Peaks at the Head of ^Vlobuku Valley. 



them to start again promptly. They were once found on the 

 road, shivering in the rain and stark naked, having taken off 

 their vests and blankets so as to enjoy to the full the heat 

 of tlie glowing coals. They ate eagerly whatever food was 

 siijjplied to them, but they did not like novelty. They made 

 wry faces before making up tlieir minds to swallow tea, and far 

 preferred their mess of dura flour, which to us seems nauseating 

 to the ^^^]lite wheat flour, even when prepared with butter. 



In spite of these trying conditions of life, the Bakonjo 

 showed admirable patience and docility. It was very rare, 

 indeed, for even a single porter to refuse to go on with his 

 load, although they nearly always got their feet swollen and 

 hurt by the stones. 



Once only, on returning from Bujongolo after a few days 

 of liard service in the mountains, ten of them deserted because 

 it was not possible to dismiss them, as they desired. The law 

 of Uganda does not permit native porters to abandon a caravan 

 conducted by whites until they have finished the time or 

 traversed the distance for which they have engaged themselves. 

 It came out afterwards that the deserters had been instigated 

 by a native convert of the plain, the one and only Baganda 

 who had been willing to follow the caravan as far as the 

 moimtains. Notwithstanding the cold and tlie bad weather, 

 they ran away stark naked, after honestly depositing their 

 warm clothes and blankets near one of the tents. During 

 the sojourn of the expedition at Bujongolo, a certain number 

 of natives got bronchitis and coughs and were sent down. 

 One got his feet frostbitten and was carried as far as Fort 

 Portal to the hospital. 



Poor Igini, the cook, had the hardest life of all. He 

 was the only one whose activity was confined within the 



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