Tanganyika

“ Kalema is a stockade. We see Tanganyika, but a range of low hills intervenes. A rumour of war to-morrow.
12th October, 1872.—We wait till 2 P.M., and then make a forced march towards Fipa. The people cultivate but little, for fear of enemies; so we can buy few provisions. We left a broad valley with a sand river in it, where we have been two days, and climbed a range of hills parallel to Tanganyika, of mica schist and gneiss, tilted away from the Lake. We met a buffalo on the top of one ridge, it was shot into and lay down, but we lost it. ”

“ Arab Caravans seldom arrive at the Tanganyika, for the same reasons, under six months, but the lightly laden and the fortunate may get to Unyamyembe in two and a half, and to the Tanganyika in four months. It is evident that the African authorities (this was written thirty-five years ago) have hitherto confounded the Nyanza, the Tanganyika, and the Nyassa Lakes. Ujiji was first visited in 1840 by the Arabs, and after that they penetrated to Unyamwesi. ”

“ The bomas round the villages are plastered with mud, so as to intercept balls or arrows. The trees are all cut down for these stockades, and the flats are cut up with deep gullies. A great deal of cotton is cultivated, of which the people make their cloth. There is an arm of Tanganyika here called Kafungia.
I sent a doti to the headman of the village, where we made the litter, to ask for a guide to take us straight south instead of going east to Fipa, which is four days off and out of our course. Tipo Tipo is said to be at Morero, west of Tanganyika. ”

“ These dialects are chiefly spoken in the regions west-north-west, and perhaps north and east of Tanganyika, from the vicinity of Lake Albert Edward on the north and the Lukuga outlet of Tanganyika on the south. On the west they are bounded by the Congo Forest and the Manyema genus (No. 13) . The languages on the east coast of Tanganyika (Ki-rundi, Kigeye, &c.) seem to be more nearly connected with those of group No. 1 (Uganda-Unyoro) , yet perhaps they are more conveniently included here. ”

“ The despatch of the first pioneer to Tanganyika, signalising the inauguration of the African campaign, following so closely upon the successful termination of the Six Year Plan, will be recognised by posterity as the initial move in an undertaking designed to supplement and enrich the record of signal collective services rendered by the members of this community within the confines and throughout the length and breadth of its homeland. ”

“ Lake Tanganyika had been known to the Arab slave hunters of the east coast of Africa long before the white man gazed upon its bright blue waters. These cunning, cruel people had good reasons for guarding well the secret of its existence. ”

“ Notwithstanding this, Hatibu forced on our march, the Wanyamwesi and Zanzibar men all carrying ivory when necessary, and in an extraordinarily short time we reached the shores of Lake Tanganyika. I remember some of the names of the countries we hurried through—Uhiya, Ubudjwa, and Uguhba. Some of the people had most extravagant head-dresses, something resembling a huge chignon, made of bark, and with a piece like a tongue hanging out of the middle of it. ”

“ In the partition of Africa among the European Powers, the shores of Tanganyika have been shared by Belgium, Great Britain and Germany, Great Britain holding the southern extremity, Germany the east, and Belgium the west. Stations have been established on the lake by all three Powers, the principal being — German: Bismarckburg in the south and Ujiji in the north; British: Sumbu and Kasakalawe, on Cameron Bay; Belgian: Mtowa or Albertville in 6o S. Missionaries, especially the Catholic “White Fathers,” are also active on its shores. ”

“ North of Tanganyika the valley is suddenly interrupted by a line of ancient eruptive ridges, which dam back the waters of Lake Kivu (q.v.) , but have been recently cut through by the outlet of that lake, the Rusizi, which enters Tanganyika by several mouths at its northern end. The flat plain traversed by the lower Rusizi was evidently once a portion of the lake floor. Tanganyika has been formed by the subsidence of a long narrow tract of country relatively to the surrounding plateaus, which fall to the lake in abrupt cliffs, some thousands of feet high in places. ”

