The Luambwa to the Difuna River 



drawbacks, the men liked them, as was proved by 

 the amount of shouting and calling that was necessary 

 to get them out when once comfortably established 

 inside. 



The nature of the country through which we 

 were about to travel was of course quite unknown to 

 us personally ; and Mr. Melland, who had never been 

 in the district, had been unable to throw much light 

 on the subject. We had made careful inquiries at 

 every village, but had not, so far, succeeded in finding 

 out anything very definite except that all the infor- 

 mation we required could be obtained at Musiro 

 village on the Congo-Serenje road. 



Our map proved fairly reliable. It showed 

 us that both the Luambwa and Mkushi rivers took 

 their source in the Wulangulu Hills, and that conse- 

 quently if we were able to follow their course we 

 should travel to Mkushi almost as the crow flies. 

 The distance from Musiro to Mkushi in a direct line 

 is one hundred and five miles ; the journey at the rate 

 of about fifteen miles a day would take us seven days 

 from Musiro, and we ought therefore to reach Mkushi 

 about the 28th November. 



Beyond this the map told us nothing, and we 

 had still to ascertain the direction of the paths, the 

 location of the villages, the food supply likely to be 

 available, as also the kind of country we should 

 meet with in the Wulangulu Hills. 



Under normal circumstances, all this information 

 should have been easily obtainable, for the African 

 native is, as a rule, thoroughly well acquainted with 

 the district in which he lives. Unfortunately, the 



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