70 UGANDA AND THE EGYPTIAN SOUDAN.

fowls, and eggs could easily be obtained ; the country was well watered, and the population a large one.

There were two or three steep ranges of forestclad hills where large flocks of guinea-fowl were found, and troops of monkeys. The villages were many of them very prettily situated by running streams, and all were strongly fortified with high fences, or palisades, of stout poles. Near most of the villages were groves of the mahama palms, as their fruit is much prized by the natives.

We left Ushuri on the 6th, as the Masika, or wet season, was fast approaching, and we had received several warnings already, in the shape of thunderstorms, during the fortnight we were there; and we were anxious to get as far north as possible before we were stopped by the rains. The first day's journey took us past numerous villages, for about two hours' march, and then we entered fine forest in which were numbers of adansonias. Then crossing a sort of pass, we entered a well-wooded valley, which gradually widened as we proceeded down it. Early in the second day's march the valley opened out into a wide plain with a low range of hills on either side, the forest rapidly disappeared, and at last we found ourselves in a flat plain stretching in a N.N.W. direction as far as the eye could reach; the soil was a rich black loam, with a dense growth, in most places, of strong coarse grass, which had been burnt over large areas, leaving nothing but blackened