NATIVE HUT, KARAGWÉ.
"On the 25th of February we entered the Arab depot of Kafurro, in Karagwé. The place owes its importance to being a settlement of two or three rich Arab traders, Hamed Ibrahim, Sayid bin Sayf, and Sayid the Muscati. It is situated within a deep hollow or valley fully twelve hundred feet below the tops of the surrounding mountains, and at the spring source of a stream flowing east and afterwards north to the Alexandra Nile.
"Hamed Ibrahim is rich in cattle, slaves, and ivory. Assuming his own figures to be correct, he possesses one hundred and fifty cattle, bullocks, and milch cows, forty goats, one hundred slaves, and four hundred and fifty tusks of ivory, the greater part of which last is reported to be safely housed in the safe-keeping of his friend the chief of Urangwa in Unyamwezi.
"Hamed has a spacious and comfortable gable-roofed house. He is a fine, gentlemanly-looking Arab, of a light complexion, generous and hospitable to friends, liberal to his slaves, and kind to everybody. He has lived eighteen years in Africa, twelve of which have been spent in Karagwé. He knew Suna, the warlike Emperor of Uganda, and father of Mtesa. He has travelled to Uganda frequently, and several times made the journey between Unyanyembé and Kafurro. Having lived so long in Karagwé, he is friendly with Rumanika, who, like Mtesa, loves to attract strangers to his court.
"Hamed has endeavored several times to open trade with the powerful Empress of Ruanda, but has each time failed. Though some of his slaves succeeded in reaching the imperial court, only one or two managed to effect their escape from the treachery and extraordinary guile practised there. Nearly all perished by poison.
CENTRAL AFRICAN ANTELOPE, KARAGWÉ.
"'All these people,' said he, 'about here are as different from the ordinary Washensi—pagans—as I am different from them. When you go to see Rumanika, you will see some Wanya-Ruanda, and you may then judge for yourself. The people of that country are not cowards. They have taken Kishakka, Muvari, and have lately conquered Mpororo. The Waganda measured their strength with them, and were obliged to retreat. The Wanya-Ruanda are a great people, but they are covetous, malignant, treacherous, and utterly untrustworthy. They have never yet allowed an Arab to trade in their country, which proves them to be a bad lot. There is plenty of ivory there, and during the last eight years Khamis bin Abdullah, Tippu-Tib, Sayid bin Habib, and I myself have attempted frequently to enter there, but none of us has ever succeeded. Even Rumanika's people are not allowed to penetrate far, though he permits everybody to come into his country, and he is a man of their own blood and their own race, and speaks with little difference their own language.'
"Hamed Ibrahim was not opening out very brilliant prospects before me, nevertheless I resolved to search out in person some known road to this strange country that I might make a direct course to Nyangwé.
"On the third day after arrival, the king having been informed of my intended visit, Hamed Ibrahim and Sayid bin Sayf accompanied me on an official visit to Rumanika, King of Karagwé, and a tributary of Mtesa, Emperor of Uganda.
"Kafurro, according to aneroid barometer, is 3950 feet above the ocean. Ascending the steep slope of the mountain west of Kafurro, we gained an altitude of 5150 feet, and half an hour afterwards stood upon a ridge 5350 feet above the sea, whence we obtained a most grand and imposing view. Some six hundred feet below us was a grassy terrace overlooking the small Windermere Lake, one thousand feet below, its placid surface rivalling in color the azure of the cloudless heaven. Across a narrow ridge we looked upon the broad and papyrus-covered valley of the Alexandra, while many fair blue lakelets north and south, connected by the winding silver line of the Alexandra Nile, suggested that here exploring work of a most interesting character was needed to understand the complete relations of lake, river, and valley to one another.
"Beyond the broad valley rose ridge after ridge, separated from each other by deep parallel basins or valleys, and behind these, receding into dim and vague outlines, towered loftier ridges. About sixty miles off, to the northwest, rose a colossal sugar-loaf clump of enormous altitude, which I was told was the Ufumbiro Mountains. From their northern base extended Mpororo country and South Ruanda.
VIEW OF UFUMBIRO MOUNTAINS FROM MOUNT NEAR MTAGATA HOT SPRINGS.
"On the grassy terrace below us was situated Rumanika's village, fenced round by a strong and circular stockade, to which we now descended after having enjoyed a noble and inspiriting prospect.
"Our procession was not long in attracting hundreds of persons, principally youths, all the latter being perfectly nude.
"'Who are these?' I inquired of Sheik Hamed.
"'Some of the youngest are sons of Rumanika, others are young Wanya-Ruanda,' he replied.
