176 In the Heart of Africa 



islands and the sand-banks at the mouth of the Rutschuru, or 

 swim around and fish in great flocks. 



Bush-buck and buffalo were strongly represented. The 

 species of buffalo that we saw almost daily on the open steppe, 

 or chanced across in the light bush, showed some similarity to 

 that of the Kaffir buffalo. The horns had strong projections, 

 but were rather more compact than the East African variety, 

 and the points inclined more upwards. One fine creature killed 

 by Schubotz in the course of an afternoon's " saunter " in the 

 neighbourhood of the camp had a breadth of horn over the 

 forehead of 33 centimetres and a span of 106 centimetres. 



Generally speaking, the colour of the buffalo we found in 

 the Congo State was dark. The smaller western breed, with 

 horns lying over towards the back, formed in the main no ex- 

 ception to this rule, though a lighter colour was much more 

 common here than amongst the Rutschuru animals. Mildbraed 

 sighted a herd of some forty buffalo later on the eastern margin 

 of the great forest near Kifuku, which gave a variegated and 

 chequered impression through its mixture of shades. As the 

 lighter coloured ones were mostly smaller than the darker, it 

 might, perhaps, be correct to assume that the lighter coat in- 

 dicates the young of the herd. For this reason I doubt the 

 accuracy of the designation " red buffalo " that is frequently 

 applied to the western type. 



This abundance of big game was most lucky for us, for our 

 scanty stores of provisions was noticeably diminishing, and the 

 fresh meat of these large animals enabled us to eke them out. 

 We had had no sugar or milk for some ten days, and our tins 

 of preserves had greatly dwindled. The supplies for our 

 carriers, too, were in rather a critical condition. It was quite 

 out of the power of the natives of the few inhabited spots on 

 the eastern marginal mountains to supply us with stores, and 

 as the nearest depot was at the northern end of the lake, nothing 

 remained but to strike camp and advance at a somewhat quicker 

 rate. 



During the last night of our stay we were treated to a 



