UGANDA AND THE WAGANDA. 145 antelopes, herds of elephants, buffaloes, zebras, rhinoceroses, and wild boar find a home.

The eastern part of Uganda, between Eubaga and the Nile, consists of undulating country, the ridges running in a N.N.E. S.S.W. direction, and intersected by deep, narrow valleys. The steep sides of these ravines are dotted with splendid forest trees, whose foliage is so dense as to create a perpetual twilight, even at noon, while festoons of graceful creepers and feathery ferns overhang rapidly flowing streams whose clear cold waters reach to the knees, the whole scene being one of weird beauty, and an almost perfect realisation of one's childish dreams of fairyland.

The coast region of Uganda is the most fertile district that I have seen in Africa. There, as everywhere through the Equatorial belt, the banana flourishes ; every village and every hut is surrounded by vast groves of this plant, and on climbing some mountain in the more densely populated districts the traveller sees all round him these broad tracts of pale green, reaching far up the sides of the hills, and extending in every direction as far as the eye can penetrate. The extreme fertility of the country is owin'g to the abundant supply of moisture ; for, lying, as it does, within the belt of perpetual rain, there are showers during every month in the year. The two periods of maximum rainfall are March, April and May, and September, October and VOL. i. L