204 



THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 



hili, or coast-language, "ku Tirikeza," or "Tilikeza," and 

 inKinyamwezi, u ku Witekezea," is the infinitive of a neu- 

 ter verb signifying " to march after noon-day" ; by the 

 Arabs it is corrupted into a substantive. Similarly the 

 verb ku honga, to pay "dash", tribute, passage-money, or 

 blackmail, becomes in the mouths of the stranger, ku 

 honga, or Honga. The tirikeza is one of the severest 

 inflictions that African travelling knows. At 11 a.m. 

 everything is thrown into confusion, although two or 

 three hours must elapse before departure; loads are 

 bound up, kitchen-batteries are washed and packed, 

 tents are thrown, and stools are carried off by fidgeting 

 porters and excited slaves. Having drunk for the last 

 time, and filled their gourds for the night, the wayfarers 

 set out when the midday ends. The sun is far more 

 severely felt after the sudden change from shade, than 

 during the morning marches, when its increase of heat is 

 slow and gradual. They trudge under the fireball in the 

 firmament, over ground seething with glow and reek, 

 through an air which seems to parch the eyeballs, and 

 they endure this affliction till their shadows lengthen 

 out upon the ground. The tirikeza is almost in- 

 variably a lengthy stage, as the porters wish to abridge 

 the next morning's march, which leads to water. It is 

 often bright moonlight before they arrive at the ground, 

 with faces torn by the thorns projecting across the 

 jungly path, with feet lacerated by stone and stub, 

 and occasionally a leg lamed by stumbling into deep 

 and narrow holes, the work of field -rats and of various 

 insects. 



We left Marengd Mk'hali at 1 p.m., on the 3rd Sep- 

 tember, and in order to impressionise a large and well- 

 armed band of the country people that had gathered to 

 stare at, to criticise, and to deride us, we indulged in 



