Chap. XXXI. SO'YORUM.— KA'WA. 
335 
so doing I should not be able to keep ray chronometer 
and my compass dry ; for these were now the most 
precious things which I had on earth, and could not 
be replaced or repaired so easily as gun and pistols. 
But moreover my horse, which had never been ac- 
customed to fatigue, and had not been well fed, had 
become quite lame, and seemed scarcely able to carry 
me back to Kiikawa. I therefore gave up the idea of 
visiting the island, which in some years, when the 
lake does not rise to a great height, may be reached 
with little inconvenience*, and followed my com- 
panions towards the large village of Kawa.f 
Passing over fields planted with cotton and beans, 
but without native corn, which is not raised here at all, 
we reached Kawa after an hour's ride, while we passed 
on our left a small swamp. Kawa is a large strag- 
gling village, which seems to enjoy some political 
preeminence above the other places hereabouts, and 
on this account is placed in a somewhat hostile posi- 
tion to the independent inhabitants of the islands, 
with which the Kanembu in general keep up a sort 
* The distance of the western shore of this island cannot be 
more than at the utmost thirty miles from the shore of the lagoon, 
at least at certain seasons. Mr. Overweg's indications in respect to 
this island, which he would seem to have navigated all round, are 
very vague. At all events, I think that it must be considerably 
nearer the shore than it has been laid down by Mr. Petermann, but 
it is difficult, nay impossible, to fix with precision the form or size 
of these islands, which, according to season, vary continually. 
t One of the horsemen from Binder informed me of some other 
harbours hereabouts, named Kela kemagenbe (elephant's head), 
Dahiwa, Kabaya, and Ngibia. 
