242 UGANDA AND THE EGYPTIAN SOUDAN.

naked natives, it was strange to be once again with people clothed, however roughly ; and the white, or more correctly light brown and well-cut features, were an agreeable contrast to the negro type of face we had seen for so long. At this place the people were very careful of their water supply ; they gave us water to drink, but it is said they will never show the wells unless comj)elled to do so. We had a splendid water-melon for supper.

In this neighbourhood and in other parts— as for example at Shaka—the people use the juice of melons instead of water for cooking and washing, and the cattle and donkeys get little else to drink.

xifter a night's rest we continued our march to Kalaka, passing over sandy soil and through some small villages, where water, milk, and lights for our pipes were willingly given to us. At one place where we stopped to rest, we received a goat and a large quantity of both sweet and sour milk.

Near the villages much cotton is grown, and the people spin good yarn, which makes the coarse but strong cloth they use for clothes. The grain cultivated here is dok'n {Pencillaria glauca). "We saw very large stores of it on the road; it is stacked very neatly, in round ricks, which reminded us of the haystacks at home. We noticed on this march large herds of cattle.

About two miles from Kalaka, six or seven horsemen dashed up to us, headed by Mahmoud, the