156 AN EXCURSION TO LIJR. 



roughly made quivers of goat- skin. The spears have a very- 

 small blade, fixed at the end of a long neck of iron. A kind 

 of coat-of-mail made of buffalo skin takes the place of a shield ; 

 a rectangular piece about forty inches long by fifteen inches 

 broad, according to the man's size, and as thick as possible, is 

 fastened in front of the body and tied behind, the outside being 

 usually ornamented with bosses. When travelling, every Negro 

 carries a sort of knife, with a broad blade fixed into a piece of 

 wood ; it is used more for cutting down branches than as a 

 weapon. Boys often carry very pretty imitations of this weapon, 

 made entirely of wood. In hunting, the weapons just mentioned 

 are used, as also traps, nets, and pitfalls. In fishing, they use 

 very large weir-baskets, nets, and large iron fishing-hooks. 

 The women carry in their girdles a small knife, with which 

 they reap. 



It was difficult to make any zoological collections here, as the 

 tall grasses were being burnt down in the neighbourhood. A 

 gorgeous sight was presented, especially at night, by the 

 tongues of fire creeping up the hillsides, and the flaring up of 

 the flames wherever there was much dry grass lit up the lake 

 far out into the darkness ; but the result was disastrous to the 

 animal and vegetable world. One night the fire came so near 

 to our station that we were obliged to kindle another fire as 

 rapidly as possible in order to protect ourselves. It will be 

 easily seen that under such circumstances there could be no 

 thought of botanising. However, I obtained two pretty ferns 

 down by a river, and these I added, together with some mosses, 

 to a large collection of ferns I had already made in this 

 district. 



Two species of baboons, and especially Colobus guereza, are 

 very common indeed. I was able in a very short time to shoot 

 six specimens of the latter, called here dalla. The chim- 

 panzee is said to be found a few hours to the south. Its 

 northern limit, here as in Unyoro, is identical with that of the 

 rattan palm, that is, about 2° N. lat. Of rare birds, I may 

 mention Peters's crake (Ortygometra egregia), which was seen in 

 covies of three to six individuals, running about like hens in 

 the grass near the watercourses. It is difficult to make it rise, 

 and it is most easily caught by snares ; when caught, it shows 



