8o THE EAST SIDE OF RUWENZORI 



they are a musical race, the Bakonjo were pos- 

 sessed of a saving sense of humour. One of our 

 party had brought with him a gramophone. I con- 

 fess to a rooted disHke of the gramophone considered 

 as a musical instrument, but it must be admitted 

 that the machine was often a source of amusement. 

 The kind of humour that incites the white man to 

 mirth had very little effect on the natives, but there 

 was a certain song, a deplorably sentimental ditty 

 about Jerusalem and choir-boys, so far as I can re- 

 member, and with a tune well suited to the senti- 

 ment, which never failed to produce a shout of 

 laughter from the black people. Sometimes, when 

 the instrument was performing out of doors, it was 

 most entertaining to watch a native stalk it carefully 

 from behind, and make a hasty dash for covert, 

 when he came within range of the full blast of the 

 funnel. 



Excursions to the higher parts of the mountains, 

 of which some account will be given in the following 

 chapter, interrupted the regularity of our sojourn at 

 Bihunga, which, while it was sometimes monotonous, 

 never became dull. 



