68 THE EAST SIDE OF RUWENZORI 



and insects, and so long as the weather continued 

 fine these provided me with plenty of occupation. 

 Bihunga is just at the upper limit of the elephant- 

 grass zone, and above this, below the beginning of 

 the mountain forest, is a belt of cultivated land. 

 The population being very small, and the slopes of 

 Ruwenzori very big, it is unnecessary to cultivate 

 any single piece of ground for long, so, as soon as 

 the land shows any signs of deterioration, a fresh 

 piece is cleared of grass and trees, and the old is 

 neglected, and soon becomes an almost impenetrable 

 wilderness. It is in these patches of old cultivated 

 ground that the greatest numbers of flowers are 

 found growing. Clumps of white and yellow daisies 

 and helichrysums are scattered between thickets of 

 purple-flowered acanthus and bushes of a papilion- 

 aceous kind with yellow flowers and long black 

 seed-pods, and tall white clusters of dombeya. Here 

 and there stood stiff and upright giant lobelias 

 {L. giber roa, see illustration, p. 26), and clambering 

 through the shady places was often found a gorgeous 

 red and yellow gloriosa lily. A tall pink begonia, 

 growing about 2 feet high, looked very familiar, 

 and thickets of brambles and beds of nettles gave 

 a curiously English air to some of these flower- 

 gardens. Almost more remarkable were the number 

 and variety of ferns of every sort and size, from the 

 smallest asplenium to a tree-fern 12 or 15 feet in 

 height. These latter are, of course, nothing in 

 comparison with the monsters of Australia or New 



