabbed him. Another, seeing this, tried to shoot the beast, but he missed while it grabbed his companion. The lion, considering his lifeless prey, abandoned it and rushed towards the one holding the gun. This one began to utter loud, furious cries towards the beast: a third man took his rifle to deliver him; the lion released his victim to disappear in one flash. One man was dead, another injured – he was expected to die within a few hours later – and the beast was still running!

The next day we walked to Ungomvia, whose chief is Mabokera to whom we handed over one hundred and fifty nguo as hongo. In in the afternoon, towards alasiri, Masaai appeared to attack the waGogo and seize all their livestock. They left as quickly as they had come. For our part, we did not close our eyes all night, fearing that the Masaai will not come back to plunder all our property. The next morning we reached Mtoni Bubu, in the bush. There, not a house, not even a man in sight. We built a large fortified camp there to protect ourselves.

RECRUITED FOR FORCED LABOR

The next day we reached Unyangwira, whose Sultan is called Makenge. He is a very old man, who asked us for the right to passage. We gave him six hundred nguo which we made him carry. He told us, however, that we would not be allowed to leave again on the following day.

“Why hold us back, when we have paid the hongo?" we asked him.

“I want you to build me a boma"

"Are we your slaves that you demand this?"

"Well, don’t you know in fact that you are like my slaves and that I am like your sultan of Zanzibar?"

"Well, we replied, let's build!"

And all morning, armed with our axes, we cut wood for the fortifications, left in the morning, returned in the evening. It was like this for three days, on the fourth we obtained the right to leave and we went to Mtiwe.

The sultan of the place is the son from Makenge; we gave him two hundred nguo. The next day we left for Kilimatinde, whose chief is called Massomoka. He told us: “Waungwana, give me a thousand nguo. This is what I ask for your right of passage." We refused and We gave him five hundred. He said, “Okay, but then give me a music box" We told him we didn't have any, he then asked for twenty pieces of the best quality fabrics instead.

In the morning, we took the road to Muhalala, which marks the end from Gogo country. The sultan of the place is a child of Makenge, to whom we We put three hundred and forty nguo back as hongo. The next day we reached Mabunguru Mtoni, in the bush; there, not a dwelling nor even a prominent man. The third day we were in Mwale, the leader of the place is called Kilunda. He demanded a right of way, but we refused, and we gave him nothing. The next day we are arrived at Jiwe la Singa, whose sultan is called Wamba. We have him handed over one hundred nguo.

We left to reach Malwa; we didn't have yet set up our camp when rugaruga (brigands) arrived, who came from Wamba. The fabrics we had given were not enough, and he sent these men to try to extort much more from us. We fought and killed six of their number without them succeeding in putting hands on anything. We had made a double stop, However, we gave up sleeping there and established our camp at Malwa Madogo, in countryside.

The next morning we reached the desolate expanses of Mgunda Mkali, the next day we were in Bimbisanda, the third to Chaya, in the bush. There was a big lake there full of hippos and crocodiles. Rugaruga (brigands) reappeared, they came from Nyungu ya Mawe. We fought them for three days. They seized six loads of cloth, two barrels of powder and killed three of our waungwana. Then left.

Leaving the place, we reached Tula, whose sultan is called Maganga. There, there was no need to pay the tribute, or rather, we refused to do so because their leader is just a boss without power. We we then left for Ziwani Nyahua, in the bush. The next day, we arrived at Lubuga, whose chief is called Nsilatali, a leader without power. We gave him nothing at all. On the third day we were in Kigwa, where the chief is Mabokera. On the fourth we arrived at the Wala River. We spent the night there and left in the morning for Kwihala. This village depends on Chief Kasui and marks the beginning of Unyanyembe.

IN UNYANYEMBE COUNTRY, ARRIVAL AT TABORA, AND A BRIEF HISTORICAL CHRONICLE OF TABORA

We rested in Kwihala to enter Tabora at morning. The origins of the settlement:

THE village of Tabora Kanyenye is that of an Arab, Muhina bin Slemani Le'urubi and Said bin 'Othmani. The second is that of Bahareni, also owned by an Arab named Saidi bin Ali. The third village, named “Lufita”, is under the authority of Saidi bin Salum and a man, the Arab Saidi bin Hafifu el Afif, who is mwenyewe. The fifth is that of Bomani, it is the Arab Seti bin Juma who directs it. The sixth is Mbugani, and its leader is the Arab Salum bin Ali. It is an Indian, Juma bin Dina, who heads the seventh village of name of Chemchem. The eighth is called Ngambo, he is under the authority of the Arab Muhammed bin Nasur. The ninth settlement is called Mbirani, the Arab Ali bin Sultani is the mwenyewe. The tenth is called Malolo, it is directed by the Arab Rashid bin Salum. The eleventh is Kwihara, led by the Arab Abdallah bin Nasibu. The twelfth is Ganges, headed by the Arab Thani bin Abdallah. The thirteenth is that of Miemba, it is a freed slave, Farhani bin 'Othmani, who directs it. Another district is named Ituru, it is Mohammadi bin Juma, the father of Tippu Tip (Hammed bin Mohammad) who directs it, with his ndugu Mohammed bin Said el-Wardi.

All these Arabs once lived on the coast, but it happened that they borrowed large sums from the Indians there, which they swallowed up without leaving anything. They then withdrew to Tabora, established settlements, bought slaves and cultivated the land. Others came, with their caravan set up thanks to the money of the Indians, settled in Tabora, completely forgetting their creditors and what they owed them. They began to cultivate rice and wheat there, in Tabora.

The Indians then went to complain to Seyyid Bargash and he dispatched a liwali (governor) named Sa’idi bin Salum el-Lemki. This one was charged with going to Tabora and imprisoning the defaulting Arabs so that they return the goods owed to their creditors – these were indeed starting to cause quite a scandal!

Sa'idi bin Salum surrendered on the spot and asked the Arabs to return what they owed, but they replied: “Frankly, we have nothing.” They treated him however with the greatest respect, each bringing him gifts, so that the liwali ends up staying there, peaceful and enjoying everything.

Then, it was the war with Sultan Mirambo (a powerful Nyamwezi king), who launched the assault on the city and the liwali sent a letter to Seyyid Barghash. This one there replied with these words: “Fight this mshenzi (barbarian), you have my powder, my guns and bullets." The war raged and devastated. Many Arabs there found dead, including the sultan of the city himself, Mkassiwa (the Nyamwezi ruler of Tabora). On the death of Mkasiwa the Arabs thought, "We are by ourselves , what shall we do now ? Let us put Silanda as Sultan of Tabora ." And he himself said , "My name really is Isike." .

Another conflict then occurred, which pitted Tabora against Nyungu ya Mawe. He was originally from Kiwere country and sought to seize the power of Issike. The Arabs of Tabora rose up against him and fought until he retreated. The Arabs and Issike remained on very good terms.

Then arrived Emin Pasha (former governor of the short-lived equatoria province of Khedive Egypt between south-sudan and northeastern Congo), who was then under German orders. He came to Issike and said to him: “Bring me your cannons, and all your artillery, and together, let's be good friends." Indeed, Issike possessed all these machines because Belgian and German travelers had them taken away. Issike refused but gathered his troops and sent for supplies. and livestock – cows and goats – on a large scale number. Emin Pasha said to him: “I don’t care about your food, it’s the goods that belong to us that we want. Put them down – as well as the Seyyid’s flag – and let the German banner fly in its place. As for the mast of the Seyyid, it was handed over to him, but not the cannons and the rest, and Emin Pasha left for his part, because he did not have enough soldiers at his side.

After Emin Pasha, it was bwana Prinz (Lieutenant Tom von Prince) who came and never stopped fighting with Issike until he had killed him and all his descendants. Issike's troops all escaped and his subjects were all scattered across the Bush.

The strength of the Arabs was now greatly diminished, and they found themselves now under the thumb of the Germans. Some went to Maniema, others in [B]uganda, still others in Ruemba. Others, finally, returned to the Coast. Some remained, each on their own, knowing what to do. All of Tabora's charm was gone. They were looking for food in order to feed themselves, but without obtaining any because the natives did not cultivate it as before, but only for their own subsistence, food was therefore rare and expensive.

Market scene in Tabora, Tanzania, ca. 1910, Ethnologisches Museum, Berlin.

RECRUITMENT OF NEW CARRIERS

We stayed two whole months in Tabora, in order to recruit new carriers. The time to do this, ultimately, brought us to a third month on site. To each Nyamwezi a remuneration of ten nguo. Then, one day, it was time to leave. We went to the house of Sultan Mtimsi. The next day we reached the territory of Kassekera, whose chief is called Mayole. On the third day we were at Talikwa, at the home of Chief Mualabu, a Mnyamwezi. That night, a thief entered the camp, but he did not have the opportunity to tell us steal anything: our cries quickly put him to flight.

