Bound for Khartoum Once More 



succeeded in the snap of the finger by black-dark 

 sheets of tempestuous rain setting every nerve 

 a-trembHng and every tooth a-chattering. It's 

 worst of all when one's tent has to be pitched in 

 a partial swamp and there's no ghost of a chance 

 of getting one's clothes — leave alone boots — dry 

 by the morning's start after having slept (if that 

 word be permissible) between blankets that have 

 not been dry for a week or more. 



Masindi is one of the prettiest places it has been 

 my fortune to see in Uganda, and it was quite at 

 its best in the brilliant sunshine of the morning 

 after the storm. Everything was a beautiful 

 vivid green ; houses peeped out amid the luxuriant 

 growth of grass and trees — forced by the steamy 

 action of sun and rain — and smoke wreaths 

 curled up from the houses to the blue skies 

 above. Every kind of vegetation has a chance 

 here. The soil is wonderfully rich ; at the same 

 time it is very easily worked. When the tall 

 rank grass is torn out by the roots, a fine surface 

 is exposed that resembles dark chocolate. This 

 is a vegetable loam, resting on a bright red 

 quartz gravel. The quartz is not rounded, and 

 appears to be the residue of decayed rock that 

 has never been subjected to the action of running 

 water. With such a subsoil the country must be 

 healthy, as the heaviest showers drain rapidly 

 off through the gravel. 



I now decided to visit Hoima, the capital of 



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