24 FROM MAGUNGO TO MRULI.

margins of the khors are fringed by “gallery” woods. We marched between two mountain chains which run in an easterly direction; and after we had permitted our porters to take some rest, and then journeyed round a considerable pool of water, upon the edge of which an indescribable picture of luxuriant vegetation enchanted us, we climbed right up over granite and gneiss blocks, ever upwards across the bare red land (where is found a shrub much resembling a species of Solanum, with woolly leaves, small yellow and black flowers, and a small white apple-hke fruit), until, bathed in perspiration, we reached the summit of the mountain, and arrived at the station of Kisuga.

This place also is situated on one of the many hills that are scattered over the country, now rising separately out of the comparatively level ground, now uniting by twos and threes to form small groups. ‘They are composed of granite and gneiss enveloped in a layer of rich bog-iron ore, which, again, is covered by a deep layer of vegetable mould. ‘The water collected at the foot of this hill has no outlet, yet all the hors farther on flow towards the south-east, and probably convey their water to the great Khor Kafu, which joins the Nile at Mruli. All the water is coloured deep yellow by oxide of iron, but the presence of iron is not perceptible to the taste.

Although fragments of rock (red-striped quartz) are scattered all over the ground, the crenelated structures of the ants rise to a height of seven feet in all directions. These creatures often abound on a red clayey soil. Frequently when I wake up in the night I hear a noise on the roof of my hut like the pattering of heavy rain, for even in such places the indefatigable ants build their passages and destroy the work of human hands; indeed, our life here in the interior of Africa is a constant struggle with the superior forces of nature and the overwhelming life of plants and animals. In all directions there extends a wide and rolling plain studded with beautiful trees; the blue mountain masses of Kaduku, Sumbiye, &c., stand out upon the horizon, while the lower Siri-Sfri marks the road to this place. Kistga is a very roomy, clean, and airy station, divided into regular quarters, and on account