"The sons of Rumanika, nourished on a milk diet, were in remarkably good condition. Their unctuous skins shone as though the tissues of fat beneath were dissolving in the heat, and their rounded bodies were as taut as a drum-head. Their eyes were large, and beaming and lustrous with life, yet softened by an extreme gentleness of expression. The sculptor might have obtained from any of these royal boys a dark model for another statue to rival the classic Antinous.
"As we were followed by the youths, who welcomed us with a graceful courtesy, the appropriate couplet came to my mind—
"Thrice happy race! that, innocent of blood,
From milk innoxious seek their simple food.""We were soon ushered into the hut wherein Rumanika sat expectant, with one of the kindliest, most paternal smiles it would be possible to conceive.
"I confess to have been as affected by the first glance at this venerable and gentle pagan as though I gazed on the serene and placid face of some Christian patriarch or saint of old, whose memory the Church still holds in reverence. His face reminded me of a deep, still well; the tones of his voice were so calm that, unconsciously, they compelled me to imitate him, while the quick, nervous gestures and the bold voice of Sheik Hamed, seeming entirely out of place, jarred upon me.
"It was no wonder that the peremptory and imperious, vivid-eyed Mtesa respected and loved this sweet-tempered pagan. Though they had never met, Mtesa's pages had described him, and with their powers of mimicry had brought the soft, modulated tones of Rumanika to his ears as truly as they had borne his amicable messages to him.
"Nature, which had endowed Mtesa with a nervous and intense temperament, had given Rumanika the placid temper, the soft voice, the mild benignity, and pleasing character of a gentle father.
"The king appeared to me, clad as he was in red blanket-cloth, when seated, a man of middle size; but when he afterwards stood up he rose to the gigantic stature of six feet six inches, or thereabouts, for the top of my head, as we walked side by side, only reached near his shoulders. His face was long, and his nose somewhat Roman in shape; the profile showed a decidedly refined type.
"Our interview was very pleasing, and he took excessive interest in every question I addressed to him. When I spoke he imposed silence on his friends, and leaned forward with eager attention. If I wished to know anything about the geography of the country, he immediately sent for some particular person who was acquainted with that portion, and inquired searchingly of him as to his knowledge. He chuckled when he saw me use my note-book, as though he had some large personal interest in the number of notes I took. He appeared to be more and more delighted as their bulk increased, and triumphantly pointed out to the Arabs the immense superiority of the whites to them.
"He expressed himself as only too glad that I should explore his country. It was a land, he said, that white men ought to know. It possessed many lakes and rivers, and mountains and hot springs, and many other things which no other country could boast of.
"'Which do you think best, Stamlee—Karagwé or Uganda?'
"'Karagwé is grand; its mountains are high, and its valleys deep. The Kagera is a grand river, and the lakes are very pretty. There are more cattle in Karagwé than in Uganda, except Uddu and Koki; and game is abundant. But Uganda is beautiful and rich; its banana plantations are forests, and no man need to fear starvation, and Mtesa is good—and so is Father Rumanika,' I replied, smiling, to him.
"'Do you hear him, Arabs? Does he not speak well? Yes, Karagwé is beautiful,' he sighed, contentedly. 'But bring your boat up, and place it on the Rweru (lake), and you can go up the river as far as Kishakka, and down to Morongo (the falls), where the water is thrown against a big rock and leaps over it, and then goes down to the Nianja of Uganda. Verily, my river is a great one; it is the mother of the river at Jinja (Ripon Falls).'
"By the 6th of March Frank had launched the boat from the landing at Kazinga village, on the waters of the Windermere Lake,[6] or the Rweru of Rumanika, and the next day Rumanika accompanied me in state to the water. Half a dozen heavy anklets of bright copper adorned his legs, bangles of the same metal encircled his wrists, and a robe of crimson flannel was suspended from his shoulders. His walking-staff was seven feet in length, and his stride was a yard long. Drummers and fifers discoursing a wild music, and fifty spearmen, besides his sons and relatives, Wanya-Ruanda, Waganda, Wasui, Wanyamwezi, Arabs, and Wangwana, followed us in a mixed multitude.
"Four canoes, manned by Wamyambu, were at hand to race with our boat, while we took our seats on the grassy slopes of Kazinga to view the scene. I enjoined Frank and the gallant boat's crew to exert themselves for the honor of us Children of the Ocean, and not to permit the Children of the Lakes to excel us.
"A boat and canoe race on the Windermere of Karagwé, with twelve hundred gentle-mannered natives gazing on! An African international affair! Rumanika was in his element; every fibre of him tingled with joy at the prospective fun. His sons, seated around him, looked up into their father's face, their own reflecting his delight. The curious natives shared in the general gratification.
"The boat-race was soon over; it was only for about eight hundred yards, to Kankorogo Point. There was not much difference in the speed, but it gave immense satisfaction. The native canoe-men, standing up with their long paddles, strained themselves with all their energy, stimulated by the shouts of their countrymen, while the Wangwana on the shore urged the boat's crew to their utmost power.
