32 UGANDA AND TEE EGYPTIAN SOUDAN.

side of the river, though it was impossible to secure

any of them, as, owing to the remarkable tenacity

of life for which these creatures are celebrated,

they always managed to get into the water, and

were swept away by the rapid current to the sea.

Leaving our camp, we kept for some distance

along the banks of the Kingani, among noble forest

trees, through large fields of sugarcane just ready

to cut, and over treacherous black swamps. Then we crossed undulating ground covered with open

jungle consisting of thorny acacias, candelabra,

euphorbias, aloes and other tropical plants, till the

village of Kekoka was reached. This was a

straggling hamlet of a few huts scattered about

a small clearing in the jungle. Large flocks of

parrots and pigeons frequented the gardens, and as

no meat was to be obtained here, I had resort to my

gun, and in a couple of hours had bagged a sufficient

number of pigeons to make several good meals.

Six marches from Kekoka in a W.N.W. direction

brought us to the Pongwe hills. The country was

for the most part open forest or jungle with grassy

valleys at intervals, and now and then villages, which were generally surrounded by dense thorny

hedges as a protection against enemies and wild

beasts ; one of the prettiest of these villages being

Eosako, two days from Kekoka. Streams were

tolerably frequent, the water being sometimes

brackish, and on their banks Indian corn, tobacco,