78 UGANDA AND THE EGYPTIAN SOUDAN.

delays we got off on December 30th, having a caravan of between forty and fifty men and twelve donkeys. Two or three miles from Ng'uru brought us to the top of some rising ground from which we had a magnificent view of a fine bold rugged range of hills to the N.N.W., reminding me much of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in Southern Spain. The first day's march, which, as is always the case, was a short one, brought us to a prettily situated group of villages called Masimbo, or " The Springs." There was a great deal of land here under cultivation, and round the villages were quantities of cotton bushes, which looked extremely pretty with their snowy masses of seed and large bright yellow blossoms. Leaving Masimbo, we crossed a steep ridge and plunged at once into a dense jungle, where thick creepers climbed from tree to tree, and the boughs, meeting overhead, shut out the burning rays of the sun, making it deliciously cool, and rendering travelling very pleasant. This jungle swarms with wild animals ; elephants, giraffes, rhinoceroses, buffaloes, zebras, various species of antelopes, baboons, monkeys, lions, leopards, &c., were either seen or heard.

After some hours we emerged on to an open plain, and here we met a caravan of grain going to the south ; several of the porters were men who had come with O'Neill and myself fro'm the coast, and they stopped and shook hands with us, and