23rd May, 1868.—­The Arabs made a sort of sacrifice of a goat which was cooked all at once; they sent a good dish of it to me.  They read the Koran very industriously, and prayed for success or luck in leaving, and seem sincerely religious, according to the light that is in them.  The use of incense and sacrifices brings back the old Jewish times to mind.

A number of people went off to the Kanengwa, a rivulet an hour south of this, to build huts; there they are to take leave of Casembe, for the main body goes off to-morrow, after we have seen the new moon.  They are very particular in selecting lucky days, and anything unpleasant that may have happened in one month is supposed to be avoided by choosing a different day for beginning an enterprise in the next.  Mohamad left Uvira on the third day of a new moon, and several fires happened in his camp; he now considers a third day inauspicious.

Casembe’s dura or sorghum is ripe to-day:  he has eaten mapemba or dura, and all may thereafter do the same:  this is just about the time when it ripens and is reaped at Kolobeng, thus the difference in the seasons is not great.

24th May, 1868.—­Detained four days yet.  Casembe’s chief men refuse to escort Mohamad Bogharib; they know him to be in debt, and fear that he may be angry, but no dunning was intended.  Casembe was making every effort to get ivory to liquidate it, and at last got a couple of tusks, which he joyfully gave to Mohamad:  he has risen much in the estimation of us all.

26th May, 1868.—­Casembe’s people killed five buffaloes by chasing them into the mud and water of Mofwe, so he is seeing to the division of the meat, and will take leave to-morrow.

28th May, 1868.—­We went to Casembe; he was as gracious as usual.  A case of crim. con. was brought forward against an Arab’s slave, and an attempt was made to arrange the matter privately by offering three cloths, beads, and another slave, but the complainant refused everything.  Casembe dismissed the case by saying to the complainant, “You send your women to entrap the strangers in order to get a fine, but you will get nothing:”  this was highly applauded by the Arabs, and the owner of the slave heaped dust on his head, as many had done before for favours received.  Casembe, still anxious to get ivory for Mohamad, proposed another delay of four days to send for it; but all are tired, and it is evident that it is not want of will that prevents ivory being produced.

His men returned without any, and he frankly confessed inability:  he is evidently very poor.

30th May, 1868.—­We went to the Kanengwa rivulet at the south end of Mofwe, which forms a little lagoon there fifty yards broad and thigh deep; but this is not the important feeder of the Lagoon, which is from two to three miles broad, and nearly four long:  that has many large flat sedgy islands in it, and its water is supplied by the Mbereze from south-east.