Through Ruanda to Lake Kiwu 65 



revealed a perfect genius for pitching upon the exact spots suit- 

 able. It was only necessary for us to indicate the direction in 

 which the tent was to be pitched, with the stereotyped ' mlango 

 huko!' ('door there!') to be assured of finding ourselves snug 

 for another day. 



" And now to the west, towards Lake Kiwu ! The scenery 

 differed entirely in character from that to which we had grown 

 accustomed during our long sojourn at Lake Mohasi, and re- 

 minded us more of South Mpororo. Whilst the country round 

 Mohasi appeared to be a maze of fairly lofty ridges, divided by 

 broad valleys — a tableland traversed by numerous broken rifts, 

 characterised by no typical mountain masses — the landscape 

 south of the Niawarongo, about a day's march from Msinga's 

 residence, assumed a different aspect. Numerous isolated moun- 

 tains rose above the undulating tracts of land, not imposing at 

 all in their height, but more hill-like and often strikingly regular 

 in their conical form. This mountain scenery, however, came 

 to an end on the first day of our march. On reaching the little 

 river Mhogo (which, united with the Rukarara, forms the Nia- 

 warongo) the Shunda mountain group rose up in front of us like 

 an advance post of the Kiwu Mountains, spreading over the 

 broad papyrus valley and falling away in picturesque steep, bare 

 declivities. 



"From our line of route one gained quite another impression 

 of the margin of the rift-valley to that which the traveller gains 

 who goes from Mohasi or from Mpororo to the lake. On that 

 route the road rises steadily and imperceptibly until it begins 

 to slope down to the ' ditch,' but on our route from the east the 

 marginal ridges appear like fair-sized mountains. Fond as I am 

 of mountains, I must confess that when I was confronted by 

 the steep and rugged-looking Shunda the idea of having to sur- 

 mount it seemed to promise so little pleasure that I felt like 

 pitching tents at once. But Miniago led us round the base into 

 the valley of the Lukondo, where we camped in the shade of 

 the mighty Shunda, on its southern slopes, which were profusely 

 overgrown with bananas. At night we were favoured with an 

 J 



