74 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 



current at Msene, was in demand. The reader will 

 excuse the prolixity of these wearisome details, they 

 are necessary parts of a picture of manners and customs 

 in Central Africa. Moreover, a foreknowledge of the 

 requirements of the people is a vital condition of suc- 

 cessful exploration. There is nothing to arrest the 

 traveller's progress in this section of the African inte- 

 rior except the failure of his stores. 



A serious inconvenience awaits the inexperienced, 

 who find a long halt at, and a return from, Ujiji neces- 

 sary. The Wanyamwezi pagazi, or porters, hired at 

 Unyanyembe, bring with them the cloth and beads 

 which they have received as hire for going to and 

 coming from the lake, and lose no time in bartering 

 the outfit for ivory or slaves. Those who prefer the 

 former article will delay for some time with extreme 

 impatience and daily complaints, fearing to cross 

 Uvinza in small bodies when loaded with valuables. 

 The purchasers of slaves, however, knowing that they 

 will inevitably lose them after a few days at Ujiji, 

 desert at once. In all cases, the report that a caravan 

 is marching eastwards causes a general disappearance 

 of the porters. As the Wajiji will not carry, the cara- 

 van is reduced to a halt, which may be protracted for 

 months, in fact, till another body of men coming from 

 the east will engage themselves as return porters. 

 Moreover, the departure homewards almost always 

 partakes of the nature of a flight, so fearful are the 

 strangers lest their slaves should seize the opportunity 

 to desert. The Omani Arabs obviate these incon- 

 veniences by always travelling with large bodies of 

 domestics, whose interest it is not to abandon the 

 master. 



South of the Wajiji lie the Wakaranga, a people pre- 



