156 AN EXCURSION TO LUR.

roughly made quivers of goat-skin. The spears have a very small blade, fixed at the end of a long neck of iron. A kind of coat-of-mail made of buffalo skin takes the place of a shield ; a rectangular piece about forty inches long by fifteen inches broad, according to the man’s size, and as thick as possible, is fastened in front of the body and tied behind, the outside being usually ornamented with bosses. When travelling, every Negro carries a sort of knife, with a broad blade fixed into a piece of wood; it is used more for cutting down branches than as a weapon. Boys often carry very pretty imitations of this weapon, made entirely of wood. In hunting, the weapons just mentioned are used, as also traps, nets, and pitfalls. In fishing, they use very large weir-baskets, nets, and large iron fishing-hooks. The women carry in their girdles a small knife, with which they reap.

It was difficult to make any zoological collections here, as the tall grasses were being burnt down in the neighbourhood. A gorgeous sight was presented, especially at night, by the tongues of fire creeping up the hillsides, and the flaring up of the flames wherever there was much dry grass lit up the lake far out into the darkness; but the result was disastrous to the animal and vegetable world. One night the fire came so near to our station that we were obliged to kindle another fire as rapidly as possible in order to protect ourselves. It will be easily seen that under such circumstances there could be no thought of botanising. However, I obtained two pretty ferns down by a river, and these I added, together with some mosses, to a large collection of ferns I had already made in this district.

Two species of baboons, and especially Colobus guercza, are very common indeed. I was able ina very short time to shoot six specimens of the latter, called here dalla. The chimpanzee is said to be found a few hours to the south. Its northern limit, here as in Unyoro, is identical with that of the rattan palm, that is, about 2° N. lat. Of rare birds, I may mention Peters’s crake (Ortygometra egregia), which was seen in covies of three to six individuals, ranning about like hens in the grass near the watercourses. It is difficult to make it rise, and it is most easily caught by snares; when caught, it shows