To Lake Albert Edward 177 



genuine African farewell concert of such power and grandeur 

 that our regret at departure from a country that had so 

 much to offer was greatly increased. Five lions howled and 

 roared the whole night long outside our camp, so that sleep 

 was out of the question, and we sat up on our couches listening. 

 Then when the piercing cries of a trapped hyena, almost human 

 in tone, rang out, there was such a scene that I rushed from 

 the tent into the bright moonlight in order to make sure that no 

 human life had been sacrificed. 



I could not deny myself the pleasure of one little excursion 

 in the vicinity of the nocturnal concert. Following up three new 

 trails we had our lions before us before an hour had passed. 

 Whilst two of the creatures rapidly fled, one lioness ensconced 

 herself in a ditch grown over with tall brushwood. Shouts and 

 stones proving equally futile to induce the beast to leave her 

 lurking-place, we had recourse to a well-tried expedient which 

 never fails — we fired the bush. Some commotion amongst the 

 foliage followed. The shaking of the leaves and furious 

 growling showed plainly how unwilling the brute was to leave 

 her hiding-place. Not until the fire, which was burning badly 

 in the damp atmosphere, had almost scorched her hide, did 

 the lioness appear. She leapt out of the shrub, but, struck by 

 my bullet, toppled over like a hare the next moment and lay 

 still. Before she could rise again a final shot in the neck ter- 

 minated her predatory career. 



Returning to the camp, I found Czeczatka and the Belgian 

 non-commissioned officer Dewatt, who had come over from the 

 Vitschumbi station at the southern end of Lake Albert Edward. 

 Czeczatka had been commissioned to march direct to Vitschumbi 

 with all superfluous loads, and to set out from there to find us. 

 Dewatt brought fresh vegetables, and Czeczatka had a case of 

 stores, which happily put an end for the time being to our most 

 pressing needs. 



Gradually getting into lower altitudes, we reached the 



southern banks of Lake Albert Edward on the 28th of November. 



The nearer one reaches the lake, the shorter grows the grass and 

 X 



