The Eastern Congo 



It was in this way. The porters who, on account of thirst, 

 were anxious to reach the river, were a good mile ahead of 

 us and could be seen advancing in a long string across the 

 plain. We had just reached a high piece of ground over- 

 looking this scene and were rather astonished to notice 

 what looked like an elephant in the shimmering heat, 

 advancing steadily towards the head of the caravan. The 

 porters had stopped and were all bunched up, undecided as 

 to what to do ; but their minds were made up for them 

 however, a few seconds afterwards, by the big animal, which 

 turned out to be a very large old buffalo, increasing his pace 

 into the well-known lumbering gallop, with the result that our 

 carriers fled precipitately, leaving only a line of loads to face 

 the charging animal. We were fortunate in having a clear 

 bird's-eye view of the whole affair, and the three of us stood 

 watching the miniature bull-fight with open-mouthed interest. 

 (We could almost feel ourselves standing below there with 

 those nervous porters, at the critical moment when the 

 buffalo charged and the men, dropping their loads, sprinted 

 back in a body, shedding clothes, calabashes and other odds 

 and ends as they ran.) Our friend the buffalo came near 

 the loads, got a whiff of them, it seemed, and thinking in his 

 little mind that having " cleared the field " he had done 

 all that was required, lumbered away again across the plain, 

 probably to some little spot that only he knew, where the grass 

 grew lush and long for the evening feed. 



Just before this episode we obtained our first view of 

 Lake Edward, showing as a silver streak two days' march 

 to the north ; beyond this again we thought we could make 

 out a dull gleam high above the horizon, but could not be 

 sure if this was in reality a reflection from the great snow 



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