40 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 



the valley of the Rusugi River, and finding a herd of 

 the Mbogo or Bos CafFer, brought home a welcome addi- 

 tion to our well-nigh exhausted rations. 



The 10th February saw us crossing the normal 

 sequence of jungly and stony " neat's-tongues," divided 

 by deep and grassy swamps, which, stagnant in the dry 

 weather, drain after rains the northern country to the 

 Malagarazi River. We passed over by a felled tree- 

 trunk an unfordable rivulet, hemmed in by a dense and 

 fetid thicket; and the asses summarily pitched down 

 the muddy bank into the water, swam across and 

 wriggled up the slimy off-side like cats. Thence a foul 

 swamp of black mire led to the Ruguvu or Luguvu 

 River, the western boundary of Uvinza and the eastern 

 frontier of Ukaranga. This stream, which can be 

 forded during the dry season, had spread out after the 

 rains over its borders of grassy plain ; we were de- 

 layed till the next morning in a miserable camping 

 ground, a mud-bank thinly veiled with vegetation, in 

 order to bridge it with branching trees. An unusual 

 downfall during the night might have caused serious 

 consequences ; — provisions had now disappeared, more- 

 over the porters considered the place dangerous. 



The 10th February began with the passage of the 

 Ruguvu River, where again our goods and chattels were 

 fated to be thoroughly sopped. I obtained a few corn- 

 cobs from a passing caravan of Wanyamwezi, and charged 

 them with meat and messages for the party left behind. 

 A desert march, similar to the stage last travelled, led us 

 to the Unguwwe or Uvungwe River, a shallow, muddy 

 stream, girt in as usual by dense vegetation ; and we 

 found a fine large kraal on its left bank. After a cold 

 and rainy night, we resumed our march by fording the 

 Unguwwe. Then came the weary toil of fighting through 



