104 DUEILE TO FATIKO. 



tion a house for ourselves and our baggage. We had hastily 

 put everything under cover, and were seeking the repose we 

 longed for after our long march, when a regular invasion of 

 bugs forced us to vacate the place as quickly as possible. It 

 is evident that this pest came with the dirty Danagla from 

 Khartum and Dongola, and thrived here ; but that these vermin 

 kept their ground and flourished in this precise spot without 

 crossing the frontiers of Faloro, while they may be sought in 

 vain in other equatorial regions, is at any rate worth mentioning. 

 The rain lasted the whole night. In the morning I was told 

 that my arrival certainly brought luck, for the rain had come 

 with me. 



Close beside the principal zeriba of Faloro are situated three 

 other zeribas, enclosing many houses, and between them a 

 path led us to a high rocky ridge, running obliquely across 

 the road, which took us down to the Khor Radzi. Here, in 

 a cleft of the rock, lay a beautifully marked python, some 

 thirteen feet long, benumbed with cold, which the Negroes 

 immediately devoured. After twice crossing this Ichor, we 

 ascended to the zeriba Peggo, lying in the midst of crops 

 upon high hills, which extend obliquely across the road 

 from the right. Upon their slope we passed the Khor Siri, a 

 large brook of beautifully cool water, flowing from S.S.W. 

 to N.N.E. which we forded with some difficulty, owing 

 to an island formed of huge stone blocks which lies in 

 it ; the water came up to our thighs. We crossed a few 

 more brooks, and then came upon a motley collection of 

 open woods and fields of durrah, sesame; and hibiscus. The 

 high bluish-green foliage of the Anona senegalensis is found 

 here (northern limit) ; the waving branches of Grewia mollis 

 hang over the path. All the hill- slopes, where there is suf- 

 ficient moisture, are clothed with open woods of Terminalias, 

 free from underwood. Long stretches are covered by a tall 

 Solanum with yellow fruit ; it springs up in large quantities 

 on ground that has been formerly cultivated. Tmctoceras 

 abyssinicus stalked solemnly about in pairs over the corn-fields, 

 their hollo w-soun drug cry foretelling rain, they say, and high 

 in the air a lark was warbling. 



After giving our porters a short rest at the Khor Lazimon, 



