right; four is two fingers of each hand ; five, the closed fist
with the thumb between the second and third fingers; six,
three fingers of each hand ; seven, the left hand open, and
two fingers of the right; eight, the eight fingers opened ;
nine, I did not see, but I suppose one fist and an open
hand; ten, two closed fists. But they have no word to
express a higher number than seven; eight they call
seven plus one; for multiples of ten they begin all over
again.
When I left Mambwe I was still ill, and, notwithstanding
that, had to go through a killing day. I had reckoned to
halt at the river Saisi—which we reached seven hours
from our start—to build a bridge. Finding one already
there I went on, and as there was no wood for fire was
obliged to push right on to Kirunda, which we did not
reach till four hours later. Just before getting to the
village we had to cross the river Lumi. Night had
fallen, and we had long been wading up to our knees in
a swamp. The river was very full and very deep, and to
cross it there were only a few rotten trees felled across
the stream. By a miracle we got safely over in the dark
without losing a man; as it was, a goat fell in and was
drowned, and one man went over too; but he clutched
hold of the so-called bridge, and was got out with the
loss of his load of 200 yards of calico. • All this time I
was standing on the bank with mud up to my thighs,
and gnats feasting on my face and neck. There were
thousands and thousands of them, and they stabbed
through handkerchiefs and mufflers like the point of a
needle. Never had I suffered such torment. Next day
I got to Fwambo, where I was kindly received by the
missionaries, Messrs. Carson and Brett; with them I
stayed two days, and on May 22nd arrived at Kituta,
on Lake Tanganika, too ill to take any observation or
notice anything on the way.
At Kituta I found two Arabs with their dhows, and
induced them, after the usual haggling, to take me to
300