are so savage and inhospitable to travellers, that it
would be impossible to go amongst them unless accompanied
by a large and expensive escort.”
6th.—As no further information about the lake
could be gained, I bade Mahaya and the Sheikh adieu,
leaving as a token of recollection one shukka merikani
for the former, one dhoti kiniki for his wife, and a fun-
do of beads for the poor Arab, and retraced my steps
by a double march back to Ukumbi. Whilst passing
alongside the archipelago, I shot two geese and a
crested crane. What a pity it seemed I could not
pluck the fruit almost within my grasp ! Had I . had
but a little more time, and a few loads of beads, I
could with ease have crossed the Line, and settled
every question which we had come all this distance
to ascertain. Indeed, to perform that work, nobody
could have started under more advantageous circumstances
than were then within my power—all hands
beincc in first-rate condition and health,O " and all in the
right temper for it. But now a new and expensive
expedition must be formed, for the capabilities of the
country on the eastern flank of the Mountains of the
Moon, and along the western shores of the N’yanza,
are so notoriously great that it is worthy of serious
attention. My reluctance to return may be easier
imagined than described. I felt as much tantalised
as the unhappy Tantalus must have been when unsuccessful
in his bobbings for cherries in the cherry-
orchard, and as much grieved as any mother would
be at losing her first-born, and resolved and planned
forthwith to do everything that lay in my power to
visit the lake again.
7 th.—We made a march of fourteen miles, passing
our second station in Urima by two miles, partly to
avoid the chief of that village, a testy, rude, and disagreeable
man, who, on the last occasion, inhospitably
tried to turn us out of a hut in his village, because we
would not submit to his impudent demand of a cloth
for the accommodation—a proceeding quite at variance
with anything we had met in our former receptions;
and we resisted the imposition with a pertinacity equal
to his own. Besides this, by coming on the little extra
distance, we arrived at the best and cheapest place for
purchasing cows and jembies.
8th.—Halt. I purchased two jembies for one shukka
merikani, but could not come to any terms with these
grasping savages about their cows, although their
country teems with them, and they are sold at wonderfully
cheap prices to ordinary traders. They would
not sell to me unless I gave double value for them.
The fauna of this country is most disappointing.
Nearly all the animals that exist here are also to be
found in the south of Africa, where they range in far
greater numbers. But then we must remember that
a caravan route usually takes the more fertile and
populous tracks, and that many a n im a ls might be
found in the recesses of the forests not far off, although
there are so few on the line. The elephants are finer
here than in any part of the world, and have been
known to carry tusks exceeding 500 lb. the pair in