Through Ruanda to Lake Kiwu 63 



the shape of a most welcome parcel of fresh tomatoes and 

 vegetables. This was a great treat, our enjoyment of which 

 could not be adequately appreciated save by Europeans who had 

 suffered, like ourselves, from long deprivation of such luxuries. 



If we were going to fulfil satisfactorily the various tasks we 

 had set ourselves, it was now high time that we were once more 

 on the move. So we resolved upon an early departure. 



The most singular fact associated with our visit was that 

 we never once came face to face with a Watussi woman. It 

 appeared that they had been carefully guarded in their huts the 

 whole of the time, so that they might not meet the eye of any 

 of the "whites." 



When we took our leave of the Sultan, at early dawn on 

 the 1 2th of August, it was with a certain amount of satisfaction. 

 We had been afforded an insight into the court life of a negro 

 prince and favoured with a display of his power such as no 

 one had ever experienced previously, or would probably ever 

 experience again. When the illimitable power of this Sultan 

 has receded before European influence, and when busy throngs 

 of traders encroach upon the haughty aloofness of this most 

 aristocratic of all negro tribes, and the white man's herds graze 

 in its pastures, then we shall be able to appreciate to the full 

 the value of our remarkable experience. 



Our last day with Msinga brought about a decision which 

 proved later to be a most happy one, and was due to Captain von 

 Grawert. He had told our botanist, Mildbraed, of the wealth to 

 be found in the forest of Rugege, which clothed the marginal 

 mountains of Lake Kiwu between Niansa and Ischangi. He 

 spoke of its tree-ferns and of its masses of begonias, and strongly 

 advised him to make an excursion in that direction. As Schubotz, 

 the zoologist, was inclined to join in, this meant a further split- 

 ting-up of the expedition. So while the main body marched on 

 with von Grawert towards the eastern bay of Lake Kiwu, and met 

 with the events which I shall describe in the final pages, the two 

 biologists traversed the Rugege forest towards Ischangi, at the 

 southern end of the lake, whence Grawert was to fetch them 



