222 



THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 



and cold : in the morning, a mist so thick that it dis- 

 played a fog-rainbow — a segment of an arch, composed 

 of faint prismatic tints — rolled like a torrent down the 

 ravine in front : the sun, at noon, made us cower 

 under the thin canvas, and throughout the twenty-four 

 hours a gale like a "vent de bise, " attracted by the 

 heat of the western plains, swept the encamping ground. 



Sending forward my invalid companion in his ham- 

 mock, I brought up the rear : Said bin Salim, who had 

 waxed unusually selfish and surly, furtively left to us 

 the task ; he wore only sandals — he could not travel by 

 night. Some of the Baloch wept at the necessity of 

 carrying their gourds and skins. 



On the 17th September, about 2 p.m., we resumed the 

 descent of the rugged mountains. The path wound 

 to the N. W. down the stony and bushy crest of a ridge 

 with a deep woody gap on the right hand: presently after 

 alternations of steep and step, and platforms patched 

 with odoriferous plants, it fell into the upper channel 

 of the Mandama or the Dungomaro, the " Devil's Glen." 

 Dungomaro in Kisawahili is the proper name of an evil 

 spirit, not in the European but in the African sense, — 

 some unblessed ghost who has made himself unpopular 

 to the general ; — perhaps the term was a facetiousness 

 on the part of the sons of Ramji. 



It was a " via mala " down this great surface-drain of 

 the western slopes, over boulders and water-rolled stones 

 reposing upon deep sand, and with branches of thorny 

 trees in places canopying the bed. After a march of 

 five hours, I found the porters bivouacking upon a 

 softer spot, and with difficulty persuaded four of the 

 sons of Ramji to return and to assist the weary 

 stragglers : horns were sounded, and shots were fired 

 to guide the Baloch, who did not, however, arrive be- 

 fore 10 P. M. 



