210 
THE EXSETE OF BRUCE. 
were laid parallel with the run of the valley upon 
the piles, forming a passage about twelve feet broad. 
These had sunk and rotted, and walking over them 
with bare feet was annoying and painful. The trees 
and deep green foliage in the moist dells were densely 
thick and lofty, some with straight unbranched stems, 
towering higher than any ordinary palm. Ferns, 
mosses, creepers, climbers, &c, hid or covered their 
trunks and branches, making shade for the wild buf- 
falo and elephant, who, unconscious of a stage erected 
overhead to watch them, would come to escape the 
heat of the day. 
An extraordinary -looking tree, of the plantain 
family, was seen growing wild outside a cultivation. 
I brought home its seeds, and they have been pro- 
nounced to be the Ensete of Bruce, first discovered by 
him in Abyssinia. From its similarity to the plantain 
I had almost passed it unnoticed, but was attracted by 
its marvellous stoutness of stem and disproportionate- 
ly low appearance, its shape being as if one big drum 
were placed over another, with gigantic single leaves 
growing from their sides. The natives wore necklaces 
made of its seeds, which were called M'seegwah by our 
Seedees. At 3°N. they were again met with, growing 
upon broken rocky heights, but they were seen nowhere 
else. The leaves were much eaten by the goats. 
The stretcher which carried me part of the way 
from Karague had been discarded, as the Waganda 
saw my only ailment was lameness and stiff knee-joint. 
Through such a rough country walking was very tire- 
some and a severe exertion, and it was made more so by 
the pace these excitable Waganda travel at. But they 
were very civil in assisting me through difficulties, a 
