miles easterly along the shore of the lake, and, ascending
a small hill (which, to distinguish it, I have called
Observatory Hill), took compass bearings of all the
principal features of the lake. Mansur and a native, the
greatest traveller of the place, kindly accompanied me,
and gave me every obtainable information. This man
had traversed the island, as he called it, of Uk^rdwe
from north to south. But by his rough mode of describing
it, I am rather inclined to think that instead
of its being an actual island, it is a connected tongue of
land, stretching southwards from a promontory lying
at right angles to the eastern shore of the lake, which,
being a wash, affords a passage to the mainland during
the fine season, but during the wet becomes submerged,
and thus makes Ukerdwti temporarily an island.
If this conjecture be true, Mzita must be similarly
circumstanced. Cattle, he says, can cross over from
the mainland at all seasons of the year, by swimming
from one elevation of the promontory to another; but
the Warudi, who live upon the eastern shore of the
lake, and bring their ivory for sale to Uk^r^svfi, usually
employ boats for the transit. A sultan called
Machunda lives at the southern extremity of the
Ukdrdwe, and has dealings in ivory with all the Arabs
who go there. One Arab at this time was stopping
there, and had sent his men coasting along this said
promontory to deal with the natives on the mainland,
as he could not obtain enough ivory on the island
itself. Considering how near the eastern shore of the
lake is to Zanzibar, it appears surprising that it can
pay men to carry ivory all the way round by Unyan-
yembd. But the Masai, and especially those tribes
who live near to the lake, are so hostile to travellers,
that the risk of going there is considered too great to
be profitable, though all Arabs concur in stating that
a surprising quantity of ivory is to be obtained there
at a very cheap rate.
The little hill alluded to as marking the south-east
angle of the lake, I again saw; but so indistinctly,
though the atmosphere was very clear, that I imagined
it to be at least forty miles distant. I t is due east of
my station on Observatory Hill. I further draw my
conclusions from the fact, that all the hills on the
country are much about the same height—two or
three hundred feet above the basial surface of the
land; and I could only see the top of the hill like a
hazy brown spot, contrasted in relief against the clear
blue sky. Indeed, had my attention not been drawn
to it, I should probably have overlooked it, and have
thought there was only a sea horizon before me. On
facing to the W.N.W., I could only see a sea horizon;
and on inquiring how far back the land lay, was assured
that, beyond the island of Ukdrewe, there was
an equal expanse of it east and west, and that it would
be more than double the distance of the little hill
before alluded to, or from eighty to one hundred miles
in breadth.*
On my inquiring about the lake’s length, the man
faced to the north, and began nodding his head to i t ;
* I now think the breadth is oyer one hundred miles.