The next day, we arrived in Igunda, which depends on Ndisha, Sultana of Ugunda (Queen Ndisha of Igonda). We presented her with seventy nguo as hongo, but she refused them: “It’s not enough, and if you don’t give no more, it will be forbidden for my people to sell you anything for your resupply." We then added up to eighty nguo but she herself gave us nothing in return. A chicken and some sweet potatoes, this is the great gift she gave us!. The next day, we left for Issimbiri, whose chief is called Sigimbi, he is under the authority of Ndisha. The next day we are arrived in Kakoma, which is also a town that depends on Ndisha. The day next, we were in Kinywa Simba, which still depends on Ndisha, all like Kassinde, where we arrived next. But this place marked the end of her territory.

IN UGALA TERRITORY

We left its territory and crossed the Ugala River, a wide river, but it was the bush. There, not a house or even a man in sight. We had to cut down trees and make a bridge to to cross. In the morning, we entered gala territory. The sultan of this territory is called Kassagura. We gave him fifteen nguo as hongo, he gave us nothing: a little wild honey in a calabash of nothing at all.

We slept and in the morning we entered the second town of the Gala country. There, the chief is called Mwana Mlinka, and he took hostage one of our porters. We had just entered his territory when he had him arrested, before we could even eat or drink. That really irritated us waungwana. Who did he think he was, this mshenzi (barbarian)? Shouldn't we have launched the assault? Some said that it was a bad idea, it was better to settle things amicably. We stayed there until evening and the porter ran away, because he didn't have the means to make amends anyway.

The next morning, the official brought the matter up again: “Waungwana, you made me lose a man, how much do I care? will you compensate?" We asked him how much he wanted: “seven nguo".

"So be it”, we replied, and we gave him what he asked for but we added: “next time, don’t behave so: we do not imprison a man who has not even reached the village borders. You behaved very badly yesterday and if we had been animated by evil intentions, we would have launched the assault against you. But we didn’t want to cause a scandal. Now your possessions are yours returned” To which he replied: “My goods have returned to me, and I am happy”.

From where we rested, we went to Ukalala, which is part of the Gala territory, and whose chief is called Mweru Mpambara. He asked us for a right of way and we told him that we would would pay him the next day, but that same evening we ran away because our possessions were running out due to hongo. We walked all night and in the morning, we reached the Mtambo River which marks the limits of the Ugala.

ON THE ROAD TO UKONONGO

The journey continued to the Usawira country, whose chief is called Simba. As we arrived, the ngoma was heard. We asked him: “Whats the reason for all this ngoma (drumming for festivals or war), sultan? ". He answered us that wife had just died. But the drums had already caused panic in the minds of the porters, and seven Wanyamwesi had fled, abandoning their charges. We asked: “And now that your wife is dead, what do you want? ". He told us he wanted a sanda (funeral goods) to bury the deceased. How much did he want? He replied that he would take what we offered him ourselves. We gave him two nguo, and he proceeded with the funeral. In the evening, we went to make a request to him: “Sultan, some of our porters have fled, can you provide us with others to carry our loads? ". He told us to go to bed the next day, when the hongo affairs would be settled, we would talk about it.

The next day we brought him fifty nguo.

" What is that ?"

"This is the hongo requested."

"Are you kidding? I'm still mourning the death of my wife and you come to talk nonsense to me? I ask for a thousand nguo for the hongo, that’s what it costs to come to us."

"Is it a right of passage that you want, or rather to strip us?"

To which he replied “If that was my intention, why wouldn’t I have done it yesterday?"

His wanyampara (courtiers) then presented themselves and said: “Finally, you, waungwana, will you not give a tribute worthy of the name? You heard the sultan's words and yet you only offered him fifty nguo, you mock him; have you forgotten his rank? "

We gave him two hundred nguo which he accepted: "Well, my anger is appeased, but nevertheless won't you add a little something, because my wife is dead, won't you soften my pain by allowing another fire to burn? When you return, won’t you want to be able to cook? And isn’t this village [now] yours? “Good, sultan,” we replied, and took out three more nguo which we gave, saying, “Here so you can make another fire burn.”

The next morning, we left for Usense, whose chief named Kalimba, he asked us for news of Tabora. Was everything okay well there? And how was the liwali? We replied that everything was fine. He wanted to know why Issike had fought the Germans and we replied: “Issike proclaimed himself sultan, but this title is a lie. He wants to reduce the Germans, but how can he? The Germans have gunpowder, more than you could want, their cannons are ready, and he would be the one to stand up to them?" And the leader replied: “We have become the slaves of Germans, we have no force to oppose them. Well, my friend, won't you give me a little something, because I don't demand from hongo, like my peers. If I did so, and it came down to ears of the 'Big Mzungu' (shorthand for the German colonial resident, this region appears to have come under German control by then), won't he come and make war on me? Also, if you give me a little something, even almost nothing, that will be enough." We gave him twenty nguo. He thanked us greatly, expressed his respect for us, and for the 'Big Mzungu', because he feared him very much, even before he showed up at his house.

We slept until morning and left for Gongwe. The chief there, his name is Kakamba and he received us with all honors, he provided us with plenty of food, and like kitoweo, fish. He did not didn't want hongo but out of respect for him, we gave him twenty nguo. This was the end of our walk in Ukonongo.

LOSING THEIR MERCHANDISE TO THE SULTAN CHATA

We continued our journey to Mbugani, where, according to the natives, their spirits which they call Katawi. It was the bush there low, not a dwelling or even a man in sight. On the other hand, the animals wild animals abounded: there were lions, leopards, hyenas, buffaloes and zebras galore, and as many hippos.

We slept and in the morning we reached the territory of Kawende, whose leader is called Soloma. As we arrived at village, he closed the doors, and said:

“You, waungwana, bring with you you the war”,

to which we replied that we were only travelers.

“That’s it,” he said, “stop your lies! You are accompanied by a Mzungu (white man). You are leading the expedition while he knowingly stays behind. You reach my stronghold, and boom, there he is arises to fight us! ".

We tried to persuade him: “No Mzungu came with us, and if you don't believe us, subject us to the ordeal."

"And where would you like to be tested, waungwana? I don't want to open my doors to you. Why not set up camp at outside, the food will be brought to you on site. But whether you enter my walls is out of question."

We unloaded outside, set up our tents and told the porters: “Build a very solid boma, because this one is a hell of a bastard. All he wants is to strip us of our goods and our men." They had food brought to us where we were, we bought it, cooked it, ate it until we were full, then we slept until the next day, but nothing happened.

We went back to a river called Mfune – there, it was the bush, not a house or even a man in sight. We slept and the next day, we reached Kafissa, in Kawende country. The name of the head of Kafissa is Chata. He received us with great pomp, provided us houses and plenty of food. We had no idea he did everything this to better rob us of our wealth. We were sleeping when in the middle of the night his men arrived to surround our huts.

“Waungwana, wake up !"

"Sultan, what is happening to us waking up in the middle of the night? If there is room for discussion, why not wait until tomorrow?"

"I want to see the leader of the caravan, we need to talk and I want to tell him my whole business"

"Certainly not now, that will wait until tomorrow. »

Then his young people hastily grabbed their rifles and we understood that it was war. We grabbed weapons and rifles, and we went out.

We saw a large number of natives, all armed with guns which crackled and we fired. Others who surrounded us began to set fire to our huts. We gathered ours together and said: “Brothers, we must fight on two fronts because they are waging war through weapons and fire. What should be done ? Let us divide: let some go draw water to put out the fire and take our belongings to safety while the others fight." The fight lasted all night and the fire was not turned off until morning. We saved half of our goods. Twenty-two of those thugs were dead, and ten of us.

The Sultan called us and said: “Now let us leave this side, let's be good friends. I will compensate you for the goods you have lost, because all this is not my doing, but that of my young people. And if you do not have confidence, let us be subjected to the ordeal. "

He brazenly lied to us, but we gave credence to his words. We agreed to establish friendship with Chata, stored our goods inside his house. Then he said to us: “My guests, sit down, and also hand over all your guns to me because I refuse that my young people are starting such chaos again. When they saw your guns, fear took hold of them and they scattered in the bush, with all women. Who will be able to cook for you now? But since our friendship is sealed, what would you be afraid of? "

And we handed over all our guns to him, and we even got rid of our ivory for him, we brought it to him. And when this was done, he said to us:

“Well waungwana, where is your valor now? I have in my possession of all your weapons: with what will you fight? My turn is finally played, do you realize that? So now, is life precious to you? If so, then say: “Our possessions are yours now.” If you prefer to die, leave your ass where it is, and I will kill you all, because you, waungwana, are very arrogant people." And he told us that a man had come, a mungwana named Matuumla.

