126 A NATURALIST IN MID-AFRICA. 



that in the alluvial parts we may expect enor- 

 mous crops and a dense population in some future 

 day when there will be so many people that every 

 one must work. 



This really unpromising country may be said to 

 extend all round Ruwenzori, from the Dumei river 

 on the west to Butanuka on the east. There are, 

 however, considerable patches of alluvium every 

 here and there, and immediate^ one reaches the 

 outlying hills one finds a good country. The land 

 between the Dumei river and Tengetenge's on 

 the west is very rich, probably because it is so 

 close to the mountain. 



Occasionally, when passing along these plains, 

 a large rat or bandicoot may be seen scurrying 

 through the path, and antelopes are often visible 

 wherever the old grass has been burnt and is again 

 springing up in a green and tender condition. 

 Usually my terrier, Bobby, saw them at a long- 

 distance and impetuously pursued. No experience 

 or chastisement ever taught him the futility of 

 this predilection, and though, after such an esca- 

 pade, he was made to walk solemnly in a string for 

 several hours, I always let him loose again, partly 

 because he was so inexpressibly miserable, and 

 partly because my special boys had so much to 

 carry that he was a nuisance. When I did get the 

 chance of a shot, by crawling painfully 400 or 500 

 yards, I usually missed the animal altogether. 



Birds are very Qommon oyer all the country. In 



