206 



THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTBAL AFEICA. 



fellows, dragged the animal through thorns and along- 

 side of trees so artistically, that my nether garments 

 were soon in strips. I substituted for him Musa the 

 Greybeard, who, after a few days, begged, with bitter 

 tears, to be excused. It was his habit to hurry on 

 towards the kraal and shade, and the slow hobble of the 

 ass detained him a whole hour in sore discomfort. The 

 task was then committed to the tailor-youth Hudul, who 

 lost no time in declaring that I had abused him — that 

 he was a'Baloch — that he was not an asinego. Then I 

 tried Abdullah, — the good young man. I dismissed him 

 because every day brought with it a fresh demand for 

 cloth or beads, gourds or sandals, for a " chit - to the 

 Balyuz — the Consul, or a general good character as re- 

 gards honesty, virtue, and the et ceteras. Finally the ass 

 was entrusted to the bull-headed slave Mabruki, who 

 thinking of nothing but chat with his " brother," Seedy 

 Bombay, and having that curious mania for command 

 which seems part of every servile nature, hurried my 

 monture so recklessly, that earth -cracks and rat-holes 

 caused us twain many a severe fall. My companion 

 had entrusted himself to Bombay, who, though he did 

 nothing well rarely did anything very badly. 



The 4th September began with an hour's toil through 

 the dense bush, to a rapid descent over red soil and 

 rocks, which necessitated frequent dismounting, — ■ no 

 pleasant exercise after a sleepless night. Below, lay a 

 wide basin of rolling ground, surrounded in front by a 

 rim of hills. It was one of the many views which 

 " catching the reflex of heaven," and losing by indis- 

 tinctness the harshness of defined outline and the de- 

 formity of individual feature, assume, viewed from afar, 

 a peculiar picturesqueness. Traces of extensive culti- 

 vation, flocks and herds, were descried in the lower 



