218 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 



" Bas ! bas ! enough ! " cries the beak ; a tie him" — 

 the defendant — " up, and give him three dozen with 

 thine own hand." 



The wrathful plaintiff, as may be imagined, is 

 nothing loath. After being vigorously performed upon 

 by the plaintiff aforesaid, the defendant is cast loose, 

 and is in turn addressed as follows : — 



" Well, now, you fellow ! what say you? " 



" Oh, my lord and master ! Oh, dispenser of justice ! 

 what lies hath not this man told? What abominations 

 hath he not devoured ? Behold (pointing to his war- 

 paint) the sight ! He hath met me in the street ; he 

 hath thrown ine down ; he hath kicked and trampled 

 upon me; he hath — " 



" Bas ! enough ! " again cries the beak ; " tie him — 

 the plaintiff — up, and see if you can give him a good 

 three dozen." 



Again it may be imagined that the three dozen 

 are well applied by the revengeful defendant, and that 

 neither that plaintiff nor that defendant ever troubled 

 that excellent " police-officer " again. 



On Rubeho's summit we found a single village of 

 villanous Wasagara ; afterwards " made clean" — as the 

 mild Hindu expresses the extermination of his fellow- 

 men — by a caravan in revenge for the murder of a porter. 

 We were delayed on the hill-top a whole day, despite 

 the extreme discomfort of all hands. Water had to be 

 fetched from a runnel that issued from a rusty pool 

 shaded by tilted-up strata of sandstone, at least a 

 mile distant from camp. Rain fell daily, alternating 

 with eruptions of sun ; a stream of thick mist rolled 

 down the ravines and hollows, and at night the howling 

 winds made Rubeho their meeting-place. Yet neither 

 would the sons of Ramji carry my companion's ham- 

 mock, nor would Said bin Salim allow his children 



