74 In the Heart of Africa 



when on excursions, and also when on the march with the caravan, 

 of obtaining material from the loftier trees, and that, too, of 

 excellent quality and in rich profusion. Of course, it was neces- 

 sary to select a bough that in its fall would actually reach the 

 ground, and not be left hung up at the top or caught by the smaller 

 trees. A sharp look-out for blooms and fruits lying on the 

 ground was also kept in the same manner as tracks are examined. 

 The shots certainly caused a fair amount of splintering, and the 

 specimens suffered in consequence of the small calibre and the 

 excessive perforating power of the weapon used. Excellent 

 results would doubtless be achieved with large calibre explosive 

 projectiles fired from an elephant rifle with a relatively weaker 

 charge of powder. 



" The zoologist is even less advantageously situated than the 

 botanist when a stay is cut too short. We did, indeed, see bush- 

 buck, elephants, leopards, long-tailed monkeys, and colobus 

 apes — saw them and partly tracked them, but never got within 

 range. Our prizes in the way of birds and invertebrates were 

 more satisfactory. At dusk, high above the valley, flocks of grey 

 parrots would whistle melodiously in their flight to their roosting 

 places, and a splendid touraco {Ruwenzor ornis chalcofhtalmicus)^ 

 a new species, closely allied to the Ruwenzor ornis Joknstoni, occa- 

 sionally filled the forest with a manifold variety of cries. On 

 the march, too, by a lucky shot Schubotz brought down a pair of 

 giant touracos {Corythaeola major'), similar to the grey parrot 

 variety belonging to the West African fauna. 



"After saying farewell to our Rukarara camp we soon crossed 

 over the watercourse which lay between it and the brooks flowing 

 to the Kiwu, between the Nile and the Congo. Our way led into 

 the valley of the Schampf, in which for the first time in the 

 Rugege Forest we saw the Podocarpus, those splendid trees with 

 their branches stretching up perpendicularly and uniting into a 

 pyramid-shaped crown. It was a hitherto unknown species, but 

 as I brought away neither blossoms nor fruits, their determination 

 is uncertain. We ought to have camped in this beautiful valley, 

 then I should have been enabled to collect abundant Podocarpus 



