246 



THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 



answer me, is thy Mulungu black like myself, white 

 like this Muzungu, or whity-brown as thou art ? " 



Gul Mohammed is fairly floored: he ejaculates sundry 

 la haul ! to collect his wits for the reply, — 



" Verily the Mulungu hath no colour.' 7 



" To-o-oh ! Tuh ! " exclaims the Muzunga, contorting 

 his wrinkled countenance, and spitting with disgust 

 upon the ground. He was now justified in believing 

 that he had been made a laughing-stock. The mountain 

 of meat had, to a certain extent, won over his better 

 judgment : the fair vision now fled, and left him to the 

 hard realities of the half-pound. He turns a deaf ear 

 to every other word ; and, devoting all his assiduity to 

 the article before him, he unconsciously obeys the 

 advice which many an Eastern philosopher has incul- 

 cated to his disciples — 



" Hold fast the hour, though fools say nay, 



The spheres revolve, they bring thee sorrow ; 

 The wise enjoys his joy to-day, 



The fool shall joy his joy to-morrow." 



The transit of Ugogo occupied three weeks, from 

 the 14th of November to the 5th of December. In 

 Kanyenye we were joined by a large down-caravan of 

 Wanyamwezi, carrying ivories ; the musket-shots which 

 announced the conclusion of certain brotherly ties 

 between the sons of Ramji and the porters, sounded in 

 my ears like minute-guns announcing the decease of 

 our hopes of a return to the coast via Kilwa. At 

 Kanyenye, also, we met the stout Msawahili Abdullah 

 bin Nasib, alias Kisesa, who was once more marching 

 into Unyamwezi : he informed me that the slaughter of 

 Salim bin Nasir, the Bu-Saidi, and the destruction of 

 the Eubeho settlements, after the murder of a porter, 

 had closed our former line through Usagara. He 

 also supplied me with valuable tea and sugar, and 



