THE KRAAL OF THE IGUANA. 



167 



steep staircase of rock and root, with a dwarf precipice 

 overhanging the river on the right, which was dangerous 

 for the laden beasts as they crawled like beetles up the 

 path. At 3 p.m. we arrived at a kraal called Cha 

 K'henge — of the iguana, from the number of these ani- 

 mals found near the stream. It was a delightful spot, 

 equal to Mzizi Mdogo in purity of air, and commanding 

 a fair prospect of the now distant Dut'humi Highlands. 



The next day was a forced halt at Cha K'henge. Of 

 two asses that had been left behind one was recovered, 

 the other was abandoned to its fate. The animals pur- 

 chased at Zanzibar were falling off visibly in condition. 

 Accustomed to a kind of grass which nowhere grows 

 upon these sunburnt hills, they had regular feeds of 

 holcus, but that, as Said bin Salim expressed himself, was 

 only coffee to them. The Wanyamwezi asses, however, 

 managed to pick a sustenance from the rushes and from 

 the half-burned stubbles, when fortunate enough to find 

 any. Sickness again declared itself. Shahdad the 

 Baloch bellowed like a bull with fever pains, Gaetano com- 

 plained that he was suffering tortures generally, two of 

 the Wanyamwezi were incapacitated by the symptoms 

 preliminary to small-pox from carrying their packs, 

 and a third was prostrated by ague. We started, how- 

 ever, on the next day for a long march which conclude J, 

 the passage of the "Tamarind Hills." Crossing a 

 country broken by dry nullahs, or rather ditches, we 

 traversed a seam of forest with a deep woody ravine on 

 the right, and twice unpacked and reloaded the asses, 

 who Jay down instead of breasting the difficulties : a 

 muddy swamp full of water-courses, and the high earth- 

 banks of the Rufuta a Fiumara, here dry during the 

 hot season. Thence, winding along a hill-flank, to avoid 

 a bend in the bed, the path plunged into the sole of the 



M 4 