“ But this famous place, which at one time gave its name to Lake Tanganyika itself, is a mere group of hamlets situated on the south side of a peninsula, whence a superb view is commanded of the surrounding coast, with its red cliffs, wooded slopes, and palm-groves. Ujiji, which is the residence of the muntuali, or "triumvirs," who administer the district, is an unhealthy place that has proved fatal to many Europeans. ”

“ My friend Hamerton, the Consul at Zanzibar, was dying. Without money, or support, or influence, lacking in the necessaries of life, I led the most disorderly caravan that ever man could gather together, into the heart of Eastern Africa, and discovered the Tanganyika and the Nyanza Lakes. ”

“ From this point it runs nearly due north along the west side of Tanganyika and east of Lake Muta-N'zige to 4°N. latitude, which has been adopted as its northern limit, westwards to the U-Banghi river, which, with the right bank of the Congo as far as Manyanga, separates the new state towards the west from the French possessions. ”

“ Say, for the sake of argument, that there are ten thousand natives in Buluwayo working for £4 a month, and ten thousand natives are induced to come south from Tanganyika, having contracted to work for so many months at 10s. a month. The Tanganyika natives will discover the current rates at Buluwayo, and will think that they have been swindled; if they do not break out into open revolt, they will return to their homes and spread the news, thereby prevent others from coming south at the 10s. figure, and raise the price of labour in their country far above its original level of 3s. ”

“ I have related the tale of our departure from the Tanganyika somewhat circumstantially: it was truly characteristic of Arab travelling in Eastern Africa. Said bin Salim had scant cause for hurry: slaves rarely desert on the day of departure; knowing themselves to be watched they wait their opportunity, and find it perhaps—as our caravan discovered to its loss—a week or two afterwards. ”

“ That a few more years will see the northern section extending southward, via Gondokoro, to Lake Victoria Nyanza, and the southern section northward to Lake Tanganyika, there is little doubt. Indeed, the plans are drawn, the routes mapped, the levels run, and on the Katanga-Tanganyika section the railway-builders are even now at work. But when the Victoria Nyanza has been reached by the one section, and Tanganyika by the other, there will come a halt, for between the two rail-heads there will still be six hundred miles of intervening territory—and that territory is German. ”

“ At the northern extremity of the Urundi sea-face, and at the head of the Tanganyika, lies the land of Uzige; it is rarely visited except by the Lakist traders. This people, who, like their neighbours, cannot exist without some form of traffic, have, it is said, pursued the dows of the earlier Arab explorers with a flotilla of small canoes; it is probable that negro traders would be better received. ”

“ Indians in Tanganyika numbered in 1921 some 15,000. They had penetrated to every part of the territory, and save for the competition of Greeks in certain areas practically monopolized the retail trade.
The transition period 1918-21 proved difficult, and there was much delay in setting up the new machinery of government. This was in part inevitable, as until the Treaty of Versailles came into force, an event delayed until Jan. 20 1920, the country was still legally German territory. The whole of the German settlers were repatriated and their estates sold during 1921. ”

“ This was the famed Hamees ibu Sayf, otherwise known as Tipolo, the principal among all the Arabs who in search of ivory and slaves had crossed the Tanganyika. He exercised an authority among his fellows which few cared to dispute. Upwards of two hundred freemen and slaves from “the island,” and six hundred natives of Unyamwesi, all armed with muskets, served him well and faithfully in the dual capacity of porters and irregular troops. ”

“ The section which I am about to describe, entering Africa at the Zambesi and penetrating inwards to the Tanganyika plateau, traverses each of these regions in turn—the coast-belt, the lower fringing table-land, the great general plateau of the country, and the third or highest elevation of the Tanganyika table-land. To deal thoroughly with so vast a region in the course of a single exploration is out of the question ”

“ The government possesses large forest reserves.
Communications.—Good roads for foot traffic have been made from the seaports to the trading stations on Lakes Nyasa, Tanganyika and Victoria. Caravans from Dar-es-Salaam to Tanganyika take 60 days to do the journey. The lack of more rapid means of communication hindered the development of the colony and led to economic crises (1898–1902) , which were intensified, and in part created, by the building of a railway in the adjacent British protectorate from Mombasa to Victoria Nyanza, the British line securing the trade with the lake. ”

