The Ruchuru and Ruindi Plains 



more than half-way between the two points. It is moreover 

 believed that this railway formed part of the German Imperial 

 scheme of the conquest of Central Africa. It was discovered 

 during the war that an (until lately) unknown valley (known 

 of course to the Germans but kept secret and unpublished 

 in any save their Secret Service maps) exists on the western 

 side of the Kagera River, and runs parallel with it to a point 

 called Katitumba, near the Uganda border ; through this a 

 light railway track can be constructed with ease. From 

 Katitumba I am told it is also a fairly simple problem of 

 railway construction to reach Lake Edward itself, down the 

 valley of the Ntungwe. Thus, owing to fortune being against 

 them in Europe, did another German adventure come to 

 naught and light was thrown again on their secret plans. 



Before passing on to a description of the game-haunted 

 solitudes of Lake Edward, it would be as well to record here 

 the facts that led up to the Belgian occupation of the Ruanda 

 and Urundi, so I cannot do better than quote " Nomad's " 

 brief account from The Spectator : — 



" Up to December, 1915, the military operations of the 

 Congo Belgians had been practically confined to the defence 

 of their own frontiers, as their forces in the Eastern Congo 

 were only such as sufficed for the defence of their own borders, 

 and beyond the garrisoning of certain British frontier outposts 

 in Kigezi, no other military assistance to the operations in 

 German East Africa could be rendered. Concentration of 

 native troops from the Western Congo, where their military 

 headquarters were situated, was both difficult and slow owing 

 to the immense distances to be traversed, and it was not 

 until early in 1916 that any appreciable assistance could be 

 offered to the British forces. 



93 



