Life and Scenery in Uganda 



white Colobus monkeys, that peer at one and 

 skip about the trees, rudely break by their dis- 

 cordant cries the silence of a primeval forest. 

 Or is it that these harsh sounds impress the 

 surroundings upon one the more emphatically ? 



Somethinor seems wanting- in the unnatural 

 hush after the rustle of the lizards in the grass 

 and the continual whirr of the tree-frog ; and one 

 welcomes the sight and sound of the scampering 

 monkey high above, as a pleasing contrast to the 

 sombre silence below. 



Perhaps we may meet a logging camp, and 

 become aware of the rythmical " hish " of the 

 saws, or hear the echo — and echo carries far in 

 these gloomy depths — of some savage at logger- 

 heads with another o' that ilk over a sweet potato 

 or something equally important to him. But one 

 realizes that harsh and discordant sounds are 

 unavoidable. They beset one's dimly lighted path 

 through the forest, as they beset some other paths 

 on life's highway ! Light at length breaks the 

 darkness, and suddenly we find ourselves once 

 more in the blinding glare of the sun, and before 

 us Lake Albert lies spread some thousand feet 

 below — quiet, placid, and calm. 



We now descend the steep escarpment and 

 tramp for about five miles through dusty bush 

 and sandy plain to the harbour of Butiaba. A thin 

 hook of wind-blown sand runs out into the lake, 

 and curling round towards the north, makes an 



27 



