At night I spoke to Hatibu of all that lay before us. He said of one thing I might be sure—that as far as Unyanyembe we should travel fast, for the carriers were paid by the job irrespective of time, and were homeward bound. Sure enough I found they did not intend to loiter, for long before sunrise the horn of the kirangosi roused the sleeping camp, and as soon as the first glimmer of dawn enabled us to see how to avoid the difficulties of the road, loads were shouldered, and
VILLAGE IN UKARANGA.
Page 334.
we commenced our march. We pressed on without a stoppage save for one day in order to buy salt, which would prove valuable on the road. For this we exchanged all the fish we had brought from Kawele, and the exchange certainly rendered the odour of our camp more pleasant than it had hitherto been.
It was curious to see how the people made the salt by simply boiling the soil in earthen pots, and then straining the water off the mud through rough sieves made of leaves and grass, and evaporating the brine. Usually the first filtration was not sufficient, and the process had often to be repeated four or five times before a coarse brown salt which looked like dirty sand was obtained. I was much astonished to find that though the whole country was impregnated with salt, the streams and rivers did not taste of it, but were perfectly fresh and sweet.
Six days after leaving Ujiji we arrived at the Malagarazi, whose red-brown waters we had seen discolouring the Tanganyika on our way northward to Kawele. Here we had to bargain with the lord of the ferry and his numerous subordinates for our passage across its swift and swirling waters. It was quite unfordable, and, as no trees grew on its banks, we had no means of bridging it, and had to cross in canoes.