52 



THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 



asses, — arrived at the little village of Mkwaju la 

 Mvuani, — the " Tamarind in the rains." 



The settlement is composed as usual of a few hovels 

 and a palaver-house, with a fine lime-tree, the place of 

 lounging and gossip, grain-husking, and mat-weaving, in 

 the open centre. Provisions and rough muddy water 

 being here plentiful, travellers often make a final halt 

 to polish their weapons, and to prepare their minds for 

 the Wazaramo. It is the last station under the juris- 

 diction of Bagamoyo ; from Changahera, the crafty old 

 Diwan, I obtained the services of his nephew Muinyi 

 Wazira, who received seventeen dollars as an inducement 

 to travel in the interior, and was at once constituted lin- 

 guist and general assistant to Said bin Salim. The day 

 passed as usual, a snake was killed, and a gun-shot heard 

 in the distance supplied conversation for some hours. 

 The " sons of Ramji" carefully lost half a dozen of 

 the axes, bill-hooks, and dibbles, with which they had 

 been supplied, fearing lest they might be called upon to 

 build the Siwa or Boma, the loose thorn-fence with which 

 the halting-place ought to be surrounded before the 

 night, and 7 p. m. had passed before I could persuade the 

 Baloch to catch, tether, and count the asses. One of 

 the escort, Ismail, was attacked with dysentery and 

 required to be mounted, although we were obliged by 

 the want of carriage to wend our way on foot. During 

 the last night, Said bin Salim had taken charge of three 

 Wanguru porters, who, freshly trapped by Said el Haz- 

 rami, had been chained pro tempore to prevent desertion. 

 The Arab boasted that he was a bad sleeper, but bad 

 sleepers are worse watchers, because when they do sleep 

 they sleep in earnest. The men were placed for the 

 night in Said's tent, surrounded by his five slaves, yet they 

 stole his gun, and carrying off an axe and sundry bill- 

 hooks, disappeared in the jungle. The watchful Said, after 



