HO THE WEST SIDE OF RUWENZORI 



the authority of, or to work for, the State. It is not 

 improbable that the few exploring or semi-military 

 expeditions, which had passed through their country 

 in the last twenty years, had treated the natives with 

 more harshness than consideration ; but, whatever 

 the cause, the present attitude of the natives toward 

 black soldiery is that of the bull to the proverbial 

 red rag. The responsibility for this deplorable state 

 of things rests with the Belgians, who are content 

 to tolerate the existence of a warlike and hostile 

 race living within a few miles of a garrisoned post, 

 which they have occupied for years. With regard 

 to our expedition, they ought either to have allowed 

 us to go to Ruwenzori as a perfectly peaceable party 

 without any escort, or they ought not to have 

 allowed us to go at all. Personally I feel sure that, 

 had they followed the first of these two courses, we 

 should not have had any trouble with the natives, 

 but we were not given the chance of putting it 

 to the test : hinc illcE lacrimce. 



After less than the usual period of delay — about a 

 week — we set out with our escort of thirty black 

 soldiers, commanded by a Belgian sous-officier, and 

 about one hundred of our Toro porters, of whom 

 more than sixty were laden with food for themselves 

 and their companions. The mere fact that it was 

 necessary to carry food for our people augured ill, 

 considering that we were on our way to a thickly 

 populated and (presumably) cultivated country. 

 From the river our course lay almost due east, a 



