1 68 In the Heart of Africa 



wide knee-breeches held up by a red sash at the waist. A red 

 fez decorates the head. 



The soldiers are armed with a type of rifle once used by 

 the Belgian army, but now obsolete, called the Albini. The 

 shooting capacity of this weapon is so faulty that it is perfectly 

 excusable to miss an elephant at fifty paces. Contrary to the 

 usage of German native troops, these men go barefoot both on 

 parade and whilst on service. It is only on the march that a 

 kind of sandal shoe is worn, which is fastened over the instep 

 by a leather strap, and allows free ingress and egress to water. 



The troops are trained at three great camps on the Congo, 

 which we visited later on ; and there, too, the recruits receive 

 their military education. Under the direction of European 

 (mostly Scandinavian) officers, about a thousand men are drilled 

 into serviceable soldiers in a one to one and a half years' 

 course, whereupon they are apportioned to various stations in the 

 interior. The camps present an almost painfully clean appear- 

 ance, and the care shown for the men is most exemplary. As 

 an instance, every soldier — nearly all are married — dwells with 

 his family in a small house of his own. 



The term of service is seven years on active service and five 

 years in the reserve. 



Contrasted with the coolness of the Ruanda climate, and the 

 cold of the volcanic region, which had greatly eased our arduous 

 marches, we found the sudden heat very oppressive when we 

 descended to the Rutschuru plain, which lies sheltered north 

 of the western group of the volcanoes. From high-lying 

 positions averaging i,6oo metres in altitude, the agreeable cool- 

 ness of which we had enjoyed for the past few months, we 

 descended to an altitude of about i,ooo metres. 



The path brought us before long to a fairly thickly populated 

 district in which agriculture was carried on. At Busuenda, 

 Lieutenant Veriter, who had been appointed to us for the time 

 being as escort, reported himself to me. 



Busuenda lies tolerably high. On clear days one can discern 



