Lake Victoria 19 



noticeable feature of the Bukoba province, the country now 

 gradually began to assume a more steppe-like character, and 

 game was met in abundance. We camped in the centre of a 

 steppe on which candelabrum-shaped euphorbiaceous plants grew 

 almost exclusively, which were more typical than any I had seen 

 before. You could scan the horizon on all sides. Here and 

 there a graceful Swala antelope started up from the low-lying 

 grass, and now and then a startled rietbock flew away from us 

 across the plain. The little ducker* whisked off in alarm from 

 cover to cover, and sharply defined against the golden-red glow 

 of the setting sun, which was bathing everything in an indescrib- 

 able flood of splendour, could be seen the unlovely form of the 

 lyre antelope eyeing us in perplexity and bewilderment. 



Our route now lay via Kiangwe, Kenschambi, Niawatura to 

 Kesimbili, where in 1902 the Anglo-German Boundary Com- 

 mission laid the stones which mark the limit of British territory. 



This march was one of the most interesting in the whole of this 

 province, and certainly the finest as regards scenery. The path, 

 which rose up steeply over high masses of rock, led directly to 

 the rapids of the wild-rushing Kagera, whose banks, bordered 

 with broads bands of papyrus and phoenix palms, would have 

 enchanted any artist's eye. The temperature, corresponding to 

 the altitude, was very cool in the early morning and evening 

 hours, the average record at sunrise being 8 degrees, 28 degrees 

 at noon, and 20 degrees Celsius at seven in the evening. These 

 temperatures conduced in a marked degree to the capacity for 

 work of both Europeans and carriers. The evening hours beneath 

 the starlit heavens were almost cold, and a warm European coat 

 was decidedly welcome. We were exceedingly glad to experience 

 this weather, as it indicated the close of the rainy season, which 

 had commenced almost simultaneously with our arrival at 

 Bukoba, It was most fortunate in respect to our collections, as 

 we were thus enabled to send away our zoological and botanical 

 specimens in first-class condition. 



At the boundary of the Bukoba province Captain von Stuemer 

 • Ditcher, dwarf antelope. 



