1867.] QUANTITIES OF FLOWERS AND GAME. 171 



sowing their maere, it is a sort of V-shaped implement, 

 made from a branch with another springing out of it, about 

 an inch in diameter at the sharp point, and with it they 

 claw the soil after scattering the seed ; about a dozen young- 

 men were so employed in the usual small patches as we 

 passed in the morning. 



The country now exhibits the extreme of leafiness and the 

 undulations are masses of green leaves ; as far as the eye 

 can reach with distinctness it rests on a mantle of that hue, 

 and beyond the scene becomes dark blue. Near at hand 

 many gay flowers peep out. Here and there the scarlet 

 martagon (Lilium clialceclonicum), bright blue or yellow 

 gingers ; red, orange, yellow, and pure white orchids ; pale 

 lobelias, &c. ; but they do not mar the general greenness. 

 As we ascended higher on the plateau, grasses, which have 

 pink and reddish brown seed-vessels imparted distinct shades 

 of their colours to the lawns, and were grateful to the eye. 

 We turned aside early in our march to avoid being wetted 

 by rains, and took shelter in some old Babisa sheds ; these, 

 when the party is a slaving one, are built so as to form a 

 circle, with but one opening : a ridge pole, or rather a suc- 

 cession of ridge poles, form one long shed all round, with 

 no partitions in the roof-shaped hut. 



On the 9th of January we ascended a hardened sandstone 

 range. Two men who accompanied our guide called out 

 every now and then to attract the attention of the honey- 

 guide, but none appeared. A water-buck had been killed 

 and eaten at one spot, the ground showing marks of a 

 severe struggle, but no game was to be seen. Buifaloes and 

 elephants come here at certain seasons ; at present they 

 have migrated elsewhere. The valleys are very beautiful : 

 the oozes are covered with a species of short wiry grass, 

 which gives the valleys the appearance of well-kept gentle- 

 men's parks; but they are full of water to overflowing — 

 immense sponges in fact ; — and one has to watch carefully 

 in crossing them to avoid plunging into deep water-holes, 



