184 



THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 



elevation opposite to the highlands of Dut'humi. It is 

 about fifty feet broad at the ford, breast-deep, and the 

 swift brown waters swirl under a canopy of the trees 

 whose name it bears. The " Myombo " is a fine spe- 

 cimen of African timber, apparently unknown to the 

 people of Zanzibar, but extending almost from the coast 

 to the Lake Regions. The flower is greenish, with the 

 overpowering smell of the Indian jasmines; the fruit is 

 a large pod, containing ten or twelve long hard acorns, 

 of a brown-black colour, set in cups which resemble 

 red sealing-wax. The coarse bark is used for building 

 huts and kraals, the inner fibre for " bast " and ropes, 

 and the wood makes what Easterns call a hot fire, last- 

 ing long, and burning well out. After the fiery sun 

 and the dry atmosphere of the plains, the sudden effect 

 of the dank and clammy chill, the result of exceeding 

 evaporation, under the impervious shades that line the 

 river banks, was overpowering. In such places one 

 feels as if poisoned by miasma ; a shudder runs 

 through the frame ; and a cold perspiration, like 

 the prelude for a fainting-fit, breaks from the brow. 

 Unloading the asses, and fording the stream, we 

 ascended the left bank, and occupied a kraal, with 

 fires still smoking, on its summit. Though ano- 

 ther porter was left behind with small-pox, I had 

 little difficulty with the luggage on this march: the 

 more I worked the men, the harder they worked. 

 Besides, they seldom fell sick on the road, though often 

 prostrated when halting, a phenomenon which my com- 

 panion explained by their hard eating and little exer- 

 cise when stationary, and which Said bin Salim more 

 mercifully attributed to the fatigue and exposure of the 

 journey taking effect when the excitement had passed 

 away. 



