Luao or Moero, till people came to me from Ujiji to supplant the runaways.  I did not blame them very severely in my own mind for absconding:  they were tired of tramping, and so verily am I, but Mohamad, in encouraging them to escape to him, and talking with a double tongue, cannot be exonerated from blame.  Little else can be expected from him, he has lived some thirty-five years in the country, twenty-five being at Casembe’s, and there he had often to live by his wits.  Consciousness of my own defects makes me lenient.

16th April, 1868.—­Ndowa gives Mita or Mpamankanana as the names of the excavations in Muabo’s hills, he says that they are sufficient to conceal all the people of this district in case of war:  I conjecture that this implies room for ten thousand people:  provisions are stored in them, and a perennial rivulet runs along a whole street of them.  On one occasion, when the main entrance was besieged by an enemy, someone who knew all the intricacies of the excavations led a party out by a secret passage, and they, coming over the invaders, drove them off with heavy loss.  Their formation is universally ascribed to the Deity.  This may mean that the present inhabitants have succeeded the original burrowing race, which dug out many caves adjacent to Mount Hor—­the Jebel Nebi Harin, Mount of the Prophet Aaron, of the Arabs—­and many others; and even the Bushman caves, a thousand miles south of this region.

A very minute, sharp-biting mosquito is found here:  the women try to drive them out of their huts by whisking bundles of green leaves all round the walls before turning into them.

17th August, 1868.—­Crossed the Luao by a bridge, thirty yards long, and more than half a mile of flood on each side; passed many villages, standing on little heights, which overlook plains filled with water.  Some three miles of grassy plains abreast of Moero were the deepest parts, except the banks of Luao.  We had four hours of wading, the bottom being generally black tenacious mud.  Ruts had been formed in the paths by the feet of passengers:  these were filled with soft mud, and, as they could not be seen, the foot was often placed on the edge, and when the weight came on it, down it slumped into the mud, half-way up the calves; it was difficult to draw it out, and very fatiguing.  To avoid these ruts we encroached on the grass at the sides of the paths, but often stepping on the unseen edge of a rut, we floundered in with both feet to keep the balance, and this was usually followed by a rush of bubbles to the surface, which, bursting, discharged foul air of frightful faecal odour.  In parts, the black mud and foul water were cold, in others hot, according as circulation went on or not.  When we came near Moero, the water became half-chest and whole-chest deep; all perishable articles had to be put on the head.  We found a party of fishermen on the sands, and I got a hut, a bath in the clear but tepid waters, and a delicious change of dress.  Water of Lake, 83 deg. at 3 P.M.