MANYUEMA COUNTRY. 597 



order that he might continue his explorations of that river, 

 which he had already traced from its source near Lake Liemba 

 through the Bangweolo and Lake Moero, and which he hoped to 

 demonstrate to be the real Nile. Such was the goal toward 

 which he was straining every nerve, for which he was enduring 

 all things. 



His first journey through the country was a short detour from 

 Bambarre, made in November, 1870. Attended by his own men 

 and a party of Mohamad's followers, he set out westward in 

 hope of reaching the Lualaba and purchasing a canoe for its 

 exploration. This short trip revealed much splendid scenery 

 and gave him some insight into the characters and customs of 

 the people. He describes the country as " surpassingly beauti- 

 ful," and the villages perched along the crests of the lofty hills 

 and mountains were pictures of neatness and comfort. Much 

 forethought as well as taste had been displayed in the arrange- 

 ment of these villages. The streets were generally east and 

 west, that the warm sun-rays might stream down them with 

 unbroken power, licking up quickly the moisture. The dwell- 

 ings were generally in a line, and at each end of the street there 

 were public meeting-houses. The houses were square, with low 

 roofs, most artfully thatched with a leaf resembling the banana, 

 probably a species of the euphorbia. Within these humble 

 abodes were clean and comfortable and testified to the attentions 

 of industrious housewives. And what was a very pleasing 

 feature of them they had never known the presence of" the 

 abominable bugs, which are to be found only where the filthy 

 slaves of the Arabs have been. In each of these homes the eye 

 is arrested by numbers of earthen pots hung by neat cord- 

 swinging tressels to the ceiling, and large quantities of firewood 

 neatly arranged by the provident matrons. 



The tops of the lofty hills and mountain crests were adorned 

 with magnificent palm forests waving gracefully in every breeze, 

 and saluting each other across intervening forests of gigantic 

 trees, about which most vigorous climbing vines twine them- 

 selves, reaching from branch to branch and dropping here and 

 there in graceful festoons and forming fantastic arches every- 

 where, beneath which various wild fruit trees grew, feasting with 

 their wealth multitudes of monkeys and birds. The country 



