THE SALT LAKE AND SEMLIKI VALLEY. 145 



an hour, and then down came a heavy thunder- 

 shower. I remained in the shade of a damp rock 

 for nearly an hour and then decided to go on, 

 but I was wet to the skin in a few minutes. I 

 went on as well as I could for some time, but had 

 got out of the forest into a most difficult place. 

 Before me rose a huge precipitous cliff. The 

 boulders from this were lying in confusion all 

 round its base, and the crevices and crannies were 

 half concealed and shrouded by masses of green 

 moss and creepers. Amongst these were growing 

 quantities of beautiful Alchemilla (A. Stuhlmanni) 

 with shining silvery leaves. It was still raining, 

 my khakee clothes were stiff, and I was shivering 

 and half numb. After one or two tumbles, in 

 which I nearly broke my leg, I decided that it 

 would be useless to go further. I had got to 

 the central core of the range, just at the back 

 of the "Premolar" mountain, which I had seen 

 from the Mubuku valley. I had, as I thought, 

 then ascended far above anybody else (it turned 

 out to be only 13,000 feet), and it was physically 

 impossible to get up to the top that day and return 

 to my provisions and bag within twenty-four hours. 

 So I came down again and soon found that I was 

 in the cold stage of fever. It was still raining, and 

 the rest of that night was a sort of horrible dream. 

 When I got to my bag, I swallowed some Kola 

 chocolate : I could not light a match, and was 

 shaking from head to foot, so I had to climb down 



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