STANLEY COASTING NTANZA. 741 



called Wixegedi, peopled by savages who have little or no intercourse with 

 Usukurna, but are mostly morosely exclusive, and disposed to take advantage 

 of their strength to rob strangers who visit them. Wiregedi is drained by 

 the Ruana, which discharges itself into Speke Gulf by two mouths. It is a 

 powerful stream, conveying a vast quantity of water to the Gulf, but in 

 importance not to be mentioned in the same category as the Shimeeyu and 

 the Kagera, the two principal affluents of Lake Victoria. Speke Gulf at its 

 eastern extremity is about twelve miles in width. Opposed to the hilly ranges 

 of Manasu and Maganza are the sterile naked mountains and plains of Shah- 

 shi, Uramba, and Ururi. The plains which separate each from the other are 

 as devoid of vegetation as the Isthmus of Suez ; a thin line only, bordering 

 the lake, is green with bush and cane. The gulf, as we proceed west from 

 Ururi, is shored by the great island of Ukerewe, a country blessed with verdure 

 and plenty, and rich in herds of cattle and ivory. A narrow strait, called the 

 Rugeshi, separates Ukerewe from Ururi. The Wakereweh are an enterpris- 

 ing and commercial people, and the king, Lukongeh, is a most amiable man. 

 The "Wakereweh possess numerous islands — Nifuah, Wezi, Irangara, Kamassi, 

 etc., are all inhabited by them. Their canoes are seen along Ugeyeya, Uson- 

 gora, and Uzuiza ; and to the tribes in the far interior they have given, by 

 their activity and commercial fellowship, a name to the entire Victoria 

 Nyanza. 



" Rounding Ukerewe, we pass on our left the island of Ukara, and sail- 

 ing past Shizu and Kiveru, come to the northern end of Rugeshi Strait, from 

 which we see the towering table mountain of Majita, or Mazita, a little north- 

 east of us, the mountains of Ururi and Iramba rising in our front. I men- 

 tioned to you in one of my letters that Speke described Majita as an island, 

 and that I, standing on the same spot, would do so likewise, if I had no other 

 proof than my own conjecture. As Ave approached Majita we saw the reason 

 of this delusion. The table mountain of Majita is about three thousand feet 

 in altitude above the lake, while on all sides of it, except the lake side at the 

 base, are low brown plains, which rise but a few feet above the water. It is 

 the same case with Ururi, Uramba, and Shashi. At a distance I thought them 

 islands, until I arrived close upon them. On the northern side of this emi- 

 nence the brown plain extends far inland, and I do believe a great plain or a 

 series of plains bounds the lake countries east, for we have similar landscapes 

 distant or near, everywhere. In endeavouring to measure the extent of this 

 plain I am compelled to think of Ugogo, for as we traversed its northern fron- 

 tier we saw each day, stretching north, the barren thorn-covered plain of 

 Uhumba. On leaving Iramba we came again in view of a portion of it, more 

 recently covered with water, under the name of the Luwamberri Plain. As 

 we journeyed through Usmaow we saw from many a ridge the plain extend- 

 ing north. That part of the plain lying between Ururi and the lake is, of 