“He got me!” He took my ivory – twenty tusks – by promising to bring me numerous goods. Well that’s been a whole year, and I still haven’t seen him again. But today, the Creator allows me to take back my property with my own hands. Did you think you were fooling me like a fool? Am I not a sultan? So if you want to see your property again, bring me this Matuumla: we are going to make an accounting of what he took from me and that is precisely what I will take from your property. For those of yours who died, I will compensate you, and I will also reimburse you for the goods you lost, but this on the sole condition that you bring this scoundrel back to me! This is how you can get your belongings back, otherwise you can forget about them. Maybe you intend to fight: if so, say it frankly: “We are here, so be ready!” Man must not conceal. Among us "waShenzi" , it is a sign of extreme depravity to hide one’s intentions, I don’t know what it is like among you, the “waungwana”. These are my words, if you have heard them, pay close attention to them, if not, then know that you have lost all your possessions."

We answered this one: “As far as we are concerned, we do not know this Matuumla, and it is indeed our wealth that you are embezzling, by doing violence to us because we are helpless. If we were in your position, we could well rob you too! But luckily for you, it's not possible, so eat our goods, they will sleep in your stomach!"

He said to us: “You didn’t answer me. Do not your souls tremble? Are you going to go home? What do all these words mean? Have you ever seen a man talk so much? If you want to fight, let's fight! Am I not ready for this?"

We gave him a reply: “Shall we fight with our sticks? Don't you have didn't take all our guns? If we must fight, give us back our weapons, and we will see who wants to fight or not!"

"Will I be crazy enough to give you back your guns and then come and crush me? If you can, find other weapons, and we will go and fight. Otherwise you can still leave, because my young people are not yet here, they are untenable, when they are all there, they will finish you off."

SENDING A REPORT TO THE MZUNGU OF KAREMA.

We talked to each other: “Brothers, should we not go home? We tried to talk to him, but this mshenzi (barbarian) doesn't listen at all! He has already stripped us of all our possessions, and he would not strip us of our souls? – Why don’t we go to Karema, report the whole affair to the Mzungu and tell him that we were stolen by Chata? But when should we leave to get there? A departure in the middle of the day is not possible, because they would perhaps follow us and kill us on the way, no, it is better to return to the sultan and tell him: “We have accepted your offer, take care of the riches that we leave in your care, we will find Matuumla."

 This is what we did: “Your words are right, sultan, if we bring you Matuumla, will you give us back our goods?"

"Are you implying that I could lie?"

"Let’s leave, what we want now is that you give us permission to leave: we will sleep and tomorrow morning we will hit the road and, inshallah, we will bring this Matuumla back to you."

"Isn’t that exactly what I’m asking? Go, take some huts to sleep in, and have no fear. Sleep until morning, let's part on good terms, food will be provided for you until you return to us."

We followed him to the huts he pointed out to us and we remained there, regretting the way we had been cheated of our possessions, and lamenting over our brothers who had died. And all this for absolutely nothing, because we didn't even know this Matuumla. We slept and fled in the middle of the night to Karema. On the way, one of ours was kidnapped by a lion, but what could we do, since we no longer had guns? How could we have shot? Would we have only fought with our screams? So he grabbed our man, took him into the forest, and ate him

In the morning, we were in Karema, we wanted to see the Mzungu, but he was still asleep. We asked people who worked with him if he was there, they answered us: “He is still sleeping but it won’t be long before he gets up." We waited for him on the doorstep; around half past eight, or rather almost nine o'clock, the bwana (title of respect eg Sir) woke up and asked:

"well, what's going on here?"

"Waungwana have arrived, they come from Tabora."

"They bring me a letter? Money ? Ask them what they want.”

We persuaded the boy: “We don’t bring mail, we have just been attacked in Kafissa by this [traitor of] Sultan Chata. He is the aggressor, and he is the one who stripped us of our property, moreover, some of our men died. That's the whole thing, and we want to bring it back to bwana."

The boy replied: “Right now he's at the table, but wait a bit, he'll be finished quickly". When the bwana came out, we told him that we had been attacked.

"By who ?"

"By Chata."

"But didn’t I say that all the waungwana had to come to my house first? What did you do at this mshenzi’s house? But it doesn't matter, I'm going to gather some askari (colonial era native-soldiers) who will ask him why he acted like that. But give us one of your men to accompany them to witness the exchanges with Chata and who will report what he heard."

They prepared to leave and went to Chata. The askari asked him:

“So Chata, you are now a man who takes from the riches of travelers? Aren't you afraid of the orders of the government ?"

"I did not attack them without reason, but because of this Matuumla, who stripped me of my goods: twenty tusks."

The askari made it known that it could not work like this. “Come on, give back their property to all these waungwana, because this is how the great bwana has it decided."

When he noticed the balance of power, this thief turned our goods to the askari who brought them back to Karema. Once we returned, the Mzungu called us: “Waungwana, Come closer and see if these goods are indeed those that Chata stole from you? ". After inspection, we told him yes, adding that we had lost a large part of our belongings in the fire. “So much the worse, take these who have been saved" We said again: “Hewallah, bwana, but we now need canoes to cross the river and get to Marungu." He replied to us that he did not have any canoes, he had only one boat which was [precisely] in Marungu. “If you are looking for canoes, you have to contact the natives, they are the ones who will be able to provide you with them. – Who are these natives? – Isn’t it the Wafipa who own the canoes? – And who is their leader? - Isn't their sultan Kapofi?.

CROSSING LAKE TANGANYIKA, VISIT TO THE SULTAN KAPOFI; NEGOTIATION; STORM AND OFFERINGS TO THE SPIRITS.

We slept and the next day we took leave of the big bwana: “Goodbye, we are heading back on the road. " We arrived among the Wampembe, who are the spirits of the Wafipa. These latter come make offerings to them every day. This is also where their canoes are. We went to see the residents: “We want land to set up camp." They replied to us: “Come then to the village, because we and the waungwana are like brothers, and our Sultan appreciates you very much." So we entered the village, with all our loads, and huts were given to us.

The next morning, we expressed our desire to have canoes. The men asked us: “Where do you want to go?” - On the shore of Marungu (on the west bank of lake Tanganyika) – What are you going to do there? – We will look for ivory. – Okay, but we don’t have permission to give canoes. To do this, you must go to Sultan Kapofi. He's the one who can tell you. Once you have his authorization, so come back and we will give you canoes at your convenience."

We slept and in the morning they gave us a man to lead us to Sultan Kapofi. He said to him: “Foreigners have come to us, they want to see you, they are here to chat with you."

"Well, bring them in so they can tell me what they want".

The man went out and came to find us. He tells us: “the sultan calls you, but only a few of you can enter, two or three, no more because this sultan is not just a leader, but a very powerful leader, recognized by all over the entire territory." Three of us followed the native.

Inside we saw the Sultan, sitting on a chair. He was surrounded by his wives: two in front of him, two behind and two on each of his sides: they surrounded him and he stood in the middle. A calabash of pombe, one of the women grabbed it and presented it to the Sultan.

When we entered, he said to us: “Waungwana, how are you? "

We replied that everything was fine, he then offered us beer but we replied that we did not want to drink it. He said:

“You fear because you pray, is that not why you refuse to drink ?"

We replied: “That is impossible for us. Our hearts do not like to drink pombe because we fear drunkenness, when a man is drunk, he screams, can become violent and, who knows, kill people: this behavior appropriate for guests? They must behave as they should with their host."

“Okay, now what do you want?” Shall I bring your men some ugali? "

But we refused: “If you have flour to give us, we can prepare in the coastal style." We were afraid that he would poison us, but we did not want to hurt him, especially since we needed his canoes. He gave us flour and chickens and showed us some boxes. He also gave us all the utensils necessary for cooking, we prepared our ugali and we ate it. Then we called the Mfipa who accompanied us and we said to him: “Take us back to the sultan because, for the moment, we have not yet spoken to him about the canoes. We now desire to do this, and if he grants them to us, our souls will rejoice." So we presented ourselves again before the Sultan, and said to him:

 “Sultan, we want canoes to cross the river and go to the bank of Marungu."

"Why do you want to go there?"

"We want to go to Sultan Mlilo. This is where we want to go."

"Well, you can find the canoes you need on my territory. How much will you give me?"

"You know this better than us, you are the one who owns the canoes."

"First of all, how many do you want?"

 “We want six."

"For these six canoes, give me two hundred fabrics."

"Does that include canoeists?"

"Certainly not ! The value of men is much greater!"

