COL. GRANT—BOTANY ОЕ THE SPEKE AND GRANT EXPEDITION. 5 
action of constant moisture at the equator has washed away all the softer parts to а 
depth of 500 feet; and what now remains consists of ridges of rock and clay mounds, 
all of one elevation, and pointing generally to the vast basin of the Victoria Nyanza. 
The sediment thus excavated from a territory of 3000 square miles helps to silt up the 
west side of the lake and to form islands there. These ridges and mounds of rock and 
clay are of a uniform height; their flat tops are covered with a woody reed, 10 feet high 
(Pennisetum Benthami); their sides are boulders in red clay, a few trees appearing 
amongst the rocks: lower down, field upon field of plantain and of grains mark the 
dwellings of the people; and at the lowest depths we have the vilest bogs, concealed by 
the beautiful papyrus, magnificent trees, and creepers. 
Travelling through such a track of alternate swamp and hill presents difficulties to the 
collector; every mile there is mud of the most tenacious kind; but I longed for the 
chance of collecting the strange plants which everywhere surrounded us. It will be 
seen that this country of Uganda, though remarkably fertile in the production of the 
plantain, is not adapted for the cultivation of crops of grain; still, upon the drier por- 
tions of it, we had clumps of bushes, the Huphorbia antiquorum, scrubs of acacias, coffee, 
sugar-cane, chillies, sweet-potato, ground-nut, Sesamum, with various grains and pulses; 
and in this region we found Tephrosia polysperma, Baker, and Amomum, sp. 
THE 150TH TO THE 170TH STAGE. UNYORO PROPER, ALT. 2800 FEET :— 
This country is 600 feet lower than the last ; the undulations are gentle, and the aspect 
has settled down to that of a plain. The subsoil, for the most part, is of a cold, dull 
. blaek colour, hard, dry, and knotty, containing 40 to 70 per cent. of clay; it is strictly 
alluvial, and has great capabilities for wheat or such like cereals. Upon it the rains of 
November lie to a depth of 2 or 3 inches; the whole is covered with 6-feet-high grass 
(Cymbopogon finitimus, Hochst.); trees are thinly scattered; the swamps have Mimosa 
asperata, Hibiscus, Hygrophila, Brillantaisia, Biophytum, Acrocephalus, Blumea, Portu- 
laca, Chenopodium, Bryonia, Ottelia, Nymphaea, Typha, dischynomene ; and four species 
of Vitis, with Rhynchosia Grantii, Baker, were found here. 
The Nile bounds its N.E. frontier, and during the floods in November, when the river 
is a thousand yards wide, it carries land-slips away in its course. These floating islands 
of rank vegetation melt away and are broken up by the rocks and cataracts in the channel 
of the river, above the Karuma Falls. 
THE 170TH то THE 192ND STAGE. THE RIGHT BANK OF THE NILE FROM KARUMA 
FALLS то GONDOKORO, ALT. 2800 то 1500 FEET :— 
These twenty-two stages (200 miles) afforded the richest flora of our whole route; one 
fourth of the collection was made there, between the months of November and February, 
when flowers were in their bloom. The Nile has there its grandest course, taking it 
from its source to its mouth. Nearly all the distance it runs over rock, plunging or 
foaming over cataracts till it falls into the Albert Nyanza, whence it flows along a reach 
of several miles, with 54101 Kookoo,” а mountain-range of escarped rock, upon its left 
bank. Besides possessing the glorious Nile, this district has many clear-bottomed and 
rocky rivulets, flowing through woods and circling through granite-capped hills. 
The variety of soil and its general richness gave us a variety of flora, including the 
bamboo, tamarind, Musa ensete, Canavalia, a strange Amomum, Ficus, Zizyphus, Ste- 
