1868.] TYRANNY OF CASEMBE. 277 



is seen to turn from one side to the other in sleep it is 

 killed. They say of any child who has what they consider 

 these defects " he is an Arab child," because the Arabs have 

 none of this class of superstitions, and should any Arab be 

 near they give the child to him : it would bring ill-luck, 

 misfortunes, "inilando," or guilt, to the family. These 

 superstitions may account for the readiness with which one 

 tribe parted with their children to ISpeke's followers. Mo- 

 hamad says that these children must have been taken in 

 war, as none sell their own offspring. 



If Casembe dreams of any man twice or three times he 

 jDuts the man to death, as one who is practising secret arts 

 against his life : if any one is pounding or cooking food for 

 him he must preserve the strictest silence ; these and other 

 things show extreme superstition and degradation. 



During his enforced detention Mohamad's friends advised 

 him to leave Casembe by force, offering to aid him with 

 their men, but he always refused. His father was the first 

 to open this country to trade with the Arabs, and all his 

 expenses while so doing were borne by himself; but 

 Mohamad seems to be a man of peace, and unwilling to 

 break the appearance of friendship with the chiefs. He 

 thinks that this Casembe poisoned his predecessor: he 

 certainly killed his wife's mother, a queen, that she might 

 be no obstacle to him in securing her daughter. 



We are waiting in company with a number of Wanyam- 

 wesi for the cessation of the rains, which have flooded the 

 country between this and Tanganyika. If there were much 

 slope this water would flow off : this makes me suspect that 

 Tanganyika is not so low as Speke's measurement. The 

 Arabs are positive that water flows from that Lake to the 

 Victoria Nyanza, and assert that Dagara, the father of 

 Itumanyika, was anxious to send canoes from his place to 

 L'jiji, or, as some say, to dig a canal to Ujiji. The Wan- 

 yamwesi here support themselves by shooting buffaloes, at 



