ON THE ROAD TO THE LAKE.
It was about ten miles from Rubaga to Usavara. The king had caused a fine road to be made from his palace to the lake. This road is ten or twelve feet wide, and suitable for carriages, though no wheeled vehicle had ever traversed it up to that time. Our friends made the journey on horseback, and were delighted with their ride. They realized the correctness of Stanley's description, who said it carried him through jungle and garden, forest and field. There were groves of bananas, plantains, and other products of Ugunda agriculture. There were forests of tamarind, mimosa, gum, and other trees; and there were plantations of the ficus, from whose bark the cloth for the national dress of the people is made. The villages of dome-like huts formed an almost continuous line, or would have done so if the dense foliage had not concealed the most of them from sight.
Up the slopes and then down again the road took its meandering way, and from each of the hill-tops a nearer view of the lake was obtained. The sky was clear, and the heat at times severe, but it was relieved in some measure by the foliage of the trees and by the breeze that blew from the lake.
They were accompanied by a high officer of M'tesa's court, who was instructed to show everything they wished to see. As they desired to inspect some of the royal canoes, the officer sent an order to the place where they were kept, and in a little while half a dozen boats came dashing through the water.
UGUNDA BOAT.
The boats were of a construction different from anything the youths had ever seen. They were built with high, projecting prows, rising up like the neck of a swan, and ornamented with a tuft of feathers and the horns of an antelope. Some of the boats were hollowed from the trunks of trees, while others were made of strips of planks fastened to frames. In either case the sides were braced by means of cross-pieces, and the largest of the boats had planks and canes laid upon the braces, so as to form a deck. Frank compared the Ugunda boat to the Japanese sampan; but Fred pointed out the difference in the height of the prows, and also the fact that the sampan had a sort of cabin at the stern, which was not so in the Ugunda craft.
The men paddled instead of rowing, and Abdul said the use of oars as we employ them in America was almost unknown in Central Africa. The paddles were neatly cut from thin planks, and each paddle had a straight handle, terminating in a spoon-shaped point, hollowed a little, to give it a better hold on the water.