The Kilima-Njaro Expedition by Harry Johnston

Leaving this settlement of Gonǰa we walked through a beautiful and well-forested plain, brimming over with fertility, although little cultivated. We camped at Kihuṅgwe's, another Zegūha chief of Semboǰa's family, who has made a settlement on the banks of the Mkomazi river, and attracted to his precincts vagabonds and fugitives from all adjacent countries. We were now at the northern entrance of a broad and level plain which stretches between the mountains of Pare and Usambara and slopes very gently to the River Ruvu. It is perhaps forty miles in width, uninhabited save by a few harmless bands of Masai, whose spirit has been broken by repeated defeats received from the Wa-sambara and the Wa-pare, and who are now too meek to demand tribute from passing caravans. I met some of these people on the road, and stopped to chat with them and glean some more notes about their language. We also encountered some of the Wa-mbugu, a curious race of cattle-keepers dwelling at the foot of the Usambara hills.

This plain is covered with thin shrubs and stunted trees, with occasional patches of emerald-green grass. It is the resort of immense quantities of game, which here finds cover, sustenance, and water, for the Mkomazi flows through the centre.