242 



THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFEICA. 



plunged manfully into the Fiery Field, and after seven 

 marches in as many days, halted for breath and forage at 

 Jiwe la Mkoa, the Round Stone. A few rations having 

 been procured in its vicinity, we resumed our way on 

 the 12th November, and in two clays exchanged, with a 

 sensible pleasure, the dull expanse of dry brown bush and 

 brushwood, dead thorn-trees, and dry Nullahs, for the 

 fertile red plain of Mdaburu. After that point began the 



Jiwe la Mkoa, the Round Rock. 



transit of Ugogo, where I had been taught to expect acci- 

 dents : they resolved themselves, however, into nothing 

 more than the disappearance of cloth and beads in inordi- 

 nate quantities. We were received by Magomba, the 

 Sultan of Kanyenye, with a charge of magic, for which 

 of course it was necessary to pay heavily. The Wan- 

 yam wezi porters seemed even more timid on the down- 

 journey than on the up-march. They slank about like 

 curs, and the fierce look of a Mgogo boy was enough 



