The Waha and Barundi 



the equatorial regions where a more or less heavy storm 

 was an almost daily occurrence, these tasks became very 

 burdensome to both of us ; this was especially the case 

 with the evening work of " papering " the insects. In 

 regions where the insect-fauna was very rich, as many as 

 one hundred insects had to be put in envelopes after a long 

 and tiring day, and notes made about them, frequently 

 occupying me far into the night. The heat, mosquitoes, 

 sandflies and other pests were then very trying, taxing one's 

 patience to the utmost. 



The foregoing and other particulars which I give later 

 on in this book, will enable the reader to gain some idea 

 of the work that was before us as we left civilisation behind 

 and proceeded on our way up the valley of the Malagarasi. 

 This river, which has many sources in the high mountain 

 ranges of the north-eastern httoral of Lake Tanganyika, 

 sweeps round in a great curve and after draining the low- 

 lying marshes north-west of Tabora, crosses the Tabora- 

 Kigoma Line and flows into the lake some twenty-five miles 

 south of Ujiji. For two days after leaving Rushugi we passed 

 through a dry, stony and uninviting country until we reached 

 the plains bordering the Sabaka River, the haunt of large 

 game of many kinds and an abiding place of many lions 

 and tsetse fly. The banks of this river being well wooded 

 with tropical foliage, I stayed to collect for two days and then 

 pushed on to Kasulu " boma,"* a matter of six hours. As 

 the track here was well padded down, this was one of the 

 few occasions on which my wife was able to use her bicycle, 

 which was fortunate as the day was an intensely hot one, 



* " Boma " is a Swahili word meaning " fort," " stronghold," " fortified 

 camp." 



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