At the Kalongosi meadow one of Mohamad’s men shot a buffalo, and he gave me a leg of the good beefy flesh.  Our course was slow, caused partly by rains, and partly by waiting for the convoy.  The people at Kalongosi were afraid to ferry us or any of his people in the convoy out of Casembe’s country; but at last we gave a good fee, and their scruples yielded:  they were influenced also by seeing other villagers ready to undertake the job; the latter nearly fought over us on seeing that their neighbours got all the fare.

We then came along the Lake, and close to its shores.  The moisture caused a profusion of gingers, ferns, and tropical forest:  buffaloes, zebras and elephants are numerous, and the villagers at Chukosi’s, where we slept, warned us against lions and leopards.

12th January, 1868.—­Sunday at Karembwe’s village.  The mountains east of him are called Makunga.  We went yesterday to the shore, and by protraction Rua point was distant thirty-three miles.  Karembwe sent for us, to have an audience; he is a large man with a gruff voice, but liked by his people and by strangers.  I gave him a cloth, and he gave me a goat.  The enthusiasm with which I held on to visit Moero had communicated itself to Tipo Tipo and Syde bin Alle, for they followed me up to this place to see the Lake, and remained five days while we were at Casembe’s.  Other Arabs, or rather Suahelis, must have seen it, but never mentioned it as anything worth looking at; and it was only when all hope of ivory was gone that these two headmen found time to come.  There is a large population here.

13th January, 1868.—­Heavy rains.  Karembe mentioned a natural curiosity as likely to interest me:  a little rivulet, Chipamba, goes some distance underground, but is uninteresting.

Next day we crossed the Vuna, a strong torrent, which, has a hot fountain close by the ford, in which maize and cassava may be boiled.  A large one in Nsama’s country is used in the same way, maize and cassava being tied to a string and thrown in to be cooked:  some natives believe that earthquakes are connected with its violent ebullitions.  We crossed the Katette, another strong torrent, before reaching the north end of Moero, where we slept in some travellers’ huts.

Leaving the Lake, and going north, we soon got on to a plain flooded by the Luao.  We had to wade through very adhesive black mud, generally ankle deep, and having many holes in it much deeper:  we had four hours of this, and then came to the ford of the Luao itself.  We waded up a branch of it waist deep for at least a quarter of a mile, then crossed a narrow part by means of a rude bridge of branches and trees, of about forty yards width.  The Luao, in spreading over the plains, confers benefits on the inhabitants, though I could not help concluding it imparts disease too, for the black mud in places smells horribly.  Great numbers of Siluridae, chiefly Clarias Capensis, often three feet in length, spread over the flooded portions of the country, eating the young of other fishes, and insects, lizards, and worms, killed by the waters.  The people make weirs for them, and as the waters retire kill large numbers, which they use as a relish to their farinaceous food.