peal finally gave way, but said I must ask tbe Sheikh
myself, as he was not bound to go on any other line
than the one we were now on. I did ask the Sheikh,
some time after, at Usenyd, and he said he would see
about it when we reached Kaz6. Just as we were
preparing to leave Ujiji, by great good fortune some
supplies were brought to us by an Arab called Mo-
hinna, an old friend whom we formerly left at Kaze,
and who had now followed us here to trade in ivory.
Had this timely supply not reached us, it is difficult
to conceive what would have been our fate, left as we
should have been with a large amount of non-market-
able property, and having numbers of people to feed,
whilst my companion was unable to move without the
assistance of eight men to carry him in a hammock,
we being totally without the means of purchase in the
territory of one of the most inhospitable of all the
tribes with whom we have had connection.
This timely supply was one of the many strokes of
good fortune which befell us upon this journey, and
for which we have so much reason to be grateful.
Help had always reached us at the time when least
we expected it, but when we most required it. My
health had been improving ever since I first reached
the lake, and enjoyed those invigorating swims upon
its surface, and revelled in the good living afforded by
the market at Ujiji. The facilities of*the place giving
us such a choice of food, our powers in the culinary
art were tried to their fullest extent. I t would be
difficult to tell what dishes we did not make there.
Fish of many sorts done up in all the fashions of the
day—meat and fowl in every form—vegetable soups,
and dishes of numberless varieties—fruit-preserves,
custards, custard-puddings, and jellies—and last, but
not least, buttered crumpets and cheese,— formed as
fine a spread as was ever set before a king.
But sometimes we came to grief when our supply
of milk was, on the most foolish pretexts, stopped by
Kannina, who was the only cow-proprietor in the
neighbourhood. At one time he took offence because
we turned his importunate wives out of the house, in
mistake for common beggars. On another occasion,
when I showed him, a cheese of our manufacture, and
begged he would allow me to instruct his people in
the art of making them, he took fright, declared that
the cheese was something supernatural, and that it
could never have been made by any ordinary artifice.
Moreover, if his people were shown the way to do it
one hundred times, they would never be able to comprehend
it. He further showed his alarm by forbidding
us any more milk, lest, by our tampering with
it, we should bewitch his cows and make them all run
dry. The cattle this milk was taken from are of a
uniform red colour, like our Devonshire breed; but they
attain a very great height and size, and have horns of
the most stupendous dimensions.
A year’s acclimatisation had by this time produced
a wonderful effect on all the p a rty ; so that now, with
our fresh supplies, most of us marched away from
Ujiji in better condition than we had enjoyed since
leaving the coast. The weather was very fine, the
rainy season having ceased on the 15th May; we