146 
AFRICA AND ITS EXPLORATION. 
eight miles broach Almost constantly we observed 
canoes being punted vigorously close to the surf, in 
fearless defiance of a catastrophe, such as a capsize and 
gobbling-up by voracious crocodiles. Sometimes we 
sighted a canoe a short distance ahead of us ; whereupon 
our men, with song and chorus, would exert themselves 
to the utmost to overtake it. Upon observing our 
efforts, the natives would bend themselves to their tasks, 
and paddling standing and stark naked, give us ample 
opportunities for studying at our leisure comparative 
anatomy. Or we saw a group of fishermen lazily re- 
clining in puris naturalibus on the beach, regarding with 
curious eye the canoes as they passed their neighbour- 
hood ; then we passed a flotilla of canoes, their owners 
sitting quietly in their huts, busily plying the rod and 
hook, or casting their nets, or a couple of men arranging 
their long drag nets close in shore for a haul ; or children 
sporting fearlessly in the water, with their mothers 
looking on approvingly from under the shade of a tree, 
from which I infer that there are not many crocodiles 
in the lake, except in the neighbourhood of the large 
rivers. 
After passing the low headland of Kisunwe, formed 
by the Kisunwe River, we came in view of Murembwe 
Cape, distant about four or five miles ; the intervening 
ground being low land, a sandy and pebbly beach. 
Close to the beach are scores of villages, while the 
crowded shore indicates the populousness of the place 
beyond. About half way between Cape Kisunwe and 
Murembwe, is a cluster of villages called Bikari, which 
has a Mutware who is in the habit of taking honga. As 
we were rendered unable to cope for any length of time 
with any mischievously inclined community, all villages 
having a bad reputation with the Wajiji were avoided 
by us. But even the Wajiji guides were sometimes 
mistaken, and led us more than once into dangerous 
places. The guides evidently had no objections to halt 
at Bikari, as it was the second camp from Mukungu ; 
because with them a halt in the cool shade of plantains 
was infinitely preferable to sitting like carved pieces of 
