The Ruwenzori Mountains 



small game were not very abundant, herds of elephant 

 were frequently to be seen and were, moreover, quite un- 

 suspicious of the approach of man. The spot selected for 

 our camp that day proved to be a veritable menagerie of 

 elephant, buffalo and hippo, and on one occasion we were 

 favoured by the novel spectacle of witnessing from the bank 

 of the Semliki a herd of elephant, three hippo and an old 

 bull " buff " in the water together. We watched the latter 

 come down the bank, wade into mid-stream, then, lazily 

 swimming down in amongst the hippo who snorted loudly 

 at him, he presently came out again — dripping ; and slowly 

 walked away across the plain. 



For the next two days we saw these fine animals daily 

 and as all were unusually tame I obtained some good pictures 

 of them. Lions were about but these were only heard. 



I now turned northward away from Lake Edward and 

 moved along the western side of the Semliki valley. The 

 track we took closely followed the foothills of the Rift 

 Valley Mountains that gradually lessen in height as one 

 approached Mbeni and which here form the boundary of that 

 unknown Bahuni country, with the lawlessness of which, 

 so far, the Belgians have been unable to cope. That this 

 state of things should remain, after so many j'ears of occupa- 

 tion and after the many lawless acts perpetrated by these 

 savages, still stands as a blot on the Belgian administration. 



Parts of the bush through which we now travelled on our 

 way to Mbeni were pebble-strewn and others again boggy, 

 as one would expect to find the bed of a one-time lake. The 

 country, too, is overgrown with acacia thorn trees, which 

 at the time we passed by were in full bloom ; the pink, white 

 and yellow blossoms overcharging, with their heavy perfume, 



129 K 



