214 In the Heart of Africa 



scrub with the big caravan and bulky, heavy tent loads. We 

 should also have been compelled to carry water with us, as none 

 was to be had on the ridge, and, in addition, a halt of any 

 duration at an elevation of 3,000 metres would have been nearly 

 torture to the carriers, who are peculiarly sensitive to the damp 

 cold and mist. We remained, therefore, where we were, and 

 utilised one day to explore the near vicinity of the camp ; on 

 the next we proposed to push forward again and see how far 

 we could get with two natives and a few of our followers who 

 always accompanied us on smaller excursions. We climbed up 

 to a crest above the ' lower Belgian camp.' Then Schubotz 

 turned back, as the weather had grown very murky. I now 

 climbed on up a hill lying before us, which formed the most 

 disagreeable part of the journey. It was manifestly the same 

 spot at which Stuhlmann on his memorable climb had left his 

 tents and all heavier loads under the charge of the famous Uledi. 

 Here the ericace(2 formed a veritable forest. The trees attained 

 an average height of 6 to 7 metres, and frequently 30 centimetres 

 in diameter. The slope of the hill itself was pretty steep, but 

 the worst was that everywhere fallen ericacecB were lying around. 

 The whole place was overrun with luxuriant flora (balsamines 

 and mimulopsis), and mosses dripping with moisture, so that 

 it was impossible to see where I was going, and I often sank up 

 to my waist in some concealed hole or other. Even when this 

 hill was surmounted, things did not go much better. The big 

 trees and the steepness of the way ceased, but in their stead the 

 vegetation consisted of ericacece shrubs of juniper-like growth 

 {Philipfia longifolia Engl., n. sp.), which were very dense, so 

 that we had all we could do to push through it. The weather 

 was so thick that we could only see a few metres ahead ; the 

 path, however, could still be discerned. Here, too, we found 

 the so-called ' upper Belgian camp.' Then we came to a small 

 mountain stream in a light depression which divides the long 

 mountain ridge on which we had climbed from Mount Ulimbi. 

 The ericacecB shrub ended and the fine alpine flora of Ruwenzori 

 commenced with the two tree-like senecio, 5. J ohnstonii and 



