380 THROUGH ABAKA COUNTRY TO GOSA. 



flowed, was extremely interesting to me, owing to a species of 

 Pandanus, which was growing in a peculiar manner, some of 

 the plants having shot up to a great height before spreading 

 out their fans, whilst others resembled enormous reeds, divid- 

 ing close to the ground, and forming an impenetrable hedge 

 along the khor. The hook- like thorns on the edges of the 

 leaves and on the under surface of the midrib were very sharp 

 and dangerous to the skin. This plant is called by all the 

 Zande boddumo, by the Abaka bakM, and by the Mundii 

 langa. This appears to be the most easterly point of its 

 distribution. 



The village of Langaza, a Bongbe settlement, is surrounded 

 by durrah-fields ; its inhabitants had fled, but were seen peep- 

 ing out from behind the bushes. It is curious to note that 

 the people here sow eleusine and Hyptis amongst the durrah. 

 I noticed in the cc gallery " wood near Khor Langa an old friend 

 in the gigantic tree called in Kiganda, mpafu, and which, ac- 

 cording to Cameron's book, is known under the same name on 

 the west side of Tanganyika. In Abaka this tree is called 

 obbi, in Mundii abbi, in Zande mbiri or mbili, in Makraka bino, 

 and the use of its sweet-smelling resin and of its reddish 

 compact wood, as also the extraction of its red oil from the 

 green husks, are known here. Two of the trees I saw were 

 very large, but not so gigantic as those seen in Uganda. 



Khor Lauga forms the boundary between the Abaka and 

 Mundii countries. The " gallery " wood at Khor Krafa, which 

 takes about twenty minutes to cross, surpassed in beauty and in 

 luxuriance of vegetation any I have hitherto seen. In the deep 

 twilight, to which no sunbeam penetrates, ferns, Calladias, Acan- 

 thus, and Capparidaceae rivalled each other in the vigour of their 

 growth. The stream foamed over the moss-covered stones in 

 silvery white cascades, and high up in the trees the white coat 

 of the Colobus guereza flashed now and then through the thick 

 entangled foliage. After a short march through the steppe in 

 which these Ichors are situated, we arrived at an early hour at 

 Khor Aire or Ire, which had a dense barrier of reeds. Its 

 water was of a yellowish colour, and the opposite bank of the 

 river flashed and glittered with mica. After twice fordiug this 

 JcJior, we reached the station of Kudiirma, which lay to the 