"The next day we began the circumnavigation of the Windermere. The extreme length of the lake during the rainy season is about eight miles, and its extreme breadth two and a half. It lies north and south, surrounded by grass-covered mountains, which rise from twelve hundred to fifteen hundred feet above it. There is one island, called Kankorogo, situated midway between Mount Isossi and the extreme southern end. The soil of the shores is highly ferruginous in color, and, except in the vicinity of the villages, produces only euphorbia, thorny gum, acacia, and aloetic plants.
"On the 9th we pulled abreast of Kankorogo Island, and, through a channel from five hundred to eight hundred yards wide, directed our course to the Kagera, up which we had to contend against a current of two knots and a half an hour.
"The breadth of the river varied from fifty to one hundred yards. The average depth of all the ten soundings we made on this day was fifty-two feet along the middle; close to the papyrus walls, which grew like a forest above us, was a depth of nine feet. Sometimes we caught a view of hippopotamus creeks running up for hundreds of yards on either side through the papyrus. At Kagayyo, on the left bank, we landed for a short time to take a view of the scene around, as, while in the river, we could see nothing except the papyrus, the tops of the mountain ridges of Karagwé, and the sky.
"We then learned for the first time the true character of what we had imagined to be a valley when we gazed upon it from the summit of the mountain between Kafurro and Rumanika's capital.
"The Ingezi, as the natives called it, embraces the whole space from the base of the Mountains of Muvari to that of the Karagwé ridges with the river called Kagera, the Funzo or the papyrus, and the Rwerus or lakes, of which there are seventeen, inclusive of Windermere. Its extreme width between the bases of the opposing mountains is nine miles; the narrowest part is about a mile, while the entire acreage covered by it from Morongo or the falls in Iwanda, north, to Uhimba, south, is about three hundred and fifty square miles. The Funzo or papyrus covers a depth of from nine feet to fourteen feet of water. Each of the several lakes has a depth of from twenty to sixty-five feet, and they are all connected, as also is the river, underneath the papyrus.
"When about three miles north of Kizinga, at 5 p.m., we drew our boat close to the papyrus, and prepared for our night's rest, and the Wanyambu did the same.
"The boat's crew crushed down some of the serest papyrus, and, cutting off the broom-like tops, spread their mats upon the heap thus made, flattering themselves that they were going to have a cosey night of it. Their fires they kindled between three stalks, which sustained their cooking-pots. It was not a very successful method, as the stalks had to be replaced frequently; but, finally, their bananas were done to a turn. At night, however, mosquitoes of a most voracious species attacked them in dense multitudes, and nothing but the constant flip-flap of the papyrus tops, mingled with complaints that they were unable to sleep, were heard for an hour or two. They then began to feel damp, and finally wet, for their beds were sinking into the depths below the papyrus, and they were compelled at last to come into the boat, where they passed a most miserable night, for the mosquitoes swarmed and attacked them until morning with all the pertinacity characteristic of these hungry blood-suckers.
"The next day we ascended the Kagera about ten miles, and, returning fourteen miles, entered Ihema Lake, a body of water about fifty square miles, and camped on Ihema Island, about a mile from Muvari.
"The natives of Ihema Island stated to me that Lake Muta Nzege was only eleven days' journey from the Muvari shores, and that the Wanya-Ruanda frequently visited them to obtain fish in exchange for milk and vegetables. They were a genial people, those islanders of Ihema, but they were subject to two painful diseases, leprosy and elephantiasis. The water of the Lake Ihema was good and sweet to the taste, though, like all the waters of the Alexandra Nile, distinguished for its dull, brown, iron color.
"We began from the extreme south end of the lake the next day to coast along the Muvari or Ruanda coast, and near a small village attempted to land, but the natives snarled like so many spiteful dogs, and drew their bows, which compelled us—being guests of Rumanika—to sheer off, and leave them in their ferocious exclusiveness.
"On the 11th we rowed into the Kagera, and descended the river as far as Ugoi, and on the evening of the 12th returned once more to our camp on Windermere."
VIEW NEAR KAFURRO. 
RUMANIKA'S TREASURE-HOUSE. 
A SPEARMAN OF KARAGWÉ. 
MOUNTAIN SCENE IN KARAGWÉ. 
BOAT ON LAKE WINDERMERE. 
KAGERA SKIFF. 
NATIVE WOMAN OF FASHION. 
IHEMA HUT. 
A NATIVE OF UHHA. 
BOAT ON LAKE IHEMA.
Here Fred regarded his watch, and said he would adjourn the reading until next day, when his place would be taken by Frank. The usual vote of thanks was passed unanimously, and then the little band of geographical students separated for the night.