LAKE JTPL AND THE ROAD TO GONJA. 
299 
middle slopes, and at the base of the vast mountain 
lav the numberless hills and hillocks of cultivated 
O 
Caga. Then came the dense forests of the Ruvu and 
V 
the Lurni, the silver breeze-swept waters of Jipe, a 
low promontory covered with spear-grass, and in the 
foreground a muddy, oozy shore dotted with egrets 
and plovers. Before turning away to commence a long 
stage in our journey to the coast I hastily sketched 
in this picture on my sketch-block. 
The sudden change from the bracing climate of 
Kilima-njaro to the heat of the plains had at first 
affected my health, much as a rapid transition from 
the temperate regions to the tropics might do, and I 
had a slight touch of fever at Jipe, which laid me up. 
As this was, however, an unpleasant locality in which 
to remain, my men proposed to carry me in a 
hammock until I should have regained my strength. 
To that I consented, and as the walk before us to the 
next camping-place was long and waterless, it had 
been also determined that we should defer our de¬ 
parture from the further extremity of the lake until 
five o’clock in the afternoon, and take advantage of 
the brilliant moon to pursue our course in the cool 
hours of the night. Accordingly an hour before 
sunset, when I had finished my hasty sketch of Kilima¬ 
njaro, I got into my hammock, which was carried by 
Faraji, the head-cook (an old Congo man) and Hamis 
Hadi, a stalwart porter of the Yao tribe, and for a 
short time went over the ground at a swinging pace, 
all the caravan keeping up with me, for it was fine 
“going” country. We were directing our course 
S.S.E. over a plain of great extent, absolutely level, 
without a rut, and covered with fine turf, like a vast 
lawn. Here and there a bushy tree broke the mono- 
