influence in inducing Casembe to accede to his request, for he repeated again and again in my hearing that he must pay respect to my letter, and see me safe at least as far as Ujiji.  Mohamad says that he will not return to Casembe again, but will begin to trade with some other chief:  it is rather hard for a man at his age to begin de novo.  He is respected among the Arabs, who pronounce him to be a good man.  He says that he has been twenty-two years in Africa, and never saw an outburst like that of yesterday among the Wanyamwesi:  it is, however, common for the people at Ujiji to drink palm toddy, and then have a general row in the bazaar, but no bad feeling exists next day.

If a child cuts the upper front teeth before the lower, it is killed, as unlucky:  this is a widely-spread superstition.  When I was amongst the Makololo in 1859 one of Sekeletu’s wives would not allow her servant’s child to be killed for this, but few would have the courage to act in opposition to public feeling as she did.  In Casembe’s country if a child is seen to turn from one side to the other in sleep it is killed.  They say of any child who has what they consider these defects “he is an Arab child,” because the Arabs have none of this class of superstitions, and should any Arab be near they give the child to him:  it would bring ill-luck, misfortunes, “milando,” or guilt, to the family.  These superstitions may account for the readiness with which one tribe parted with their children to Speke’s followers.  Mohamad says that these children must have been taken in war, as none sell their own offspring.

If Casembe dreams of any man twice or three times he puts the man to death, as one who is practising secret arts against his life:  if any one is pounding or cooking food for him he must preserve the strictest silence; these and other things show extreme superstition and degradation.

During, his enforced detention Mohamad’s friends advised him to leave Casembe by force, offering to aid him with their men, but he always refused.  His father was the first to open this country to trade with the Arabs, and all his expenses while so doing were borne by himself; but Mohamad seems to be a man of peace, and unwilling to break the appearance of friendship with the chiefs.  He thinks that this Casembe poisoned his predecessor:  he certainly killed his wife’s mother, a queen, that she might be no obstacle to him in securing her daughter.

We are waiting in company with a number of Wanyamwesi for the cessation of the rains, which have flooded the country between this and Tanganyika.  If there were much slope this water would flow off:  this makes me suspect that Tanganyika is not so low as Speke’s measurement.  The Arabs are positive that water flows from that Lake to the Victoria Nyanza, and assert that Dagara, the father of Rumanyika, was anxious to send canoes from his place to Ujiji, or, as some say, to dig a canal to Ujiji.  The Wanyamwesi