MASINDI AND CHIEF ANFINA. 21 



either side. Sharp and prickly Cyperus and Vossia grasses 

 intermingle with randia and mimosas. Quite unexpectedly 

 one gets a sudden blow from some hidden tree-stamp, or a 

 tear from some prickly thorn, of which the most destructive 

 are thistles, six feet high, with large leaves, snow-white on 

 their under side, and round white or purple heads. From 

 this point the elevation of the land increases considerably ; 

 many mountains rise in the midst of the high hills. The 

 drainage is now directed towards the east or north. Banana 

 groves alternate with large rounded blocks of quartz and gneiss 

 rubble. We marched rapidly on until we reached the station 

 of Masindij not to be mistaken for Baker's residence of the 

 same name in Kabrega's country. A motley confusion of 

 huts and straw fences surrounded by a stout stockade of 

 tree-trunks forms this newly built station, which is situated 

 upon the flattened summit of a bare iron- clay hill, and 

 which obtains its water from a dribbling brook at the foot 

 of the hill. The place is surrounded by extensive fields of 

 sweet potatoes. 



Anfina, chief of the whole of the ^lagiingo and Shifalii 

 districts, as well as ruler of a part of the Lango country, has 

 his headquarters here. He is a portly, well-dressed man 

 of middle age, whose light complexion, orthognate face, and 

 well-developed ears, as also his white teeth and well- shaped 

 nails, betray at once his descent from the TTahuma, the well- 

 known light-complexioned shepherd race. Anfina, whose 

 acquaintance I had already made, is distinguished from other 

 chiefs by a certain inborn tact ; he never asks for anything. 

 After receiving a few presents, and telling me that his authority 

 extends now far into the Lango country, he offered me guides 

 and porters in case I should wish to make a journey thither, 

 for the Lango will not act as porters. He was surrounded 

 by a number of these handsome people, easily recognisable by 

 their curious wigs, and the peculiar way they dress the hair, 

 and also by the copper rings which pierce their lower lips and 

 ears ; but although I took much trouble to ascertain something 

 about their country, I was not successful, for they seemed to 

 be frightened at the sight of a white man, the like of whom 

 they had never seen before. 



