procated with a gilt bracelet, with a great green
crystal set in it, a briarwood pipe, stem banded
in silver, a gilt chain, and a Sohari cloth, with
which he was so overjoyed as almost to weep.
His emotions o f gratitude were visible in the
glistening and dilated eyes, and felt in the
fervent grasp he gave my hand. B y some magic
art with his sandals o f cowhide, he predicted
success to my journey. A s the right sandal,
after being tossed three times upward, each time
turned upside down, my g o od health and wellbeing,
he said, were assured, without a doubt.
T h e next halt was made at Mtiwi, the chief
o f which was Malewa. The aneroid here indicated
an altitude o f 2825 feet. Our faithless
W a g a g o guides having deserted us, we marched
a little distance farther north, and ascended the
already described “ upland w a ll,” where the
aneroid at our camp indicated a height o f 3800
feet— or about 950 feet above the plain on which
Mtiwi, Mwenna, and Mukondoku are situated.
T h e last night at Mtiwi was a disturbed one.
The “ flood-gates o f heaven” seemed literally
opened for a period. A fter an hour’s rainfall,
6 inches o f water covered our camp, and a slow
current ran southerly. E v e ry member o f the
expedition was distressed, and even the Europeans,
lodged in * tents, were not exempted from the
evils o f the night. My tent walls enclosed a
little p o o l, banked b y b oxes o f stores and amrjan.
4, i87S] HEAVEN’S FLOOD-GATES OPENED. 135
[ Uyanzi. J
munition. Hearing cries outside, I lit a candle,
and my astonishment was great to find that my
bed was an island in a shallow river, which, if
it increased in depth and current, would assuredly
carry me o ff south towards the Rufiji. My
walking-boots were miniature barks, floating to
and fro on a turbid tide seeking a place o f exit
to the dark world o f waters without. My guns,
lashed to the centre pble, were stock deep in
water. But the most comical sight was presented
b y Jack and Bull, perched back to b ack on the
top o f an ammunition-box, butting each other
rearward, and snarling and growling for that
scant portion o f comfort.
In the morning, I discovered my fatigue cap
several yards outside the tent, and one o f my
boots sailing down south. The harmonium, a
present for Mtesa, a large quantity o f gunpowder,
tea, rice, and sugar, were destroyed. Vengeance
appeared to have overtaken us. A t 10 A. M.
the sun appeared, astonished no doubt at a new
lake formed during his absence. B y noon the
water had considerably decreased, and permitted
us to march, and with glad hearts we surmounted
the upland o f Uyanzi, and from our
busy camp, on the afternoon o f the 4th January,
gazed upon the spacious plain beneath, and the
vast broad region of sterility and thorns which
we had known as inhospitable Ugogo.
On the upland which we were now about to