XV.] AN ECLIPSE OF THE SUN. 199 



I found it extremely difficult to keep my map correctly, as April, 

 the guides changed the names most perplexingly, and called an i^^*- 

 island a cape, and a cape an island ; while my ideas were not the 

 clearest after so much fever and quinine. 



We now came to the debatable ground between Ufipa and 

 Ulungu. 



On starting on the 16th, we rounded a low point with cliffs 

 looking exactly as though built by man. It was only at the 

 point that this peculiarity existed ; inside, the cliffs were quite 

 different. The courses, too, were as regular as possible, and, 

 where bared at top, they were in a perfectly level, unbroken 

 surface ; so I suppose they are innumerable small strata. There 

 was a deserted village here, and I saw several others which had 

 been abandoned, owing to deaths having occurred in them. 



Industrial settlements after the pattern of the French mission 

 at Bagamoyo, to teach trades and cultivation, would seem to be 

 the proper line for missionary work in this country. 



In the afternoon the eclipse commenced, while we were 

 camped at Lungu. The sun was hidden in clouds; and when 

 it became clear again rain was falling, and two very perfect rain- 

 bows were formed. These faded away for three minutes from 

 the eclipse, and occurred again for a few minutes before sunset. 

 The diminution of light was very perceptible, and some of my 

 men took this opportunity of stealing seven goats belonging to 

 people living near. 



There were too' many concerned in the theft to discover the 

 real offenders ; but I sent the goats back, with a present of beads 

 for the owner. If one only had been stolen, it would probably 

 have been killed and eaten outside the camp. I should have 

 known nothing of it, and no very flattering opinion of white 

 men would have been left on the minds of the people. 



Land now lay right across on the west side, and we were ap- 

 parently at the end of the lake. But there was a narrow arm 

 running up about twenty miles, ending in a mass of grass, 

 through which boats can not pass, and a river, called Kirumbwe, 

 here falls into the lake. 



On sighting a village, all hands immediately wanted to halt 

 for food, although a week's provisions had been laid in two days 

 before. We were only two days out, and the boats were regu- 



14 



