as well as to tlie Nile, and also to the Shiré branch of the
Zambózé.
I came, at the same time, to the conclusion that all our
previous information concerning the hydrography of these
regions, as well as the Mountains of the Moon, originated
with the ancient Hindüs, who told it to the priests of the
Nile; and that all those busy Egyptian geographers, who
disseminated their knowledge with a view to be famous
for their long - sightedness, in solving the deep - seated
mystery which enshrouded the source of their holy river,
were so many hypothetical humbugs. Reasoning thus,
the Hindü traders alone, in those days, I believed, had a
firm basis to stand upon, from their intercourse with the
Abyssinians — through whom they must have heard of
the country of Amara, which they applied to the N’yanza
—and with the Wanyamüézi or men of the Moon, from
whom they heard of the Tanganyika and Karagüó mountains.
I was all the more impressed with this belief,
by knowing that the two church missionaries, Rebmann
and Erhardt, without the smallest knowledge of the Hindüs’
map, constructed a map of their own, deduced from
the Zanzibar traders, something on the same scale, by
blending the Yictoria N’yanza, Tanganyika, and N’yassa
into one; whilst to their tiiuned lake they gave the
name Moon, because the men of the Moon happened to
live in front of the central lake. And later still, Mr
Leon, another missionary, heard of the N’yanza and the
country Amara, near which he heard the Nile made its
escape.
Going on with the march we next came to Ndongo, a
perfect garden of plantains. The whole country was rich
— most surprisingly so. The same streaky argillaceous
sandstones prevailed as in Raragüé. There was nothing,
in fact, that would not have grown here, if it liked
moisture and a temperate heat. It was a perfect paradise
for negroes: as fast as they sowed they were sure of a
crop without much trouble; though, I must say, they kept
their huts and their gardens in excellent order.
As Maüla would stop here, I had to halt also. The
H a lt no. whole country along the banks of the river,
and near some impenetrable forests, was alive
with antelopes, principally hartebeests, but I would not
fire at them until it was time to return, as the villagers
led me to expect buffaloes. The consequence was, as
no buffaloes were to be found, I got no sport, though
I wounded a hartebeest, and followed him almost into
camp, when I gave up the chase to some negroes, and
amused myself by writing to Rümanika, to say if Grant
did not reach me by a certain date, I would try to
navigate the N’yanza, and return to. him in boats up the
Kitangülé river,
We crossed over a low spur of hill extending from the
To Ngambézi, mountainous kingdom of Nkolé, on our left,
towards the N’yanza. Here I was shown by
Nasib a village called Ngandü, which was the farthest
trading depot of the Zanzibar ivory-merchants. It was
established by Müsa Mzüri, by the permission of Rümanika
; for, as I shall have presently to mention, Sun-
na, after annexing this part of Uddü to Uganda, gave
Rümanika certain bands of territory in it as a means
of security against the possibility of its being wrested
out of his hands again by the future kings of Unyoro.
Following on Müsa’s wake, many Arabs also came here to
trade; but they were so oppressive to the Waganda that
they were recalled by Rümanika, and obliged to locate
themselves at Kufro. To the right, at the end of the
spur, stretching as far as the eye could reach towards the
N yanza, was a rich, well-wooded, swampy plain, contain -
ing large open patches of water, which not many years
since, I was assured, were navigable for miles, but now,
like the Urigi lakef, were gradually drying up. Indeed,
it appeared to me as if the N’yanza must have once