SIR,—I have just been reading the delightful article in the
Spectator of January 16th under the above heading, and living as I am close to the foot of the eastern slopes of Ruwenzori, the paragraph suggesting that range as a likely spot for a leisured millionaire much interested me. The writer of the article displays considerable knowledge of the conditions ob- taining in this far-away haunt of the Pax Britannica, but he makes a slip in his geography, and fails to note what might be a fatal objection in the eyes of many. An "enlightened millionaire" could, no doubt, overcome all obstacles in the way of transport, both of building materials and the neces- saries and luxuries of life, even £3 per hundredweight being, perhaps, no great matter to a six or seven figure income. The big game—elephants, lions, antelopes, &c.—is plentiful enough if one is prepared to work hard to find it. With skilful gardeners, there should be no difficulty in supplying the table with almost any English and many tropical fruits, and most English vegetables. The glaciers and rocky heights of the Mountains of the Moon still await the conquering climber, though two parties of Europeans (the one I joined included a lady) have succeeded in reaching the snow-line since Sir H. Johnston first had a track cut up the Mubuku Valley. But would any one in search of rest, recreation, or change select a region where for nine months of the year rain falls almost incessantly, usually accompanied by fierce lightning and terrific crashes of thunder? Even here, at the capital of the little kingdom of Toro, rain falls on about three-fifths of the days in the year, and it is far more frequent, naturally, on the mountains themselves. As I write, at the close of a wet day, the rain still falls, "the vapours weep their burden to the ground" with a weary drip, while Ruwenzori is clad in clinging shrouds of mist. Could any one endure for long the incessant soaking of the rain, the oft-repeated alarms of thunder and lightning ? The writer of the article has tripped in his geography in one place. He speaks of crossing the Victoria Nyanza, passing through dense forests to the Semliki, and so on to the mountains. But the Semliki flows west of the Ruwenzori range, which must be crossed by the traveller from Uganda before be reaches the teeming plains in the river valley, perhaps the wildest, as the most remote, corner"of the whole Protectorate, close to the dense dark mass of the Great Forest, which still holds who knows what new beasts, birds, and plants, awaiting the enterprising naturalist or " Arabian
Nights" millionaire.—I am, Sir, &c., A. L. KITCHINO. Toro, British East Africa.
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