88 



THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 



is traversed by the " Mdimu " nullah, which falls into 

 the Mgeta River. The fertile valleys in the lower and 

 southern folds are inhabited by the W&kumb&ku (?),* 

 and by the Wdsuop'hanga tribes ; the higher elevations, 

 which apparently range from 3000 to 4000 feet, by the 

 Waruguru. They are compelled to fortify themselves 

 against the cold and the villanous races around them. 

 The plague of the land is now one Kisabengo, a Mzegura 

 of low origin, who, after conquering Ukami, a district 

 extending from the eastern flank of the Dut'humi hills 

 seawards, from its Moslem diwan, Ngozi, alias Kingaru, 

 has raised himself to the rank of a Shene Khambi, or 

 principal headman. Aided by the kidnapping Moslem 

 coast clans of Whinde, a small coast town opposite the 

 island of Zanzibar, and his fellow tribemen of Uzegura, 

 he has transferred by his frequent commandos almost 

 all the people of Ukami, chiefly Wasuop'hanga and 

 Waruguru, to the slave-market of Zanzibar, and, thus 

 compelled to push his depredations further west, he has 

 laid waste the lands even beyond the Mukondokwa river- 

 valley. The hill tribes, however, still receive strangers 

 hospitably into their villages. They have a place visited 

 even by distant Wazaramo pilgrims. It is described 

 as a cave where a P'hepo or the disembodied spirit of a 

 man, in fact a ghost, produces a terrible subterraneous 

 sound, called by the people Kurero or Bokero ; it arises 

 probably from the flow of water underground. In a 

 pool in the cave women bathe for the blessing of issue, 

 and men sacrifice sheep and goats to obtain fruitful 

 seasons and success in war. These hill-races speak 



* This unsatisfactory figure of print will often occur in these pages. 

 Ignorance, error, and causeless falsehood, together with the grossest exag- 

 geration, deter the traveller from committing himself to any assertion which 

 he has not proved to his own satisfaction. 



