ON A VISIT TO ROCHAMA. 273 A storm during the night had beaten down the long grass stalks and quite concealed the path. We had therefore to fight our way through damp bogs, enormous grasses, and thickets of bamboo, no pleasant combination. We breathed freely again at last, when, after more than three hours’ struggle, we reached the stony ridge along which lies the village of Latjiet, amidst picturesque rocks. After crossing a range of hills, the highest of which was the cone-shaped Nyone, we left the district of Labongo and soon arrived at Khor Bagger. Its rapid torrent was confined by banks, some ten feet high, on which flood-marks six feet above the present level were plainly visible ; the water reached up to our waists and roared over numerous boulders. At the ford, the bed of the khor, which elsewhere .

is fifty to sixty feet broad, widens out considerably, and is divided by boulders into deep channels. The force of the current presses upon the southern bank, along which loam-pillars, about eight feet in diameter and overgrown with rushes, rise above the level of the river. ‘These are fragments of that part of the bank which has been torn away by its current. Unlike all the streams we had hitherto passed, which were of a muddy yellow colour, the water in Khor Bagger was very clear and good. Its source is said to he in Lirem, a district of the Lango country.

After a short rest on the southern bank, the march was continued. Jebel Goma stood as a landmark before us. The real dip of the country begins at the ridge on which the village of Layima stands; the ranges of high hills which we had successively passed during the previous days lay behind us, shutting out the horizon like a wall. A boiling-point observation (207.1° Fahr., temp. 84° C.) confirmed the fact that we were descending. In the open forest covering the slope, we heard the call of numerous francolins at daybreak, and a very singular cry seemed to announce the presence of Ptilopachys ventralis. The Colobus guereza, which are very common from here to the south and towards Abyssinia, were combing their white coats upon the tall trees. On reaching the village of Biayo, Rochama’s residence, we found that he had thoughtfully had good huts erected for us; but the old gentleman was very ' indignant when he heard that I intended to cross Khor Asua 5