St2 A NATURALIST IN MID-AFRICA. 



the Mubuku at a very difficult ford, to establish 

 my camp on a small buttress of the mountain, 

 whence there was a most lovely view up the river. 

 It is a steep, forest-clad valley, in which one sees 

 here and there the silver streak of a waterfall. 

 About sundown the clouds began to roll away 

 with most aggravating hesitation, and a series of 

 huge mountains with shining strips of snow on 

 their precipitous sides began to appear one after 

 the other. One I called Mount Premolar, from 

 its shape ; it seems to be the one which I reached 

 from the Nyamwamba valley afterwards. I had 

 one or two attacks of fever, and was waiting to 

 enable me to get sufficient strength back, when 

 several ominous facts began to appear. 



Unfortunately there was no food to be had, and 

 the people were shy and much afraid of Kasagama, 

 the Sultan of Toru, who sent to say he wished to 

 see me. I thought it best to go and see him first, 

 intending to return after investigating the nature 

 of the other valleys, for it seemed from my maps 

 that near Butanuka I ought to be very close to 

 the central chain. 



This part of the mountain was a very bad place 

 for leopards. One very dark night a porter went 

 outside the camp and was seized by one. On 

 hearing the noise I rushed out, and, after some 

 trouble and much expenditure of powder, found the 

 man with part of his cheek bitten out and severe 

 wounds on the neck. As soon as I had attended 



