XXIV.] FLOATING ISLANDS. 31V 



The floating islands on wliicli the people live are formed of December, 

 large pieces of tingi-tingi cut from the masses with which the 1874. 

 shores are lined. On these, logs and brush-wood are laid and 

 covered with earth. Huts are then built, and bananas planted, 

 and goats and poultry are reared upon the islands. They were 

 usually moored to stakes planted in the bed of the lake ; but 

 when their inhabitants desire to shift their position, these are 

 pulled up, and the islands warped along by lines laid out to 

 other stakes. 



The tingi-tingi between the shore and the islands which lay 

 along its edge is invariably intersected by small channels, so as 

 to be perfectly impassable on foot, and only accessible by canoes. 

 The main plantations were necessarily on shore ; and while the 

 women were engaged in cultivating them, the greater portion 

 of the men were stationed as pickets to give notice of the ap- 

 proach of any enemies. 



During my stay at Kowedi I suffered severely from dysen- 

 tery, but doctored myself successfully, notwithstanding one or 

 two relapses caused by Sambo's predilection for cooking with 

 castor-oil ; and when my men returned I was thoroughly tired 

 of the place. 



There was still no prospect whatever of guides coming either 

 from Kasongo or Fume a Kenna, so I determined to start for 

 Jumah Merikani's on the 11th of December, 



At Kibaiyeli, on the return march, there were a number of 

 Warua, who stated that they belonged to Kasongo, who was 

 then at Munza, having again left Kwinhata ; and, when within 

 ten minutes' walk of Jumah Merikani's house, I was met by 

 the messengers I had sent to Fume a Kenna. They were ac- 

 companied by a guide whom she had that morning ordered to 

 go with them ; but this was only an apparent civility on her 

 part, for when I wanted to avail myself of his services on the 

 following morning, he was not forthcoming. I then heard that 

 Kasongo had given directions that if I returned during his ab- 

 sence I was not to be allowed to leave, and he was to be in- 

 formed immediately of my arrival. 



Jumah Merikani, with the greatest consideration, was sending 

 me rice and tobacco by these men, knowing that the former 

 was not attainable except from his plantations, and the latter 



