The Ruwenzori Mountains 



avenged and to this day the perpetrators of this deed remain 

 unpunished and defiant, as they were twenty years ago. 



Again Mbeni was the scene of the murder of a Belgian 

 officer as late as 1918 by one of his own soldiers, and here 

 also the Okapi was first discovered twenty years ago by 

 that keen naturalist and observer, Sir Harry Johnston, when 

 on a visit to the district. The surrounding country is also 

 one of the best elephant hunting grounds remaining in Africa 

 to-day, tusks weighing a hundred pounds and over being 

 still obtainable by the hardy hunter. 



Two days after my arrival at Mbeni I commenced pre- 

 parations for the ascent of the Ruwenzori Mountains, the 

 summits of which in the evening light gleamed golden and 

 unreal, overshadowing, as it seemed — even at a distance of 

 twenty miles — the valley below us. As one stood in con- 

 templation of the surrounding wealth of nature, the great 

 volcanoes to the south, Ruwenzori to the east, and the 

 limitless forests to the west, with all they contained, a 

 quotation occurred to me from " The Great Divide " by the 

 Earl of Dunraven which, although written of the Rockies 

 is equally applicable to the heart of Africa in which we were. 

 For here also " is a region, which contains all the pecuharities 

 of the continent in a remarkable degree and which, moreover, 

 is exceedingly interesting on account of its scenery, geo- 

 graphy, its mineralogy and its sport. There it is that great 

 rivers rise, running through every clime from perpetual snow 

 to tropical heat." One thought that certainly this is the 

 geographical centre of Africa, yet another " Great Divide ! " 



In a day or two I had gathered all the local information 

 possible from my good friends the Peres Cambron and Lens 

 of the Sacre Coeur Mission, and had completed arrangements, 



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