1868.] MOKE NEWS CONCERNING THE RIVERS. 359 



above this. His account of the Lofu, or, as he says, West 

 Lualaba, is identical with that of his cousin, Syde bin Omar ; 

 it flows north, but west of Lufira, into the Lake of Kinkonza, 

 so named after the chief. The East Lualaba becomes very 

 large, often as much as six or eight miles broad, with many 

 inhabited islands, the people of which, being safe from in- 

 vasion, are consequently rapacious and dishonest, and their 

 chiefs, Moenge and Nyamakunda, are equally lawless. A 

 hunter, belonging to Syde, named Kabwebwa, gave much 

 information gleaned during his hunting trips ; for instance, 

 the Lufira has nine feeders of large size ; and one, the 

 Lekulwe, has also nine feeders; another, the Kisungu, is 

 covered with "tikatika," by which the people cross it, 

 though it bends under their weight ; he also ascribes the 

 origin of the Lufira and the Lualaba West, or Lofu, with 

 the Liambai to one large earthen mound, which he calls 

 " segulo," or an ant-hill ! 



25th December, Christmas Day. — We can buy nothing 

 except the very coarsest food — not a goat or fowl — while 

 Syde, having plenty of copper, can get all the luxuries. 

 We marched past Mount Katanga, leaving it on our left, to 

 the River Kapeta, and slaughtered a favourite kid to make 

 a Christmas dinner. A trading-party came up from Ujiji ; 

 they said that we were ten camps from Tanganyika. They 

 gave an erroneous report that a steamer with a boat in tow 

 was on Lake Chowambe — an English one, too, with plenty 

 of cloth and beads on board. A letter had come from 

 Abdullah bin Salem, Moslem missionary at Mtesa's, to 

 Ujiji three months ago with this news. 



26th December. — We marched up an ascent 2h hours, and 

 got on to the top of one of the mountain ridges, which 

 generally run N". and S. Three hours along this level top 

 brought us to the Kibawe River, a roaring rivulet beside 

 villages. There were no people on the height over which 

 we came, though the country is very fine — green and gay 



