276 FATIKO TO FAUVERA.

The march from here to Fatitko was very pleasant; a short descent over very muddy, pitchy black ground brought us to Khor Bara, which we again crossed. Its bed was crowded with rocks, and its water was about ten feet broad, and not quite five feet deep. In the open well-tilled country were several little hamlets, and close to the road lay Verbayo, within a stout stockade of wood; a good many Tephrosia were growing beside its houses, and the indigenous Luffa cucumber and small calabashes climbed up them. ‘The short grass looked at a distance as if covered with hoar-frost, an illusion produced by the dewdrops hanging on its reddish flowers. Accustomed as we were to a constant temperature of over 68° Fahr., we felt it quite cold here at 63° Fahr. ‘There was an almost entire absence of trees, as yearly fires only permitted the growth of annuals. The village of Otongole had been deserted, as the soil was exhausted. Its site was marked by bananas, gourds, and tobacco plants. The last part of our march was through high grass, with occasional rushes and Cyperacez, sparse woods, red sandy soil, and stubble-fields, where grasshoppers were chirping. The road rose gently all the way, and brought us, at the end of three hours, to the station of Fatiko, where we were to stay several days.

5. FroM Fatfko TO FAUVERA AND Back.

SCARCITY OF FORESTS IN THE SHOULI COUNTRY—A PAPYRUS SWAMP—A FIGHT BETWEEN HYZNAS AND LIONS—-A TROPICAL FOREST—RE-CEPTION BY RIONGA —FAUVERA — PEDIGREE OF THE WAWITU PRINCES—A NOCTURNAL FEAST—SORCERESSES—PRODUCTS OF THE SOIL—MEAT—A STRUGGLE THROUGH GRASS.

WHEN we despatched our men to reoccupy Fauvera and keep the road to Uganda open, the officers in charge found the old path so full of grass and briers that they preferred to follow the beaten track running from here to Koki, and from that place to try and discover the road used years ago by the Danagla. So too we, leaving on our right the road we had followed before, turned straight towards Jebel Até, which