128 THE LAKE EEGIONS OF CENTRAL AFEICA. 



and the dashing of waves, heavy showers fell almost every 

 day and night, and the intervals were bursts of burning 

 sunshine. 



The discomfort of the halt was not less than that of 

 the boat. At first we pitched tents near the villages, 

 in tall, fetid grass, upon ground never level, where stones 

 were the succeclanea for tent-pegs stolen for fuel, and 

 where we slept literally upon mire. The temperature 

 inside was ever in extremes, now a raw rainy cold, 

 then a steam-bath that damped us like an April shower. 

 The villagers, especially in the remoter districts, were 

 even more troublesome, noisy, and inquisitive, than the 

 Wagogo. A " notable passion of wonder" appeared in 

 them. We felt like baited bears : we were mobbed in 

 a moment, and scrutinised from every point of view 

 by them ; the inquisitive wretches stood on tiptoe, they 

 squatted on their hams, they bent sideways, they thrust 

 forth their necks like hissing geese to vary the prospect. 

 Their eyes, " glaring lightning-like out of their heads," 

 as old Homer hath it, seemed to devour us; in the 

 ecstasy of curiosity they shifted from one Muzungu 

 to his " brother," till, like the well-known ass between 

 the two bundles of hay, they could not enjoy either. 

 They were pertinacious as flies, to drive them away was 

 only to invite a return ; whilst, worst grief of all, 

 the women were plain, and their grotesque salu- 

 tations resembled the " encounter of two dog-apes." 

 The Goanese were almost equally honoured, and 

 the operation of cooking was looked upon as a 

 miracle. At last my experience in staring enabled 

 me to categorise the infliction as follows. Firstly, is the 

 stare furtive, when the starer would peep and peer 

 under the tent, and its reverse, the stare open. Thirdly, 

 is the stare curious or intelligent, which, generally 

 accompanied with irreverent laughter regarding our 



