The chief showed them every kindness during their five days’ rest, and was most anxious that no mishap should by any chance occur to their principal charge.  He warned them to beware of hyaenas, at night more especially, as the quarter in which they had camped had no stockade round it as yet.

Marching was now much easier, and the men quickly found they had crossed the watershed.  The Lovu ran in front of them on its way to Tanganyika.  The Kalongwese, we have seen, flows to Lake Moero in the opposite direction.  More to their purpose it was perhaps to find the terror of Kumbakumba dying away as they travelled in a north-easterly direction, and came amongst the Mwambi.  As yet no invasion had taken place.  A young chief, Chungu, did all he could for them, for when the Doctor explored these regions before, Chungu had been much impressed with him:  and now, throwing off all the native superstition, he looked on the arrival of the dead body as a cause of real sorrow.

Asoumani had some luck in hunting, and a fine buffalo was killed near the town.  According to native game laws (which in some respects are exceedingly strict in Africa), Chungu had a right to a fore leg—­had it been an elephant the tusk next the ground would have been his, past all doubt—­in this instance, however, the men sent in a plea that theirs was no ordinary case, and that hunger had laws of its own; they begged to be allowed to keep the whole carcase, and Chungu not only listened to their story, but willingly waived his claim to the chief’s share.

It is to be hoped that these sons of Tafuna, the head and father of the Amambwi a lungu, may hold their own.  They seem a superior race, and this man is described as a worthy leader.  His brothers Kasonso, Chitimbwa, Sombe, and their sister Mombo, are all notorious for their reverence for Tafuna.  In their villages an abundance of coloured homespun cloth speaks for their industry; whilst from the numbers of dogs and elephant-spears no further testimony is needed to show that the character they bear as great hunters is well deserved.

The steep descent to the Lake now lay before them, and they came to Kasakalawe’s.  Here it was that the Doctor had passed weary months of illness on his first approach to Tanganyika in previous years.  The village contained but few of its old inhabitants, but those few received them hospitably enough and mourned the loss of him who had been so well appreciated when alive.  So they journeyed on day by day till the southern end of the Lake was rounded.

The previous experience of the difficult route along the heights bordering on Tanganyika made them determine to give the Lake a wide berth this time, and for this purpose they held well to the eastward, passing a number of small deserted villages, in one of which they camped nearly every night.  It was necessary to go through the Fipa country, but they learnt from one man and another that the chief, Kafoofi, was very