LIFFI. 225 and for nearly half the distance the road was through a thick forest ; some very large timber and many lulu-trees were seen, but very little undergrowth.

The ground was rolling, and the deep gullies which we frequently passed showed how much water is collected here, but it drains off to the north-east with almost incredible rapidity. We crossed the Lugu with difficulty, owing to the force of the current. My donkey was very troublesome on this occasion ; we could not get him along, and I was sorry to hear the bad language used by the soldier whose duty it was to look after him. After exhausting all the Arabic expletives, he tried English, French, and German, but without the desired effect ; the donkey would not go. On my expostulating with him, and inquiring where he had learnt to curse and swear in so many languages, I found that he had been a donkeyboy in Cairo, and had made his way up here as servant to an Egyptian officer. He was a capital servant, and very useful to me. About a mile from the river we halted for our mid-day rest at a village called Kagola. It was very tidy and clean ; square huts with neat walls were built at regular distances, and the people were apparently much pleased to see us ; large bowlfuls of water, sweetened with honey, were given us to drink. Soon after leaving Kagola, Mount Liffi appears on the right ; it is really only a large cone-shaped metamorphic rock, 150 feet high.

There is also a range of hills ten miles due west VOL. II. Q