CHAPTER XI 



THE WEST SIDE OF RUWENZORI 



' Speak as they please, what does the mountain care ? 

 Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, 

 Or what's a heaven for ? All is silver-grey 

 Placid and perfect with my art : the worse ! 

 I know both what I want and what might gain, 

 And yet how profitless to know, to sigh 

 " Had I been two, another and myself, 

 Our head would have o'erlooked the world !" No doubt.' 



Robert Browning. 



It is easy to be wise after the event, and to point 

 out the weak spot in a scheme which has been tried 

 and found wanting. We protested against being 

 accompanied by an escort on our expedition to the 



west side of Ruwenzori ; but Lieutenant B 



insisted on the necessity of it, and we submitted 

 with a good grace. The Belgians claim in theory 

 to administer the left bank of the Semliki right up 

 to Ruwenzori ; but in practice their control stops 

 with the river, beyond which they never venture, 

 except to travel along the road by which we had 

 come from Lake Albert Edward. The natives 

 inhabiting the east bank of the river and the west 

 slopes of Ruwenzori are, in the Belgian phrase, 

 ' Ti^voltds ' — that is to say, they refuse to recognize 



139 



