LETTERS FROM UGANDA. 181 hot springs, and special cases of skin disease are brought hither from the countries beyond the hills to try the same treatment.

I was agreeably surprised here to receive a letter from Dr. Junker, announcing his safe arrival in Uganda; it is to be hoped that he will also be fortunate enough to reach home safely. Along with this, came greetings from my old acquaintance Idi, formerly secretary to Mtésa, and now a frontier chief of Uganda; also an official communication from Nubar Pasha, and a very friendly letter from the Sultan of Zanzibar. I had, therefore, every reason to be pleased with the results of my expedition. I had accomplished the end for which I had undertaken it, viz., the despatch and receipt of letters by post. | Before starting on the return journey, however, I resolved to complete my labours by ascending the mountain chain on the east of the lake. Twelve minutes’ walk from my tent, diagonally across the village, brought us to the real foot of the range. At that spot the aneroid registered 27.80 in. at 73° Fahr., against 27.85 in. at 73° Fabr. near the huts (at 8.35 AM.) The ascent led at first over blocks of stone and sharp-edged pieces of rock, and was very steep. The narrow path was, in fact, so thickly strewn with sharp fragments of rock and stone as to make the shoes of our own manufacture a very insufficient protection to the feet. The side of the hill was quite bare; neither animals exist nor plants grow on the naked stone, which is washed clean by the rain, and baked and cracked by the fierce rays of the sun. Such was the slope up to the first terrace, where we rested in order to take bearings. The steamer lay almost immediately below us, proving that we had climbed up in a straight line. The aneroid registered 27.45 in. at 77 Fahr. The surface of the terrace on which we stood was a long flat ridge, almost destitute of stones, and clothed with a soft carpet of grass.

Above us lay the second terrace, which also was reached by a steep path, so that on arriving at the top we were glad to _ pause and recover breath. Here again the steamer lay immediately below us; the aneroid now gave 27.06 in. at 81°.

The narrow rain-gutter, which had served for our path upwards from the lower terrace, was in several places almost barred by