16th January, 1868.—­After sleeping near the Luao we went on towards the village, in which Mohamad’s son lives.  It is on the Kakoma Eiver, and is called Kabwabwata, the village of Mubao.  In many of the villages the people shut their stockades as soon as we appear, and stand bows and arrows in hand till we have passed:  the reason seems to be that the slaves when out of sight of their masters carry things with a high hand, demanding food and other things as if they had power and authority.  One slave stole two tobacco pipes yesterday in passing through a village; the villagers complained to me when I came up, and I waited till Mohamad came and told him; we then went forward, the men keeping close to me till we got the slave and the pipes.  They stole cassava as we went along, but this could scarcely be prevented.  They laid hold of a plant an inch-and-a-half thick, and tore it out of the soft soil with its five or six roots as large as our largest carrots, stowed the roots away in their loads, and went on eating them; but the stalk thrown among those still growing shows the theft.  The raw roots are agreeable and nutritious.  No great harm is done by this, for the gardens are so large, but it inspires distrust in the inhabitants, and makes it dangerous for Arabs to travel not fully manned and armed.

On reaching the village Kabwabwata a great demonstration was made by Mohamad’s Arab dependants and Wanyamwesi:  the women had their faces all smeared with pipeclay, and lullilooed with all their might.  When we came among the huts, they cast handfuls of soil on their heads, while the men fired off their guns as fast as they could load them.  Those connected with Mohamad ran and kissed his hands, and fired, till the sound of shouting, lullilooing, clapping of hands, and shooting was deafening:  Mohamad was quite overcome by this demonstration, and it was long before he could still them.

On the way to this village from the south we observed an extensive breadth of land, under ground-nuts which are made into oil:  a large jar of this is sold for a hoe.  The ground-nuts were now in flower, and green maize ready to be eaten.  People all busy planting, transplanting, or weeding; they plant cassava on mounds prepared for it, on which they have sown beans, sorghum, maize, pumpkins:  these ripen, and leave the cassava a free soil.  The sorghum or dura is sown thickly, and when about a foot high—­if the owner has been able to prepare the soil elsewhere—­it is transplanted, a portion of the leaves being cut off to prevent too great evaporation and the death of the plant.

17th January, 1868.—­The Wanyamwesi and people of Garaganza say that we have thirteen days’ march from this to the Tanganyika Lake.  It is often muddy, and many rivulets are to be crossed.

Mohamad is naturally anxious to stay a little while with his son, for it is a wet season, and the mud is disagreeable to travel over:  it is said to be worse near Ujiji:  he cooks small delicacies for me with the little he has, and tries to make me comfortable.  Vinegar is made from bananas, and oil from ground-nuts.  I am anxious to be off, but chiefly to get news.