appointed; but he put Maula in the background, laughing
at the way he had “ let the bird fly out of his hands,”
and settled th a t. N’yamgundu should be my guide. I
then gave him a wire, and he gave me three large sheets
of mbiigti, which he said I should require, as there were
so many watercourses to cross on the road I was going.
A second day’s halt was necessitated by many of my men
catching fever, probably owing to the constant crossing of
those abominable rush-drains. There was no want of food
here, for I never saw such a profusion of plantains anywhere.
They were literally lying in heaps on the ground,
though the people were brewing pombe all day, and cooking
them for dinner every evening.
After crossing many more hills and miry bottoms,
To Ugonzi, 5th. constantly coming in view of the lake, we
To Kitunta, utk. reached Ugonzi, and after another march of
the same description, came to Kituntu, the last officer’s
residence in Uddu. Formerly it was the property of a
Belueh named Eseau,'who came to this country with
merchandise, trading on account of Said Said, late Sultan
of Zanzibar; but having lost it all on his way here, paying
mahongo, or taxes, and so forth, he feared returning,
and instead made great friends with the late king Sunna,
who took an especial fancy to him because he had a very
large beard, and raised him to the rank of Mkungil. A
few years ago, however, Eseau died, and left all his family
and property to a slave named Uledi, who now, in consequence,
is the border officer.
I became now quite puzzled whilst thinking which was
„ ' the finest spot I had seen in Uddii, so many
Halt, 7th. b i i • c i i were exceedingly beautiful; but I think I gave
the preference to this, both for its own immediate neighbourhood
and the long range of view it afforded of
Uganda proper, the lake, and the large island, or group
of islands, called Sese, where the king of Uganda keeps
one of his fleets of boats.