106 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 



shore, its men will spring out without an idea of con- 

 sulting aught beyond their own inclinations. Arrived 

 at the halting -place they pour on shore ; some proceed 

 to gather firewood, others go in search of rations, and 

 others raise the boothies. A dozen barked sticks of 

 various lengths are planted firmly in the ground ; 

 the ends are bent and lashed together in the shape of 

 half an orange, by strips of tree-fibre ; they are then 

 covered with the karagwah — the stiff-reed mats used as 

 cushions when paddling — these are tightly bound on, and 

 thus a hut is made capable of defending from rain the 

 bodies of four or five men whose legs which project 

 beyond the shelter are apparently not supposed to re- 

 quire covering. Obeying only impulse, and wholly 

 deficient in order and purpose, they make the voyage as 

 uncomfortable as possible ; they have no regular stages 

 and no fixed halting-places ; they waste a fine cool 

 morning, and pull through the heat of the day, or after 

 dozing throughout the evening, at the loud cry of 

 " Pakira Baba ! " — pack up, hearties ! — they scramble 

 into their canoes about midnight. Outward-bound 

 they seek opportunities for delay ; when it is once M up 

 anchor for home," they hurry with dangerous haste. 



On the 14th April, a cruise of four hours conducted 

 us to Wafanya, a settlement of Wajiji mixed with 

 Warundi. Leaving this wretched mass of hovels on the 

 next day, which began with a solemn warning from 

 Sayfu — a man of melancholic temperament — we made 

 in four hours Wafanya, the southern limit of Urundi, 

 and the only port in that inhospitable land still open to 

 travellers. Drawing up our canoes upon a clear narrow 

 sandstrip beyond the reach of the surf, we ascended a 

 dwarf earth-cliff, and pitching our tents under a spread- 

 ing tree upon the summit, we made ourselves as com- 



