Chap. XIII. LEAVE FOR THE WEST. 300 



the great slave route to Katanga's and Cazcmbe's country 

 in Loncla. Juma lent us his servant, Selele, to lead us the 

 first day's march. He said that the traders from Kilwa 

 and Iboe cross the Lake either at this bay, or at Tsenga, 

 Or at the southern end of the Lake ; and that wherever 

 they may cross they all go by this path to the interior. 

 They have slaves with them to carry their goods, and 

 when they reach a spot where they can easily buy others, 

 they settle down and begin the traffic, and at once culti- 

 vate grain. So much of the land lies waste, that no 

 objection is ever made to any one taking possession of as 

 much as he needs; they can purchase a field of cassava 

 for their present wants for very little, and they continue 

 trading in the country for tw T o or three years, and giving 

 what weight their muskets possess to the chief who is 

 most liberal to them. 



The first day's march led us over a rich, well-culti- 

 vated plain. This was succeeded by highlands, undulating, 

 stony, and covered with scraggy trees. Many banks of 

 well rounded shingle appear. The disintegration of the 

 rocks, now going on, does not round off the angles ; they 

 are split up by the heat and cold into angular fragments. 

 On these high downs we crossed the Eiver Kaombe. 

 Beyond it we came among the upland vegetation — rhodo- 

 dendrons, proteas, the niasuko, and molompi. At the foot 

 of the hill, Kasuko-suko, w T e found the Eiver Bua running- 

 north to join the Kaombe. We had to go a mile out of 

 our way for a ford ; the stream is deep enough in parts 

 for hippopotami. The various streams not previously 

 noticed, crossed in this journey, had before this led us to 

 the conclusion, independently of the testimony of the 

 natives, that no large river ran into the north end of 

 the Lake. No such affluent was needed to account for the 

 Shire's perennial flow. 



On September 15th we reached the top of the ascent 



2 B 



