26th September, 1867.—­Two and a half hours brought us to the large river we saw yesterday; it is more than a mile wide and full of papyrus and other aquatic plants and very difficult to ford, as the papyrus roots are hard to the bare feet, and we often plunged into holes up to the waist.  A loose mass floated in the middle of our path; one could sometimes get on along this while it bent and heaved under the weight, but through it he would plunge and find great difficulty to get out:  the water under this was very cold from evaporation; it took an hour and a half to cross it.  It is called Chisera, and winds away to the west to fall into the Kalongosi and Moero.  Many animals, as elephants, tahetsis, zebras, and buffaloes, graze on the long sloping banks of about a quarter of a mile down, while the ranges of hills we crossed as mere ridges now appear behind us in the south.

27th September, 1867.—­The people are numerous and friendly.  One elephant was killed, and we remained to take the ivory from the dead beast; buffaloes and zebras were also killed.  It was so cloudy that no observations could be taken to determine our position, but Chisera rises in Lopere.  Further west it is free of papyrus, and canoes are required to cross it.

28th September, 1867.—­Two hours north brought us to the Kamosenga, a river eight yards wide, of clear water which ran strongly among aquatic plants.  Hippopotami, buffalo, and zebra abound.  This goes into the Chisera eastwards; country flat and covered with dense tangled bush.  Cassias and another tree of the pea family are now in flower, and perfume the air.  Other two hours took us round a large bend of this river.

30th September, 1867..—­We crossed the Kamosenga or another, and reach Karungu’s.  The Kamosenga divides Lopere from Itawa, the latter being Nsama’s country; Lopere is north-west of it.

1st October, 1867.—­Karungu was very much afraid of us; he kept every one out of his stockade at first, but during the time the Arabs sent forward to try and conciliate other chiefs he gradually became more friendly.  He had little ivory to sell, and of those who had, Mtete or Mtema seemed inclined to treat the messengers roughly.  Men were also sent to Nsama asking him to try and induce Mtema and Chikongo to be friendly and sell ivory and provisions, but he replied that these chiefs were not men under him, and if they thought themselves strong enough to contend against guns he had nothing to say to them.  Other chiefs threatened to run away as soon as they saw the Arabs approaching.  These were assured that we meant to pass through the country alone, and if they gave us guides to show us how, we should avoid the villages altogether, and proceed to the countries where ivory was to be bought; however, the panic was too great, no one would agree to our overtures, and at last when we did proceed a chief on the River Choma fulfilled his threat and left us three empty villages.  There were no people to sell though the granaries were crammed, and it was impossible to prevent the slaves from stealing.