" NEAR THE STONES." 



289 



At Jiwe la Mkoa the neck of the desert is broken : 

 the western portion of Mgunda Mk'hali has already 

 thinned out. On the 23rd October, despite the long 

 march of the preceding day, Khalfan proposed a Tiri- 

 keza, declaring that the heavy nimbus from the west, 

 accompanied by a pleasant cold, portended rain, and 

 that this rain, like the " Choti Barsat " of India, an 

 nounces the approach of the great Masika, or vernal wet 

 season. Yielding to his reasons, we crossed the " Round 

 Rock," and passing through an open forest of tall trees, 

 with here and there an undulating break, now yellow 

 with quartz, then black with humus, we reached, after 

 about three hours, another clearing like Jiwe la Mkoa, 

 which owes its origin to the requirements of commerce. 

 " Kirurumo " boasted of several newly built Tembe 

 of Wakimbu, who supplied caravans at an exorbitant 

 rate. The blackness of the ground, and the vivid 

 green of vegetation, evidenced the proximity of water. 

 The potable element was found in pits, sunk in a narrow 

 nullah running northwards across the clearing ; it was 

 muddy and abundant. On the next day the road led 

 through a thin forest of thorns and gums, which, bare 

 of bush and underwood, afforded a broad path and 

 pleasant, easy travelling. Sign of elephant and rhi- 

 noceros, giraffe and antelope, crossed the path, and as 

 usual in such places, the asses were tormented by the 

 Tzetze. After travelling four hours and thirty minutes, 

 we reached a new settlement upon the western frontier 

 of Uganzi, called " Jiweni," "near the stones," from 

 the heaps of block and boulder scattered round pits of 

 good water, sunk about three feet in the ground. The 

 Mongo Nullah, a deep surface-drain, bisects this clear- 

 ing, which is palpably modern. Many of the trees are 



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