512 THE AEAB DHOW. Chap. XXV. 



feet long, twelve feet broad, and five feet deep. The planks 

 were of a wood like teak, here called Timbati, and the 

 timbers of a closer grained wood called Msoro. The sight 

 of this dhow gave us a hint which, had we previously re- 

 ceived it, would have prevented our attempting to carry a 

 vessel of iron past the Cataracts. The trees around Katosa's 

 village were Timbati, and they would have yielded planks 

 fifty feet long and thirty inches broad. With a few native 

 carpenters a good vessel could be built on the Lake nearly 

 as quickly as one could be carried past the Cataracts, and at 

 a vastly less cost. Juma said that no money would induce 

 him to part with this dhow. He was very busy in transporting 

 slaves across the Lake by means of two boats, which we saw 

 returning from a trip in the afternoon. As he did not know 

 of our intention to visit him, we came upon several gangs of 

 stout young men slaves, each secured by the neck to one 

 common chain, waiting for exportation, and several more 

 in slave-sticks. These were all civilly removed before our 

 interview was over, because Juma knew that we did not 

 relish the sight. 



When we met the same Arabs in 1861, they had but 

 few attendants : according to their own account they had now, 

 in the village and adjacent country, 1500 souls. It is certain 

 that tens of thousands had flocked to them for protection, 

 and all their power and influence must be attributed to 

 the possession of guns and gunpowder. This crowding of 

 refugees to any point where there is a hope for security 

 for life and property is very common in this region, and 

 the knowledge of it made our hopes beat high for the success 

 of a peaceful Mission on the shores of the Lake. The rate, 

 however, in which the people here will perish by the next 

 famine, or be exported by Juma and others, will, we fear, 

 depopulate those parts which we have just described as 



