CHAPTER IV 



LAKE CHOHOA AND THE RUANDA — THE WATUSI AND THEIR 



KING, JUHI MSINGA 



" Hemmed about by swamp and bushland, barriered by mighty lakes. 

 Dwelt the Benangandu Chieftains in their tangled, matted brakes — 

 Autocrats who swayed their people not by knife or fire alone. 

 Not alone by mutilation or the sacrificial stone. 

 But in virtue of their Kingship — Chiej tains to the very bone." 



The Crocodile Kings. Verse I. 



WE had now reached that unmapped region of small 

 lakes which lies between the Akanyaru and Kagera 

 Rivers. So little known was it at the outbreak of 

 war in 1914, that the Belgian army in its advance from the 

 north two years later, being without a map to go on, com- 

 pletely lost itself amongst the many ramifications of these 

 lakes. The Germans themselves were in no better case, 

 with the result that the two forces became engaged in a 

 game of hide-and-seek to find the best way out of it. Our 

 friend, the Italian Father-Superior of the Kaninya Mission 

 on Lake Chohoa, had the novel experience of entertaining, 

 on the same day, first the German commanding officer 

 and then a few hours later the Belgian commander, neither 

 aware of each other's proximity or the whereabouts of the 

 force which each opposed. I don't suppose that either 

 ofiicer will ever know that they nearly butted into each 

 other, unless they happen to read these lines. 



For some weeks past I had been very doubtful of the 

 accuracy of the Ordnance Survey (1916) maps of German 

 East Africa that I had with me. I now found out how 

 absolutely wrong and misleading they were. I trust that 



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