128 In the Heart of Africa 



the land, had almost become their confidential friend. Bar- 

 thelemy desired to escort us to the little tribe of Batwa in the 

 Bugoie virgin forest. To accomplish this we had to traverse the 

 perfectly unknown territory of northern Tschingogo, which was 

 only indicated on the map by dotted lines in accordance with 

 general conjecture. We had to select one of the large printed 

 letters on the blank expanse shown on the map to mark our 

 proposed meeting place. 



As the course of the little river Mtashe appeared to run 

 closely in the direction in question, we followed it up. This 

 meant climbing over the western mountain margins of the 

 valley. We came to a thickly populated, undulating hill 

 country covered with luxuriant fields. The presence of Juwanese 

 and Cambojano, the Watussi chieftains lent us by Msinga, 

 inspired the inhabitants with confidence, so that we had no 

 trouble in connection with the commissariat. Marching at the 

 head of our caravan, their wide-ringing cries " vias'unano, masi- 

 mano, masimanoeee "* resounded in the hills and valleys, and 

 were immediately answered by larger or smaller troops of 

 natives who willingly brought along supplies. 



Our calculations proved correct, for Mount Mhungo, where 

 we pitched our camp, was, as a matter of fact, only a matter of 

 two hours' distance from our comrade. On joining him we 

 marched on at once to the edge of the forest, the exploration 

 of which was the main task before us. 



Anyone who is already acquainted with the flora of the 

 country can, with the help of field-glasses from an elevated 

 position, determine the character of the trees without any 

 difficulty. We could discern the giant bamboo, the Podocarpiis 

 usambarensis pilger, called "umufu " or "musi" by the natives, 

 and the sapotad Sideroxylon Adolfi Friederici Engl., the 

 " mutoie " of the natives. The podocarpus shoots up its straight, 

 pillar-like stems to an immense height, particularly on the hill 

 ridges, with a crown of knotted branches of picturesque beauty, 

 * Masimano, bring food ! 



