XXIV.] DEADLY TREES. 319 



This village was reported to be situated on the shores of December, 

 Lake Tanganyika, not very distant from Jnniah Merikani's i^'^*- 

 house ; and he also told me that this friendshij) between the 

 natives and lions was commonly spoken of, but he had never 

 been present at one of the gatherings. The Mkaranga, how- 

 ever, asserted that he had often witnessed this friendly inter- 

 course between man and beast, and brought several of his tribes- 

 men to testify to the truth of his statement. Certainly, if this 

 be true, our most famous lion -tamers have yet something to 

 learn from the natives of Africa. 



Another story had a curious resemblance to that of the upas- 

 tree. At a certain place in Urguru, a division of Unyamwezi, 

 are three large trees with dark-green foliage, the leaves being 

 broad and smooth. A traveling party of Warori, on seeing 

 them, thought how excellent a shelter they would afford, and 

 camped under them ; but the next morning all were dead, and 

 to this day their skeletons and the ivory they were carrying are 

 said to remain there to attest their sad fate. 



Juniah assured me he had seen these trees, and that no birds 

 ever roosted on their branches, neither does any grass grow un- 

 der their deadly shade; and some men who were with him 

 when he passed them corroborated his statement in every par- 

 ticular. He also told me that in the vicinity of Mfuto, a town 

 near Taborah, figures of a man seated on a stool, with his drum, 

 dog, and goat, Avere carved in the solid rock ; and Arabs had 

 informed him that in the TJvinza, to the east of Tanganyika, 

 there was a large well with carved and perfect arches. This 

 work was ascribed by the natives to a former race of Wasungu, 

 but the Arabs supposed it to have been executed by Suliman 

 ibn Daood and the genii. For the absolute truth of these 

 stories I, of course, do not vouch, but simply relate them as I 

 received them. 



The following account of under-ground dwellings at Mkanna 

 by the banks of the Lufira I obtained from Jumah. He had 

 not actually entered them himself, being afraid of the devil re- 

 ported to haunt the caves ; but an Arab who accompanied him 

 was more bold. He reported them to be lofty and dry, with 

 small rivulets flowing through them, and some were actually 

 under the bed of a river in a place where there was a cataract. 