 We replied, “Really, Sultan, we must lighten this, because we are your children."

"Well, give me what you can."

"We will give you fifty measures of cloth.”

To which he replied: “eeeeeeeh!” Are you kidding me? Are these really the canoes you want? Answer honestly! "

We said : “We give you sixty measures of cloth; for the canoeists, we we will give something else, apart. Also, these sixty nguo are only for you."

"Well, I agree, but also give me a gun."

And we said: “Ah, sultan, you remind us here of a great misfortune, how could we give you a gun? Our guns, Chata took them all."

"This Chata is a scoundrel, weren't you afraid? Haven't you heard talk about the trap he set for Issike, Kiungi’s child? And he wants a rematch? Well, my children, I didn't know that your guns had been stolen, I will be satisfied with your sixty nguo. "

We opened a load and handed him the stuff.

"Good now, gather the canoeists who will take you across to the other bank, go to Mlilo and make sure that [all] come back quickly."

We called the canoeists, their captain was called Makunganya. The sultan said to him: “Take these waungwana and lead them from our land to the other shore." The captain said to us: “We will have to give each of my men, a whole measure of cloth. For me, it will be necessary five nguo as well as turbans. You will also give us our ugali (maize meal)."

We gave the men thick cloth and the captain what he wished. The next morning, we loaded the canoes and the goods ourselves. The rowers maneuvered to get us off the bank.

At six p.m., a violent storm arose and it seemed to us that we were going to die. But the waFipa said: “Quickly, quickly, there reside our spirits, let's go and implore them and perhaps the wind will calm down."

We reached with all haste the shore of an island and disembarked, men and goods. The Wafipa told us: “Give us a cloth of black color, as well as a flag, a white shuka, some white pearls, a few red pearls. We will bring them to spirits." We quickly opened the charges to provide them with this that they asked for in order to offer it to their spirit, which is called Wampembe.

We transmitted to him the offerings, we invoked him thus: “O you who is indeed Wampembe, we bring you here some gifts, give us to travel in peace: that we leave in peace and return safe and sound."

We waited a quarter of an hour, and the wind calmed down. “Come on, now, let’s quickly reload the canoes!” " We have put the goods back on board then we boarded, the rowers resumed their oars, and we set off again; we reached the shore of Marungu, in the territory of Sultan Mlilo. But it was too late to do travel to his village, and we slept in the canoes.

ON THE OTHER SHORE: IVORY TRADE WITH SULTAN MLILO

The next morning we disembarked and were presented before Mlilo. He asked us if we, waungwana, were well, and if the rest of the caravan was doing well. We told him yes. He also asked us why we had not brought with us our charges, why they were still outside the village. So we returned to the shore to bring them back. When we returned, the sultan had prepared boxes for our attention. We stored our goods.

He asked us:

“waungwana, what do you want?"

"We want to buy ivory; If you have one, well, let's do business."

"Do you have powder and guns?"

"We don’t have any powder, because that Chata took what we had. We only have items from barter, that's all."

"Well, go and rest. Tomorrow we will continue the conversation".

And we went to sleep. The next day he showed up and called us. We went on find, he had a small elephant tusk at his feet. he said:

“Waungwana, do you want to buy this?"

"Yes, sultan. [For] are there riches which are bad?"

"So, let’s do business!"

We bought the tusk for twenty nguo, and stored it in our hut. Before we were turning around, he took out a medium sized tusk and said: “Buy it!” We asked him how much he wanted. “Give me fifty nguo.” –It’s way too much” we said answered. We bought it for thirty-five nguo, and took her in our box. He then showed us a very good tusk with his quality, a babu Ulaya (a type of tusk suitable for export). We asked him how much he wanted. He has said “two hundred nguo”. We gave him a hundred, he told us “Make an effort ! ”, and we added ten more. The deal was concluded and we took the defense into our hut. He then presented us with a tusk in a lamentable state. We said to him: “What is this? only that ? She's worthless at all! – Buy it with its flaws. How much do you give any? » And we gave ten nguo. “Give them to me.” This was done, he then took his leave saying that he was now tired and that business could resume the next day.

The next day he showed up and called us: “Waungwana, will you not give a keg of powder, so that I can send my children bush? » We gave it to him, so that they could go hunting, that was the value of our barrel. Then he presented us with another tusk in announcing: “Let’s do business.” We bought it for seventy nguo, and we stored it in our hut. We slept until eight o'clock the next day: his children, gone in the bush, had killed two elephants and returned. When we learned of this, we regretted our decision because we had agreed on a tusk, while the powder we had provided that day had hit the mark and yielded four.

 The Sultan said to us:

“Waungwana, luck favors us, your powder brings us profit!

"Inshallah, Sultan.”

We slept and the next day the men brought the four tusks, they entered the city amid cries of joy. The ngoma rang out, and the beer flowed freely. The sultan came out, called us and said: “Waungwana, come and get the ivory that comes to you through your powder. " We took a tusk and stored it in our box. We then questioned the sultan:

“And the others, won’t you not sell them?"

"So you will use up everything I have?"

"Come on, bring your wealth and let’s do business.”

We purchased one of the tusks against one hundred nguo, just like the other two. All were stored in our hut. We also bought one of the small tusks for fifty-five nguo. We had nothing left to trade. What to do now? We had borrowed a lot on the coast but Chata had made us lose a lot part of our property. It was better to continue business by selling the first tusk we had to the Mzungu who resided in Marungu (There were European traders in the interior during this period).

This is what we did and we were thus able to obtain powder, guns and beads. We returned to the Sultan to continue business. He presented us with a very good tusk, because that he had seen that we were bringing back barter items, powder, guns and pearls. His joy continued to grow: “Here are men of value !". We bought him this tusk against a rifle, a barrel of powder and ten nguo then we stored it in our hut. Then he brought a little tusk: “Buy me this one!” – Sultan, bring us rather a big one.” Which he did. We bought it for a rifle, a barrel of powder and twenty nguo. We continued with a very beautiful piece that we obtained in exchange for two barrels of powder, two rifles and sixty nguo and which we stored with the others. Finally, we bought two other tusks, one for thirty nguo and one, smaller again, against ten nguo. The sultan then said to us: “My children, I have no more ivory, if you still have any goods left, I will provide you with some of my men so that he can lead you to Kabwire, whose leader is called Puta." We agreed.

**Kabwire also appears in the account of Tippu Tip, who mentions it just north of Kazembe. Jan Vansina locates the babwile kingdoms north of lake Mweru.

TOWARDS KABWIRE, MISADVENTURE WITH THE SULTAN

We slept until morning, then we left for Kissanso, where we slept. The place is very rich in fish and people there exploit salt in very large quantities. The head of Kissanso is called Kitula. The next day, we left for Choma, there, there is a big river full of crocodiles and hippos. The head of the place is called Kaputa. He asked us:

“Waungwana, where are you going?”

"We are going to Kabwire."

"And who gave you permission?"

"It was Mlilo who gave it to us, as well as this man here, who gave us escorts”

He asked us: “And I, am I the slave of Mlilo? You pass through my territory without even asking my opinion? So what kind of people are you?"

"Don’t you know Mlilo?"

"Do I know Mlilo? He has his territory, and I have mine!"

"What do you want from us?"

"I want the hongo"

"How much are you asking us?"

"Give me twenty nguo and you will have the right to pass."

We set aside twenty nguo and gave them to him. We slept and, in the evening, he called us:

“Waungwana, leave me some goods as collateral. When you return from Kabwire, your ivory will be ready."

We told him that we did not agree: “If you want you play us, very good, but we don't want to leave you anything as a pledge. What if when we returned, the ivory was not there?"

"Why don't you trust me? Don't you know that Mlilo is like my father?"

We said to him: “Call the man whom Mlilo gave us and who escorts us; if he says to us: “give him”,

then very good, we will leave the goods to you."

We sent for the man, whose name was Simarambwa, and asked him if we could leave our possessions to him. He replied that yes, that they would not be lost, the man was a leader and owned a territory. We we gave fifty nguo, a barrel of powder, a rifle, three kilos of beads and a cone of needles. We agreed that that he would provide us with two fine tusks in return.

We slept, and in the morning we arrived at Kabwire, where we met the sultan. This country is a calamity: peanuts and cassava, that’s what Kabwire’s food is. The Sultan called us and said:

“Waungwana, weren’t you the ones who came before with rugaruga (brigands)? And isn’t their leader called Ndoloki?"

We said we weren't the ones.

" Maybe you hide it. This Ndoloki is one of my great friends, and if you know, why hide it?"

"We assure you that we do not know nothing about him. We are waungwana, we come from the Coast and our sultan is Seyyid Bargash."

