On this day we found ourselves in the vicinity of a place, of which a whisper had reached Livingstone on the 10th of March, 1871, who, while at Nyangwé, busied himself in noting down the reports of Wangwana and natives. Ukongeh market-placeis the resort of the Wahika, whose chief, Luapanya, was killed by Mohammed bin Gharib’s men. Behind the Wahika villages, about ten miles, lies the territory of the belligerent and cannibalistic Bakusu, an open and palm-growing country. The Arabs, each time they have attempted to penetrate Ukusu, have been repulsed with slaughter. On the right bank, opposite Mitandeh Island, is the territory of the Waziri. By several islands of great beauty, and well-wooded with all varieties of tropical trees, we floated down to the market-place of Mivari, opposite the northern end of the island of Mitangi. Uvitera village is a mile south, and opposite it is the settlement of Chabogwé. The river here ran in two broad streams, each 1000 yards wide, on either side of a series of islands remarkable for their fertility. Where the islands are large, the mainland is but thinly populated, though a dense population occupies the country about two miles back from the river. On these neutral market-places, the islander and the backwoods people meet on equal terms for the purpose of bartering their various productions. _Dec. 4._—On the 4th of December we halted, because of a rain-storm, and also to forage for food, in which we were only partially successful. No conflicts resulted, fortunately. _Dec. 5._—The next day, the river flowing a little east of north, we came to Muriwa Creek, on the northern bank of which was a remarkably long village, or rather a series of villages, from fifty to a hundred yards apart, and a broad, uniform street, thirty feet wide, and two miles in length! Behind the village were the banana and the palm groves, which supplied the inhabitants with fruit, wine, and oil. This remarkable town was called Ikondu, and was situated in south latitude 2° 53′. The huts were mere double cages, made very elegantly of the Panicum grass cane, 7 feet long by 5 feet wide and 6 feet high, separated, as regards the main building, but connected by the roof, so that the central apartments were common to both cages, and in these the families meet and perform their household duties, or receive their friends for social chat. Between each village was the burial-place or vault of their preceding kings, roofed over with the leaves of the _Phrynium ramosissimum_, which appears to be as useful a plant for many reasons as the banana to the Waganda. These cane cages are as cosy, comfortable, and dry as ships’ cabins, as we found in the tempests of rain that every alternate day now visited us.