with his cousin, Mohammed bin Sayid, and others,
to confer upon the important business, broaphpd
the evening before, and, after the usual c.qui;tqpns
and ceremonious greetings,, | was requested to
state my intentions.
“ I would like tq gq, dqwn the i;iver in canoes,
until I reach the place where the. river tiq-ns. for
good either to the we$t qr east,”
“How many days’ journey qn land would that
be?” asked Tippu-Tib.
“ I don’t know. Do you?”
“No; indeed, J wag never in that direction;
but I have a man here: who. hag reached farthest
of all.”
“ Where is he?”
“ Speak, Abed, son qljumah, what you know
of this river,” said Tippu-Tib.
The son of Jumah, thus urged by his superior,
spoke and said, “ Yes, I know all ¿about the
river, El hamd ul illah !” (“ the thanks be to
God”).
“ In which direction does it flow, my friend?”
“ It flows north.”
“ And then?”
“ It flows north!”
“ And then?”
“ Still north!”
“ Como, my friend, speak; whither does it flqw
after reaching the north?”
“Why, master,” replied he, with a bland smile
■ Oct. 21, 1876.-1 A r i v e r FLOWING NORTH FOR EVER.127 L Tubajsda- -I
of wonder at my apparent lack, of ready comprehension,
“ don’t. I tell you, it flows north, and
north, and north, and there is no end to it. I
think it reaches the salt sea, at least some of
my friends say so.”
“Well, ip which, direction is, this salt sea,?”
“Allah, y a f c ! ” (“ Gp4, knows!”)
“ ]j thought you gaid, you kpew all about the
river?”
“ I know it goes north!” said he decisively,
and sharply.
“How do you know?”
“ Because I followed Mtagamoyo to Usongora
Meno, and, crossing the Ugarowa,* near the
Urindi, went with him to the Lumami and to the
dwarf country.”
“How many days is it from here to the dwarf
country?”
“ About nine months.”
“And is the dwarf country near the Ugarowa?”
“ It is; not far from it.”
“ Could you point with your hand the direction
of the Ugarowa— near the dwarf country? ”
“ Yes, it is there,” pointing north by west,
magnetic.
“ What are the dwarfs like?^But tell us the
story of your journey, with Mtagamoyo.”
After clearing his throat and arranging his
* The Ugarowa river is the Arab corruption of the, word
Lu-alowa, which Livingstone called, Lualaba.