“ Through dialects spoken on the west and north of Tanganyika, these languages of North Eastern Rhodesia and northern Nyasaland and of the Kafukwe basin are connected with the Bantu languages of Uganda. They also offer a slight resemblance to Zulu-Kaffir, and it would seem as though the Zulu-Kaffir race must have come straight down from the countries to the north-east of Tanganyika, across the Zambezi, to their present home. Curiously enough, some hundreds of years after this southward migration, intestine wars and conflicts actually determined a north-eastward return migration of Zulus. ”

“ In the mean time Captain Burton got desperately ill, whilst I picked up all the information I could gather from the Arabs, with Bombay as an interpreter. [42] I heard that the Babisa, who live on the west of Nyassa, came to the southeast corner of Tanganyika in quest of ivory for the Kilua merchants. That caravans sometimes reached the Cazembé country by land, crossing the Manungu river, and also went to Katata for copper, which is of a dark rich red colour, and more prized than the imported copper. Some Arabs also went down the Tanganyika, disembarked at Manungu, and reached Cazembé. ”

“ The southeast watershed is not high, nor is that on the south, which separates the Congo waters from those flowing into Lake Ngami or collected by the Zambezi. North of Lake Tanganyika the high mountains form a lofty watershed between the northeastern sources of the Congo and the sources of the Nile, and a line of hills sweeps around to the westward in the southern Sudan, and are continued to the lofty Jebel-el-Marra, in Darfur, whose slopes contribute the remotest northern waters of the Congo. ”

“ On inquiring if any large mountains exist in this country, I was told that Moufipa, or Fipa, opposite the lower end of the Lake, is largest—one can see Tanganyika from it. It probably gives rise to the Nkalambwé River and the Luazé.
There is nothing interesting in a heathen town. All are busy in preparing food or clothing, mats or baskets, whilst the women are cleaning or grinding their corn, which involves much hard labour. ”

“ The inhabitants are not impressive or numerous on the shores, yet they show art in dress, and in manufactures. They have been terribly demoralized by the slave traders, and many sections depopulated entirely. While sailing up the western shore of the lake, Cameron thought he found what was the long sought for outlet of Tanganyika—the traditional connecting link between it and Lakes Ngami and Albert Nyanza. ”

“ A conventional basin of the Congo was defined, which comprised all the regions watered by the Congo and its affluents, including Lake Tanganyika, with its eastern tributaries, and in this conventional basin it was declared that “the trade of all nations shall enjoy complete freedom.” ”

“ The articles exposed for sale were sometimes goats and sheep and poultry, generally fish, vegetables, and a few fruits, and palm wine was a staple commodity. Occasionally an ivory or a slave was hawked about. Such was the little village of Kawele. The Tanganyika is ever seen to advantage from its shores, and here I found a lodging in a ruinous tembe inn, built by an Arab merchant, where I was lodged in comparative comfort, though the tembe was tenanted only by ticks and slaves. ”

“ On the shores of the Victoria N'yanza and on the shore of the Tanganyika communities of white men are engaged in disseminating what they think beneficial to the dark outcasts of this continent. Why should I not hope that the Congo basin throughout its vast extent, and the bank of the superb river, will be ultimately studded with civilized communities as well? We have begun well. Even now Belgians, Germans, English, Americans, Danes, Swedes, enlisted in our service, are devoting their best energies to accomplish this. So [Pg 446] far we have been welcomed by the natives. ”

“ The two geographical feats were--his first sight of Lake Tanganyika, and his discovery of Lake Moero. In April he reached Lake Liemba, as the lower part of Tanganyika was called. The scenery was wonderfully beautiful, and the air of the whole region remarkably peaceful. The want of medicine made an illness here very severe; on recovering, he would have gone down the lake, but was dissuaded, in consequence of his hearing that a chief was killing all that came that way. ”