382 
UGANDA 
[CH. XIII 
It was pleasant to stride along the road in the early 
mornings, followed by the safari, and we saw many 
a glorious sunrise. But as noon approached it grew 
very hot under the glare of the brazen equatorial sun, 
and we w r ere always glad when we approached our new 
camp, with its grass-strewn ground, its wickerwork 
fence, and cool, open rest-house. The local sub-chief 
and his elders were usually drawn up to receive me at 
the gate, bowing, clapping their hands, and uttering 
their long-drawn e-h-h-s ; and often banana saplings or 
branches would be stuck in the ground to form avenues 
of approach, and the fence and rest-house might be 
decorated with flowers of many kinds. Sometimes we 
were met with music, on instruments of one string, of 
three strings, of ten strings—rudimentary fiddles and 
harps ; and there was a much more complicated instru¬ 
ment, big and cumbrous, made of bars of wood placed 
on two banana-stems, the bars being struck with a 
hammer, as if they were keys ; its tones were deep and 
good. Along the road we did not see habitations or 
people; but continually there led away from it, twisting 
through the tall grass and the bush jungles, native 
paths, the earth beaten brown and hard by countless 
bare feet; and these, crossing and recrossing in a net¬ 
work, led to plantation after plantation of bananas and 
sweet potatoes, and clusters of thatched huts. 
In the afternoon, as the sun began to get well beyond 
the meridian, we usually sallied forth to hunt, under the 
guidance of some native who had come in to tell us 
where he had seen game that morning. The jungle 
was so thick in places and the grass was everywhere so 
long, that without such guidance there was little 
successful hunting to be done in only two or three 
hours. We might come back with a buck, or with two 
or three guinea-fowl, or with nothing. 
