298 AFRICA SPEAKS 



roads would allow, knowing that every mile brought 

 us closer to the hard highways of Uganda. Not the 

 deepest-dyed pessimist could do justice to the short- 

 comings of the Kenya trails. Not even that panegyr- 

 ist of the road in India, which he declared was *'not 

 passable, not even jackassable." 



We ran toward the mountain until within its shadow, 

 then bore westward to Malakisi. About thirty miles 

 before reaching this place we came to the village of 

 the paramount chief, Murunga, who was here holding 

 the regular Monday morning baraza, at which the 

 Elders gather to try petty offenses against tribal law, 

 and to fine the convicted as many sheep or cattle as 

 they deem advisable. 



From Malakisi to Tororo was a dehghtful drive. 

 The whole aspect of the country changed. Green 

 shrubbery took the place of dusty hillsides, while a 

 smooth road wound through the beautiful tropical 

 landscape like a broad white ribbon. Kenya was 

 behind us and Uganda under our wheels. 



The road then ran straight, for many miles, toward 

 an enormous rock wliich rises perpendicularly from the 

 plain. It is the famous Tororo Rock, at the foot of 

 which hes the village of the same name. We stopped 

 here to visit with the police and obtain our passes 

 through Uganda. Now we bore southward to Rusia. 

 Signs of cultivation on a large scale began to appear; 

 banana groA^es, cotton patches, coffee farms, sweet- 

 potato fields, and small gardens of tobacco followed 

 one another in close formation. In Uganda the native 

 is allowed to expand and attain toward a real civihza- 

 tion. He is encouraged to cultivate cotton and other 

 crops for export, and being able and wilUng to earn 



