28th May, 1872.—­Many parts of this interior land present most inviting prospects for well-sustained efforts of private benevolence.  Karague, for instance, with its intelligent friendly chief Rumainyika (Speke’s Rumanika), and Bouganda, with its teeming population, rain, and friendly chief, who could easily be swayed by an energetic prudent missionary.  The evangelist must not depend on foreign support other than an occasional supply of beads and calico; coffee is indigenous, and so is sugar-cane.  When detained by ulcerated feet in Manyuema I made sugar by pounding the cane in the common wooden mortar of the country, squeezing out the juice very hard and boiling it till thick; the defect it had was a latent acidity, for which I had no lime, and it soon all fermented.  I saw sugar afterwards at Ujiji made in the same way, and that kept for months.  Wheat and rice are cultivated by the Arabs in all this upland region; the only thing a missionary needs in order to secure an abundant supply is to follow the Arab advice as to the proper season for sowing.  Pomegranates, guavas, lemons and oranges are abundant in Unyanyembe; mangoes flourish, and grape vines are beginning to be cultivated; papaws grow everywhere.  Onions, radishes, pumpkins and watermelons prosper, and so would most European vegetables, if the proper seasons were selected for planting, and the most important point attended to in bringing the seeds.  These must never be soldered in tins or put in close boxes; a process of sweating takes place when they are confined, as in a box or hold of the ship, and the power of vegetating is destroyed, but garden seeds put up in common brown paper, and hung in the cabin on the voyage, and not exposed to the direct rays of the sun afterwards, I have found to be as good as in England.

It would be a sort of Robinson Crusoe life, but with abundant materials for surrounding oneself with comforts, and improving the improvable among the natives.  Clothing would require but small expense:  four suits of strong tweed served me comfortably for five years.  Woollen clothing is the best; if all wool, it wears long and prevents chills.  The temperature here in the beginning of winter ranges from 62 deg. to 75 deg.  Fahr.  In summer it seldom goes above 84 deg., as the country generally is from 3600 to 4000 feet high.  Gently undulating plains with outcropping tree-covered granite hills on the ridges and springs in valleys will serve as a description of the country.

29th May, 1872.—­Halima ran away in a quarrel with Ntaoeka:  I went over to Sultan bin Ali and sent a note after her, but she came back of her own accord, and only wanted me to come outside and tell her to enter.  I did so, and added, “You must not quarrel again.”  She has been extremely good ever since I got her from Katombo or Moene-mokaia:  I never had to reprove her once.  She is always very attentive and clever, and never stole, nor would she allow her husband to steal.  She is the best spoke in the wheel; this her only escapade is easily forgiven, and I gave her a warm cloth for the cold, by way of assuring her that I had no grudge against her.  I shall free her, and buy her a house and garden at Zanzibar, when we get there.[20] Smokes or haze begins, and birds, stimulated by the cold, build briskly.