A MOUNTAIN ASCENT. 153 



a westerly direction, and the traveller is on the frontiers of 

 Lendii, which country has not hitherto been visited by Euro- 

 peans. From Jabakot, very high mountains are visible to the 

 west ; to the north lies another mountain chain, which is said 

 to belong to Liibari. The direction of all the khors in the 

 country just described is easterly. Liiri is spoken everywhere, 

 but another language is said to exist to the west. 



An ascent of the mountains directly behind the station 

 Mahagi led to no good result. The foreground is, at the most, 

 a mile and a half broad, and consists of a very rich red or 

 coffee-brown vegetable mould, which might have been made 

 on purpose for crops. Here and there pieces of granite,*" 

 blackened by weather, and blocks of mica appear. "When we 

 left the station at 6.30 A.M., the aneroid read 27.60 in. at a 

 temperature of 7 5 ° Fahr. The ascent is extremely steep, and 

 is rendered more difficult by numerous fragments of stone and 

 long grass, where the foot is apt to slip ; here and there we 

 had a pretty glimpse of the lake, which was unfortunately 

 covered, as usual, by a veil of mist. Along the verge of deep 

 ravines, with water rushing along below us, we gained the 

 top, after a hard climb ; but only a plateau studded with many 

 little domes was visible, shut in to the west by the Nyelea 

 group, and to the south by the imposing heights of the Eruku. 

 To the north the mountain ridge extended in an unbroken line. 

 The small single elevations are usually separated from one 

 another by deep ravines. High grass and very sparsely scat- 

 tered trees, generally butter-trees (Butyrospermum) and tama- 

 rinds, grow on the hills and in the hollows, rich vegetation 

 only abounding where there is water. Numerous fox-coloured 

 baboons were barking among clumps of trees, the deserted 

 durrah fields supplying them with plenty of food. We passed 

 two smaller peaks (aneroid, 26.97 an d 26.89 i n 0> anc ^ then 

 climbed the higher summit (aneroid, 26.78 in., temp, in shade 

 8 3. 3° Fahr.), but it did not afford any view. The prevailing 

 rock is a light grey, very fine-grained granite, upon which 

 layers of mica often lie, quite in accordance with the general 



* Gneiss should probably be read instead of granite in most cases, for, to the 

 best of my knowledge, no typical granite has yet been found among mineral speci- 

 mens brought from the farthest part of the upper Nile territory. — G. S. 



