52 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA, 



most southerly of the northern routes, has been described 

 in detail. 



The district of Ukaranga extends from the Ruguvu 

 or the Unguwwe River to the waters of the lake : on 

 the south it is bounded by the region of Ut'hongwe, and 

 on the north by the Ruche River. This small and 

 sluggish stream, when near the mouth, is about forty 

 yards in breadth, and, being unfordable at all seasons, 

 two or three ferry-boats always ply upon its waters. 

 The rauque bellow of the hippopotamus is heard on its 

 banks, and the adjacent lowlands are infested by mos- 

 quitoes in clouds. The villages of Ukaranga are 

 scattered in clumps over the plain — wretched hamlets, 

 where a few households live surrounded by rare cul- 

 tivation in the drier parts of the swamps. The <f port 

 of Ukaranga" is an open roadstead, which seldom shows 

 even a single canoe. Merchants who possess boats and 

 can send for provisions to the islands across the lake 

 sometimes prefer, for economy, Ukaranga to Kawele ; 

 it is also made a halting-place by those en route to 

 Uguhha, who would lose time by visiting Ujiji. The 

 land, however, affords no supplies; a bazar is un- 

 known ; and the apathetic tribe, who cultivate scarcely 

 sufficient grain for themselves, will not even take the 

 trouble to cast a net. Ukaranga sends bamboos, 

 rafters for building, and fire- wood, cut in the back- 

 ground of highlands, to Kawele and other parts of 

 Ujiji, at which places, however, workmen must be hired. 



Ukaranga signifies, etymologically, the " Land of 

 Groundnuts." This little district may, in earlier ages, 

 have given name to the Mocarangas, Mucarongas, or 

 Mucarangas, a nation which, according to the Portuguese 

 historians, from Joao dos Sanctos (1586-97) to Don 

 Sebastian Xavier Botelho (1835), occupied the country 



