Chap. XXIX. NYAMrUNGO THE RAIN-CHARMER. 605 



from the powerful rays of the sun, we were all completely tired 

 out. He likewise gave us a bad character at every village we 

 passed, calling to them that they were to allow him to lead us 

 astray, as we were a bad set. Sekwebu knew every word he said, 

 and, as he became intolerable, I dismissed him, giving him six feet 

 of calico I had bought from native traders, and telling him that 

 Ins tongue was a nuisance. It is in general best, when a scolding 

 is necessary, to give it in combination with a present, and then 

 end it by good wishes. This fellow went off smiling, and my men 

 remarked, " His tongue is cured now." The country around the 

 Nake is hilly, and the valleys covered with tangled jungle. The 

 people who live in this district have reclaimed their gardens from 

 the forest, and the soil is extremely fertile. The Nake flows 

 northerly, and then to the east. It is 50 or 60 yards wide, 

 but during most of the year is dry, affording water only by 

 digging in the sand. We foimd in its bed masses of volcanic 

 rock, identical with those which I subsequently recognised as 

 such at Aden. 



13th. — The head-man of these parts is named Nyampungo. I 

 sent the last fragment of cloth we had, with a request that we 

 should be furnished with a guide to the next chief. After a long 

 conference with his council, the cloth was returned with a promise 

 of compliance, and a request for some beads only. This man is 

 supposed to possess the charm for rain, and other tribes send to 

 hini to beg it. This shows that what we inferred before was cor- 

 rect, that less rain falls in this country than in Londa. Nyam- 

 pungo behaved in quite a gentlemanly manner, presented me 

 with some rice, and told my people to go amongst all the villages 

 and beg for themselves. An old man, father-in-law of the chief, 

 told me that he had seen books before, but never knew what they 

 meant. They pray to departed chiefs and relatives, but the idea 

 of praying to God seemed new, and they heard it with reverence. 

 As this was an intelligent old man, I asked him about the silver, 

 but he was as ignorant of it as the rest, and said, " We never dug 

 silver, but we have washed for gold in the sands of the rivers 

 Mazoe and Luia, which unite in the Luenya." I think that this 

 is quite conclusive on the question of no silver having been dug by 

 the natives of this district. Nyampungo is afflicted with a kind 

 of disease called Sesenda, which I imagine to be a species of 



