Unyamwezi, “the Land of the Moon,” is a remarkable part of eastern Africa. Practically it consists of nearly all the land lying between the Victoria Nyanza on the north and the vicinity of Lake Rukwa on the south. It is longer (from north to south) than it is broad. Prior to the German occupation it had ceased to be a single kingdom, and was divided into a number of small and mutually hostile states only united by the common bond of the Kinyamwezi language. This varies a good deal in dialect, though it has distinctive features of its own. In Usukuma to the north it offers more resemblance to the languages of the Uganda Protectorate; on the south it links on in some way with the languages of the Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau. How the country became associated with the moon is not known; for the most part of it is an undulating plateau, with occasional rift valleys that contain salt or fresh water pools. A great part of its drainage goes towards Tanganyika or Lake Rukwa. The language of its people is typically Bantu, but they would seem to be a very mixed race physically. Some of them have the ugly features of the Congo Pygmies; others again are strikingly like the Galas and the Bahima. The bulk of the nation consists of tall and very muscular Negroes, with thoroughly Negro features. They are celebrated as porters, being able to carry burdens twice as heavy as could be offered to any other carriers. They have also a keen instinct for trade, and it is supposed that, first of all Bantu nations of the East African interior, they opened up communications with the coast. There has been trade going on between the Zanzibar coast and Unyamwezi for at least five centuries,--a trade, however, which has been subject to prolonged interruptions. The Zanzibar Arabs did not settle in the country until a hundred years ago. Conversing with the Arabs of Unyamwezi, Speke again heard from them of “a wonderful mountain to the northward of Karagwe[60] so high and steep that no one could ascend it. It was seldom visible, being up in the clouds, where white matter--snow or hail--fell on it.” The Arabs also spoke of the other lake, which was salt and also called Nyanza, but quite different from the Victoria.[61] From the Arabs Speke also heard of the naked Nile Negroes to the north and east of Unyoro, and of those of them (the Lango) who, like the Turkana farther east, wear their hair in enormous bags down the back. They told him that Lake Tanganyika was drained by the Marungu River.[62] Some of this knowledge Speke perverted to fit in with erroneous and preconceived notions. At this interval of time, however, one is surprised at the correctness of geographical information given to Burton, Speke, and Baker by the Arabs. One is still more surprised that the constant hints as to the great snow-mountain range of Ruwenzori should have so often fallen on deaf ears.