736 LIFE OF DA YID LIVINGSTONE, LL.R 



Usovara his expedition and equipments. The High-Admiral of Uganda in 

 person is to accompany them, but it is already four o'clock, and we see no- 

 thing either of the fleet or the official. News presently arrives that the delay 

 is caused by a sad domestic calamity which has befallen the chief of the 

 Uganda Navy, and it turns out that, having arrived overnight near Usovara 

 with all his female establishment, the admiral has had all his wives fetched 

 back by order of the king, His Majesty declaring that it was highly irregular 

 to make a pleasure-party of that which was intended as a matter of important 

 service. To-morrow, they say, all will be in readiness. 



"Mr. Stanley and I devote ourselves accordingly to a promenade along 

 the lake, in the course of which we behold with admiration enormous trees, that 

 might afford cover with their thick shade to five hundred jDeople at once. Pari- 

 sitical plants climb over the trunks and branches of these Titans of the forest, 

 and if you make an incision into the bark or roots there exudes a resinous 

 gum, which appears very similar to the 'mastic' that the Cairo women chew. 

 The soil at the edge of the lake is a mineral detritus, rich in oxide of iron, 

 and upon it grows closely a thick and soft moss, of yellowish green, com- 

 posing a carpet as agreeable to the eye as to the foot. 



"Friday, April 16. 



" My bed last night left much to desire. It was made of dry grass, with 

 a bag of potatoes for the pillow. Such was my simple couch, for, as I had 

 intended to return before nightfall, I did not take with me the least thing in 

 the way of coverlet. Mr. Stanley most kindly pressed upon me his ' engareb' 

 and railway rug, but I could not think it right to rob him of them. Imper- 

 fect, however, as my sleeping arrangements were, I reposed soundly, and 

 that in spite of mosquitoes and fleas, of which there were a few of the former, 

 but perfect hordes of the latter. 



" At four in the morning, the squadron which was to escort my friend 

 down the lake made its appearance,' and assuredly the vessels of King Mtesa 

 are curious, if not imposing. Each canoe is about ten to twelve metres in 

 length, with a beam of one or one and a half. It is made up of many lengths 

 of hewn plank, fastened by withes of osier, the seams being caulked with 

 bark and mud. As a consequence of this very defective method of construc- 

 tion, the Wagandas have never been able to make themselves masters of the 

 island of Uvuma. As soon as any war-canoe approaches that place, the 

 islanders rush forth into the water, armed with knives, swim to the vessel, 

 dive under it, and cut the withes which hold the affair together. The canoe 

 thus falls apart, and its crew perish, either by drowning, or by the weapons 

 of the Wavumas. The shape of these Waganda canoes resembles that of the 

 Venetian gondola. The stern has a high sheer, and forms the seat of the 

 helmsman who steers with a paddle, sweeping it now to the right, now to 

 the left, according to the course which he desires to take. The stem-piece is 



