200 



THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 



tremes. At night the thermometer, under the influence 

 of dewy gusts, sank in the tent to 48° F., a killing tem- 

 perature in these latitudes to half-naked and houseless 

 men. During the day the mercury ranged between 80° 

 and 90° F. ; the sun was fiery, whilst a furious south 

 wind coursed through skies purer and bluer than I had 

 ever seen in Greece or Italy. At times, according to 

 the people, the hill-tops are veiled, especially in the 

 mornings and evenings, with thick nimbus, vapours, 

 and spitting clouds, which sometimes extend to the 

 plain, and discharge heavy showers that invariably 

 cause sickness. Here my companion once more suffered 

 from an attack of " liver," brought on, he supposed, 

 from over-devotion to a fat bullock's hump. Two of 

 the Wanyainwezi porters were seized with preliminary 

 symptoms of small-pox, euphuistically termed by Said 

 bin Salim " shurua," or chicken-pox. Several of the 

 slaves, including the charming Halimah, were laid up ; 

 the worst of all, however, was Valentine, who complained 

 of an unceasing racking headache, whilst his puffed 

 cheeks and dull-yellow skin gave him the look of one 

 newly deceased. At length, divining his complaint, he 

 was cupped by a Mnyamwezi porter, and he recovered 

 after the operation strength and appetite. 



The 2nd of September saw us en route to Marenga 

 Mk'hali, or the " brackish water." Fording the Ru- 

 muma above the spot where it receives the thin supplies 

 of the Marenga Mk'hali, we marched over stony hills 

 and thorny bushes, dotted with calabash and mimosa, 

 the castor-shrub and the wild egg-plant, and gradually 

 rising, we passed into scattered fields of holcus and 

 bajri, pulse and beans. Here, for the first time, bee-hives, 

 called by the coast-people Mazinga, or cannons, from 

 their shape, hollowed cylindrical logs, closed with grass 



