154 AN EXCURSION TO LUR. 



character of the country. Where the rock has been long ex- 

 posed to the sun and rain, it has assumed a colour varying 

 between chocolate-brown and black. After a short rest we 

 started on our way back, and reached the station towards 

 noon (aneroid, 27.62 in., temp. 86.9 Fahr). 



Meanwhile some of the neighbouring chiefs had arrived at 

 the station to pay me a visit, all of them dressed, like Kabrega's 

 men, in soft cow-hides, but not carrying large sticks, as do the 

 Wanyoro. Their powerful figures were of medium height and 

 very black, some of them with artistic coiffures, others shorn 

 quite smooth ; they were ornamented with brass and a few 

 copper rings, and they made a good impression by their modest 

 behaviour. They too call their whole country " Liiri." The 

 names Toru (south-east corner of the lake) and Usongara are 

 well known to them, and the names given above for the dis- 

 tricts of the surrounding country were fully confirmed by their 

 statements. Between this country and Unyoro there was 

 formerly, it is said, constant communication, and a very active 

 traffic was carried on ; even now the chiefs here acknowledge 

 the supremacy of Kabrega, the ruler of Unyoro. Communi- 

 cation is accomplished by means of boats, which coast along 

 to the north, enter the river, and cross over it to get along the 

 other coast to Magungo and Kibiro, where salt and iron are 

 bartered for Colobus skins. The people who now inhabit 

 Londu, in Unyoro, told me, when I visited them, that their 

 fathers and forefathers came from the western side of the lake. 

 They are said to have been carried off from a district, A-Londii, 

 to the south and west, and to have been settled as slaves by 

 Kamrasi, Kabrega's father, in their present home, to which 

 they afterwards gave the name of their own country. They 

 practise circumcision, which is very unusual among our tribes. 



It was scarcely possible to make thorough inquiries about 

 the manners and customs of the Negroes here, owing to the 

 short space of time at my command and my other numerous 

 duties. Just as in Unyoro and Shuli, the four lower incisors 

 are extracted, or rather pushed out, at the age of puberty. 

 Tattooing with scars, which are produced by burning razor- 

 cuts or with acid, is common, especially on the temples — 

 where, also, in Unyoro scars are made by cauterisation — and 



