66 In the Heart of Africa 



enchanting picture: a grass fire broke out on the ridge-combs, 

 silhouetting the mountains against a line of fire. The tempera- 

 ture was a sharp reminder that we were in the vicinity of moun- 

 tains, for our thermometer registered only five degrees in the 

 morning. 



"We marched up the valley of the Lukondo, which at this 

 point was strikingly reminiscent of an Alpine brook, at an eleva- 

 tion above the tree limits. Its waters rushed foaming along 

 between the grassy slopes, forming diminutive falls over the 

 blocks of stone lying in its bed. Then the valley widened out 

 into a broad, richly cultivated basin, enclosed by numerous 

 summits, curiously reminiscent of a piece of stage scenery. Here 

 we found a beautiful path, which led us about half-way up 

 the basin to a pass whence we enjoyed a view of some of the 

 higher mountains. We then descended to the Rukarara, the other 

 great source of the Niawarongo, the young Nile, though at this 

 spot it is merely a mountain spring, bounding and foaming in 

 an exuberance of youthful glee over the pebbles and stones. We 

 soon left it again, and turned to the south-west, passing through 

 a short, narrow valley, at the end of which we pitched our camp 

 and enjoyed a magnificent view of the country near by which 

 we had travelled and of the forest hills we had surmounted. 

 A very stiff piece of climbing, however, still lay in front of us 

 before we attained the Rugege forest. 



" On the third day of our march we were confronted by some 

 mountains, whose bold, rugged forms were to us very imposing, 

 for our appreciation had not then been blunted by the sight of the 

 gigantic volcanoes. At a saddle-shaped pass — Katandaganja — 

 the main climb was accomplished, and we soon came to the water- 

 shed that runs between the Rukarara and the Kiwu, and between 

 the Nile and the Congo, the road rising gradually, and sloping 

 again over the long-stretching ridges down to Lake Kiwu. What 

 we had seen at the Toteninsel, Bukoba, in a small way, and was 

 repeated on a larger scale at Kiwu, showed itself again here— a 

 steep, rough, and rugged descent towards the east and a gentler 

 declivity towards the west. The Ruanda plateau in a similar 



