70 MRULI TO THE CAPITAL OF UNYOKO. 



the same time the water was often knee-deep in the holes and 

 puddles. After we had passed Khor Kabrogeta, the water of 

 which is so strongly impregnated with iron that it is said to 

 distend the intestines, we marched a little farther, and then 

 suddenly turned to the right into a much-neglected banana 

 grove, where it was suggested that we should pass the night. 

 The people scattered immediately ; but when I looked round for 

 shelter I only found one broken-down, abominably filthy hut ; 

 so I insisted on a further march, and although an hour passed 

 before I got the people together, we left this inhospitable 

 Kikinda, continued our difficult march through water and 

 bush for more than an hour and a half, and finally occupied 

 at sunset some huts in the village of Blmdi. In one of the 

 huts here a wooden triangle was hanging, to which were sus- 

 pended a large number of small gourds filled with pebbles ; 

 this was a rattle to accompany the dance. 



No rain fell during the night, but in the early morning all 

 the sky was grizzly grey, in spite of which we set out, keeping, 

 with few deviations, to the road along which we marched on 

 our journey to Kabrega's. The winding Khor Kyai, although 

 now roaring and fall of water, was twice forded without diffi- 

 culty ; but the great papyrus swamp which followed gave us 

 a good deal of trouble on account of its entangled roots. I 

 secured a fine specimen of Scopus umbretta. We had hardly 

 crossed the swamp, when the rain, till now bearable, beat down 

 with such violence that we rushed forward at great speed 

 for about half an hour, when we reached Kitongali, somewhat 

 below the place where we had previously passed the night. 



We sheltered in some huts, dried ourselves by a blazing 

 fire, and could not think of continuing our journey until 

 midday. An unpleasant incident happened to me here, for 

 I discovered that, unluckily, I had lost my note-book during 

 the rain, and in spite of an energetic search I was not able 

 to find it ; but after the rain was over, a woman returned it 

 to me uninjured. Another occurrence took place shortly before 

 starting. Msige wanted to take a jar full of lubias from a 

 woman, but she, taking the joke ill, struck him over the head 

 with the jar, and wounded him badly. A fearful disturbance 

 arose, and at first they wanted to kill the woman ; but finally, 



