Mbende 



and bruises, an^ for every ache from their chests to 

 their stomachs. 



Well, the next day we reached Mbende, having 

 taken five days over the journey from Hoima. 



The actual seat of the administration and the 

 houses of the Europeans are situated about two 

 miles off to the left of the main road, and there is no 

 room left for doubt that it is a more healthy site than 

 Kakamero, for it is situated on a long, narrow ridge 

 as high -as it is steep, quite bare and covered with 

 short grass resembling the Sussex Downs in every 

 particular. I had to halt several times before reach- 

 ing the top, and my one wish when once there was 

 to search round for some cooling draft to quench my 

 thirst. I accordingly made for the Boma, where the 

 guard turned out to me. I found one of them under- 

 stood Nile Arabic, so I enquired of him if there 

 were any Europeans in the place. He told me one 

 had gone off on " safari " that very morning, and the 

 other was sick. The latter was good enough, not- 

 withstanding his indisposition, to give me a whisky- 

 and-soda and some luncheon. I purchased some :. ^■ 

 sugar and matches at a local trader's, and returned 

 to my camp rather crestfallen, as I had centred my 

 hopes on a more jolly day at a place as large as 

 Mbende. 



Each day I was becoming more fretful at not 

 meeting any sport, and so the next morning I pushed 

 on for a considerable distance. I crossed a main 

 road evidently running from Entebbe or Kampala to 

 Fort Portal. The same rocky country continued, 



117 



