XIX.] MUINYI HASSANI. 259 



wezi pagazi. One man alone employed six hundred Wanyam- August, 

 wezi, all armed with guns. These fellows get little or no pay, ^^'^*- 

 but are allowed to loot the country all round in search of sub- 

 sistence and slaves. Some of the slaves they keep for them- 

 selves, giving their employers a sufficient number in return for 

 the powder supplied to enable them to oppress the natives. 



The Arab who had six hundred Wanyamwezi possessed up- 

 ward of fifteen tons of good ivory in his store-houses, and was 

 waiting for the road between Ujiji and Unyanyembe to be re- 

 ported clear before sending it to the coast. Some others also 

 had a good amount, but I found my friend Q) Syde was a needy 

 beggar, and his stories about possessing great influence here 

 were myths. 



As usual, the Arabs were very civil and kind, and we could 

 not tear ourselves away from their hospitalities under a week. 



Muinyi Hassani, meanwhile, remained camped in a neighbor- 

 ing village, nursing himself through a bad attack of fever. I 

 felt bound to doctor him, notwithstanding our row about the 

 slaves, and went two miles out and two back every morning and 

 evening to look after him ; but I never received so much as a 

 word of thanks for my trouble, and I imagine my patient had 

 neither forgotten nor forgiven my interference in the slave 

 question. 



We left Kwakasongo on the 1st of August, and after two 

 marches came in sight of the mighty Lualaba. From a bluff 

 overhanging the river I obtained my first view of the stream — 

 a strong and sweeping current of turbid yellow water fully a 

 mile wide, and flowing al; the rate of three or four knots an 

 hour, with many islands, inuch like the eyots on the Thames, 

 lying in its course. The larger ones were well wooded, and in- 

 habited by the Wagenya, a tribe holding all the islands and a 

 long strip on the left bank, and, as the sole proprietors of ca- 

 noes, having the whole carrying trade of the river in their hands. 



Canoes were numerous, and the flocks of water-fowl, wing- 

 ing their way from sand-bank to sand-bank in search of food, 

 gave life to the scene. To remind us of the dangers of the 

 stream, there were enormous herds of hippopotami blowing and 

 snorting, and here and there the long scaly back of a crocodile 

 floating ahnost flush with the water. 



