292 GONDOKORO TO OBBO.

Okkela has long been noted for its astonishing abundance of game, and for the collector it is a real paradise. The number and variety of monkeys is particularly striking, and the lions are so numerous that you meet with them in twos or threes on every excursion into the wood, but they have never been known to attack men, while leopards are, on the contrary, much dreaded.

Five hours’ journey towards the east-south-east takes the traveller through park land and growing crops to Loronio, Chief Latomé’s village, which, picturesquely situated on a high hill, probably contains 1500 to 2000 inhabitants in its bamboofenced houses. The old chief, famous far and wide as a rainmaker, is also ruler of thirteen other villages, which lhe scattered over the country, and pay him taxes with great punctuality. A splendid view is obtained from the summit of the Loronio hill, of the Loligono peak, to the north-north-west, in the Bér district, of the whole group of the Lokoya mountains, and of the long western, southern, and south-eastern chains of the Latuka mountains, right down to Jebel Seréten, Jebel Dongotolo, and the distant Logere summits. The imposing Jebel Ekara—visible even from Rinyak—stands out among the other mountains, its truncated pyramid being surmounted by two pinnacles. It is called in Latuka, Chufal, and in Obbo, where it lies, Jebel Okirri, and may safely be identified with Jebel — Asul (the “‘ Honey Hill”) of Baker’s map, said to attain an altitude of 4000 or 5000 feet. The Lafit and Ittatok summits in the Lafit range, with the lofty Lodin, as well as Kilio in the south-western range, are very considerable elevations. Altogether Latuka presents a very mountainous aspect here, its main valley running from north-west to south-east. The swampy land round Léronio harbours numbers of herons and storks, but far more remarkable are the many Balearic cranes, which walk solemnly about the fields in twos and threes.

Khor Koz les close to the station; it is now a broad and deep stream, but in winter it is quite empty, and therefore can hardly be considered anything more than a rain-water channel.

On the way to Tarangole, the chief station in the Latuka district, this khor runs along near the road to the right hand, and often approaches quite close to it. The valley is here still very broad, but the Lafit chain encroaches on it to the left.