THE LAST PHASE 245 



Mountains and the Upper Luli, and up any one of 

 these valleys the Germans might perhaps turn. 



In some ways this was the pleasantest, if the 

 least eventful, trip that I had. The country was 

 very high, the creeks being mostly the heads of the 

 Malema river, and the climate delightful, with 

 really cold nights. As we had only one blanket 

 each, we were all only too glad to try and find, 

 when possible, long grass to camp in at night. The 

 country was mostly red volcanic soil, very fertile 

 and full of villages ; the twinkling fires of these 

 villages at night, and their smoke in the day, could 

 be seen all around on the steep hillsides. I 

 imagine that Europeans, as far as the climate is 

 concerned, could live and thrive quite well in this 

 particular district. Great peaks arose everywhere, 

 some of them, especially the huge granite mass of 

 Namuli, on whose slopes we camped one night, 

 being most awe-inspiring. The inhabitants too 

 in these parts were quite friendly, and it would 

 seem that just around that part they had been less 

 harried by the Portuguese and their hateful 

 police askaris, who, great hands indeed at rape, 

 pillage, and murder amongst the poor Shensis, 

 proved completely useless and cowardly when it 

 came to anything in the way of fighting. This 

 district had not been in any way touched by the 

 enemy up to this time. 



After the affair at Nammeroe, the enemy moved 

 up one of the valleys towards a place called 

 Lioma, travelling now nearly due north, and there 



