166 



ACROSS AFRICA. 



[Chap. 



February, 



1874. 



When the whole of the men and loads had been ferried over, 

 an altercation arose about the donkeys, the canoe-men refus- 

 ing to tow them across until a fetish man had made medicine. 

 This, of course, entailed an extra fee. But it was inadvisable 

 to refuse, especially as Bombay swore that it was owing to the 

 neglect of this precaution that Stanley lost a donkey on cross- 

 in o- this river. 



CBOijSlNCi MALAOAKAZI. 



So much time was occupied here that we were compelled to 

 halt at Mpeta, the village of the other chief of the ferry, who 

 fleeces travelers from Ujiji in the same way as his confrere 

 does those from Unyanyembe. The mutwale here, a small boy, 

 was unwell, and I therefore escaped a visit from him, which I 

 did not regret, since it would have obliged me to make him a 

 present. 



At Mpeta I got sights for latitude, which agreed to within 

 fifteen seconds with those taken by Captain Speke at the same 

 place — a difference caused possibly by our position not being 

 exactly the same, and which may therefore be regarded as prac- 

 tically giving the same result. 



Leaving Mpeta, we traversed a level country, just above the 

 heads of many valleys and ravines running down to the Mala- 

 garazi, which lay some little distance to the southward, and 

 much below us, on account of the rapid descent of its bed. 



