Government House is a large parallelogram of bamboo. The roof is an intricate mass of branches and tree-trunks, with a pitch so flat that it admits every shower. Mr. Higgins was at once obliged to expend 10_l_.-12_l_. in removing and restoring the house-cover. Under it are built two separate and independent squares of wattle with plank floors raised a foot or so off the ground; these dull and dismal holes, which have doors but no windows, serve as sleeping-places. The rest of the interior goes by the name of a sitting-room. The outer walls are whitewashed on both sides, and between them and the two wattle squares is a space of 6 to 8 feet, adding to the disproportionate appearance of the interior. Had it been divided off in the usual way the tenement would have been much more comfortable. There is a scatter of ragged huts, grandiosely designated as the barracks, on the level space where the Haussas parade. When Mr. Higgins was making himself water-tight, these lazy loons had the impudence to ask that he would either have their lines mended or order new ones to be built. I would have made them throw down their ramshackle cabins, knock up decent huts, and keep them in good order. Leaving Government House, I descended the steep incline of Vinegar Hill, passed through the little Esanuma village, and crossed two streams flowing south. One is easily forded; the eastern has a corduroy bridge 176 ft. long, built to clear the muds on either side. I shall call this double water the Takwa rivulet, and shall have more to say about it on my return. Another steep ascent placed me at the Effuenta establishment. I was now paying my second visit to the far-famed Takwa Ridge. It is a long line running parallel with Vinegar Hill, but instead of being regular, like its neighbour, it is broken into a series of small crests looking on the map like vertebrae; these heights being parted by secondary valleys, some of which descend almost to the level of the flowing water. Westward the hog's-back is bounded by the Takwa rivulet, rising in the northern part of the valley. Eastwards there is a corresponding feature called by the English 'Quartz Creek:' it breaks through the ridge in the southern section of the Effuenta property and unites with the Takwa. My aneroid showed the height of the crest to be 260 feet above sea-level, and about 160 above the valley. Mr. Wyatt has raised it to 1,400 feet--a curious miscalculation. At Effuenta I found Mr. MacLennan, the manager whom we last met at Axim. Owing to the drowned-out state of 'Government House' he had given hospitality to Messieurs Higgins and Roulston, and I could not prevent his leaving his own sleeping-room for my better accommodation. I spent two days with him inspecting the mine and working up my notes; during this time Mr. Bowden, of Takwa, and Mr. Ex-missionary Dawson passed through the station; and I was unfortunate in missing the former.