126 
BEAUTIFUL UGANDA 
“The broad native roads make as straight as possible for their 
mark, like the roads of the Romans, and, to the tired traveler, seem 
to pick out preferentially the highest and steepest hills, which they 
ascend perpendicularly and without compromise. 
“The road is as broad as an English country road, quite different 
from the ordinary African path (which is barely the breadth of the 
space occupied by men walking in single file). On either side of 
the road the grass grows high, perhaps to heights of seven or eight 
feet, but it is interspersed with gayer-flowering plants and shrubs. 
The road ascends a steep hill through this country of luxuriant grass. 
The hilltop reached and the descent begun, the traveler sees before 
him a broad marsh in the valley below.. The descent to this marsh 
is possibly so abrupt that it is deemed wiser to get off the horse or 
mule and leave that beast to slither down sideways. 
“Looking on either side as the marsh is being crossed, the trav¬ 
eler will notice first of all the gigantic papyrus, which may be growing 
as high as fifteen feet above the water and interspersed amongst 
papyrus roots are quantities of fern, of amaranth, or “love-lies-a-bleed- 
ing,” and the gorgeous red-purple Dissotis flowers, a yellow composite 
like a malformed daisy, and large masses of pink or lavender-colored 
Pentas. There are also sages and mints which smell strongly of 
peppermint, and a rather handsome plant with large white bracts and 
small mauve flowers. 
“In and out of this marsh vegetation flit charming little finches 
of the waxbill type. One of them is particularly beautiful, with a 
body of black, white, and dove color and a crimson back. The next 
ascent of the inevitable hill which succeeds the marsh may lead one 
through a more wooded country, where, among many other flowering 
shrubs, grows a species of mallow (Abatilon ), with blush-pink flowers 
in clusters, like dog-roses in general appearance. 
“The forests and marshes of Uganda abound in remarkable 
monkeys and brilliantly colored birds to a degree not common else¬ 
where in tropical Africa; but the Kingdom of Uganda, as may be 
imagined from its relatively dense population—a population once 
much thicker than to-day—has been to a great extent denuded of its 
big game, and it is unlikely the President will spend much time there. 
