Through Ruanda to Lake Kiwu 67 



manner rises suddenly over South Mpororo, and the marginal 

 heights to the west of Lake Kiwu and Lake Albert Edward 

 break off equally abruptly towards the lakes. 



" We had now to descend the south-west slope of Katan- 

 daganja, face to face with the peak of Ssekera, which rose up 

 before us like a colossal cone. At its foot the road wound round 

 another mountain mass, on the southern side of which we pro- 

 posed to camp. The guide and a number of the carriers having 

 pushed further ahead, however, we crossed one brook more, which 

 was sparkling with clear crystal water, and pitched our tents on 

 the opposite side on the slope of a hill. From a scenic point of 

 view this camp had a greater charm than any we had hitherto 

 fixed upon. Below us was the valley with the little brook ; all 

 around us lay innumerable gentle hill slopes and ridges leading 

 to a noble green mountain mass ; to the right, in the background 

 of the picture, the summit of Ssekera, which from this spot looked 

 like a broad, massive colossus — with the hills covered with a 

 luxurious carpet of dark green brake fern, from which small pea- 

 fields stood out in sharp contrast in emerald green splotches 

 round the last scattered settlements at the entrance to the forest. 



" Brake fern ? Certainly ; exactly similar to that which grows 

 everywhere in Germany. We had already met several very 

 pleasant homely species among Flora's children — blackberries, 

 clovers {Trifolium simense and usambarense), willow-herb {Epi- 

 lobium), a dog's tongue and sky-blue forget-me-nots (cyno- 

 glossum), a cock's head {Plantago -pahnato Hook /.), very similar 

 to our big cock's head {PI. major), etc. These plants showed us 

 that we had gained that region of mountain flora which evinces 

 such striking uniformity on all the high tablelands of tropical 

 Africa, from Abyssinia and Kilimandscharo to the far-off 

 Cameroon Mountains in the west. 



" This mountain flora seems as it were to cap the vegetation of 

 the steppes and the tropical forest. The bracken was richly 

 interspersed with flowering herbaceous plants and shrubs, and 

 the whole scene was full of charm for the botanist. One growth, 

 however, would have awakened the interest of the veriest dullard 



