ENCAMP IN A GROVE OF PALMS. 969 



I had expected from Stanley's book. It seems, for the most part, hilly, and 

 to have far more jungle and forest and waste land than cultivated. 



" 19th. We ought to have gone on to-day, but Maganga wanted to wait 

 for Terekeza, a negro, who is taking a large caravan to Usukuma to trade for 

 ivory. He is one of those unscrupulous characters not uncommon in the East. 

 His caravan, and one Mackay was bringing to Mpwapwa, travelled together 

 some time ; and because Mackay's cloths were better than his, he told the 

 people that Mackay's were poisoned, so nobody would sell Mackay anything, 

 and he had to take another road. 



" 20th. The road lay through jungle so dense that we had to keep a sharp 

 look-out to prevent our helmets being knocked off. Soon after six we reached 

 our camp under some remarkable rocks. 



" 21st. Before daylight the camp was astir, and at 5.25 we were off. Mo- 

 hammed told us it was only four or five miles to the village, but it turned out 

 to be eleven. We encamped in a grove of palms, the first we have seen for 

 two hundred miles. The name of the village is Kitararu. We have now left 

 the Unyanyembe road, and are on a track not much frequented by caravans, 

 and O'Neill and I are probably the first white men who have been along it. 

 The water here is brackish, as the village is just on the edge of the great salt 

 plain from which the Wagogo get their salt. The name of the king here 

 is Simami. 



"Sunday, 22nd. We stopped here to-day. The king came to see us seve- 

 ral times, bringing on one occasion a calabash of fresh butter ; he also gave 

 us a quantity of very good fresh milk, which was particularly acceptable. In- 

 deed he is by far the most liberal king we have come across yet. The Wa- 

 gogo were very troublesome, crowding round the tent to stare at us, blocking 

 out all the little air there was, and walking into the tent in the caolest 

 manner. 



23rd. As we passsed the king's tembe, he sent us out some new milk, 

 and gave us a goat. We crossed the eastern corner of the salt plain, and reached 

 our camp at the village of Mbuki, a distance of six miles and a half. Our 

 camp is again in a grove of palms. The king, whose name is Kisanza, was 

 away, and so the hongo could not be settled. 



24:th. The king returned last night, but said he could not settle the hongo 

 to-day, so we must wait till to-morrow. The Wagogo here are even more 

 troublesome than at Kitararu. The water here is good, and we got some 

 mud-fish to-day. O'Neill likes them, but I think them very nasty. 



" 25th. The heat of this plain is very intense, and the glare from the 

 sand excessively trying. The hongo was settled to-day. The king came 

 to see us in the evening. On his return, he sent us a cow as a present. 



26th. Kept due north some way, and then turned west, passing through 

 a grove of palms of considerable size. This plain on which we now are 

 4x 



