THE 'TUACA' RIVER. 



49 



Creek and River Barrette, after the officers who 

 aided in his survey. Similarly, Port Reitz, to 

 the south-west, projects a briny line called 

 ' Water of Doruma' — the region which it drains — 

 and receiving the Muache, a sweet rivulet that 

 flows from uplands 20 to 30 miles from the 

 coast. Such in nature is the Tuaca, or Nash 

 river, which defaces our maps. It is a mere 

 confusion with Mtu Apa, the ' E/iver Matwapa ' 

 of Captain Owen, a village and a little runnel 

 five miles north of Mombasah. Lieut. Emery 

 mentions the 'hamlet of Mtuapa, situated at 

 the entrance of a small river, which runs ahout 

 sixteen miles into the country.' Like the Cuavo, 

 or great ' Quiloa river,' a salt-water inlet re- 

 ceiving during the rainy season the surface 

 drainage of a seaward slope, the ' Tuaca' becomes 

 a noble black streak, dispensing the blessings 

 of intercourse and irrisration athwart three 

 inches of white paper. The presence of such 

 rivers must always be suspected : they would 

 long ago have fundamentally altered the social 

 condition of the interior. We may remark the 

 same of Ptolemy's three great Arabian streams, 

 which could have existed only in the imagin- 

 ation of travellers. 



As we advanced up the Eabai Water the sea 



VOL. II. 4 



