246 UGANDA AND THE EGYPTIAN SOUDAN.

though they were very shy and difficult to approach, owing to the total absence of cover ; wild guineafowl were found in flocks on the downs, and I occasionally bagged one or two of them. Our greatest want was salt, which was not to be had at any price, a deprivation which only those who have themselves experienced it can appreciate.

The scenery of this part of the coast of Uzongora was very fine. Our little camp was on the edge of a flat, sandy, crescent-shaped plain, about a mile at its greatest width, and two miles from point to point where the cliff's approached the water. Facing the sea, the downs formed an amphitheatre of hills, descending steeply some hundreds of feet to the plain, and then rising in gentle undulations towards the uplands of Karagwe, some of the nearer knolls being a thousand feet above the Lake. The face of the cliffs was seamed by deep, narrow ravines, through which sparkling streams of clear cool water ran with a cheerful murmur towards the Nyanza, and fell in beautiful cascades over the steep rocks.

These valleys were filled with fine soft grass, and the streams were shaded by fine tree-ferns (Cyathea Dreyei). On reaching the plain these rivulets dug for themselves deep winding channels, whose banks were festooned with ferns, and shady with dense underwood. A small morass, formed by one of these brooks at the foot of the cliffs, was dotted with a beautiful little purple-and-white orchid, and over