Soon after we met one of those sights common in part of the world, to wit a chain slave-gang, bound east.  The slaves did not appear to be in any way down-hearted on the contrary, they seemed imbued with the philosophic jollity of the jolly servant of Martin Chuzzlewit.  Were it not for their chains, it would have been difficult to discover master from slave; the physiognomic traits were alike—­the mild benignity with which we were regarded was equally visible on all faces.  The chains were ponderous—­they might have held elephants captive; but as the slaves carried nothing but themselves, their weight could not have been insupportable.

The jungle was scant on this march, and though in some places the packs met with accidents, they were not such as seriously to retard progress.  By 10 A.M. we were in camp in the midst of an imposing view of green sward and forest domed by a cloudless sky.  We had again pitched our camp in the wilderness, and, as is the custom of caravans, fired two shots to warn any Washensi having grain to sell, that we were willing to trade.

Our next halting-place was Kisemo, distant but eleven miles from Msuwa, a village situated in a populous district, having in its vicinity no less than five other villages, each fortified by stakes and thorny abattis, with as much fierce independence as if their petty lords were so many Percys and Douglasses.  Each topped a ridge, or a low hummock, with an assumption of defiance of the cock-on-its-own-dunghill type.  Between these humble eminences and low ridges of land wind narrow vales which are favored with the cultivation of matama and Indian corn.  Behind the village flows the Ungerengeri River, an impetuous stream during the Masika season, capable of overflowing its steep banks, but in the dry season it subsides into its proper status, which is that of a small stream of very clear sweet water.  Its course from Kisemo is south-west, then easterly ; it is the main feeder of the Kingani River.

The belles of Kisemo are noted for their vanity in brass wire, which is wound in spiral rings round their wrists and ankles, and the varieties of style which their hispid heads exhibit; while their poor lords, obliged to be contented with dingy torn clouts and split ears, show what wide sway Asmodeus holds over this terrestrial sphere—­for it must have been an unhappy time when the hard-besieged husbands finally gave way before their spouses.  Besides these brassy ornaments on their extremities, and the various hair-dressing styles, the women of Kisemo frequently wear lengthy necklaces, which run in rivers of colours down their bodies.

A more comical picture is seldom presented than that of one of these highly-dressed females engaged in the homely and necessary task of grinding corn for herself and family.  The grinding apparatus consists of two portions:  one, a thick pole of hard wood about six feet long, answering for a pestle; the other, a capacious wooden mortar, three feet in height.