Finding a snug nook of a bay at a place called Sigunga, we put in for lunch.  An island at the mouth of the bay suggested to our minds that this was a beautiful spot for a mission station; the grandly sloping hills in the background, with an undulating shelf of land well-wooded between them and the bay, added to the attractions of such a spot.  The island, capable of containing quite a large village, and perfectly defensible, might, for prudence’ sake, contain the mission and its congregation; the landlocked bay would protect their fishery and trade vessels; more than sustain a hundred times the number of the population of the island.  Wood for building their canoes and houses is close at hand; the neighbouring country would afford game in abundance; and the docile and civil people of Ukaranga but wait religious shepherds.

From beautiful Sigunga, after a brief halt, we set off, and, after three hours, arrived at the mouth of the River Uwelasia.  Hippopotami and crocodiles being numerous; we amused ourselves by shooting at them, having also a hope of attracting the attention of our shore party, the sound of whose guns we had not heard since leaving the Rugufu.

On the 3rd of January we left Uwelasia, and, passing by Cape Herembe, were in the bay of Tongwe.  This bay is about twenty-five miles broad, and stretches from Cape Herembe to Cape Tongwe.  Finding themselves so near their destination, Urimba being but six miles from Herembe Point, the men of both boats bent themselves to their oars, and, with shouts, songs, and laughter, encouraged each other to do their utmost.  The flags of the two great Anglo-Saxon nations rippled and played in the soft breeze, sometimes drawing near caressingly together, again bending away, like two lovers coy to unite.  The tight little boat of the Doctor would keep ahead, and the crimson and crossed flag of England would wave before me, and it seemed to say to the beautiful laggard astern, “Come on, come on; England leads the way.”  But was it not England’s place to be in the front here?  She won the right to it by discovering the Tanganika; America came but second.

Urimba, though a large district of Kawendi, has a village of the same name peopled by refugees from Yombeh, who found the delta of the Loajeri, though the unhealthiest of spots—­equal to that of the Rusizi—­far preferable to the neighbourhood of Sultan Pumburu, of Southern Kawendi.  A good chase by the victors seems to have given a shock to their systems, for they are very timid and distrustful of strangers, and would by no means permit us to enter their village, of which, to say the truth, I was very glad, after a glance at the reeking corruption on which they were encamped.  In the immediate neighbourhood—­nay, for a couple of miles on either side—­I should suppose that to a white man it were death to sleep a single night.  Leading the way south of the village, I found a fit camping-place at the extreme south-east corner of Tongwe Bay, about a mile and a half due west of the lofty peak of Kivanga, or Kakungu.  By an observation taken by the Doctor, we found ourselves to be in latitude 5 degrees 54 minutes south.