172 



THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 



by tree-clad lines of half-dried nullahs, which were 

 choked with ill- savoured weeds. We halted every 

 quarter of an hour to raise and reload the asses; 

 when on the ground, they were invariably abandoned 

 by the donkey-men. My companion's bedding was 

 found near the path, where it had been left by its 

 porter, a slave given at Zungomero to Muinyi Wazira 

 by his drunken brother. The fellow had been sworn 

 by his mganga, or medicine- man, not to desert, and 

 he had respected his oath for the long length of a week, 

 A dispute with another man, however, had irritated 

 him : he quietly threw his burden, and ran down the 

 nearest steep, probably to fall into the hands of the Wak- 

 wivi. As the rain-catching peaks were left behind, the 

 slopes of dry soil began to show sunburnt herbage and 

 tufty grass. Signs of lions appeared numerous, and 

 the cactaceous and aloetic plants that live on arid soil 

 again met the eye. About noon we forded the little 

 Zonhwe River, a stream of sweet water here flowing 

 westward, in a bed of mire and grass, under high banks 

 bearing a dense bush. Two hours afterwards I sud- 

 denly came upon the advance-guard, halted, and the 

 asses unloaded, in a dry water-course, called in the map, 

 from our misadventure, " Overshot Nullah." A caravan 

 of Wanyamwezi had misdirected them, Muinyi Wazira 

 had in vain warned them of their error, he was over- 

 ruled by Kidogo, and the Baloch had insisted upon 

 camping at the first place where they expected to find a 

 spring. Like all soft men, they were most impatient of 

 thirst, and nothing caused so much grumbling and dis- 

 content as the cry of " Maji mb'hali ! " (water is far !) 

 That night, therefore, after a long march of fifteen miles, 

 they again slept supperless. 



On the 14th of August we loaded early, and through 