"Well, what are you doing? now at home? As the rugaruga assailed me, you think that I will not return to my land? And if now I take hold of all your possessions, what will you do?"

"If you and your men want to play this that game, we will fight you, because it is not by the authorization of the Sultan Bargash that we are here, but by that of Mlilo"

"Must I remain the child of Mlilo to the point that his arrogance sends men on my land? So, if you want to collect your goods and continue your journey in peace, perhaps you will consider giving me a right of passage? And if you are not of this opinion, I will keep all your goods."

We asked him what he wanted, he replied “a hundred nguo.” We gave them to him, filled with fear that he would steal our property and kills us. Houses were made available to us, where we slept.

The next day he sent his wife to us. She asked us pearls, and we gave her some, since she was the sultan's wife. When he saw her coming back, he asked her:

“Where did you get these pearls from?”

"The waungwana offered them to me"

"And for what? Is it a real gift, or rather did you sleep with them?"

"Not at all, it’s a gesture without compensation."

We were resting when the Sultan came to our house. He stood at the entrance to the hut and said to us:

“Waungwana, are you pushing arrogance to sleep with the chief’s wife?"

"Under no circumstances, sultan, how could we dare?"

"These pearls that you offered her accuse you."

"We gave them to her as a gift, out of kindness, that’s all."

"Please, are you kidding me? You gave them to her to sleep with her!"

We then told him to submit to the ordeal.

“And where do you think I can organize this?

"Well, what do you want from us then?"

"I want you to compensate for what you did with my wife, with your arrogance. Sleeping with the boss's wife, you're not short of air"

"Okay, how much do you want?"

"Give me fifty nguo."

We we gathered all the villagers together, and we said to them: “Here you are so how does your sultan act, he only wants to seize our goods for nothing." The inhabitants decided; we took out thirty nguo and gave them. Then we said, “Now we want to trade.”

The chief had a large tusk brought, which we bought against fifty nguo, a barrel of powder, a rifle and two cones of pearls. We stored it in our hut. Another tusk was presented, that we bought it for twenty-six nguo, we stored it. Then it was the turn of another a little smaller, which we paid thirty nguo. Then it was a bori, against fifteen nguo, another tusk not very great, against twenty nguo, a cone of pearls and ten needles. He then presented four nice-sized tusks, which we bought for ten nguo, then he had two rhinoceros horns brought which we obtained for seven nguo and five needles, and another which we exchanged for a piece of cloth and a turban. Afterwards twenty hippopotamus teeth arrived, against seven nguo and a few pearls.

Finally, he had three warthog teeth brought. “And these, waungwana, will you take them?". We told him that we were not interested and he answered us:

“And why don’t they have value? What's their difference with hippopotamus teeth? If you refuse to take them, So what am I going to do with it?"

"Keep them for your interior."

"In this case, give me back all the hippopotamus teeth, the rhinoceros horns, and then

all the ivory and take back your fabrics."

 "Sultan, what are these ways of doing things? A man doesn't behave like that! Well, well, how many do you want for warthog teeth?"

"I want ten nguo”.

We gave them to him, and we gathered our goods into our box. He then had other warthog teeth, three, brought into us saying: “Buy these too, I heard they are very sought after on the Coast, that they were worth as much as ivory. " We laughed and asked him: “How much?”, he said: "take them for ten nguo." We exchanged them for our ten nguo and went to store them in our hut. We slept and the next morning asked the chef if he still had something to sell us. “Do you still have any fabrics?”,  we replied: "Yes ". So he had a little tusk brought in that we gave him purchased for twenty-four nguo and fifty needles. We added it with the rest. He brought yet another little tusk, which we bought for eighteen nguo and a hundred needles. This time, our barter items were sold out. We said our goodbyes to the chef:

“see you later, we are going to return to the shore, to Mlilo's."

"Well, I have heard your words, will you leave today?"

"No, now the the sun is too strong, we will sleep one more night, and tomorrow we

let's leave."

We slept and the next day we did all our charges and left. But the Sultan of Kabwire had launched his men on the road to attack us in the bush. We fought and killed one of them, the others then fled. We left and arrived at Choma, at the home of this sultan to whom we left our belongings as collateral. We slept there. The next morning we went to see him:

“Sultan, give us back our belongings, because we want to return home."

"Not today, my children, because the ivory is still in the bush, I will send

men to bring him back, they will be there in the evening."

"Fine, but your men should not spend one more night in the bush, because we are

in a hurry to return, we must return to Mlilo, where there are our belongings, it's already been a long time since we left. "

We slept until the morning, it was nine o'clock when those who had left bush returned. They carried two tusks, which were shared between the sultan and us. He gave us [himself] the tusk and said to us: “Has what i owed you returned to your hands?" We told him that that was indeed the case. He added: “And you thought I was a thief!” Was it not with my own hands that you received your property? Did I deceive you? The thief, isn't it rather the Sultan of Kabwire?" And he brought three warthog teeth which he gave to us saying: “Take it, waungwana, this is how I deceive people."

We slept, and the next morning we left for Kissanso, two days later, we were at our camp, at Mlilo's; we stopped at home. We fired shots and our men arrived, it was great joy! We told them what had happened in Kabwire and finished: “There you go, but this hoodlum really deceived us, but God is not with him and his dishonesty. But anyway, here we are back, safe and sound, here is the news. – That’s good, when you were leaving, we heard that you had been attacked on the road. Was it true, or was it a lie? » We told them that nothing like that had happened

NOT ENOUGH IVORY…

The next morning the leader of the caravan gathered everyone together and tells us:

 “What is the news? Our barter items are sold out, what are we doing now ?"

"There is no other solution than to weigh our ivory now, to know how much frasila (quantities) we have."

"So we warn the men and they bring the tusks."

We prepared the scales, and began the operations. All tusks combined, large and small points, good or bad quality, our ivory reached thirty-one frasila (approximately 496Kg). The head of the caravan (the co-leader) asked us:

“so? What do we do with that? Is this is enough to repay the goods borrowed from the Indian? ". We replied: “And how could that be possible? With everything that has been to stolen from us !"

"So what do we do now? Isn't it better to exchange some of it?" "We will follow a different route from the outward journey, and we will we try to increase profit along the way?"

We replied: “The choice is yours, you are the leader of the caravan. Your words are good: we will follow you! Your words are bad? We will follow you too!"

He continued: “It is my very heart which betrays me thus, because once we reach the Coast, I fear that the Indians will bring me to justice and have me locked up. My heart trembles with fear. So, we will leave now, or do some people want to stay here?"

"Come on, let's wait, and this evening, we will go to our sultan to take leave and listen to what he has to say to us"

"will he give us permission to leave?" Will he stop us? Because these natives are blatant liars."

We agreed.

We waited until the evening to go to the sultan and take leave: “Sultan, we have come to you to tell you goodbye." He asked us where we wanted to go; We have replied that we wanted to go home, because business was completed. He replied: “Goodbye, my guests, will you leave today or tomorrow ?" We told him we would leave the next morning.

We slept and in the morning we all left, men and ivory, to go to Sumbu. The chief of the place is called Mwenyi Tereka and is a man from the Coast. As we arrived at his house, he asked us: “Foreigners, do you stop here, or do you continue the road ?" We told him that we were continuing, and the next day, we left for Iyendo, whose sultan is called Kitimbo. The next morning, we took all our ivory and we went to the Mzungu, we said to him: “Bwana, buy us this ivory.” He agreed. We agreed to a exchange of 95 reales per frasila, according to the value of the Interior. We him sold all our ivory and opted to take half of our barter goods in powder and guns, the other half in pearls. The charges now numbered sixty-five.

ALWAYS FURTHER, IN SEARCH OF PROFIT

The leader of the caravan encouraged us to find out about the route to travel from now on. We called a native: “You know the country ?". He told us that he knew the Lunda country as far as Luemba, at Kitimkuru (ruler of the Bemba country), the Itawa country at Samma, but also Kafimbi, Mamba, Mkalikali and up to Kazembe territory (in modern Zambia). We asked him where the deals were the best and he told us that if we wanted truly make profits and rejoice our hearts, we had to go to Kissinga territory, near Mkalikali. "Is it far ?" and he replied: "Certainly, but isn’t it profit that you are looking for? And even if it’s far away, a isnt it still a caravan?" We asked him if he was willing to serve as our guide, he replied that he was, provided that we we agreed on the terms of the market. “Tell us what are approximately your expectations. – Give me fifteen nguo, but I don’t don't want to wear, my task is to guide you, I show you the path. Also give me a small quantity of pearls, and for my wife and my children, because I have three."

We undid our loads and gave him given what he asked, then we inquired about the date of departure: would it be the same day or the next day? He replied that he would agree to what suited us. We then told him that we would take advantage of the day to take care of supplies and that we we would leave the next day.

