300 LADO TO KEDIBA. 



Hoplopterus and Sarciophorus t edits are also frequent guests. 

 One of the most curious members of our flora, Adenium spe- 

 ciosum, Fenzl, fittingly compared by Marno to a baobab left 

 sticking in the earth, is very often found here ; the Bari call 

 the plant Loreni. We had to wade knee-deep in water and mud 

 through the broad swamp (which we had crossed the previous 

 year at a point much farther south) in order to reach the 

 Makraka road, which leads, over a slightly rising and very 

 sandy region in the district of Kuji, to numerous euphorbia 

 enclosures, where, at the time of Dr. Junker's travels here, a 

 great many hamlets and herds were to be seen. To-day the 

 woodpeckers hammer upon the fences, and wild grass and 

 Solanaceas cover the ruins of the huts, with more sympathy 

 than men, who at this very place hunted down the cattle and 

 their fellow-creatures. 



Nersho's small village of Koka, where we passed our first 

 night, lies in the midst of Lubia fields, to which the clumps of 

 trees on the sandy flats form a pleasing contrast. The total 

 absence of palms is remarkable. The Hibiscus sdbdariffa^ 

 which is grown so extensively in the Sliiili country, is culti- 

 vated here ; its purple leaves, and a white or purple fleshy 

 calix and large pale yellow flowers, give it a very showy 

 appearance. In the Shuli country the calix is relished 

 on account of its acidity, but the Bari only use the seeds, a 

 mucilaginous decoction of which is poured over their meal- 

 porridge. We had had to leave the Makraka road to get to 

 Koka, and now we had to find it again by the help of the 

 glorious moonlight. Our picturesque procession made its way 

 straight over the sand and through the thorns : a motley com- 

 pany — people from Nyambara and Amadi ; Chief Doli, with 

 his numerous nude and lusty beauties ; lanky, narrow-chested 

 Agar ; soldiers, and Danagla. Majestic trees, chiefly syca- 

 mores and tamarinds, and sometimes Parkias, formed thick 

 woods here, and then we came to tall grass, bent low by the 

 wind and its own weight, and often blocking the road. Nume- 

 rous game-tracks and elephant-runs cross these plains. 



As soon as we reached the Makraka road, a view opened up 

 of Jebel Malokwan and the chains of Reko and Mire ; behind, 

 Jebel Kumifi, and to the left, Jebel Veya (Vio), and several more 



