JOURNEYING TO THE KILIMANJARO 



against some projecting rocks and capsized. We man- 

 aged not only to save ourselves by climbing on the 

 rocks, but also to hold fast the overturned boat. The 

 water near the rocks was too deep and too swift for us 

 to wade or to swim across. When our guards and car- 

 riers saw our plight — for the accident occurred almost 

 opposite our camp — they quickly came to our aid. The 

 guards, firing with their Mauser rifles at the croco- 

 diles, kept the expectant animals at a distance. Prince 

 Loewenstein proved in this emergency a friend indeed. 

 He formed the carriers into a rescue -party. Holding 

 on ropes, and thus aiding one another, they entered the 

 water, and, approaching us from above, pulled us up 

 towards them. We then proceeded on our expedi- 

 tion along the river. It was now towards the end of 

 March, and the rainy season, the masika uikubwa, was 

 about to set in. One night, as we were nearing the 

 Kilimanjaro, a terrific rain-storm came upon us sud- 

 denly and violently. The air was charged and quiv- 

 ering with electricity; flashes of lightning streaked fan- 

 tastically the dense darkness ; in a few minutes our camp- 

 and the interior of our tents were flooded. 



The grandeur of such a gigantic manifestation of 

 elementary forces, presented by such a tropical storm, 

 defies description. Whoever has been ]irivilegcd to 

 watch a storm of this kind will l)e thrilled by the mere 

 memory of it as one of nature's grandest spectacles. 



We arrived in due time at Moschi station, at the 

 4 49 



