AMONG THE HIPPOPOTAME I05 
Majita we sailed, on a north-east course for the district of 
bar» ^ bay distinguished only for the short hill range of Usam- 
p"»- 
e mainland, and the coast is so indented with deep bays and inlets that it 
requires very careful attention to survey it. Its features are similar to those 
Usukuma^ namely swelling and uneven lines of hills, sometimes with 
Ík T three or four miles, more often, as in the case of nearly all 
e eadlands, with points springing abrupt and sheer from the water’s edge 
Wherever the ridges rise gradually and at a distance from the lake, sS 
advantages for cultivation appear to obtain, for I have noted tliat all such 
sites were thickly populated by tl?e tribes of Ururi. Ukerewé, Sima, Magu, or 
Uchainbi. A few of the Burdett-Coutts Islands exhibited traces of Sving 
^en the resort of fugitives for on several of them we discovered bananas and 
other garden plants, and ruined huts. We struck across the bay to Ikungu 
and thence across another to picturesque Dobo, nearly opposite Irieni 
Having arrived at anchorage at dusk, we were led to seek shelter under the 
1 r ! r ^ We had moored both by bow and 
ern to prevent Wing swept by the restless surf against the rocks, but about 
Klni^ht a storm arose from the eastward, exposing us to all its fury We 
were swept with great force against the rocks, and should inevitably have been 
08 , had not the oars, which we had lashed outside the boat as fenders, pro- 
cted It. through the pelting rain, and amid the thunders of the aroused 
aves which lashed the reef, we laboured strenuously to save ourselves and 
nnally succeeded in rowing to the other lee. ' 
Externally, the aspect of these islands on the coast of Ururi is very rugged 
are, and unpromising, but within are many acres of cultivable soil covered 
With green grass and the hippopotami, which abound in the neighbourhood 
of toese deserted, gr^y islands, here find luxurious pasturage. Like the 
ibes on the mainland, these amphibiæ appear to possess also their respective 
Wun<laries and their separate haunts. The hippopotami of Lake Victoria 
moreover, are an excessively belligerent species, and the unwary voyager, on 
jachyderms, a collision would have been fatal to us. The settlements at 
Irlern ^sess large herds of cattle, but the soil does not seem to be highly 
cultivated. In this respect the people appear to resemble in character the 
Watusi m Unyamwezi, who live only on the milk of their cattle, and such 
gram as they arc enabled to obtain bv its sale.