The Eastern Congo 



and in a very few days we had seventeen of them sick on 

 our hands, one of whom died. Very naturally the rest of 

 the men became nervous and wished to be paid off, leaving 

 me no alternative but to comply with their request. In a 

 most kind way the Chef de Poste at Mbeni, to whom I wrote 

 for more carriers, sent out one of his soldiers to collect others 

 for me, but as luck would have it he too was taken suddenly 

 ill the day after he reached our camp, together with one of 

 the new porters he brought with him, both having to be sent 

 back strung up like pigs in impromptu hammocks, for the 

 disease, which was a form of Spanish influenza, took them 

 in the legs and they were unable to walk. 



In Africa the truth of the old saying, " it never rains but 

 it pours," is often very forcibly brought home to one and in this 

 case it was literally true, for at this time we experienced the 

 most terrific thunderstorm and tornado that it has ever been 

 my misfortune to encounter. Due no doubt to the mantle 

 of ice and snow covering the equatorial mountains of Ruwen- 

 zori, the elements are continually at war in this region and bad 

 storms and electrical discharges are of frequent occurrence. 

 This electrified tornado, however, was half-a-dozen thunder- 

 storms rolled into one, its effect being felt half across Africa, 

 for later, news of the damage it wrought at Kampala in 

 Uganda reached me where it was described as " the worst 

 storm ever known." It approached from the north-west, 

 at first painting the entire landscape with a sickly yellow 

 light, and bringing with it an ominous sense of impending 

 disaster felt by the entire living world about us and warning 

 Dame Nature to wrap up tight her cloak. The large blue 

 turaco took his last run along the big branch and ceased 

 his noisy crowing ; the cheery grey parrot shut up whistling 



156 



