CAPE RIFLEMEN OBLIGED TO EETURN. 59 
nausea and fevered brain. Speke, who had been so 
long in Africa, was not subject to them, but our men 
were constantly laid up. One died, and the poor Cape 
riflemen were such martyrs to fevers and sore eyes, 
that they confessed they could not stand the hardships 
of the journey, and were sent back to Kazeh, saying 
they were sorry they had come so far. We were told 
that smallpox was the most fatal disease in this part 
of the country, but we saw no cases. The general 
elevation of the country is 3400 feet, rising gently up 
to the low ranges of hills everywhere around. It is 
more open than Unyanyembe. Mists rarely lie, except 
on the hill-tops after rain. The greatest fall measured 
was three-fourths of an inch in half an hour, after a 
storm, which burst overhead with fearful concussions 
of thunder at 3 p.m. of the 13th April. This may be 
described as the grand finale to the rainy season. 
Every morning the dews lay heavily, and a S.E. wind 
blew, but the coolest breeze was when from S. by W. 
The daily temperature inside a hut was 78° to 80° at 
1 p.m. During the day the sky was generally clear, 
with a fierce sun ; but the air in the mornings and 
evenings was deliciously cool, a fire at night being 
cheery and comfortable. No dust-storms troubled 
us, otherwise the open huts would have been unin- 
habitable. Drinking water was always sweet and 
refreshing. At Mineenga a copious spring gushed 
out of the shell of a tree lying level with the 
earth in the centre of a rice-field. This was the well 
of the village ; from its position it was considered a 
phenomenon, and was looked on with veneration, as 
it afforded cool water the whole year round — a rare 
blessing. 
