In the Volcanic Region 123 



metres, and the white frosted meadows in the early morning 

 conjured up the vision of a German autumnal landscape. At 

 the evening meal we always appeared in thick coats and turned 

 up collars, and with steaming glasses of grog in our hands we 

 resembled a polar expedition rather than a party of African 

 travellers. 



Among other zoological investigations the task which mostly 

 engaged our attention was to find and, if possible, to kill an 

 anthropomorphous ape. Up till then there had been only one 

 species of man-ape known to have been secured from the Kiw^u 

 district, the one killed by Captain von Beringe on Sabinjo, 

 which the Berlin Zoological Museum pronounced a gorilla. It 

 was obvious, therefore, that the capturing of further specimens 

 would be of high scientific value in settling the question as to 

 whether still further species of the anthropomorphous ape existed 

 in that part. 



The forests round us consisted mainly of bamboo, which 

 may be met with up to an altitude of 3,400 metres. The gorges 

 and ravines clothed with foliage and brushwood are the lurking 

 places in which that rare and much coveted wild creature, the 

 gorilla, makes his lair. It is an extremely difficult matter, and 

 occupies a great deal of time, to get to such spots, and entirely 

 excludes any other object from our expedition. We did not have 

 the good fortune to fall in with the desired prize although we 

 found droppings and fresh tracks. 



Farther on we came across many elephant trails, up to 

 astonishing heights, and this fact gave reason to suppose that 

 we had struck a new species of genuine mountain elephants. 

 The natives confirmed our views, assuring us that the elephants 

 thereabouts always kept to the mountain slopes and never shifted 

 their quarters down to the plains. We tracked them to heights 

 of between 2,200 and 3,400 metres. On one excursion to the 

 Mgahinga crater we, in fact, espied five of the pachyderms 

 crossing a bare part of the forest below us. This troop 

 approached our camp in the evening in the full moonlight and 

 startled us at our meal. W'e heard the cracking of the bamboo 



