OX THE MARCH. 129 



one enters into business relations with them ; otherwise they 

 are courteous and friendly. As my men, owing to our long 

 stay at Rubaga, were out of training, I made the first day's 

 march a short one, and encamped for the night in a large 

 banana wood about two miles to the south of the Kjti moun- 

 tains, intending there to collect my goods and chattels. By 

 sunset twenty loads had arrived ; those, however, which I had 

 sent on in the morning as the least indispensable, such as 

 bedding, cooking utensils, and linen, were all missing. One of 

 Mtesa's messengers arrived, bringing with him the compliments 

 of his master, and a request for rockets, which, of course, I 

 promised to send later on, and begged him to aid me in 

 getting my missing loads, which I would wait for till the 

 following dav. I had brought a small number of goats with 

 me from Rubaga, and as bananas were abundant, my men had 

 plenty to eat. The next day we rested, and eight more loads 

 arrived, but what had become of the remainder nobody knew, 

 and Kanaarurba, the guide assigned to me, was as disobliging as 

 possible. Late in the evening my anhareb arrived. 



As I knew from my former experience of Uganda, that 

 nothing is ever lost there, and that my missing goods would 

 arrive sooner or later, I determined to pursue my way next 

 morning; but I sent Kanagurba back to Rubaga, to try to 

 find my bedding. A rather monotonous march through high 

 grass, occasionally interrupted by plantations, brought us to 

 a group of trees, where, on the bark of a fig-tree, we found 

 the almost obliterated initials of my two predecessors, Colonel 

 Long and E. Linant. From this point many ridges of hills 

 running obliquely across our path had to be crossed ; between 

 these ridges there were generally accumulations of rain-water 

 or swamps, which often compelled us to take a circuitous route. 

 The soil is mostly composed of grey clay. We took up our 

 quarters for the night at Buvuma, a little village affording a 

 good view of the high mountains, Bova and Kali, and as no 

 news of our missing goods had arrived, a messenger was sent 

 back to Katikiro. All round the village a good deal of 

 Voandezia was being cultivated ; it is always uniformly coloured 

 red or black, and quickly softens in cooking, whereas the 

 variegated harder species found in the Bari country does not 



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