Gorilla Hunting 



the air bitterly cold, I was more than pleased to get the camp 

 fixed up. For this purpose I chose a flat ledge close by, 

 which commanded an extensive view across the valley of the 

 Ninagongo massif and the glowing crater of Namlagira. 

 This camping place, from a scenic point of view, would be hard 

 to beat but it had its disadvantages, for apart from being 

 very cold, the elevation being seven thousand feet, it was 

 overgrown with stinging-nettles of a very poisonous variety* 

 beside which our own homely species pales into insignificance. 

 As the place proved to be a very good one for moths, which 

 in spite of rain and cold came to my gasoline lamp moth-trap 

 in considerable numbers, these tall nettles gave me a lively 

 time, for on more than one occasion I happened to beat up 

 against them in my chase after passing insects. There can 

 be little doubt that on these occasions my porters put me down 

 as a maniac, for both the language I used and the figure I cut 

 (a semi-war-dance accompanied by a waving butterfly-net), 

 must have been appalling. 



Two days were required by my men in which to secure 

 sufficient supplies of food to carry them over the next week, 

 the time passing very monotonously for me in the damp and 

 rain-soaked camp, mitigated solely by a few hours' sunshine. 



Taking advantage of this, I paid another visit to the 

 crater-lake, which is the only permanent water supply for 

 man or beast within a radius of many miles. This extinct 

 parasitic crater, seen in the sunshine, is the most beautiful 

 spot that can well be imagined. Shaped like a horse-shoe, 

 with steep sides gouged out of the base of its giant host, 

 its novelty is enhanced by a narrow breach in its western 

 front, caused by the overflowing crater-lake, and forming a 



* Evidently like those on the Kenya volcano, British East Africa. — H. H. J. 



79 



