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The National Geographic Magazine 



roof-pole. Here and there a double cir- 

 cle of stones denoted a hut built after the 

 form of the modern Abyssinian tucal, 

 with a passage round it. Judging from 

 a few higher stones still standing, these 

 villages had evidently been surrounded 

 by a palisade. At the present time the 

 population is scanty, so that considerable 

 difficulty is found in provisioning the 

 stations. The greater part of the grain 

 for my men had to be drawn from a dis- 

 trict several days east of the Nile, on the 

 Uganda side. 



PRIMITIVE BLACKSMITHS 



Working southward from Rejaf, I 

 struck up the valley of the Kaya, where 

 scattered settlements of nomad Bari plied 

 the double trade of fishermen and black- 

 smiths. The women generally took their 

 part in the work as well as the men. In 

 little hollows on the flat surface of a rock, 

 they would pound the filbert-like nuts of 

 iron ore to powder. This was then car- 

 ried to the smelting pits near by, grass- 

 roofed constructions shaped like the let- 

 ter V and encircled in heaps of dross and 

 charcoal. Here and there couples of men 

 were hard at work forging hoes, one of 

 them beating the mass of glowing metal 

 into shape with two stones, to serve the 

 purpose of hammer and anvil, while his 

 companion plied the bellows. One of the 

 blacksmiths told me that the iron ore is 

 collected from the surface of the ground 

 at a place ten days distant. When the 

 hoes are completed they are taken over 

 to the great chief of the Bari tribe, on 

 the Uganda side, who buys them for 

 flour. 



As the caravan drew nearer Wadelai, 

 I found a stretch of country which 

 proved to be the favorite haunt, at that 

 time of year, of not only white rhino, but 

 bull elephants. Here I was able- to re- 

 alize the two chief objects of my visit 

 to the Enclave, by securing a complete 

 skin and skeleton of a white rhino bull 

 and the hides of two elephants nearly 12 

 feet in height. One of these latter was 

 destined for the British Natural History 

 Museum, whose director had been trying 

 to procure such a specimen for the last 



three years. The other I proposed pre- 

 senting to the Tervueren Museum near 

 Brussels. The preservation of these 

 skins gave great trouble, but they were 

 eventually sent off in good condition to 

 Kampala, which place, thanks to the 

 courtesy of the late Mr Fowler, sub-com- 

 missioner Nile provinces and collector at 

 Hoima, they reached in excellent time. 

 But unfortunately, for some reason yet 

 to be explained, the skins were after- 

 wards detained so long that the lake- 

 shore climate completely ruined them, to 

 the loss of the museums and to my dis- 

 gust, for there was a heavy bill of car- 

 riage to pay. When two years previ- 

 ously, in 1903, I traversed the country 

 between Wadelai and Mahagi Bay, at the 

 northwestern corner of Lake Albert, it 

 was practically depopulated, for the vil- 

 lagers had moved over to the Uganda 

 side. Now, to my surprise, I found new 

 villages being established all along the 

 route, the natives having returned to 

 escape the Uganda hut-tax. 



From Mahagi Bay station we pushed 

 our way up the hills to Mahagi proper, 

 lying 4% hours from the lake and 1,180 

 feet above it. Here, as in all other sta- 

 tions I had visited, great improvements 

 were to be seen. New brick houses had 

 been constructed and stretches of bush 

 had been cleared to give place to vege- 

 table gardens and cultivation. My route 

 now led over the Nile-Congo watershed, 

 a series of rolling grass hills intersected 

 by running streams fringed with belts of 

 timber. My highest camp was at Mon- 

 golula, at an elevation of 5,950 feet. This 

 region is for the greater part very 

 sparsely inhabited and gives promise of 

 one day becoming a valuable grazing 

 ground for white settlers. Through 

 Irumu bands of natives were passing on 

 their way to the Kilo gold mines, where 

 work on the alluvial deposits has been 

 successfully commenced, some 35 ounces 

 of gold being washed per day. 



The Ituri River, a day's journey from 

 Irumu, forms the dividing line between 

 the grass land and the great forest. 

 When my canoe had almost crossed the 

 clear, rapid waters, 150 yards wide, I 



