264 Wanderings iii Eastern Africa, 
Kilima does not signify a mountain in the sense as- 
sumed by Dr. Krapf^ but a hill or rising ground of the 
humblest kind, as is evident from the name Kirima- 
ni, or Kiliman-ni, given to places of very moderate 
elevation/'* / 
Mr. Cooleyishere again at fault; Dr. Krapfis right. 
If not at the present day on any maps of value, the 
Mto-Tana, that is the river Tana, has been marked 
Qilimancy ; it was so written on many of the old maps. 
With respect to the etymological question, the ex- 
pression Kilima ja Mansi may at first sound strange, 
but are there no such apparent absurdities as the one 
hinted at in human language t Do not names often 
get changed, twisted, and contorted 1 A case in point. 
Between Mombasa and Ribe, rising out of one of the 
sand-flats by the river-side, is the head of a rock. For 
some reason or other the superstitious Wasuahili 
greatly venerate this object, and, as often as they pass, 
lay upon it little offerings of grain, fruit, etc. L asked 
what this stone was called, and I was seriously in- 
formed, "Jiwe la maji mewpe" (stone of white water). 
I asked for an explanation, and was told that near by 
there was some ''white water," and that from ^kis 
the s^ne derived its name. This is quite as absurd 
in appearance as the case to which Mr. Cooley takes 
such serious exception. But by '^Kilima ja Mansi" a 
native would not understand literally a mountain of 
water, but a mountain from which water flowed. I 
have tested the expression, and was understood in this 
latter sense. The same thing runs through the lan- 
guage. ''Mto wa samaki" (river offish), would not mean 
a river composed of fish, but a river in which fish 
Cooley's Inner Africa/^ pp. 110, 11 1. 
I 
