FANIORO. 99 



country abounds in game, to judge from the numerous tracks 

 leading to the river ; elephants also appear to be plentiful. 



After a short march we reached the bend of the Khor 

 Unyama, and, immediately afterwards, the remains of the 

 former zeriba Jeifi, which was deserted by its inhabitants a 

 short time ago, because, as they told me, the fields had " grown 

 old," that is, were exhausted. In the middle, among the ruins 

 of houses, rises the magnificent tamarind under which I passed 

 a night three years before on my first journey to Uganda. 

 The steep walls of the Ichor permit the formation of the 

 ground to be clearly seen : stiff grey loam, with solid masses 

 of vegetable debris, rests on firm red clay enclosing many 

 blocks of conglomerate. As, in the course of conversation 

 with Negroes, who had come from the surrounding country, 

 and many of whom I had known formerly, some offered to 

 serve me as guides, I chose to continue my journey to Fatiko 

 by the rather longer, but at any rate more interesting, way 

 past Faloro and Fabo. 



Our night was disturbed by legions of mice and several 

 concerts given by hyasnas. Oar porters appeared early in 

 the morning, and headed by Shua, chief of the neighbouring 

 village, Fanioro, we marched in a south-westerly direction over 

 a gently rising plain, where agriculture is largely carried on. 

 Passing between fields from which the sesame and the second 

 crop of durrah had just been gathered in, we reached the 

 zeriba Fanioro (not Speke's Fanioro), an imposing collection 

 of houses with a very dense population. We changed some 

 of our porters here, and then crossed another undulating plain, 

 extensively cultivated, above which, far to the left, there 

 appeared two mountain peaks. Besides the plants cultivated 

 in the north, I saw here a kind of hibiscus with large bright 

 yellow blossoms, the pods and seed of which the people boil 

 down into a gruel. This hibiscus is found also in the Bari 

 district, but is never cultivated there. 



Khor Igeri flows through a deep gorge. After passing it 

 we descended a steep declivity strewn with rocks, to the Khor 

 Irari, a considerable, never-failing brook with crystal-clear cold 

 water, which is joined by the Khor Iladze a little below the 

 ford. Both these streams are obstructed by huge blocks 



