252 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 



loud cries; and at eventide the pool is visited by guinea- 

 fowl, floriken, curlews, peewits, wild pigeons, doves, and 

 hosts of small birds. When the Ziwa is desiccated, travel- 

 lers usually encamp in a thick bush, near a scanty clearing, 

 about one mile to the north-west, where a few scattered 

 villages of Wagogo have found dirty white water, hard and 

 bad, in pits varying from twenty to thirty feeth in depth. 

 Here, as elsewhere in eastern Africa, the only trough is 

 a small ring sunk in the retentive clayey soil, and sur- 

 rounded by a little raised dam of mud and loose stones. 

 A demand is always made for according permission to 

 draw water — a venerable custom, dating from the days 

 of Moses. " Ye shall buy meat of them (the Edomites) 

 for money, that ye may eat ; and ye shall also buy water 

 of them for money, that ye may drink." — Deut. ii. 6. 

 Yet as thirsty, like hungry men, are not to be trifled with, 

 fatal collisions have resulted from this inhospitable 

 practice. Some years ago a large caravan of Wanyam- 

 wezi was annihilated in consequence of a quarrel about 

 water, and lately several deaths occurred in a caravan 

 led by an Arab merchant, Sallum bin Hamid, because 

 the wells were visited before the rate of payment was 

 settled. In several places we w r ere followed upon the 

 march lest a gourd might be furtively filled. To pre- 

 vent exhaustion the people throw euphorbia, asclepias, 

 and solanaceous plants into the well after a certain hour, 

 and when not wanted it is bushed over, to keep off 

 animals, and to check evaporation. 



At the Ziwa the regular system of kuhonga, or black- 

 mail, so much dreaded by travellers, begins in force. Up 

 to this point all the chiefs are contented with little pre- 

 sents ; but in Ugogo tribute is taken by force, if neces- 

 sary. None can evade payment ; the porters, fearing 

 lest the road be cut olF to them in future, would refuse 



