MSENE. 



397 



places for the several wives, families, and slaves. The 

 other settlements — Mbugani("in the wild") and MjiMpia 

 (" new town"), the latter being the place affected by the 

 Wasawahili — cluster in a circle, separated by short cross- 

 roads, which after rain are ankle-deep in mud, from 

 Chyambo, the favourite locale of the Coast Arabs. This 

 settlement, which contained in 1858 nine large Tembe 

 and about 150 huts, boasts of an African attempt at a 

 soko or bazar, a clear space between the houses, where, 

 in fine weather, bullocks are daily slaughtered for food, 

 and where grain, vegetables, and milk are exposed for 

 sale. At Msene a fresh outfit of cloth, beads, and wire 

 can be procured for a price somewhat higher than at 

 Unyanyembe. The merchants have small stores of 

 drugs and spices, and sometimes a few comforts, as 

 coffee, tea, and sugar. The latter is generally made of 

 granulated honey, and therefore called sukari za dsali. 

 The climate of Msene is damp, the neighbouring hills 

 and the thickly-vegetated country attracting an abun- 

 dance of rain. It is exceedingly unhealthy, the result 

 doubtless of filth in the villages and stagnant waters 

 spread over the land. The Gombe Nullah, which runs 

 through the district, about six hours' march from 

 the settlements, discharges after rain its superfluous 

 contents into the many lakelets, ponds, and swamps of 

 the lowlands. Fertilised by a wet monsoon, whose floods 

 from the middle of October to May are interrupted only 

 by bursts of fervent heat, the fat, black soil manured by 

 the decay of centuries, reproduces abundantly anything 

 committed to it. Flowers bloom spontaneously over 

 the flats, and trees put forth their richest raiment. Rice 

 of the red quality — the white is rare and dear — grows 

 with a density and a rapidity unknown in Eastern Un- 

 yamwezi. Holcus and millet, maize and manioc, are 



