36 In the Heart of Africa 



bottles of champagne we had taken with us for sickness, or other 

 cases of emergency, did duty in celebrating the occasion. 



On the 13th of July we again decided to make a day's excur- 

 sion towards the east, if possible as far as the Kagera. We set 

 off at sunrise with twenty carriers, crossing the Kalangassa and 

 passing the northern slope of Mount Ndama. The farther we 

 proceeded eastward the more hilly and picturesque the country 

 became with its herds of elands, jimdra (lyre-antelopes), and 

 zebras. The steppe is chiefly covered with the umbrella palm, 

 which grows in shady clumps. At one of these latter, on a slope 

 near the summit, we saw a troop of equine antelopes browsing. 



We had decidedly underrated the distance to the Kagera. 

 Then, too, we had deviated somewhat south-east in consequence 

 of the various hill-tops which had stood in our path. As it was 

 late in the afternoon, we were compelled to return to camp. We 

 arrived there considerably after nightfall, having been away 

 fourteen hours. 



On the next day we struck camp and journeyed farther south. 

 A fresh division of loads gave us no small amount of trouble, 

 our greatly increased zoological assortment necessitating a much 

 larger number of carriers. We were in an awkward dilemma 

 with regard to this when, to our great good fortune, one of our 

 commissariat caravans from an inhabited district west of the 

 Kakitumbe hove in sight. 



Whilst on the march we came across one of the commissariat 

 trains from Lake Mohasi which had been commissioned for 

 Weiss, and we then received our first German mail. It included 

 our first authentic news of Weiss, as well as of Wiese, whose 

 camp had been passed by this caravan, which had orders to 

 proceed to the Kagera, south of Mount Oregero. In a few lines 

 Weiss and Kirschstein were informed of our movements. 



Our new camp lay close beside a papyrus swamp, which 

 extended far away to the south, and was a real El Dorado for 

 buffaloes. Perfectly unknown to man, it was bound to afford us 

 some zoological surprises. 



Like all explorers, we had naturally set our ambition upon 



