To the west the Rusisi makes a long curve towards the enclosing mountain range, and in places spreads out into swampy lagoons apparently of some extent. Our carriers had been giving much trouble, lagging behind and not arriving till two or three hours after our arrival, hoping thereby to escape fatigue duties. It was most desirable to have the caravan as compact as possible on the march, in view of possible troubles with the natives. We allowed them, therefore, half an hour’s margin, and every one who arrived after that, without having obtained permission in the morning for sickness or some valid reason, was made to stand with his load on his head in the middle of camp as long as was deemed sufficient for his particular case. We found this much more effectual as a punishment than fines (a system to be deprecated, except in Government stations). The native enjoys his afternoon nap, he likes to stroll into the neighbouring villages, show his best clothes off before the local beauties, and pass the time of day with the village cronies. It jars on him to have to stand doing nothing while he sees his friends chatting and discussing their bananas and the topics of the day. One such punishment usually sufficed for at least a month, and a native must be very much impressed to remember anything for as long as that. Fifteen miles from Kijaga there is a bunch of large villages. The chief is called Balamata. They are situated on the advance spur of a line of conical peaks which divide the main valley into two sections: the western branch, which trends north-west by north, is the valley of the Rusisi; while the eastern branch, which trends north-east by north, comes from Kirimbi and Imbo. Close to Balamata a small stream flows from the central peaks towards the eastern valley, and as we did not pass any stream of consequence, I imagine that this small stream and the whole of the drainage of the valley loses itself in the swamp which I could plainly see a few miles to the east. Passing round the western side of Balamata’s peaks, we found the country similar to the first stage of the valley, flat and dotted with euphorbia, the mean altitude being slightly higher than the lake level. We passed over two extraordinary ravines dug out of the flat country. One was evidently a dry stream-bed, but the other appeared to have no outlet, and I could find no satisfactory clue to its origin. The Rusisi here flows under the eastern wall; it is a large body of water flowing through wide expanses of papyrus, and is probably navigable for small steamers to a point forty miles north of the lake. The population is very scanty. The scattered villages and their cattle-pens are enclosed by artificial hedges of euphorbia. A large stream, the Kagunozi, flows down from the east a few miles north of Balamata’s, and three miles further north is the village of Buvinka, a chief of some importance.