STALKING IN THE NYIKA 



and inorganic matter, often resembles thin pea soup 

 much more than water. 



The sun has risen above the hazy horizon — a brief but 

 splendid spectacle is a sunrise in the tropics. In sharp 

 outlines and still cloudless lies before us in the clear 

 morning Hght the mighty mountain world of the Kili- 

 manjaro, the highest elevation on the continent, the 

 only German Alps. But soon the lower and middle 

 regions will be hidden in thick clouds ; they are already 

 gathering at the foot of the mighty mountain range. 

 The two highest peaks in which it culminates, the vol- 

 canic Kibo and Mawenzi, stand out in awe-inspiring 

 majesty against the clear sky, clad in eternal ice and 

 snow, bathed in rosy light! A mighty saddle, almost 

 fifteen thousand feet above the sea, connects the gigan- 

 tic peaks. 



With longing we look up to these heights ; our imagina- 

 tion ]3ictures the beauty of the landscape between us and 

 the mountains, its variegated flora and fauna. Deep 

 and lasting is the impression which this panorama of 

 steppe and mountain, now covered with haze and clouds, 

 now bathed in the most marvellous tints, makes upon 

 the beholder. 



But we have not much time to spend in musing; we 

 have a march of many hours before us into the wide 

 steppe. We must tear ourselves away from the en- 

 trancing view. But we cannot help realizing that we are 

 marching on ancient fields of lava which, belched forth 



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