82 Wanderings in Eastern Africa, 
not the rain-falls regular and certain, the people could 
not exist. Any diminution in the amount of rain is 
instantly felt, and a season of drought occasions a 
famine. 
The seasons are remarkably regular on the whole. 
The Muaka (large rains) commence at the latter end 
of March or the beginning of April The clouds 
come sweeping in from the south, and overhang the 
country like a dark pall, or descend upon the land- 
scape like a November fog in England, obscuring 
everything, and pouring their contents in broad sheets 
upon the earth, sometimes without cessation for days. 
These rains continue through the months of April, 
May, and June. There is then a pause, followed by 
showers in July. The latter rains are called the Mcho. 
Nature is now in her best dress, the whole country 
being gorgeously arrayed in robes of green. August 
and September are dry, so that by the end of the 
latter month vegetation has drooped, and all looks 
withered and sere. In October and November the 
Vule or lesser rains fall, when nature recovers, as if 
by magic, and all is dressed in life and beauty once 
more. Next comes the dry season, extending from 
November to April, when the trees lose their leaves, 
the grasses perish, the earth cracks, the air becomes 
exceedingly dry, the sun blazes furiously, and a deadly 
haze overhangs all. As if to intensify the aspect of 
desolation, the natives fire the grasses. The flames 
rage over the plains, through the valleys, up the 
mountain sides, and over their tops, for days, leaving 
the earth, black with the charred remains. The 
country is now the mere ghost of what it was a short 
time before, and looks unspeakably dreary. But a 
