THE REDISCOVERED COUNTRY 249 



October 7. — An overcast and sticky day to start with, 

 clearing later. Off at 5 135 along the edge of Mara Bay, 

 with hills to the left and high green papyrus cutting 

 our view to the right. Hundreds of dragonfiies about, 

 with transparent wings across the ends of which were 

 broad black bands, so that as they hovered they gave 

 the impression of unsupported bodies accompanied on 

 either side by satellites. The native huts were here 

 built next the papyrus — where the mosquitoes must 

 have been very thick. They had herds of humped 

 cattle among which fluttered and perched numbers of 

 white egrets — a pretty sight. Stone spires in monolith 

 and square rocks like forts cropped up here and there, 

 isolated, from an otherwise alluvial soil. The path 

 was broad and well beaten; and indeed we met much 

 traffic — natives going to market carrying loads of sugar- 

 cane or m'wembe; coming from market with coils of brass 

 wire, little packets of sugar or salt, strings of beads, 

 cotton cloth or beautiful new red blankets; carrying 

 huge bundles of papyrus stalks to use as building 

 materials, or just moving about to see what they could 

 see. They are a very black people, these lake dwell- 

 ers, but beautifully muscled and most symmetrically 

 shaped. 



Soon we began to catch glimpses of a bold and 

 broken coastline with promontories and islands, and in 

 two hours passed by the old government post at Ita- 

 banga, now abandoned. There still remains a sub- 



