RUWENZORI WEATHER 73 



out any suggestion of darkness or gloom. There 

 are always plenty of butterflies among the bananas, 

 and many flowering plants are found between the 

 stems — clumps of white balsams, pink and white 

 crinum lilies, and scarlet-flowered cannas. The 

 thud of raindrops on the leaves is very pleasant to 

 listen to, and the ' sound of going,' when a sudden 

 storm of wind strikes a large plantation, is like the 

 rush of the sea upon a shingly beach. 



The expedition remained encamped at Bihunga 

 for very nearly four months. During nearly a 

 month of that time — that is to say, throughout 

 January — the weather was almost uniformly fine. 

 Day succeeded to day of bright sunshine and cloud- 

 less skies ; it was neither too hot by day nor too 

 cold by night, the average maximum and minimum 

 temperatures being about 74° F. and 58° F. Birds 

 nested, butterflies were on the wing, and the hill- 

 sides were ablaze with flowers. One began to think 

 that this was one of the most beautiful places in the 

 world, and blest with the ideal climate, until one day 

 without any warning the sky filled with clouds and 

 the rain descended. Thenceforward, with the excep- 

 tion of a few occasional fine days, the weather was 

 almost continuously wet, until we left the mountain 

 valley in the middle of April. The sun might shine 

 for an hour or two in the early morning, but with 

 a very disagreeable regularity a white bank of clouds 

 would come softly rolling up the valley about nine 

 or ten o'clock, and in a few minutes the mountains 



