BELGIAN RED-TAPE 



a roadway through a mass of solid rock. Yet no record 

 exists of their ever having been near the place. 



From there I went on to Victoria Falls, and spent 

 a most interesting week. I call the Falls Livingstone's 

 monument. The spray from them can be seen 

 from a distance of sixty miles and the roar heard ten 

 miles away. So much has been written on these 

 wonderful Falls that I will pass on and board the train 

 for the Congo. Arriving at the border at seven-thirty 

 at night with a companion, we had to go through the 

 customs and have our passports stamped. A youthful 

 Belgian dressed up as an officer in EngUsh uniform 

 examined our passports with much pomp, and treated 

 us in a very lordly and off-hand manner, saying with a 

 shrug, *' You cannot enter the Congo, because you did 

 not report yourselves at Capetown." I said we did, and 

 showed him the Cape stamp. To which he replied, 

 " That is nothing to us — you should have seen the 

 Belgian Consul." We pleaded in vain, and showed 

 him that we had both been British officers in the 

 Great War, and my passport showed that I had been 

 employed by the War Office in Belgium ; but no, we 

 had to get off the train and stop until he was satisfied. 

 The place consisted of a few officers' houses and one 

 saloon, and we were lucky enough to get a bed in an 

 empty room. It was a wretched hole, and I was told 

 many other travellers had shared our uncomfortable 

 fate. It was constantly happening. By wiring the 



251 



