ter whenever they succeed
in coming near each other, and delighting in drenching the travellers
with the spray. Their great pleasure appears in torturing others, with
impunity to themselves. They, however, wear mantles of goat-skins in
dry weather, but, as soon as rain comes on, they wrap them up, and place
them in their loads, standing meantime trembling like dogs which have
just emerged from the water.

"In no part of Africa have they seen such splendid vegetation as covers
this basin from the mountain-tops to the shores."

On returning to Ujiji, Speke wished to make a further survey of the
lake, but was overruled by Captain Burton, who considered that their
means were running short; indeed, had not an Arab merchant arrived,
bringing supplies, they would have been placed in an awkward position.
This timely supply was one of the many pieces of good fortune which
befell them on their journey. Help had always reached them when they
most required it.

Captain Burton, being too ill to walk, was carried in a hammock, and,
setting out, they returned safely to Caze.

They were here again received by their friend, Sheikh Snay, who gave
Speke an account of his journey to the Nyanza Lake. His statements were
corroborated by a Hindoo merchant called Musa, who gave him also a
description of the country northward of the line, and of the rivers
which flowed out of the lake.

Eager to explore the country, Speke arranged to set off, leaving Captain
Burton at Caze. Sheikh Snay, however, refused to accompany him, and he
had in consequence some difficulty in arranging with the Belooch guard.

On the 9th of July, 1858, he was able to start his caravan, consisting
of twenty porters, ten Beloochs, and his servants. The Beloochs were,
from the first, sulky and difficult to manage, while the _pagazis_, or
porters, played all sorts of tricks, sometimes leaving their loads and
running off to amuse themselves, and in the evening they would dance and
sing songs composed for the occasion, introducing everybody's name, and
especially Mzimza, the wise or white man, ending with the prevailing
word, among these curly-headed bipeds, of "_Grub! grub! grub_!"

The Weezee villages are built in the form of a large hollow square, the
outer wall of which serves for the backs of the huts; another wall forms
the front, and the intermediate space is partitioned off by interior
earthen walls. The roofs are flat, and on them are kept firewood,
grai