From Entebbe to Fort Portal. 



naked women, old and young, who weed out the grass and 

 smooth the way witli little native spades. 



The first part of the road, where the hills are nearer to 

 one another, runs incessantly up and down the steep inclines. 

 After Lake Isolt the slopes become gentler, with intervals of 

 plain, and the marches are consequently less fatiguing. The 

 swamps, too, diminish as the traveller approaches Fort Portal, 

 and the country takes on a healthier look. 



rOK'lEKS HUTS. 



The temperature is pleasant in the early morning, but 

 towards midday it becomes very hot, although, fortunately,, 

 during the hottest hours the sky is nearly always covered 

 with clouds, which, be they thick or thin, are always sufficient 

 to veil the blazing rays of the sun. Nearly every day or 

 niglit there is a violent but brief thunderstorm with a 

 gale and torrents of rain. Happily, the Italian caravan had 

 no experience of the terrihle storms, accompanied by M^ater- 

 spouts, cyclones and dangerous electrical discharges, which 



79 



