FALORO. 101 



determined by Speke, but somewhat farther to the north-east, 

 on a hill at the foot of the mountains, which present a magnifi- 

 cent view. 



Faloro is a large village with plenty of inhabitants, hand- 

 somely built houses, and very numerous corn-stores, which 

 indicate abundance of cereals ; between the houses lie small 

 open spaces or tobacco plantations. The houses are either 

 mushroom-shaped or hemispherical, and when there is an outer 

 wall, it is made of wattle and daub, while sometimes an open 

 colonnade formed by the projecting roof surrounds the house. 

 The doors are always so low that the people have to crawl 

 through them ; mats of bast supported by a strong stake form 

 the door, which is closed when the occupier goes out. The 

 floor is made smooth, a hollow near the wall forming the fire- 

 place.- A sort of slanting couch made of round pieces of wood, 

 and raised on four legs, occupies one part of every house. 

 The clay and gourd vessels are of the usual shapes. The corn- 

 stores — baskets made of split bamboos neatly woven together — 

 stand on three or four legs, are covered with conical roofs, and 

 are often strengthened with clay, and whitewashed. 



Sesame, white durrah, eleusine, hibiscus, sweet potatoes, 

 yams, mungo beans, a Canavalia with round red beans, as well 

 as some other Papilionaceee, and tobacco are cultivated on a 

 large scale. Bananas, which have been introduced here from 

 Waclelai, thrive well, but are not much eaten. Bushes of a 

 white-blossomed Tephrosia, about six feet high, show that fish 

 are caught in the neighbouring; brooks.* 



Yotive trees may be seen here and there between the 

 houses ; upon them are suspended skulls, antlers, horns, and 

 teeth, including those of leopards, small cats, Bos bubalus, 

 Antilope leucotis, A. ellipsiprymna, A. oreas, boars, &c. Lions 

 are rather scarce, leopards very common. It is singular that no 

 monkeys are seen all the way from the Sobat to Faloro, unless 

 the occasional appearance of Oynocephaloids in the large forests 

 beyond Shambe and Bor be taken into account. Along the 

 river they are entirely absent, as is also their companion, 

 the well-known green parrot (Paloeornis torqitatus), of which I 



* The beans of some varieties of this species are used to stupefy the fish. 



