The Ruchuru and Ruindi Plains 



mountains for which our gaze searched, or if it was only some 

 figment of the imagination. 



Th^ porters having gathered their belongings and re- 

 shouldered their loads, it was not long ere we reached the 

 deeply eroded ravine of the Ruindi River, which runs seventy 

 or eighty feet below the level of the surrounding plains. Owing 

 to the thick forest that clothes the sides of the river — growing 

 at the bottom of the ravine and not on its edge — and the 

 tops of the trees not reaching above the surrounding level, 

 the course of the river is all but hidden from view unless one 

 overlooks it from some eminence or is close to it. It is just 

 such a river course as one would expect would eat its way 

 across these vast flats in a bygone age when they were plastered 

 with the slimy ooze of the lake bottom, after the great eruption 

 had damned back the waters of Lake Kivu. Few trees of 

 any size have been able to find root on these sun-baked arid 

 plains since then, excepting the hardy Acacia thorns, euphor- 

 bias and other zerophytes. 



Crossing the Ruindi ravine was not easy, as its sides 

 are best described as cliffs, but after a rest in its cool shade 

 we were soon clambering up the far bank and presently 

 found ourselves at an old camping place and standing round 

 the forlorn grave of young Foster, on the other side. 



" Killed by a lion ! " From all accounts, Foster, who 

 was a keen and plucky hunter, would like the above epitaph 

 as well as any other and although his grave is the most lonely 

 imaginable from a human point of view, he lies midst a great 

 assembly of splendid animals : and how much liner, cleaner 

 and more graceful are they than human beings ! 



The tale concerning his death was told to me by Monsieur 

 Fourget, who accompanied the Fosters on the trip in question. 



105 



