VIII.] JIW:fi LA SINGA. 103 



aimed at on our next journey. The road was across a clearing, July, 

 extending as far as the eye could reach, and which boasted of ^^'^^• 

 many herds of cattle, populous, stockaded villages, and much 

 cultivation. 



The fields were divided by ditches and banks, and in one 

 place we saw some rude attempts at irrigation. To cultivate 

 these fields must require a considerable amount of perseverance 

 and industry, the ground being neatly hoed into large ridges ; 

 and each year, when preparing for a new crop, these are turned 

 completely over, so that the ridge of one year becomes the 

 trench of the next. 



The villages I visited were remarkably clean, and the huts 

 wonderfully well built, considering the means and materials at 

 disposal. Indeed, except in the matter of " book - learning," 

 these people can not be considered as occui^ying a low place in 

 the scale of civilization. 



We were now crossing the water-shed between the basin of 

 the Rufiji and that of the Nile and of the Kongo. 



Having been mmecessarily delayed, owing to our stupid ki- 

 rangosi leading us round two sides of a triangle, we did not 

 reach Jiwe la Singa until two in the afternoon, whereas many 

 of our people who followed the direct route arrived in camp at 

 noon. It is a prosperous place, and some Wamerima from Ba- 

 gamoyo have settled there as traders. 



They welcomed us with expressions of the highest esteem, 

 even asserting that they regarded us much in the same light as 

 their own ruler, Syd Burghash. Therefore they suggested that 

 we could not well refuse them some paper, powder, needles, 

 thread, and such small articles, thinking no doubt they had paid 

 handsomely for them by their compliments. One who had 

 been to Katanga told me that the Portuguese had estabhshed 

 there a regular trade in ivory, copper, and salt. 



Here we were detained two days by the necessity of laying 

 in provisions that we hoped might last us to Unyanyembe, and 

 the appearance of a new moon during this halt caused us some 

 trouble. 



To celebrate the event according to Mohammedan custom, 

 our askari commenced tiring their rifles, and would not desist 

 when desired to do so. One man to whom I had individually 



