370 Wanderings in Eastern Africa. 
On the following day we started before sunrise. 
After crossing another small stream called Cholo, 
and passing another cone-shaped hill on our left, we 
began to descry the plantations of Moche. The ground 
now rose sharply, and soon the rise became very 
abrupt. The plantations were of Indian corn, pulse, 
wimbe (pannicum), etc. They are well hedged in, 
and are supplied with water by irrigation. The crops 
had just been reaped, and, as the water had been 
shut off, the fields were looking dry. The water- 
courses traverse the sides of the hills everywhere; 
and I now understood what I had been told upon the 
coast, viz., that the Wachaga make the water in their 
country to run up hill ! The almost level run of the 
w^atercourses, viewed in connection with the sharp 
descending outlines of the hill tops and the natural 
course of the stream below, deceives the eye. The 
former really appear to run from the deep gorges in 
an ascending line towards the top of the ridge. 
Ocular proof is not always the most conclusive. I 
tried to show the guide that it was a mistake about 
the waters running up hill, but he would not admit it ;» 
he pointed to what he looked upon as a fact before 
him. My laughter silenced, but did not convince 
him. 
Having reached a height at a rough guess of some 
one thousand feet, we were ordered to halt. After 
waiting for some time a large crowd of natives gathered 
around us, exhibiting all the usual signs of curiosity. 
The impatient people had come down to see the 
stranger before he had permission to enter the pre- 
cincts of their district proper. I was told that, before 
I could be admitted, an important ceremony, called 
