194 Major H. J. Kelsall on 



Our daily routine was to get up at daylight^ or a little 

 before^ and while our loads were being packed up, have a 

 ligbt breakfast. We started off about 6.30 and tramped to 

 our next stopping place — our marches varying from ten to 

 fifteen or even eighteen miles. 



We collected as we went along, and on arrival at our 

 destination, usually between 12 noon and 2 p.m., had lunch, 

 and then spent the afternoon and evening preparing 

 specimens and writing up notes. This often kept me busy 

 till midnight or later. Fortunately, except on the rivers in 

 the Sherbro District, we were seldom troubled by mosquitoes, 

 but in that district they swarmed, particularly at Kattin 

 and Torma, Avhere they were in myriads and made bird- 

 skinning by lamplight a foretaste of the infernal regions. 



Geoyraphical and Topographical Notes. 



The Colony and Protectorate of Sierra Leone lie between 

 7° and 10° N. latitude and between about 10° 30' and 13° 30' 

 W. longitude, and comprise an area of about 23,000 sq. miles. 



The Colony proper consists of the Sierra Leone Peninsula, 

 Sherbro Island, and Turner's Peninsula (see PI. X.). 



The Sierra Leone Peninsula is mountainous; the hills run 

 to a height of from 2000 to 3000 feet and are composed chiefly 

 of syenite with outcrops of laterite ; they are clothed, from 

 about the 800-foot contour upwards, with " Rain Forest,^' the 

 trees reaching to a height of 100 feet and over. The lower 

 slopes and the narrow strips of level ground between the 

 sea and the base of the hills have all been cleared from time 

 to time for cultivation, and are partly under crops (chiefly 

 cassava) and partly covered with low dense scrub and 

 elephant grass. 



Sherbro Island and Turner's Peninsula are low and swampy, 

 as is also a considerable portion of the sou.tliern and south- 

 western parts of the Protectorate. 



The greater part of the central, western, and southern 

 portions of the Protectorate consists of undulating country, 

 with no considerable elevations, and covered, for the most 

 j)art, Avith thick scrubby forest. 



