WITH THE SUEVEY PAETY 87 



is decayed in places now, and many of the compounds are 

 deserted. 



About half a mile to southward stands the celebrated 

 Wase Eock, an immense mass of igneous rock rising sheer 

 out of the plain. It is about 1000 ft. high and was, as far 

 as I could judge, the pipe of a volcano, of which all the rest 

 had been denuded away. Around this innumerable legends 

 have sprung up. It is supposed to be the haunt of evil 

 spirits, and I was assured that two blackmen had, at different 

 times, chmbed to the top, and both these had been seized 

 with madness, either as a punishment for having dared to 

 invade the haunts of the demons of the mountain, or else 

 through horror at the sights which they had witnessed. 



The shooting round Wase was luckily very good, as owing 

 to the famine it would otherwise have been very difficult 

 to feed my carriers. In the space of an hour one could 

 generally get as many francolins (a kind of partridge), guinea- 

 fowl, pigeons, or wild duck and geese as one wanted. There 

 were also plenty of reed-buck and larger game, and quantities 

 of the beautiful crown-cranes. To the south of the rock, too, 

 I shot a leopard, but it unfortunately got away. 



The Wase river is a typical example of the streams 

 of the country — one day it swirls down, full to the brim, 

 5 ft. deep and difficult to cross ; and the next, the natives 

 may be forced to dig holes in its sandy bed in order to get 

 water for cooking and drinking. Later on, we came upon 

 the source of this stream. 



