86 UGANDA AND THE EGYPTIAN SOUDAN.

form them where we had settled, and ' these were despatched on February 1st. On the 6th two canoes arrived from Lukonge, king of Ukere'we, bringing us a present of goats and sheep, and a request that we would go over and see him ; so on the 8th I returned with the messengers, O'Xeill remaining behind to take care of the stores, and to receive the Smiths if thev came. The canoes in */ which we crossed to the island were clumsy dugouts, which were old and cracked and leaked terribly. The canoernen, who had no idea of keeping time, but paddled each on his own account, beguiled the time with songs, one of which was thus translated to me : " Many men are dead, for them we are sorry, for they never saw the white man ; we have seen the white man and are glad." They also stopped at frequent intervals to refresh themselves with water snuff; this is prepared by filling a small bottle gourd with tobacco, two twigs are placed crosswise below the neck to keep the tobacco in, the gourd is then filled up with water and allowed to stand some time ; this water snuff is then drawn up into the nostrils and retained there for several minutes, and as those who use it are thus obliged to speak only through the mouth, they all seem as if they had bad colds in the head. The first day we only got as far as the island of Vezi, a small rocky island abounding in waterfowl ; there was one wretched little village on it, the inhabitants of which subsist mainly by