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THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 



New Year. Said bin Salim, the Jemadar, and several 

 of the guard, were invited to an English dinner on a 

 fair sirloin of beef, and a curious succedaneum for a 

 plum-pudding, where neither flour nor currants were to 

 be found. A characteristic trait manifested itself on 

 this occasion. Amongst Arabs r the remnants of a feast 

 must always be distributed to the servants and slaves of 

 the guests ; — a " brass knocker " would lose a man's 

 reputation. Knowing this, I had ordered the Goanese 

 to do in Rome as the Romans do ; and being acquainted 

 with their peculiarities, I paid them an unexpected visit, 

 where they were found so absorbed in the task of hiding, 

 under pots and pans, every better morsel from a crowd 

 of hungry peerers that the interruption of a stick was 

 deemed necessary. 



At length, on the 10th January, 1858, I left Msene 

 with considerable difficulty. The Kirangozi, or guide, 

 who had promised to accompany me, had sent an incom- 

 petent substitute, his brother, a raw young lad, who 

 had no power to collect porters. The sons of Ramji 

 positively refused to lend their aid in strengthening 

 the gang. One of Said bin Salim's children, the boy 

 Faraj, had fled to Kazeh. The bull-headed Mabruki 

 was brought back from flight only by the persuasion of 

 his brother " Bombay, " and even "Bombay," under 

 the influence of some negroid Neaera, at the time of de- 

 parture hid himself in his hut. All feared the march 

 westwards. A long strip of blue hill lying northwards 

 ever keeps the traveller in mind of the robber Wa- 

 tuta, and in places where the clans are mixed, all are 

 equally hostile to strangers. Villages are less frequented 

 and more meanly built, and caravans are not admitted 

 beyond the faubourgs — the miserable huts outlying the 

 fences. The land also is most unhealthy. After the v 



