AND THE CONGO FOREST 



195 



yiew across the Semliki to the snows and glaciers of Euwenzori, At the 

 lime of my visit, however, this great range remained obstinately concealed 

 behind its cloud-veiL But I was even more struck with the splendid land- 

 scapes to be seen to the south, where the eve roved over the beautiful 

 mountains to the west of Lake Albert Edward. These appeared to me to 

 tower into the sky to altitudes not far short of 10,000 feet, but I was 

 assured by the Belgians that the atmospheric effects at times were most 

 deceptive, and that the greatest altitude attained by the highest of these 

 peaks was ^lerhaps not more than G,000 feet above sea level, or, in other 



159. THK MIDDLE SKMLJKI XEAK THE SOUTHERN EDGE OE THE GREAT 

 SEMLIKI (COXGO) FOREST 



words, not more than 3,000 feet aliove the plain they dominated. There 

 •was such variety in the way in which they had been sculptured by the 

 hand of Nature. Crags and blue precipices would tower above emerald- 

 green lawns. Forests nestled against red cliffs which the atmosphere 

 turned to mauve-pink in colour. The glint of cascades could be seen 

 marking the precipitous descent of rivers. Far up in the southern sky 

 lowering clouds turned distant sierras to an inky purple. These regions 

 from all accounts will prove a most valuable sanatorium for the north- 

 eastern part of the Congo Free State. 



