Untrodden Paths 29 



tents hard up against a mass of rock rising out of the buga and 

 opposite Mount Ndama, two hundred kilometres from the river- 

 course, with an unparalleled view of the country lying in front 

 of us. Whilst en route to our new headquarters we observed a 

 number of people on the summit of Mount Njerubanga, appar- 

 ently occupied in the construction of a signalling station. In 

 order to attract their attention and to determine whether they 

 were members of the caravan, we took drastic measures. We set 

 the steppe on fire. Our signal did not fail of its effect, for we 

 were soon answered by a similar illumination. A patrol ascer- 

 tained later that the party belonged to Wiese's caravan, the 

 Askari leader of which did not know the whereabouts of his 

 chief. 



It proved, generally speaking, an extremely difficult matter 

 to maintain steady communication with the other column in this 

 undulating region, in which some of the hill summits achieved an 

 elevation of 1,500 metres. The district is deserted, and the 

 inhabitants at the back of the mountain fringes were very shy of 

 Europeans. This quite unjustifiable timidity gave rise to many 

 mistakes, often of a decidedly disagreeable nature. The people 

 furnished lying or inaccurate reports, so that the patrols often 

 lost their way and returned with their missions unaccomplished. 

 At first we used to mark the position of the camp by signalling 

 with lights in the evening hours, a method which was then 

 successful ; but later on our signals were obscured by the denser 

 foliage in the south and hilly country, and we thus often 

 remained without tidings of one another for some length of time. 



This lack of a connecting line of communication once landed 

 Lieutenant Weiss and Kirschstein in a highly critical position. 

 They had crossed the Kagera at the Kanjonsa ferry in one and a 

 half days in a folding boat, and were journeying southwards for 

 survey purposes. Weiss in reporting the episode wrote : 



" I was assisted in my signal constructing and topography by 

 Lieutenant von Wiese. In order that we might work together, 

 Wiese and I had arranged to meet near the Kakitumbe at a point 

 where we had determined to construct the new signal station at 



