408 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 



of Mzogera. This great man, the principal Sultan of 

 Uvinza, is also the Lord of the Malagarazi River. As 

 he can enforce his claims by forbidding the ferrymen 

 to assist strangers, he must be carefully humoured. He 

 received about forty cloths, white and blue, six Kitindi 

 or coil bracelets, and ten Fundo (or 100 necklaces) of 

 coral beads. It is equivalent in these lands to 501. in 

 England. When all the items had been duly palavered 

 over, we resumed our march on the 2nd February. 

 The road, following an incline towards the valley of the 

 river, in which bush and field alternated with shallow 

 pools, black mud, and putrid grass, led to Unyanguruwwe, 

 a miserable settlement, producing, however, millet in 

 abundance, sweet potatoes, and the finest manioc. On 

 the 3rd February we set out betimes. Spanning cul- 

 tivation and undulating grassy ground, and passing over 

 hill-opens to avoid the deeper swamps, we debouched 

 from a jungle upon the river-plain, with the swift brown 

 stream, then about fifty yards broad, swirling through 

 the tall wet grasses of its banks on our right hand, hard 

 by the road. Upon the off side a herd of elephants, 

 forming Indian file, slowly broke through the reed-fence 

 in front of them : our purblind eyes mistook them for 

 buffaloes. Northwards lay an expanse of card-table 

 plain, over which the stream, when in flood, debords to the 

 distance of two miles, cutting it with deep creeks and 

 inlets. The flat is bounded in the far offing by a sinuous 

 line of faint blue hills, the haunts of the Watuta ; whilst, 

 westward and southward, rises the wall-shaped ridge, 

 stony and wooded, which buttresses the left bank of the 

 river for some days' journey down the stream. We 

 found lodgings for the night in a little village, called 

 from its district Ugaga ; we obtained provisions, and 

 we lost no time in opening the question of ferryage. 



