THE KINGDOM OF KAEAGWE. 81 



IMfumbiro peaks, and of other distant summits, named by Speke tke " Mountains of 

 the Moon." On the Karagwé uplands the air is so cool that the natives of Zanzi- 

 bar fancy that they must be in the neighbourhood of England, the only cold country 

 known to them by repute. In some of the depressions lakes have been formed, 

 amongst others the lovely Raveru (4,300 feet), which to Speke and Grant seemed 

 beautiful enough to merit the title of the African " Windermere." But although 

 encircled by grassy slopes rising 1,500 or 1,600 feet above its waters, it is not an 

 Alpine lake, its depth nowhere exceeding 45 or 46 feet. The Urigi, another basin 

 near the southern frontier, is merely a large pond, discharging its overflow north- 

 wards to the Tangure. According to the natives the whole valley was, even in 

 recent times, still under water. Boats were able to ascend from Nyanza to Urigi, 

 and the little dome- shaped hillocks dotted over the plain were then rocky islets. 

 These hills consist of argillaceous sandstones of a bright red colour, interspersed with 

 large masses of white quartz. The decomposition of the sandstones, the prevailing 

 formation throughout the whole region, supplies the fertile red soil on which such 

 bountiful crops are raised. At the head of a shady valley in the north-west spring 

 the six thermal streams of M'tagata, which have a temperature of 130° Fahr. They 

 are resorted to by all the surrounding populations, who have much faith in their 

 curative properties. 



Except in some districts, such as that of the capital, near Windermere, Karagwé 

 is rather thinly peopled. The majority of the inhabitants belong to the Wa- 

 Nyambo stock, and speak the Zongora, a Bantu dialect. But here also the chief 

 power has been usurped by the Wa-Huma, whose daughters are not permitted to 

 contract alliances with Negroes of lower castes. The lives of the Wa-Huma are 

 held to be sacred ; hence they are absolutely exempt from capital punishment, all 

 crimes, murder not excepted, being punished by fines alone. We know that in 

 many parts of Africa the women are systematically fattened, to such an extent as 

 to be no longer able to stand up. This excessive obesity is regarded as a supreme 

 virtue, doubtless because it proves the wealth of people who can thus afford to 

 nourish their wives and exempt them from manual labour. For an analogous 

 reason many Karagwé chiefs allow their nails to grow, like the Annamese mandarins, 

 to show that they have no need of their hands, slaves working and toiling for them. 

 On certain occasions human sacrifices are also still practised. At the death of the 

 sovereign a " mortuary chapel " is built over the body, into which are thrown five 

 girls and fifty cows, destined to accompany their master on his long journey to 

 spirit-land. 



Warahanjé, capital of Karagwé, is pleasantly situated, over 4,300 feet above the 

 sea, on a grassy terrace overlooking Lake Windermere, and commanding a view of a 

 steep hill, on which stands the royal necropolis. Farther on winds the valley of 

 the Alexandra Nile, a vast forest of papyrus bounded on the distant horizon by the 

 triple-crested Mfumbiro. At the eastern foot of an intervening cone the Arab 

 traders have established the station of Kiifro (Kafuro), where woven goods, salt, 

 and European wares are bartered for ivory, coffee, and other native produce. In 

 this district elephants have already begim to disappear, although a huge species of 



6— AF. 



