on the south-east
as I do, and on the west, but say they don't know any on the middle of
the watershed. They plead their youth as an excuse for knowing so
little.

Matipa's men proposed to take half our men, but I refused to divide our
force; they say that Matipa is truthful.

_28th February, 1873._--No night rain after 8 P.M., for a wonder. Baker
had 1500 men in health on 15th June, 1870, at lat. 9 deg. 26' N., and 160 on
sick list; many dead. Liberated 305 slaves. His fleet was thirty-two
vessels; wife and he well. I wish that I met him. Matipa's men not
having come, it is said they are employed bringing the carcase of an
elephant to him. I propose to go near to him to-morrow, some in canoes
and some on foot. The good Lord help me. New moon this evening.

_1st March, 1873._--Embarked women and goods in canoes, and went three
hours S.E. to Bangweolo. Stopped on an island where people were drying
fish over fires. Heavy rain wetted us all as we came near the islet, the
drops were as large as half-crowns by the marks they made. We went over
flooded prairie four feet deep, and covered with rushes, and two
varieties of lotus or sacred lily; both are eaten, and so are papyrus.
The buffaloes are at a loss in the water. Three canoes are behind. The
men are great cowards. I took possession of all the paddles and punting
poles, as the men showed an inclination to move off from our islet. The
water in the country is prodigiously large: plains extending further
than the eye can reach have four or five feet of clear water, and the
Lake and adjacent lands for twenty or thirty miles are level. We are on
a miserable dirty fishy island called Motovinza; all are damp. We are
surrounded by scores of miles of rushes, an open sward, and many lotus
plants, but no mosquitoes.

_2nd March, 1873._--It took us 7-1/2 hours' punting to bring us to an
island, and then the miserable weather rained constantly on our landing
into the Boma (stockade), which is well peopled. The prairie is ten
hours long, or about thirty miles by punting. Matipa is on an island
too, with four bomas on it. A river, the Molonga, runs past it, and is a
protection.[28]

The men wear a curious head-dress of skin or hair, and large upright
ears.

_3rd March, 1873._--Matipa paid off the men who brought us here. He says
that five Sangos or coils (which brought us here) will do to take us to
Kabende, and I sincerely hope that they will. His canoes are off,
bringing the