( cxix ) 



with large clumps a couple of feet high or so. Thistles abound, 

 and some very fine nettles — one much like our u Roman ' nettle 

 at home, the other very handsome with leaves deeply cut ; 

 neither of them like the Fleurya I knew in the jungles of the 

 islands. I have mentioned, from Kabale, the abundance of 

 a Rubus which grows everywhere, like our blackberry, but has 

 red fruits, and another, more like the raspberry. 



" The great feature of my present whereabouts is the 

 absence of trees — nothing save an occasional ' Candelabra ' 

 Euphorbia, and some queer things which I call Dracaena, 

 but don't know if they are. I had expected, from what I 

 heard, to find, at any rate, the lower hills, covered with forest : 

 they are not ! The big forest, inhabited by gorillas, etc., is 

 a long way away from here, and at present quite unget-at-able 

 (owing to the Germans, wild natives, and sundry encumbrances 

 of that ilk !). But on the top of the ridge, forming the E. 

 boundary of the rift, is bamboo forest, and I've been there 

 several times to take our porters to get building material. 

 It takes three hours to get there, and one has a stiff climb. 

 Having got up to the top of the ridge (nearly 8000 feet, I 

 suppose) one looks down the other side into a large basin, the 

 sloping sides of which are covered with bamboo only — with 

 only here and there the dome of a tree. The bottom of the 

 basin appears a marsh, and leading down to it are well-worn 

 tracks made by the small race of elephant which lives there. 

 The other M.O. who is with me has seen them and shot them, 

 and says they are very wild, and only run to about eight feet 

 high. There are also Hon there— a queer place, one would 

 think, but I have seen their fresh track in the herbage. I took 

 my net there each time I have been, but it's singularly deficient 

 in butterflies. What there are are interesting. A species of 

 Amauris [A. ellioli], which I don't know — of the echeria type, 

 but with butter-yellow spots and larger pale area at h.-w. 

 base below. I could never catch them in the bamboo forest ; 

 they fly rather high up, and circle round the bamboos — in 

 fact, I thought they must be Nymphalines when I first saw 

 them. But I have caught a number drinking at mud by side 

 of the stream I have before mentioned. There is also there 

 an Acraea [A. amicitiae], red and black, which I know not; 



