South of the Al-oho. 149 reached the Uganda Protectorate had to carry out all conversation by signs. Judging by the great display of beads made, for trading purposes I have little doubt but that red, blue and white beads would be readily taken in exchange for food. The small bead known as " pound " beads would, I think, be far less popular than a slightly larger variety about the size of a pea. The beads should be opaque, and the ordinary glass beads procurable in Cairo, I fancy, would be little sought after.

To the south of Boma and some short distance away from the foot of the hills, a pleasantly wooded tract of country Karuno. is traversed, consisting of alternate plains of open bush and grass land, whilst water is obtained from khors running in a westerly direction across this plain, before turning north. Further south, again, however, a most uninviting dried up plain, which, after rains, would probably be converted into heavy bog, is met with, and water now becomes a mostserious consideration as far as about lat. 5° 30' north, where a broad sandy-bedded khor winds its way acre si the plain in a westerly direction. Along this river bed we found the Karuno tribe settled in considerable numbers. Thej i.ppeared to be a somewhat powerful tribe, and were certainly the most elaborately bedecked and prosperous looking set of men we saw during our journey. They possessed large numbers of cattle, goats and sheep, and donkeys, and also grow grain along the banks of the Karuno. Like all the natives of these regions, they are extremely suspicious of strangers, and though not unfriendly, are by no means anxious, it seemed to us, to have anything to do with Europeans. I do not remember these people having ever before been mentioned by any traveller ; but on comparing my map with Mr. Donaldson Smith's we seemed most obviously to be at the place shown by him as inhabited by the Magois tribe. On enquiring of these natives where the Magois were, they pointed away across the plain to the west, and gave us to understand they had been driven away in that direction by the Turkana, who had come up in force from the south. Although we tried to induce the Karuno people to bring grain or goats and sheep into camp for sale, they would not do so, nor would they even provide us with guides. This is probably more due to the fear these natives entertain of travelling into their neighbour's country than from any unfriendly motives. Here, where raids and counter-raids are frequently being indulged in, considerable hostility naturally exists between the several tribes living next each other. The Karuno in some respects are not unlike the Turkana, except that their head-dress is not a long pendant bag-shaped one, but more like a squat chignon, which is stuck full of fine vari-coloured ostrich feathers. Beads are worn by them in great quantities, chiefly red, white, and a variegated one known in East Africa as " Punda malia " (zebra). Many of the young warriors in addition to numerous strings round the neck, had solid bands of beads — similar to those we saw in Boma — fastened across the forehead. The elders have most handsome head-dresses made of cowrie shells, whilst others again wore skuU caps made of small white and red beads worked into a neat design of many circles. Physically, the men are well set up and sturdy, though they do not run to height much and are probably little above the average stature.

The women are not unlike the Turkana, and weave their hair into straight ringlets which fall round the head. They also wear beads in great numbers round the neck, whilst the lower part of the body is covered with a skin apron, cut away at the side with a flap in front and a long trailing tail arrangement behind.

In addition to long handled spears, the men carry short stabbing spears, and oblong-shaped hide shields. Exactly what extent of country the Karuno occupy I can hardly say, but I should imagine they no not exist further east than the foot of the escarpment, where the country becomes thickly wooded with thorn bush. In a westerly direction they probably do not extend more than 2 or 3 miles beyond where we first struck the Karuno river bed, leaving an uninhabited area of country between themselves and the Magois. After leaving the Karuno, and striking at first in a south-easterly, and later in an easterly direction, we reached and travelled along the foot of a rocky escarpment through an irregular bay, as it were, in the hills. The valley, between our line of march and broken hills to the south, was thickly wooded with thorn bush, and water was difficult to find. We saw a few old grass huts of natives, which had been deserted for some months previously, but saw no signs of human life. It is probable that this tract of country can only be occupied during the rainy season of the year, owing to the extreme scarcity of water.

After we had worked our way through these hills, finally crossing the eastern ridge by an easy pass, we found Muaha. ourselves in a broad plain, thickly covered with thorn bush. Some 30 miles east more hills seemed to bar progress in that direction, whilst to the south the thorny plain appeared to extend for some 40 miles to the foot of the high mountain masses to the west of Lake Rudolf. We were now in the tract of country called by Dr. Donaldson Smith, Musha. The thorn-bush plain terminated to the north at the foot of two lofty mountains, the more westerly one of which attains a height of close on 6,000 feet, whilst the loftier mass to the south-east of it (previously known to me as Mount Naita, and called by Dr. Donaldson Smith, Etua ; whilst in Bottego's map it is named Aguzzo) reaches Mount a height of about 7,300 feet. We passed numerous kraals whilst journeying in an easterly direction across this plain, Naita. which had all been temporarily abandoned by the natives, with whom we could get no intercourse, as they refused to approach us. On several occasions, when we saw two or three natives watching us from a distance, men were sent out to try and induce them to come into camp, but they fled before our men could get within even shouting distance of them. We were most anxious to obtain the service of guides, as the country before us was unknown, and the anxieties regarding water had become very great. It would appear, judging by the tracks we saw, that the Musha X 2