Leopard’s claws are very poisonous, and inflammation immediately sets in; many cases prove fatal on account of blood poisoning. Just one word more before closing this. Life out here is not one of constant “roughing it.” No girls in England could have been happier than we were, and there are heaps of things that make up for some left in Merrie England. For instance, a punt down the Thames is not to be compared to a paddle in a dug-out canoe or a sail in the same by a square of calico hoisted. There is a delightful lake right away among the mountains, only five miles off, and no one ever enjoyed a lunch like the one we had in the little reed bungalow on the shore. Our first picnic there was unique. The lunch was provided by the Government officials, and really, I had never imagined men were so domesticated. They superintended the culinary arrangements. The Administrator made a meat pie, the crust of which might have been improved; another produced a sort of trifle; while a third manufactured scones; and we tried not to notice the lack of baking powder. But we survived all three. CHAPTER VII Royal Life Kabarole, the capital of Toro, may be described as a city of hills. On the highest of these, commanding a panoramic view of the country north, south, and east of Ruwenzori, stands the palace of King Daudi Kasagama. The Uganda Protectorate differs from Nigeria and the other west coast districts, in that it possesses no old-established cities and towns. The custom of the Kings of each of the four independent Kingdoms of the Protectorate formerly was to remove the capital as each succeeded to the throne. This involved a constant exodus of the people, who cleared out bodily in order to be close to their King. Scarcely any traces can be found of the previous capitals, as the houses were constructed merely of reeds, poles and thatch, which offer no resistance to the destroying hand of time; occasionally a worn grinding-stone or a broken cooking-pot is met with among waving elephant grass that immediately assumed mastery of the ground on the removal of the people. In 1891 Kasagama succeeded to the throne of Toro, which was then being plundered and ravaged by the Kabarega, the neighbouring and powerful King of Unyoro. For some years the whole district was distressed by the merciless tyranny of the raiders, and the people were obliged to flee to the shelter of the mountains. Now peace and order reign, the security and authority of the King and his counsellors have been established by the British Government, and the country sown on all hands with the seed of Christianity which has effected a complete reformation in the lives and condition of the people.