We slept and in the morning we left, we went as far as Pumpe, whose sultan is called Chungu. When we arrived, he asked “Waungwana, are you from the Coast or are you accompanying a Mzungu?" We told him that we were there with a European, we lied on purpose because if he had known that we were arriving from the Coast, he would have sought to rob us.

He wished us welcome and we offered him five nguo. We slept but during the night a man tried to rob us. We woke up and screamed, grabbed him and made prisoner. The next day we brought him before the Sultan and we we said: “Sultan, are you without honor? We, guests, we come to you, we treat you right and you send a man intending to steal our property? Aren't you afraid of anything?"

"Waungwana, Until now, I know nothing about this man, and if you don't believe me, subject me to whatever test you want, and you will see that I didn't ask him anything."

"Well, let’s leave it that way. "

And we are returned to camp. There, we wondered what we were going to do with the prisoner. The leader of the caravan told us: “Give him ten lashes of the whip, because authorization was given to us by his sultan. Then, that he leaves, because he didn't steal anything." We administered the sentence and we sent him away, saying, “Go, go, and don’t you dare do it again next time, you will die. Today you had some chance to meet us, we are good people, but who says that tomorrow you will you not come across others who are less accommodating? And yes, people are not all the same"

The next morning we arrived at Mtoni Kavubu where the Sultan is Kapoma, he is the child of Chunga. The next day we reached the Luemba country which is under the authority of Porokosso, who is the child by Kitimkuru. We reached the village, but we did enter, we heard the ngoma (war drum) and a huge army awaited us.

Porokosso had shared the powder, given lead and arrows to his men. The mnyampara asked the reason for all this.

“Don’t you see the waungwana who are arriving? They do not come alone, but with the Mzungu and to fight me. They are in front, they left the European behind to gain our good graces and once we have them opened our doors, to let them in, the Mzungu will arrive at night to attack. This is their deception! But I know all their tricks."

The mnyampara (courtiers) said to him: “Then we will send men who will testify to the fact that a Mzungu accompanies our caravan or not."

"Very good, you will come yourself with two or three men.”

When the advisor heard these words, he went to us with some men and said to us: “Waungwana, give me some information concerning and that we will bring as news, tell me, that I transmit to the sultan, but be frank, speak the truth. - We came to buy ivory, and if you doubt our word, submit to us the ordeal in force in your country, that we can attest under oath that we are not here with malicious intentions."

"I have heard your words, wait until I transmit them to the sultan. " He went to the latter and reported to him all the information as it was had been said.

“I have heard the words of the waungwana, tell them to set up camp behind the village. but Interior access to them remains prohibited."

This answer was brought to us, we then told the kirongozi: “Let’s get back on the road, let’s set up camp where the words are more lenient because this year, these waShenzi (barbarians) are transgressing all the rules with the sole purpose of stealing people's wealth."

We took over the road to set up camp, we pitched the tents and said to the bearers to take up the axes and build strong fortifications to be safe. We worked until the completion of the enclosure. Three natives then presented themselves saying that they came from of the sultan who demanded the hongo. Would we give it, or would we refuse it?

“Why would we refuse to give it? How much does he ask?"

"We don’t know, give what seems good to you and we will take it together to the Sultan, we will then see what he says about it."

At the entrance to the village, we were stopped: “Can you enter here without authorization? Would you have this audacity? – We are not here on our own initiative: are we not accompanied by people from here? – Stay here while you ask the sultan if permission to enter is granted to you. Only then can you come in and see it"

They went to the sultan to tell him: “The waungwana are at your doors, they wish to come to you. Can they do this or are they denied access?"

"What do they bring me?"

"Fabrics.”

So the sultan told them to let us pass: what could two or three do? We entered his house. We found him in the middle of a conference, sitting on a chair. Three women on one side, three women on the other; three behind him, three in front of him and one holding the gourd of beer he was drinking. Another person was fanning it and kept the flies away from him. When we arrived, he told his people to stand on one side and make room for us, so that we We could sit down and he asked us:

“Waungwana, what are you bringing me?”

"We bring fabrics in exchange for the right of passage"

"How much ?"

"Twenty nguo.”

He replied that that would be enough and asked this let us come and present them before him, which we did. He continued:

“And now, do you stay here, or do you go back road ?"

We told him that we were heading towards Kissinga, at Mkalikali where we wanted to trade in ivory. We have added that if he himself had ivory, we would be ready to buy it. But he replied:

“And where would this ivory come from? I am [a leader] of the poor, we just grow sorghum. When waungwana come to pass, they give us one or two nguo of fabric which is enough to get dressed. They do like you."

We took leave of the Sultan and returned to camp. We slept and in the morning we arrived in a bush called Dshaga, there is neither habitation nor living soul there. We have lined up our loads, built the camp and said to the Wanyamwezi: “Come on cut down trees, we will fortify because places like this are very dangerous, they are full of lions, hyenas and leopards, without count the natives who come to steal people's property. " We thus created an enclosure, with large tree trunks that we stuck in the ground and tied with rope.

**the carravan spent some time in this region, but the locations aren't as well defined as those in Tanzania. Livingstone briefly mentions the settlement at Kisinga as slighly north of Kazembe's town so it appears Mwenyi Chande's carravan stayed in the vicinity of Lake Mweru.

TRADE AND FIGHTS AT KISINGA

The next morning, we went to Kisinga, led by Mkalikali. We placed our loads on the road, to send two people tell the sultan that waungwana were on the way, that the news had to be transmitted to him and that they requested authorization to be received at his home as guests. Mkalikali was delighted to learn this and said send three of his men to greet us on the road: “Bring them quickly to me, quickly, quickly!

We met them while we were resting on the road, they said to us: “Come on, waungwana, let’s go!” The Sultan calls you to him and he wants to meet you as quickly as possible." We resumed our duties. When we arrived, we were shown the buildings in which to store our goods, then we called the important people of the village, whose rank placed them just below the sultan, and we said to them: "We want one of among you go to the Sultan to request an audience. This is how we will be at peace because as long as we have not encountered him, doubt inhabits our minds." They asked us to wait for the response from the sultan to whom they went.

 “The waungwana want to meet you, is it possible for them to come or not?"

"Why are they in such a hurry? They have only just arrived, there is no need to rush things. Go tell them this news."

The men then came back to tell us that the Sultan advised us to rest first, and not to rush the interview. We replied that it was not customary for guests to arrive in a place to meet only the mwenyeji – that was not appropriate. It was necessary to meet the sultan, to inquire about his news. This was how our souls would be at peace. They said to us:

“Okay, we will ask him again, and we will pass on his response to you.”

“The waungwana insist on seeing you."

"Okay, bring them, let's meet and they can come and give me the news of the road and tell me about what brings them”

When they returned, they said to us: “Waungwana, are you ready to meet the sultan?"

"Yes, we are"

"And then, will you present yourselves empty-handed? Take at least one or two nguo of cloth, a quantity large enough to [merit] the interview with him. "

We opened a load and took out a colored cloth and another of great quality, and then we said, “Let’s do it!” We entered the interior of the chief's residence which we found in full discussion, sitting on a bed. Many people were gathered, who stood at his feet. His head was surrounded by a lion's mane, in his right hand he held a small ax and a spear, and in his left hand, a tobbaco pipe. He was smoking. When we arrived he told us to sit down, which we did.

“Waungwana, tell me, tell me where you come from. Have you got fireplace in peace? Have you encountered any problems in the bush?"

We replied that it was the lo t of the traveler to face many difficulties. He continued,

“Okay, and where are you going?” Are you just passing through, or are you here expressly to see me, tell me that I may know [to what extent] you are my guests."

"We are your guests, those who will receive evil or good from you. We're not going anywhere else than at your place."

"this is good, my guests."

We then took leave: “Goodbye, we are returning to camp."

"Good, we will have the opportunity to discuss further tomorrow because you have not not rested, and have not yet eaten."

We returned to camp, and we slept. The next day, men were sent to tell us to come. When we arrived, we found him very busy, we questioned him:

“Sultan, what’s going on?"

"I just learned of a very bad news: the fighting threatens my territory. So, waungwana, stay on your guard."

 “Okay, we heard you.”

We returned to camp where we transmitted the news to the leader of the caravan:

“What to do now ? Tell us what you think, because you are a person responsible. We arrive, and now war falls on us! "

He replied: “What can I do, my brothers? We seek profit: We must get it, or it will escape us! We will meet happiness and misfortune here and there, us and our guests because if we die, we will not die alone: it will be the same for them. And if they lose their lives and that of their children, we lose our property."

