Page:Two kings of Uganda.djvu/36
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CHAPTER II.
THROUGH UGOGO TO UYUI.
Reluctantly we left Mamboya and turned our faces westward once more ; the road here winds along the rocky mountains which stretch for fifty miles up to Mpwapwa or Mhamva, on the borders of the Malenga Makali, the "wilderness of bitter waters." This road is proverbially dangerous, being infested by the Ruga-ruga, or fighting men of the Wahehe tribe. The danger is no imaginary one, as I know by experience, for in the year 1886 I sent one of my men this way with a message, when he was badly wounded, and a Munyamwezi man who was with him was shot dead. The last time that I passed through the same district I myself saw the naked body of a poor lad, doubtless some straggler from a passing caravan, lying dead at the side of the path, pierced by many spear wounds. It is not surprising, therefore, that our party should encounter these notable Ruga-ruga. About a dozen of them showed themselves to our advanced guard ; but when they saw white men armed with guns, they made a precipitate retreat,their flight accelerated by a volley from the guns of the Europeans. I was behind at the time and did not share in this victory. One of our party, however, very nearly lost his life, for during the en-