394 



THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 



thin gruel, they said, which was strained away from the 

 rice would suffice for themselves. History contains no 

 more touching instance of military fidelity, or of the 

 influence of a commanding mind." Indians never fail 

 to drink the " conjee." The Arab, on the other hand, 

 mingles with his rice a sufficiency of ghee to prevent 

 the extraction of the a thin gruel," and thus makes the 

 grain as palatable and as nutritious as Nature intended 

 it to be.) 



— and dotted over with morsels of fowl, so boiled that 

 they shredded like yarn under the teeth. This repast 

 again concluded with a bowl of sweetened milk, and 

 other entremets, for which both hosts amply apolo- 

 gised ; the house had lately been burned down, and 

 honey had been used instead of sugar. The day con- 

 cluded with prayers, with a seance in the verandah 

 and with drinking fresh milk out of gourds — a state of 

 things which again demanded excuses. A multitude of 

 a Washenzi " thronged into the house, especially during 

 the afternoon, to gaze at the Muzungu. I was formally 

 presented to the Sultan Kafrira, a tall and wrinkled elder, 

 celebrated for ready wits and spear. The sons of 

 Ramji had often looked in at the door whilst prepara- 

 tions for feeding were going on, but they were not asked 

 to sit down : the haughty host had provided them with 

 a lean goat, in return for which they privily expressed 

 an opinion that he was a " dog." Masud, boasting of 

 his intimacy with the Sultan Msimbira, whose subjects 

 had plundered our portmanteau, offered on return to 

 Unyanyembe his personal services in ransoming it. 

 I accepted with joy ; but the Shaykh Masud, as after- 

 wards proved, nearly " left his skin " in the under- 

 taking. 



The climate of Kirira is called by the Arabs a medi- 



