THE RAINY SEASON. IQI village contained the meeting-hall, which looked particularly pretty ; it provided ample room for three or four hundred men, and, differing from similar Monbuttu buildings, it had a hemispherical roof supported by fifty high wooden pillars. One is at a loss to know whether most to admire the boldness of conception—for we are in a Negro country—or the precision of execution of such architecture, which is, indeed, only to be found in lands such as Monbuttu, where building materials in bamboo, rattan, ribs of palm leaves, and straight-grown trees lighten the task of the skilful workman.

We had hardly time to look about, for the rain was threatening; and when, after an hour's march, we reached Gambari’s residence, Bellima, we scarcely managed to get our loads under.

cover before a deluge of rain came down. This is the commencement of the rainy season, and it seems as if it must rain at least twice daily; what, then, will be the humidity of the atmosphere later on? No long series of meteorological observations have yet been made in Monbuttu; from what the natives say, however, it seems that there are two distinct rainy seasons, although no month in the year is absolutely without rain. It is interesting to note that although the south-east wind usually brings the rain, it frequently falls also during the north-west wind.

Bellima is situated on the back of a ridge of hill running along the northern bank of the little river Gadda, and is the highest place we visited in Monbuttu. While the thick forest shuts out all view between the south and west, a row of stately mountain forms appear, running from south to east, among which is conspicuous the imposing form of Jebel Tinna. The most northerly of the two groups is called by the collective name of Mimi, after a little station which was once situated there; the easterly group is called Gango. Both of them are doubtless the last spurs of the chains that stretch from the south end of the Albert Lake, across the country of the Loggo and A-Madi, and trend away towards Monbuttu. All the rivers flowing through Monbuttu--Makwa, Bomokandi, Nava, and others, excluding perhaps small and local brooks, rise in those mountains; and the great abundance of water in Monbuttu may perhaps be explained by the fact that the country hes just