And in the morning, from eight o'clock, the guns rang out. The attacker of Mkalikali was called Kigongo, he was a man from Msiri (the emperor of Katanga) We have grabbed our weapons and went out, we and the inhabitants and together were involved in the fight. We fought until noon. We undid them, and they disappeared nimbly. They had lost forty-two men, on our side, six waungwana were dead. If we added the nyamwezi deaths, the number of those who lost their lives in the territory of Mkalikali amounted to fifty-seven. The next morning, he called us:

“Waungwana, tell me what is going on: are your minds at peace, or are you afraid, since you fought against Kigongo?"

"If we were full for fear, could we fight? Some of our men are dead, then do you ignore the measure of what we are?"

"You say the truth, waungwana, and you are valiant men, who brought me your support in the war. We owe each other mutual recognition."

"Well sultan, but is it not possible to trade? If business is possible, so let's get started, if not, tell us too, because we must know. And if we must stay here, our souls hope that business will also be there, that would delight us! "

And he replied: “Let’s get down to business.”

We slept and the next morning we went to find Mkalikali. A large tusk was placed in front of him. As we approach, he asked us:

“Waungwana, is it really business of this type that are you interested in?"

"Certainly, how much do you ask for this tusk?"

"I want a hundred nguo, two barrels of powder, two rifles and two cones of pearls."

"It’s far too much, speak seriously, for us to ready ourselves"

"Well, won’t you tell me what you are ready to offer?"

"Fifty nguo, a rifle, a barrel of powder and two cones of pearls."

"Bring them so I can look at them. "

We opened a load and he brought the goods. He announced: “Well, business is completed”.

We took our belongings and returned to camp for the weigh: the tusk weighed three frasila! The leader of the caravan said: “This idiot knows nothing about it, we obtained this ivory very easily, and for almost nothing." The next day we went to greet him, we saw two tusks, placed at his feet. He told us: “

Waungwana, I want a man now come and observe the ivory. Since you are here, come sit down and let's trade." And we agreed concerning the two tips that we exchanged for one hundred nguo, two barrels of powder, a rifle and two cones of pearls before bring home. Just as we were finishing all of this, another big tusk was brought and the chef said to us:

“Let’s take care of this one!”

"How much do you ask?"

He replied “and you, how much are you offering?”

"Sixty nguo, a barrel of powder and a rifle"

"Have the goods brought."

We opened the loads, and brought the items, as request. He announced, "Okay, business is over, take your ivory.".

We went to sleep at camp, and the next morning he called us:

“Waungwana, leave me all your merchandise as a pledge, I will give you in exchange all the ivory you need."

“Sultan, what do these words mean: our fortune is certainly not not immense and it would have to be yours, who owns the land and the men, that we have borrowed?"

"Leave me your possessions, have no fear, I don't want to play games with you, I will pay you back everything I owe you."

We returned to camp to discuss all this. The leader of the caravan said to us: “Do as he says, and may luck be favorable to us, he cannot steal from us." We have collected all the goods we had left and took them to Mkalikali in him saying:

“However, sultan, act quickly, do not leave us waiting for days and days because it has now been a very long time since we left the Coast, the goods are not our property, but belong to the Indians. We borrowed them and came to trade because we hope to make a profit from the business."

"You won’t have to wait, I’ll I will give the ivory in the next two days: men went bring my news to my son; they are already on their way back. They are coming back with ivory, and not empty-handed."

 "Well, we heard you."

We waited two days, on the third day we returned to him:

“Sultan, the promise you made to us comes to fruition, give us our ivory, we want to go home. "

He replied: “What do you mean? Don't you know?"

"what should we know?"

"One of your porters came the other day to urinate on our graves, it is a sacrilegious act. Are you aware of this or is it this notion is unknown to you? And you would like something from me to go ?"

"If he did indeed commit such an act, shouldn’t he notify us in order to that we compensate you? Don't you rather want to trick us? and strip us of our goods because you borrowed them from us but without having the ivory needed to buy them from us?"

"Certainly not, I am doing this because of your bad behavior."

"Even so, can the damage of a child not be redeemed?"

And we held a meeting. That same evening, we sent five of our men to the Sultan Kigongo, Msiri's man, to tell him the whole story:

“Mkalikali wants to misappropriate our property, and we come to complain to of your leader so that he sends his men to assert our rights on this Mkalikali." Two days after the departure of our messengers, they returned accompanied by Msiri and his men. They fired shots and went to the sultan to tell him:

“Mkalikali, you are extorting the property of the waungwana, return to them what is due to them, or we will not move from here."

"Well, I’ll give them back their goods."

He entered his residence and took out tusks, small and large, five in all: “This is the property of the waungawana.” We took the ivory and are returned to camp.

NEW WEIGHING: DECISION TO RETURN TO THE COAST

The next morning we weighed all our ivory again, the total weight amounted to forty frasila and two manni (approximately 643 kg). The head of the caravan then observed: “Now we can return to the Coast, because we have enough to repay the goods borrowed from the Indian while pocketing a margin, even if it is small." We asked him which route to follow and he replied: “Let’s take the one that goes through Iramba."

We therefore left for Iramba, whose sultan is Gongotembo. We stayed there for a day, then we crossed the forest of Kikuyu. There was no house or living soul. We entered Kidete, the next day we were in the Chaga bush again. We slept and in the morning we reached the borders of the territory Luemba whose mwenyi mji is called Mkorefumo. The next day we arrived at Chewe's house. He asked us:

“Waungwana, by which path will you take? Are you going to take the road of my father ?"

"Who is it ?"

 He answered us: “Do you not know that I am Kitimkuru’s child?"

We remained with him, and he treated us with great consideration. We slept until morning, then we left to reach Makomba. It’s a large lake but in the middle of the bush, there is no house, no living soul. The next day we were in Mweru, it is a huge place, populated by hippos and crocodiles. All kinds of fish are found there, from fry to shrimp. We slept and the next day we arrived at Kitimkuru who is the sultan of all this territory. When we reached his residence, he provided us with boxes and called us. [The message read:]

“Tell the waungwana to come meet me, where do they come from? They did not arrive at my house by the usual tracks; Did they venture on a route known only to them?"

We went to him, we found his army. He asked us:

“Waungwana, are you well?” Are you at aware of the situation here?"

 We told him that we didn't know.

“My child is dead, and I want a sanda (funeral cloth), so I can bury him.”

But we pointed out to him: “Where would sanda come from? We we arrive from the Interior, and not from the Coast."

"So what to do, because my child is dead, so go and consult. I don't want any outbursts here, come on, bring me this sanda quickly."

So we went to the camp to discuss what we would do. We went to look for five nguo in our reserves, which we we brought. But he cried out:

“Waungwana, you are perfect fools ! Do you have any intelligence? I am a great sultan, and you bring me five nguo?"

To which we replied: “How could we do otherwise? Our merchandise is sold out!"

"Eh well if that's the case, should I come and take it myself? what do I need from my hands?"

We returned to camp and took a medium-sized tusk, we brought it into him saying: “Sultan, here is our sanda, to bury your child. " He was satisfied and happy.

**Kitimukulu was the title of the ruler of the Bemba in north-eastern Zambia. In the late 19th century, there was a confederacy of arond 16 chiefs who ruled the region between the lakes; Mweru, Bangweulu, Tanganyika, and Nyasa. Mweyi Chande likely met the paramount chief/King.

TOWARDS THE COAST THROUGH THE MAMBWE COUNTRY, UNYAMWANGA, UBUNGU AND KIWELE COUNTRY

The next day, we left again and left the territory of Luemba. The next day we arrived at Mambwe, where the Sultan is called Fambo. The night was calm, not a sound. Likewise, everything went well with Tingamanda, Kassonso and Kakungu. Here the country ends Mambwe.

We now arrived in Unyamwanga, whose sultan is called Kanamlilo. He initially made us feel welcome but early in the morning, almost at dawn, we heard the drums sound and the guns scream. We we are beaten. Two of ours died and our adversaries seized a tusk as well as a bale of food. At noon, the fight ended. We went to Sambi's house, and the next day at Mtanga Holile. This is the end of Unyamwanga.

We slept until the next morning and left for Ubungu. The sultan is called Mamsanya. The next day We arrived at Kiranga's, and two days later at Muhalule's. This is the end of Ubungu.

We arrived in Kiwele country, which is under the authority of the chief Mtwale, but the first sultan of the territory that we met is called Nyungu ya Mawe. We slept at the camp. The next day, as we were getting ready to leave, he stopped us saying:

“Waungwana, who gave you the right to leave? If you want to go home, go to Amri bin Sultan to tell him my news. I actually gave him my ivory to take to the Coast, but he still hasn’t come back. And for my part, I see myself obliged to retain you."

