SPONTANEOUS GRASS FIRE 77 



my camp being on the southern side of Wema. As we 

 returned in the afternoon the grass all round the camp 

 was seen to be burning, and I found when I got back 

 to camp that it had had a narrow escape. The boys 

 said that about 2 p.m., while in their houses,' they had 

 heard a sound like a gun-shot, and going out, saw a 

 cloud of smoke arising to windward, and heard flames 

 crackling. They only just had time enough to strike the 

 tent and get my things further away from the edge of the 

 long grass, and had there not been a space cleared for 

 the camp, the huts would all have been burnt. 



They showed me afterwards the spot where the fire 

 had commenced. Among much bare red rock there was 

 thin dry grass on light soil, and at one place was a hole 

 looking as if the earth had fallen in over a termite's 

 burrow. Here was an appearance that suggested that a 

 quantity of dry debris lying at the bottom of the open pit 

 had suddenly taken fire with explosive violence, for the 

 edges of the hole had obviously just been disturbed. 



Such fires are well known to the natives, who call one 

 " Nakibengeyi " ; they pointed out the red rock to me 

 as a kind that is particularly associated with these 

 spontaneous fires. It is of a spongy texture, apparently 

 of igneous origin, and certainly does absorb and radiate 

 a great amount of heat from the sun. 



The signs of weather afforded by the island life are 

 abundant, and doubtless many more than here recorded. 

 Several birds give useful indications. A curious booming, 

 hollow sound is sometimes heard during the rainy season 

 preceding a storm, and it was a long while before I finally 

 satisfied myself that it emanated from the crowned 

 crane. The natives insisted that it was produced by the 

 puff adder ! 



The large black and white hornbill is always much 

 more vociferous on one of the clear blue evenings before 

 rain, and gulls on the rocks scream and chatter much 



