LUXURIANT VEGETATION. 125 



here leads evenly over firm ferruginous clay. The red soil 

 is covered by a layer of grey compact clay only in the hollows 

 and on the declivities ; the lowest stratum of this clay is free 

 from vegetable detritus, and yields an excellent material for 

 pottery. Near the lake white and yellow sand is found. 



As we marched between banana groves and huts, the country 

 looked like a garden, Mother Nature having everywhere filled 

 up the gaps left by man with glorious grass vegetation and 

 graceful slender trees. Impenetrable thickets, the lairs of the 

 leopards, which are very numerous here, at times fringed the 

 road, and one's eye became perfectly dazzled by the sight 

 of so many shapes and colours. The odour of Umbelliferee 

 mingled with the almost overpowering scent of a Liliaceous plant 

 (Urginea?), which is employed here for making hedges. Groups 

 of Ocymum six feet high were seen, and by a small stream that 

 flows to the lake there were perfect nests of vegetation covering 

 the marshy ground, and often forming galleries along the 

 watercourse. Gigantic trees waved their lofty crowns in the 

 sunlight, and below them, in the deep cool shade, climbing 

 plants of every kind were interwoven. An Amomum with broad 

 waxy leaves grew to a height of ten feet. Calladias, Acanthus, 

 and many Rubiaceas, although more diminutive, occupied a 

 wider area. Elegant palm bushes shared the ground with 

 splendid ferns (Asplenium), and parasitic plants, probably 

 Angrsecum and Platycerium, grew on the branches of syca- 

 mores and Spathodeas, so high up that they were beyond reach. 

 Nearer to the lake were isolated specimens of prickly yellow- 

 flowering mimosas. 



Thus, artificial and natural gardens constantly alternated, 

 though the former, consisting of bananas and sweet potatoes, 

 could not possibly vie with the latter either in picturesque 

 beauty or variety of species. This is indeed a beautiful, well- 

 favoured land, with its red soil, its green gardens, its lofty 

 mountains, and its dark snug valleys. Nature has profusely 

 lavished her charms, and man alone destroys the harmony of 

 these scenes. Corpses in the middle of the path compelled us 

 to step aside ; at our approach the small Uganda vultures left 

 their ghastly meal with a noisy rush. Four dead bodies were 

 lying there, slain by the hand of the executioner ; young and 