"What should we think of these words? Are you telling the truth, or are you trying to have fun at our expense? You gave him your ivory, yes, but we weren't there and we had nothing to do with it. Only, you see that we are defenseless, and you want to take advantage of it."

He replied to us: “And where will you give me these beautiful speeches? If you bring them from the bush, I don't even want to hear them"

We slept, spent two days arguing with him – and then this grump finally listened to reason and let us go. We left again for Simbo, the next day we were at Itumba, at Sultan Kiromo's house. We stayed four days with him, to buy hoes which would allow us to pay the tribute in the country Gogo. On the fifth day, we left, we walked to Mtoni Kululu, it's in the bush, there is no house or living soul. We stayed two days and that was the end of the Kululu country.

IN UGOGO TERRITORY, WAR AND FORCED LABOUR

The next day, we arrived at Mtabulo, which marks the entry into the country Gogo. The sultan of the place is called Malegehe. We gave him forty hoes as a right of way. We slept until morning and we left for Koko. The sultan is called Magimba. We handed over thirty hoes. The next day we arrived in Isseke, at Mirimo’s. We gave him sixty hoes. We have again walked in the bush for a day, the next day we reached Kanyenye whose sultan is called Magomba. We gave him fifty hoes but he refused:

“I want you to cultivate my fields."

"Do you take us for slaves? We are travelers, that’s all."

He replied: “Good, and from whom will you get the right to leave? It won't happen until you've plowed my fields."

"If you want to behave badly, why is it at our expense?"

"And what's more, you're proud! Don't you know that many people's lives end here?"

"We told him that we wanted to be killed."

“Well, you didn’t leave!"

We stayed five days, and on the sixth he launched the assault against us. The fight lasted all night. Six of our men died and nine of theirs. In the morning, he unfurled the white flag, which announced his desire to make peace. He said, “I just wanted to test you, see if you were able to fight or not. Now I have seen your valor. Pay me the tribute, and we will be even. "

But we refused because the injustice was great, he had attacked us. We replied:

 “Go your path, or else you will receive your tribute in powder and lead."

We stayed at the camp, and during the night we fled. We walked like this until we reached the Mbuyuni bush. The same day, we arrived at Ikunsi, whose sultan is called Mniansaka. We gave him fifty hoes, which he refused saying:

“I have another job to entrust to you, it will be the hongo”.

We asked what kind of work it was, he replied:

“Build me a boma, then you can leave."

"So you want to follow the example of your colleague?"

 “I don't understand what you are saying, all I ask you is to build my boma. These are my words, whether you like or not."

We replied: “Good, we heard you but first we will take counsel."

We then concerted: what should be done? We said to ourselves that it was better bend to his will because we were tired of fighting, this had all started way too long ago already, we already had fought enough inside. The next morning we took our axes and went to cut down trees. We returned to the Sultan and we asked:

“Show us the place where you want to build the boma."

He replied: “Don’t you see the village? I want you to draw up the fortifications around."

And we stayed building the boma, the work lasted nine days. We said to him: “Now, goodbye, we let's leave since our work is finished. "

"Won’t you give me a gift ?"

"Give you what? We agreed to build you a boma,here it is todat and that’s not enough for you?"

"At least give me some hoes, even a small number.”

We gave him twenty hoes, he was happy. We slept and during the night, one of our porters fell prey to a leopard. He only tore off one ear, because we made a noise, and he let him go. We walked to the Mawala stronghold. We aligned our loads, and brought him our hongo, which he refused. We said to him:

“What bad trick are we entitled to now? "

He answered : “I want you to help me fight the Wahehe, that’s what I ask as tribute. Because the Wahehe came last night and took away all our livestock, not a single cow left."

We answered him that we did not want to go to war: “We left our country to make a profit, not to be mercenaries."

He said: “You will not be allowed to leave."

We returned to the camp and fled at night, we went to Marwa, in the bush. Then we entered the Marenga Makali (desert), there was neither habitation nor living soul. We continued to Kilimachanenge. In the morning, we arrived in Tutumi, which marks the beginning of Kutu country.

**journey through Kululu to Ukutu country, this region had few powerful chiefs, but mostly village headmen, the toponyms provided are even harder to locate except kiwele. It appears that parts of Ugogo had since been brought under German control by the time the carravan returned.

TRAVELING ON WELL-KNOWN ROADS

The next day, we were in Mgazi, whose sultan is Muhunzi. He received us with respect. We continued our journey until Kiperepetu. The chief there is called Kirengawana. The next day we were at Mniyombo, at Mangwatwa. We continued to Mbamba, where the leader is Kiratu. Finally, we reached the Kole bush, then Mbwiga, whose chief is Mzeremala. Then it was Kirengwe, whose leader is Mkunguze. There, there is no need to pay hongo. In (eastern) uGogo country, this practice has disappeared because the natives fear the Mzungu too much to require a right of way. The German penetration is complete here: they built stations there to monitor the different sultans, if they extort goods from passing caravans, or demand the hongo, they imprison them. So when we arrived, everything All we had to do was eat and sleep! Not the slightest article to spend!.

We went to Kidunda, whose chief is Mgumba; in the morning, we reached the Rufiji, a large river full of crocodiles and hippos. The chief of the place is called Korogero. We stopped there because the leader of the caravan was in bad shape. We stayed a week, on the eighth day he was a little better; we headed back on the road, he limped along. Then we arrived at Mvuha, whose chief is Makuka, the next day we arrived in Luguru, we kept going up and down hills and we were lost to each other. Some slept very far away, others at the top of the mountain, others were still in the valley. It was only the next day, at nine o'clock in the morning that we found each other!

The next morning we left and reached the lake of Manse. It is an immense lake, like a sea. The hippos are there numerous, all like crocodiles and fish. In the middle of the waters resides a giant snake called Nondo. No canoe dares to go there, because of this scary snake. In the morning we reached Lowela, we slept there and the next day, we changed route to head towards Bagamoyo. We arrived in Sungwi. The next day we arrived at the river which marks the beginning of Kidunda territory, on the third day we were at Mpangile, the fourth, we crossed the Ruvu. We have crossed on foot, the water was up to our waists. From there we arrived with the pazi Mrombwa. After sleeping, we went back to Yombo, where we we are rested. In the morning we arrived at Dunda, whose leader is Djaha. The forest there is immense. They build their homes there and even their fields, which they cultivate within the forest. No man can know that a village exists, unless they come across it by chance.

**Final leg of the journey

HITTING THE PORT: RELIEF AND PLEASURES

We slept until morning and headed back to Nsole. We wrote a letter to give to our creditor on the coast. The message read:

“We have reached Nsole, and will be back soon. Send us food and clothing as quickly as possible because we we are as if naked, we have come from far away."

We stayed two days, the third, we left for Kanga. In the morning we reaches the plantations which mark the entrance to Bagamoyo-Sanzale. We set out again to go to Chemchem, where a large bridge was built. We crossed and established our camp. The men we sent to the Coast have returned, people came from Bagamoyo to see us and bring us food food. We slept until morning, and we crossed the city gates.

A large ngoma (drumming festival) had been organized for our return and a large plot of land cleared for that – and there was siwa and zumari. This made us very happy! The ivory was taken to customs, and we went home. The Next morning, the Indians came to us, and we said to them: “Let’s share the wealth.” They weighed all the ivory that was struck with government seal. They took the tusks home and we said, “Do the math, take your part." The calculations were made from start to finish, all the account books were collected and opened. Then they paid themselves, there was not much left for us: the profit was 500 reale. The leader of the caravan took the money and divided it: a hundred to one, fifty to another, thirty to this one, twenty to that one… To each according to his due until it is completed.

EPILOGUE

This is the account of the caravan that was led last year and for which we have received our share of misfortunes. Wherever we went, where it was necessary to fight, we fought, where it was necessary to pay tribute, we paid tribute, where it was necessary to build a boma, we built a boma, where it was necessary to work in the fields we worked, where it was necessary to die, we died. Because this trip was not a small walk, it took us very far.

Traveling means going to bed hungry, fighting against thirst, there is no joy in that. Anyone who has never been to the Interior knows nothing of the harshness of the world. So, we consider every day the happiness and leisure of being at home, with clean clothes, a comfortable bed and delicious food! He knows nothing of misfortune who has not confronted the Interior. And whoever this happens to will really know what I mean. This means sleeping on the ground, without tomorrow bringing you any rest. This is what Interior means.

Bagamoyo Street scene with stone houses, ca. 1889, Vendsyssel Historiske Museum.

References.

Safari za Wasuaheli by Carl Velten (In Swahili)

De la Côte aux confins. Récits de voyageurs swahili by Nathalie Carre (In French)