immediately afterwards. As I had come so far, I
thought we might go ashore and look at the town, which was found greatly
improved since I last saw it, by the addition of several coralline
houses and a dockyard. The natives were building a dhow with Lindi and
Madagascar timber. On going ashore, I might add, we were stranded on the
sands, and, coming off again, nearly swamped by the increasing surf on
the bar of the river; but this was a trifle; all we thought of was to
return to Zanzibar, and hurry on our preparations there. This, however,
was not so easy: the sea current was running north, and the wind was too
light to propel our vessel against it; so, after trying in vain to make
way in her, Grant and I, leaving her to follow, took to a boat, after
giving the captain, who said we would get drowned, a letter, to say we
left the vessel against his advice.

We had a brave crew of young negroes to pull us; but, pull as they
would, the current was so strong that we feared, if we persisted, we
should be drawn into the broad Indian Ocean; so, changing our line, we
bore into the little coralline island, Maziwa, where, after riding over
some ugly coral surfs, we put in for the night. There we found, to our
relief, some fisherman, who gave us fish for our dinner, and directions
how to proceed.

Next morning, before daylight, we trusted to the boat and our good luck.
After passing, without landmarks to guide us, by an intricate channel,
through foaming surfs, we arrived at Zanzibar in the night, and found
that the vessel had got in before us.

Colonel Rigby now gave me a most interesting paper, with a map attached
to it, about the Nile and the Mountains of the Moon. It was written
by Lieutenant Wilford, from the "Purans" of the Ancient Hindus. As it
exemplifies, to a certain extent, the supposition I formerly arrived at
concerning the Mountains of the Moon being associated with the country
of the Moon, I would fain draw the attention of the reader of my travels
to the volume of the "Asiatic Researches" in which it was published. [5]
It is remarkable that the Hindus have christened the source of the Nile
Amara, which is the name of a country at the north-east corner of the
Victoria N'yanza. This, I think, shows clearly, that the ancient Hindus
must have had some kind of communication with both the northern and
southern ends of the Victoria N'yanza.

Having gone to work again, I found that Sheikh Said had brought ten men,
four