366 THE ISLAND OF PAT00AN. [chap, xil 
if we looked wretched, the animals were a match. 
They had been bitten by the fly, thousands of which 
were at this spot. Their coats were staring, ears 
drooping, * noses running, and heads hanging down; 
all the symptoms of fly-bite, together with extreme 
looseness of the bowels. I saw that it was al] up 
with our animals. Weak as I was myself, I was 
obliged to walk, as my ox could not carry me up 
the steep inclination, and I toiled languidly to the 
summit of the cliff. It poured with rain. Upon 
arrival at the summit we were in precisely the same 
park-like land that characterizes Chopi and Unyoro, 
but the grass was about seven feet high; and from 
the constant rain, and the extreme fertility of the 
soil, the country was choked with vegetation. We 
were now above the Murchison Falls, and we heard 
the roaring of the water beneath us to our left. We 
continued our route parallel to the river above the 
Falls, steering east; and a little before evening we 
arrived at a small village belonging to the headman 
who accompanied us. I was chilled and wet; my 
wife had fortunately been carried in her litter, which 
was protected by a hide roofing. Feverish and ex¬ 
hausted, I procured from the natives some good acid 
plums, and refreshed by these I was able to boil my 
thermometer and take the altitude. 
On the following morning we started, the route as 
before parallel to the river, and so close that the roar 
of the rapids was extremely loud. The river flowed in 
a deep ravine upon our left. We continued for a day's 
march along the Somerset, crossing many ravines 
and torrents, until we turned suddenly down to the 
left, and arriving at the bank we were to be trans¬ 
ported to an island called Patooan, that was the resi¬ 
dence of a chief. It was about an hour after sunset, 
and being dark, my riding ox, who was being driven 
as too weak to carry me, fell into an elephant pitfall. 
After much hallooing, a canoe was brought from the 
island which was not more than fifty yards from the 
