242 



ACROSS AFRICA. 



[Chap. 



June, 

 1874. 



and stand eight feet high and four in diameter, being placed on 

 small platforms two feet from the ground. Thej have mova- 

 ble, conical, thatched roofs. 



In the deserted village there were many very line bark-clotli 

 trees, and the late inhabitants sent people over to prevent our 

 injuring them when making our camp. 



From this place we crossed a level plain, along whicli the 

 Luwika ran, lying between two almost cliff-like ranges of hills; 

 but on arriving at a village, our road suddenly turned to the 

 right, and we had to clamber up the face of so steep a cliff that 

 hands and knees were used almost more than feet. At the 

 summit we had about ten yards of level walking, and then an 

 equally steep descent into a rich and fertile valley full of villages. 

 This was the cominencement of a second Uvinza, which must 

 ^ not be confounded with the Uvinza through which vre 

 had passed to the east of the Tanganyika. Outside 

 some of the villages there were large clay idols in dif- 

 ferent attitudes — sitting, standing erect, and recum- 

 bent — all being placed under small sheds, with pots of 

 jiombe and heads of corn lying round them. 



We camped on the banks of the Lulumbije, which, 

 after breaking through the narrow ridge we had just 

 crossed, joins the Luwika. The united streams are 

 known indifferently as the Lulumbije or Luwika, until 

 the junction with the Lukuga. This exactly coincides 

 with the information given me by the chief at the en- 

 trance of the Lukuga, of a stream falling into that river 

 at a place one month's journey from the lake. 



The Uvinza people displayed more skill in carving 

 than any I had hitherto met, and many of -their walk- 

 ing-sticks were very creditable specimens of the carver's 

 art. Several of both sexes wore pieces of cane or rings 

 of beads through the centre cartilage of the nose, and 

 their hair Avas tastefully worked into- cones and ridges, 

 finished off by plaits. 



The Lulumbije was crossed the next day, and after a 

 heavy and hilly march, during which several affluents 

 of that river were met with, we arrived at the village 

 of Kolomamba, situated on the top of a high range of- 



