ware pot, which, after filling, sank and drew the
wooden disc level with the water. I noted the
chronometer instantly, while the boat was rowed
away from the scene. The wind from the lake*
blew strong at the time.
The board floated from lakeward towards the
papyrus 822 feet in one hour and forty seconds.
In the afternoon, wind' calm and water tranquil,
the disc floated in the opposite direction,
or towards the lake, 159 feet in nineteen minutes
and thirty seconds, which is at the rate of about
600 feet in the hour.
This was of itself conclusive proof that there
was no current at this date (July 16, 1876).
Still I was curious to see the river flowing out.
The next day, therefore, accompanied b y ' the
chief and fifteen men of the Expedition, we
started overland along the banks of this rush-and
mud-choked depression for three or four miles.
The trend of the several streams we passed was
from north-west to south-east— that is , towards
the lake. At Elwani village we came to the
road from Monyi’s, which is used by people
proceeding to Unguvwa, Luwelezi, or Marungu
on the other side of the Lukuga. Two men
from the village accompanied us to the Lukuga
ford. When we reached the foot of the hiU,
we first came to the dry bed of the Kibamba.
In the rainy season this stream drains the eastern
rjuly 17, 1876.1 THE “ MITWANZI.”
L Lukuga. J
slopes of the JCi-yanja ridge with a south-east
trend. The grass stalks, still lying down from
the force of the water, lay with their tops
pointing lakeward.
From the dry mud-bed of the Kibamba to the
cane-grass-choked bed of Lukuga was but a step.
During the wet season the Kibamba evidently
overflowed broadly, and made its way among
the matete of the Lukuga.
We tramped on along a path leading over
prostrate reeds and cane, and came at length
to where the ground began to be moist. The
reeds on either side of it rose to the height of
10 or 12 feet, their tops interlacing, and the
stalks, therefore, forming the sides of a narrow
tunnel. The path sank here and there into ditchlike
hollows filled with cool water from 9 inches
to 3 feet deep, with transverse dykes of mud
raised above it at intervals.
Finally, after proceeding some two hundred
yards, we came to the centre of this reed-covered
depression— called by the natives “Mitwanzi”—
and here the chief, trampling a wider space
among the reeds, pointed out in triumph water
indisputably flowing westward!
The water felt cold, but it was only 68° Fahr.
or 70 cooler than the Lukuga. I crossed over
to the opposite or southern bank, on the
shoulders of two of my men. The bed was un