BUGUFU AND URUNDI. '263 



It will be seen, therefore, that the part of 

 Urundi which I traversed lies between the 

 Bugufu and Mwesi's prolongations or promon- 

 tories of hills. This country is a most curiously 

 difficult one to cross. 



Visanganwi's swamp-river and its numerous 

 branches have cut the whole district into narrow 

 valleys, perhaps as a rule, 1,000 feet deep, separated 

 by ridges which are usually not a mile wide. These 

 valleys are mainly occupied by swamp -rivers per- 

 haps 500 yards across. There is, however, one 

 running stream into which most of them fall. I 

 crossed it about 16 miles north-east of Mwesi's 

 capital at the only ford which I could hear of. 

 This was in the dry season, and yet the river was 

 about 4 feet 6 inches deep and fully 50 yards wide. 

 The altitude of this spot was 5,050 feet. The 

 general level of the ridges seems to be almost 

 6,000 feet. 



It will thus be seen that the country is full of 

 water ; in some places I found a curious tran- 

 sitional condition in the valleys. The stream, 

 which was an ordinary brook higher up the valley, 

 had become very broad and shallow, and was 

 covered with a sort of crust of rushes and sedges 

 which bent and yielded under the foot in cross- 

 ing ; lower down the valley it could be seen to 

 have changed into a regular swamp-river of 

 papyrus. 



Sometimes these ridges are of laterite covered 



