" POSHO " 



occasionally getting a shot at hartebeeste and buck, 

 thereby laying in a supply of fresh meat, which unfor- 

 tunately cannot be kept more than a day or so, conse- 

 quently it is somewhat tough, but infinitely better than 

 the native chickens. These birds are invariably so 

 highly domesticated as to become in my eyes much the 

 same as the child's pet rabbits which one is always averse 

 from killing for eating purposes. 



There is a telegraph wire along the path with the 

 insulators that support it attached to the trees. In 

 several spots the wire rested on the grass. Surely the 

 posts and telegraph department would find it much 

 cheaper in the long run to lay out the small capital 

 required for erecting proper telegraph poles, and thereby 

 put a stop to the present frequent interruptions of the 

 line. Elephants and other game are largely responsible 

 for many of these annoyances, I grant ; but iron poles 

 might be instrumental in preventing the trapeze per- 

 formances of monkeys disporting themselves in the trees 

 and utilizing the wire for their gymnastic displays, such 

 as I have seen on several occasions when passing along 

 this road. 



Our camp for that night was at Panyongo, almost on 

 the banks of another small river. This is where a rest- 

 house stands for the post boys, when en route for the 

 north. A letter posted at any spot in Uganda, let us 

 say, for instance, Kampala, is carried from there to 

 Butiaba, a distance of about 160 miles. This is accom- 

 plished by runners on foot in five days ! From there it 

 is taken by boat across the lake to Koba, whence it 

 proceeds more often than not by road to Nimule on 

 the heads of relays of runners. Each of these runners 

 is escorted by another boy who carries an old gun of an 

 extraordinary pattern, reminding one of the " baby " 

 carried by Baker, which with the aid of ten drams of 

 powder threw a half-pound bullet ! The gun I first saw 



55 



