126 BEAUTIFUL UGANDA 



"The broad native roads make as straight as possible for their 

 mark, Hke the roads of the Romans, and, to the tired traveler, seem 

 to pick out preferentially the highest and steepest hills, which they 

 ascend perpendicularly and without compromise. 



"The road is as broad as an English country road, quite different 

 from the ordinary African path (which is barely the breadth of the 

 space occupied by men walking in single file). On either side of 

 the road the grass grows high, perhaps to heights of seven or eight 

 feet, but it is interspersed with gayer-flowering plants and shrubs. 

 The road ascends a steep hill through this country of luxuriant grass. 

 The hilltop reached and the descent begun, the traveler sees before 

 him a broad marsh in the valley below. The descent to this marsh 

 is possibly so abrupt that it is deemed wiser to get off the horse or 

 mule and leave that beast to slither down sideways. 



''Looking on either side as the marsh is being crossed, the trav- 

 eler will notice first of all the gigantic papyrus, which may be growing 

 as high as fifteen feet above the water and interspersed amongst 

 papyrus roots are quantities of fern, of amaranth, or "love-lies-a-bleed- 

 ing," and the gorgeous red-purple Dissotis flowers, a yellow composite 

 like a malformed daisy, and large masses of pink or lavender-colored 

 Pentas. There are also sages and mints which smell strongly of 

 peppermint, and a rather handsome plant with large white bracts and 

 small mauve flowers. 



*Tn and out of this marsh vegetation flit charming little finches 

 of the waxbill type. One of them is particularly beautiful, with a 

 body of black, white, and dove color and a crimson back. The next 

 ascent of the inevitable hill which succeeds the marsh may lead one 

 through a more wooded country, where, among many other flowering 

 shrubs, grows a species of mallow (Abiitilon) , with blush-pink flowers 

 in clusters, like dog-roses in general appearance. 



"The forests and marshes of Uganda abound in remarkable 

 monkeys and brilliantly colored birds to a degree not common else- 

 where in tropical Africa; but the Kingdom of Uganda, as may be 

 imagined from its relatively dense population — a population once 

 much thicker than to-day — has been to a great extent denuded of its 

 big game, and it is unlikely the President will spend much time there. 



