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THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 



frequent accidents ; whilst ants of various kinds, 

 crossing the road in close columns, attacked man and 

 beast ferociously, causing the caravan to break into a 

 halting, trotting hobble, ludicrous to behold. Whilst 

 crossing a sandy Fiumara, Abdullah, a Baloch, lodged 

 by accident four ounces of lead, the contents of my 

 second elephant-gun, in the head of an ass. After a 

 march of six hours we entered Kiruru, a small, ragged, 

 and muddy village of Wak'hutu, deep in a plantation of 

 holcus, whose tall, stiff canes nearly swept me from the 

 saddle. The weather was a succession of raw mist, 

 rain in torrents, and fiery sunbursts ; the land appeared 

 rotten, and the jungle smelt of death. At Kiruru I 

 found a cottage, and enjoyed for the first time an at- 

 mosphere of sweet warm smoke. My companion 

 remained in the reeking, miry tent, where he partially 

 laid the foundation of the fever which threatened his 

 life in the mountains of Usagara. 



Despite the danger of hyaenas, leopards, and crocodiles 

 to an ass-caravan, we were delayed by the torrents of 

 rain and the depth of the mud for two days at Kiruru. 

 According to the people, the district derives its name 

 " palm leaves," from a thirsty traveller, who, not 

 knowing that water was near, chewed the leaves of the 

 hyphaena-palm till he died. One of the Baloch pro- 

 posed a " Hammam," — a primitive form of the "lamp- 

 bath," practised in most parts of Central Asia, — as a 

 cure for fever: he placed me upon one of the dwarf 

 stools used by the people, and under the many abas or 

 hair-cloaks with which I was invested he introduced a 

 bit of pottery containing live coal and a little frankin- 

 cense. At Kiruru I engaged six porters to assist our 

 jaded animals as far as the next station. The headman 

 was civil, but the people sold their grain with difficulty. 



